At long last the leadership struggle among Philadelphia Republicans appears to be over. Today Pa. Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason announced that state Rep. John Taylor was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Philadelphia Republican City Committee.
A Gleason said in a press release, “I congratulate Representative Taylor on his election and look forward to working with him to build a strong and vibrant Republican Party in the city of Philadelphia. Chairman Taylor will be a smart, tough and effective leader who will help to showcase the Republican Party as a place for commonsense reforms for Philadelphia citizens.”
Taylor’s election comes in the wake of the resignation announcement earlier this month of Vito Canuso, who had served as chair since 1995.
The smooth transition is in marked contrast to the struggle over the party leadership since 2010 when Canuso’s re-election was ruled invalid by the state Republican party led by Gleason. Canuso’s opponents went as far as to elect finance consultant Rick Hellberg chairman in 2011.
Canuso represented the old guard of the party, Hellberg a group of younger reformers. Both men claimed to be the rightful chair – until now.
Gleason, along with Gov. Tom Corbett, Sen. Pat Toomey and others have quietly been pushing in favor of reformers in the city. The statewide GOP establishment has been frustrated with perceived complacency by the city party, to which they attribute in part Democrats’ growing margins out of Philly.
This split appears, however, to finally be on the mend. Taylor has the backing of both Canuso and Hellberg.
Taylor has been a prominent figure in the GOP House caucus by maintaining his seat through fifteen elections despite serving a heavily Democratic district. In fact, Taylor is the only Republican state legislator in Philadelphia.
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8 Responses
Now that State Committee has saved some of Perzels’ vestigial operatives from “withering on the vine” of a now headless coup attempt, and did so under the banner of “poor county election performance”…will Gleason now turn his attention to the City of Harrisburg/Dauphin County Leadership, who has failed to field a candidate against Mayor Thompson (bankrupt city)? Or was it really about trying to finish a coup led by Perzel?
John Taylor’s first major heavy lift will be electing a far and away credible candidate to an office (City Controller) that is virtually impossible to win for a Republican.
But Terry Tracy or Doogie Hauser as some other post called him, is the genuine real deal. The kids a natural. If and when he gets more public, the incumbent is in trouble.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-gfL9-sI53s
I think John Taylor will be fine Chairman for the Philadelphia Republican Party. The Philly GOP needs a Chairman who is able to end senseless internecine feud that has crippled the party the since 2010.
Really- is this Tracy guy “doogie houser” or what.
Taylor is taking the reigns at a very interesting time. He now has real candidates with some amazing potential. There are a few, this one stands out:
http://m.facebook.com/tracyforphilly?id=481977941849556&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch&_rdr
Dave Diano is correct and nor should parties should not endorse in primarie.
Let the Republican or Democratic voters decide who will represent them in open, unendorsed primaries. When party insiders choose candidates, it becomes cronyism, a closed process and not a representative process.
Lets see if they can produce a city wide ticket and an idea based series of campaigns.
The anti meehan camp has some tin foil hat nut balls that should be ditched or all of Taylor’s work and reputation will be trashed
Elected officials should be barred from serving as committee people, especially leadership roles.
This should be applied the Democrats as well, especially in Philly.