Corrupt County Leadership May Kill Pa GOP Says Ex-Candidate — Berks County attorney Joshua Prince has blogged — here and here — about his experiences as a Republican May 16 primary candidate for Commonwealth Court.
He expresses dismay about the Pennsylvania GOP’s future as he has found that the entrenched party leadership — on the state level and in many counties — to be more concerned about keeping power and their dwindling perks than winning.
Prince says this leadership is trying to remove party activists they see as a threat to their rice bowl. Many of these activists are elected committepeople.
He echos things about what we have long written. See here and here and here and here and here for just some examples.
Prince, actually, mentions Montco and Chesco as places where the leaders put self-interests ahead of their supporters. He also mentions places such as Cumberland County where it might not be expected by those who hold romanticized views of the Pennsylvania T.
He says many of the party activists under attack are saying they’ll quite the party and support independent candidates if the attacks don’t stop.
These are the most dedicated workers come campaign time.
Prince has appealed to state GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas to intervene.
We wrote about this as it applies to Philadelphia a decade ago.
Surprisingly for some, the Delco GOP is not on Prince’s list of villains.
It’s not on ours either.
It may not be a perfectly functional family but it remains a family. New Chairman Frank Agovino appears to be listening to activist concerns. The party leadership has even dipped its toe into election integrity, and effectively.
Corrupt County Leadership May Kill Pa GOP Says Ex-Candidate
Corrupt County Leadership May Kill Pa GOP Says Ex-Candidate
Mr. Prince articulates the decades-old problems of Pennsylvania party politics quite well:
“…He expresses dismay about the Pennsylvania GOP’s future as he has found that the entrenched party leadership on the state level and in many counties to be more concerned about keeping power and their dwindling perks than winning.
Prince says this leadership is trying to remove party activists they see as a threat to their rice bowl.”…
Human nature, without guiding and strengthening faith, inevitably follows the same path that led Nero to fiddle–millenia later, perhaps to stumble down a set of stairs–as Rome burned.
The faith of America’s founders inspired, guided and strengthened them in conferring great ideological gifts and carving out a country led by people with the grit to turn ideologies into a tangible system of government.
Are we so weak, faithless and gutless as to lose it all, for America and the world? At least in Pennsylvania, the party system has proven incapable of correcting itself. In Chesco and among the Rs I know, many already look for candidates independent enough of the Party to actually be qualified,experienced, and mature enough to hold office and passionate and articulate enough to stop Nero, his minions and their plans… and avoid self aggrandizement and drama in the process.
Aren’t we long overdo to read and write about political change–in Pennsylvania and beyond–that has led to realization of the American dream? Inevitably, I think about Gov. Ron DeSantis–what’s different about the R Party in Florida that put him into the Governor’s mansion? I can only wonder if R Party politics, dysfunctional as in PA, will allow his leadership to succeed beyond Florida.
Perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves if our contribution should be refinement of the system in the form of an alternative to the two party system as it “functions”, but does not work (at least, not for the voters). In my opinion, the ideology of the R Party appears most compatible with that of our country’s founding documents, but it’s leadership on lots of levels has proven unwilling or incapable of winning elections so ALL can the benefits. What now?