Swann nixes Scranton as PA GOP chair
By Mark Kilmer Posted in 2006 — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Yesterday, I reported over at SwannBlog that the anti-pay raise group in the Pennsylvania Republican Party, according to the Philly Inquirer, was pushing Bill Scranton to replace evaporated former chairperson Eileen Melvin as State committee chair.
He’s ticked off the establishment by supporting the insurgency, and one would think his position on abortion would disqualify him in the eyes of conservatives. (Can a pro-life party be led by a pro-choice politico?) But if he has the backing of the anti-incumbents in the State GOP, his selection could serve to help mollify them and would thus benefit both Swann and Santorum.
According to a report by John Micek of the Allentown Morning-Call, sources told the paper that the pro-choice Scranton, briefly Swann's opponent for the Republican nomination, received the backing of both Santorum and the Club for Growth's Pat Toomey, but his possible chairmanship was nixed by Republican Gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann in a telephone call with Arlen Specter on Tuesday night. On Monday, though, Swann had told the Pennsylvania Press Club that he and Santorum would discuss the next party chair with the some other party leaders. He did not mention Specter.
Specter's aide Bill Reynolds said that Arlen was trying to find a "consensus candidate." Bill Scranton supports abortion rights and thus could never be such a candidate in the pro-life GOP.
Micek reports:
[O]thers mentioned as potential successors to Melvin are state GOP Committee Vice Chairman Matthew Kirk, former Attorney General Gerald J. Pappert, Lackawanna County activist Matthew Brann and Cambria County Republican Chairman Robert A. Gleason Jr.
A source close to Swann said the Republican gubernatorial nominee is considering state Sen. John Pippy of suburban Pittsburgh, a rising GOP star, as potential successor to Melvin. Swann already has close ties to Pippy, a U.S. Army reservist who has served in Iraq. … Santorum, however, opposes giving Pippy the party job, a senior Republican said.
One wonders why Santorum would seek to block Senator Pippy, a solid conservative from the western party of the State, and one wonders if a consensus is possible in this political climate.
Either way, Lynn Swann has asserted himself. He's not going to roll when the "big boys" of any stripe expect him to. He is a strong candidate, and he will influence the party. This might ruffle a few feathers, but in Pennsylvania in 2006, there is an energy in the air.
(cross-posted at the SwannBlog.)