Paul Clymer's decision to seek a 16th term as State Rep in the 145th District has already altered the political landscape for the opposition.
Perennial candidate-for-something Brian Kline, who had been the first Democrat to announce his intention to run (again), has withdrawn from the campaign before it even began. This is the second time that Kline has pulled out of a race. Back in 2007, he dropped out of the Richland supervisor's contest after public disclosure of his statement that Christian school students "are socially inept, ill-prepared for human sexuality, learn creationism instead of evolution, and most importantly, are overlooked by colleges and universities".
Kline was defeated twice for Richland Supervisor in the 1990's, and lost the Dem's State Rep primary to Tom Peterson in 2008. In between, he lived for more than 10 years in Virginia. Although he sees himself as an astute political advisor, he was "requested" by Blue leaders to stop serving as campaign manager/advisor for Dems in Quakertown Borough, a sure sign that he has no credibility, even within his own party.
Former QCSD school director Dr. Julie Fagan, a professor at Rutgers, considered running against Clymer as a Dem, but is now contemplating a campaign as an independent. Dr. Fagan would make a thoughtful and committed Representative, but any Indy seeking state office would be the longest of longshots. Actually, it would be nice to see her energy and pro-community philosophy back on the school board.
That leaves Springfield's Mary Whitesell, the Secretary of the 145th Dem organization, and Treasurer of the Bucks County Democratic Party, as the last woman standing for the May 18 primary. Of course, there could still be another hopeful (or two), and Dems love open primaries, sans endorsements. But, this year, it will be a monumental job to mount a campaign even as a person known to the local organization, let alone a newcomer.
Whitesell has a long history within her party, and was elected to her positions based on business skills and administrative competence, not political machinations. That has given her some intra-party name recognition, but she will need a bit of public damage control. She ran for township auditor in 2009, but was unsuccessful after she, and husband Bruce, were the victims of a last-minute, anonymous, totally-untrue smear campaign. People who know the Whitesells understood that it was only dirty politics, but re-educating enough voters in just a few days was an impossible task. And, in the end, it might not have mattered anyway, politically, since no Dem won a contested election in all of Upper Bucks.
Mary Whitesell is a good, hard-working person, who spends much of her life helping others. She will run a positive, honest campaign. She will give voters a choice. She will get high marks for trying. And she is realistic about her chances - her world won't end if she can't accomplish what no other Dem has been able to do: defeat an icon who doesn't just win elections, he dominates them. She understands that circumstances well beyond her control have likely doomed her efforts from the start.....
The Democratic party has been on an express elevator from the penthouse to the outhouse following the various failures of the Obama presidency, as dramatically evidenced by the Republican sweep in Upper Bucks last year, and recent high-profile losses in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia. Campaign funds, and public enthusiasm, will be hard to come by. And unless the party can get turned around between now and November, local disillusioned Dem voters will have little motivation to go to the polls, especially with Clymer's history of landslide wins.
But area Blues do have some cause for encouragement. Despite the national problems, things are looking up in Richland. Patrick Murphy (the hearing aid salesman, not the Congressman of the same name), and wife Jackie, are giving up their positions as township committee people, clearing the way for much-needed new blood in the party's leadership.
Pat Murphy had become a major source of embarrassment to the donkeys. He was fired as Richland's volunteer Emergency Management Coordinator, and subsequently fell out of political favor for suing his own township. He lost in a landslide for supervisor in 2007, then, amazingly, spoke publicly of running for State Senate last year. Shunned by party leaders, he even lost his seat as a township Judge of Elections to a political novice, and now holds no public office at all. Apparently, it has finally dawned on him that he is not in his party's plans. Jackie, who had been her husband's campaign manager, lost her write-in effort for auditor last November. She is reportedly ill. Dem leaders are hoping to replace them with more reasonable, less controversial, people.
Running for office in Richland as a Blue used to require you to either accept the kiss-of-death Murphy negative-campaign philosophy, or face clashing with them. There were few takers, and those who did went down hard. See Stevens, Victor and Tribue, Darrell. And, yes, Kline, Brian. Hopefully, this changing of the guard will now open the doors for local aspiring Democratic candidates, willing to run positive campaigns stressing issues, not personal agendas.
A League of Her Own
You can't forget what you never knew, but the hundreds of area families who enjoy watching their daughters play baseball or softball in the Quakertown or RASA leagues owe a debt of thanks to a woman few of them ever heard of. A woman who died last week.
Sylvia Pressler was a hearing examiner with New Jersey's Division on Civil Rights in 1973, when she was assigned the matter of Maria Pepe v Little League Baseball. Pepe was a 12-year old pitcher in Hoboken, playing on a neighborhood team with male school friends. The Little League national office threatened to revoke Hoboken's charter, and Pepe, with the backing of the National Organization of Women, filed a civil rights suit.
Pressler ruled in favor of Pepe, saying "The institution of Little League is as American as the hot dog and apple pie. There is no reason why that part of Americana should be withheld from girls." Eventually, the State Supreme court upheld Pressler's ruling, and New Jersey became the first state to bar sex discrimination in Little League. The next year, the league amended its charter internationally to allow girls to participate, and also added softball.
Pressler herself was a pioneer of women's equality. Shortly after her Little League ruling, she was appointed a state judge, and, four years later, became one of the first women on the Appellate Division. In 1997, she was the first woman named the division's presiding judge.
Although no women are ever likely to play big-league baseball, Pressler's decision opened the doors to national recognition of their abilities. In 2004, Pepe's hat and glove were put on display in the Little League museum in Williamsport, PA. And, the next year, Pepe was asked by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to attend a ceremony honoring a Little League perfect game. A game where the pitcher struck out all 18 boys. A game pitched by an 11-year old girl.