PA Bill Number: SB945
Title: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.
Description: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals. ...
Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (199-0)
Last Action Date: Apr 17, 2024
District 102-Swanger blasts Republican Committee's request to Diamond State Rep. RoseMarie Swanger is fired up. :: 08/13/2014
"This is outrageous to me," Swanger said Tuesday of the Lebanon County Republican Committee's request to Russ Diamond last week to resign as a candidate for the 102nd House seat Swanger has held since 2007.
Diamond announced Monday he would not resign.
"The first thing our new chairman (Casey Long) does is violate our bylaws," Swanger said. "He's putting (President) Obama to shame."
Those bylaws state that the committee will not publicly oppose any Republican candidate in a general election.
"The bylaws are very clear," Swanger said. "This is plainly not in accordance with the bylaws."
Swanger said the committee members who oppose Diamond could have simply sat out the November election and not worked for Diamond, but to ask for him to resign was over the top.
Swanger, who chose not to seek another two-year term, endorsed Diamond in the May Republican primary. Diamond won the Republican nomination with 1,927 votes, defeating write-in candidate Wanda Bechtold, who received 1,472 votes. Diamond will have at least two opponents in the Nov. 6 election: Democrat Jake Long and independent Robert McAteer, a former Republican.
Jake Long kicked off his campaign for state House Tuesday.
"(The committee) is saying the people are too stupid to choose their next representative," Swanger said. "What gall they have, going against the choice of the voters."
She believes the committee, which had a change in leadership after the primary, is intent on enacting revenge against Diamond, who as a leader of the group PA CleanSweep helped oust Sen. David "Chip" Brightbill and Sen. Robert Jubelirer in 2006. Jubelirer's chief of staff was Casey Long's father, Mike. Brightbill is Casey Long's uncle.
"Russ Diamond was instrumental in removing the party's fair-haired favorites," said Swanger, who was a candidate supported by PA CleanSweep. She defeated incumbent Pete Zug in the 2006 Republican primary.
"The goal (of last week's vote) was to make it public that they think (Diamond) is not intelligent enough to serve," Swanger said.
She rejects that premise.
"He's won all kinds of awards," Swanger said. "He wrote the first bill I introduced, which called for a peoples' constitutional convention. Our legal department said it was fine although it did not get voted out of committee."
http://www.ldnews.com/ci_26322504/swanger-blasts-republican-committees-request-diamond
