Ok so the news is out (or should we more aptly say "official"?): Connie Williams is to retire at the end of her term in 2008 from the Pennsylvania State Senate in 17th district.
We have been hearing this was a possibility since we first heard who was interested in running against her in 2008: Penn Wynne Commissioner Lance Rogers - an Independent, who would run as a Republican....well, now the other rumors we heard are apparently true: not only is Connie retiring, but State Representative Daylin Leach (D-149th District, PA) will be running for Connie's seat...so is Connie going to just retire, or will she seek some other sort of office, perhaps appointed?
Connie Williams on the whole has been good to her district, has been a champion of women's rights, the rights of senior citizens, fought for better healthcare and many other things. At SAC we butted heads with her over eminent domain, but she had her opinion and a job to do and we had ours.
Connie also ran fairly positive political campaigns, something we always like...but the person who runs the cleanest campaign of all, is Daylin Leach. Daylin has taken pledges to campaign positively and stuck with it.
Now for the tough part: Daylin Leach and Lance Rogers are both special to SAC members. So gentlemen, if it is to be the two of you, shake hands and respect the fact that we may comment from the sidelines as we choose, but we will not allow co-opting. We hope that everyone's political party and political strategists and campaign teams understand that as well...just thought we'd get that out of the way now, so we don't have to repeat ourselves later: NO ENDORSEMENTS. We still don't do endorsements, okay? So drop on by Ardmore and say "hello", just don't put our members in awkward situations, okay? You are both good guys so we don't see this as a problem :) :-) :smile:
We also hope that BOTH political parties will run clean campaigns and not trot out tired old garbage to turn off the electorate....so here are the news stories and let the games begin (and since this state senate territory crosses over into Delaware County - i.e. Haverford/Radnor Townships it oughtta be real interesting, since we all know those elections can get real interesting) :
State Sen. Connie Williams, D-Montgomery, announced yesterday that she will not seek re-election next year, and state Rep. Daylin Leach wants to replace her.
"I will be running for the Senate next year," Leach, D-Montgomery, said yesterday, as he unveiled an all-star cast of Democrats to lead his 2008 campaign in the 17th District.
Gov. Rendell, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Williams herself will co-chair Leach's campaign. U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak will chair the Delaware County effort and Commissioner Joe Hoeffel will run the show in Montgomery County.
Democrats hope for a smooth transition from Williams to Leach in the Senate, where Republicans hold an eight-seat majority. At least one Republican candidate, Lower Merion Commissioner Lance Rogers, plans to run for Williams' seat.
State Sen. Connie Williams decides not to run again
12/27/2007, 10:31 a.m. EST
The Associated Press
Montco's Sen. Williams Will Not Seek Relection
by KYW’s Tony Romeo
...Williams, whose seat was held by a Republican prior to her election, admits that her district is a competitive one. It is likely to be a battleground in the fall.
Democratic House member Daylin Leach and Republican Lower Merion Township Commissioner Lance Rogers are two likely candidates to replace her.
So, here, we are going to stir the pot just a teensy bit more: we always thought that Lower Merion Township Commissioner Scott Zelov would run for this seat, so would he be considering a run for Daylin's State House Seat? Will 2008 be hopscotch for all sorts of political players? And just think, soon it will be time for someone to run against Jim Gerlach again, won't it? Will Lois get ressurected from the dead again? So many questions, so many political campaigns to watch...who will be bringing the popcorn because we think local and state politics are going to be much more interesting then presidential politics this time around...but hey, you know what they say: when it comes to politics, it's all local....
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