In Montco, the GOP goes to war with itself

Montgomery County Republicans have long had a penchant for fierce feuds.

Now, with the strongest challenge in decades from the Democrats, their feuding threatens their long control of the county courthouse.

County Commissioner James R. Matthews used the image of a sunken ship to describe the man his party chose as his running mate.

"His ego could float the Titanic," he said in a voice-mail message to a reporter.

Matthews was speaking of Bruce L. Castor Jr., the county's district attorney. The remark came a couple of days after Matthews felt Castor had "rebuffed" him at the party's candidate-endorsement meeting.

A political observer said that if the party cannot plug up its differences, it could indeed be a sunken ship in this year's election for county commissioners.

"If you want a textbook example of how a majority party can lose control, the Republicans are following the script to a T," said John Kennedy, a political science professor at West Chester University who lives in the county.

Castor, in an interview yesterday, said he still was not sure he wanted to run for county commissioner with Matthews four days after the party endorsed them as a team.

He cited as a reason what he called the "ethical disaster" of a vote Matthews cast as a commissioner to award a lobbying contract to a law firm associated with Ken Davis, the party chairman.

Castor sent out an e-mail yesterday to more than 550 GOP committee members reasserting that he is running, but stopping short of saying he would pair up with Matthews.

He has made it clear he would rather run with Melissa Murphy Weber, a lawyer and former state legislator. Weber could not be reached for comment on whether she intends to stay in the race despite failing to secure the party's endorsement. Matthews' backers say Weber promised to drop out if she failed to win the party's backing.

Another candidate, State Rep. Kate Harper, won a court battle yesterday over the completeness of the petitions she filed to get into the race. She said she planned to stay in until she saw what Weber did.

"If Bruce decides she needs to get out, she will get out," Harper said.

Commissioner Thomas Jay Ellis, another candidate, also had pledged to get out if he was not endorsed. But he backtracked yesterday.

In a news release, he said the pledge had been based on his understanding that the endorsed candidates would run "together as a team."

Several party leaders said yesterday that the party has been at war with itself periodically for the last two decades. The party split sharply in 2004 when Castor ran for state attorney general.

Former county party chairman Frank Bartle, a Castor adviser, said a fractured party could blow its chances of beating the Democrats.

"I think it depends on how the chaos resolves itself," he said.

In an apparent reference to Matthews, he said unity might depend on whether the party offers candidates who don't have "political baggage."

Matthews backer Bob Asher, a Republican national committeeman with a power base in Montgomery County, said he hoped non-endorsed candidates would drop out.

He noted Weber's pledge and said, "I expect she will honor that."

Tomorrow at 4 p.m. is the deadline for candidates to withdraw their petitions.