Republicans fire back in Bucks commissioner race

Fall is only a few days old, and already the gloves are off between the Republican and Democratic candidates for Bucks County commissioner.

At a news conference in Doylestown, Republican Commissioners Charles Martin and Rob Loughery on Friday accused their opponents of making "grossly inaccurate, outright lies" in their public statements and campaign literature, and of violating their own promises.

That followed the news conference Tuesday by Democratic Commissioner Diane Marseglia and running mate Det Ansinn at which they signed an "ethics pledge" to prohibit political activity in their offices and shield whistle-blowers from retribution.

The "lies" that Martin and Loughery cited included Democratic claims that the county is in danger of having its bond rating downgraded and that a terminated employee kept her taxpayer-funded pension and collected unemployment.

Loughery challenged Marseglia's claim that she had a letter warning of a possible bond-rating downgrade. "This is an outright lie," he said. "There is no such letter."

And he said the fired employee - Candace Quinn, who pleaded guilty to charges in a grand jury investigation of the Register of Wills office - "only got back money from the pension fund that she paid in, without any interest. She is not collecting any unemployment compensation from the county."

The Democrats also have called for Election Day to be changed from a holiday to a work day for county employees, to keep them from being ordered to do political work on county time. That holiday is stipulated in union contracts and can only be changed through negotiations, Martin said.

In a statement, Marseglia and Ansinn stood by their positions. Marseglia said she had talked to the unions about the Election Day holiday but did not say whether they would agree to the change by Nov. 1.