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Bruce Castor seeks return as Montco DA

After seven years in Montgomery County's highest elected office, Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. announced Wednesday that he wants to return to his former post as district attorney.

Montgomery County Commissioner and former district attorney Bruce Castor will again seek the prosecutor's post. (Photo from facebook.com/bruce.castor)
Montgomery County Commissioner and former district attorney Bruce Castor will again seek the prosecutor's post. (Photo from facebook.com/bruce.castor)Read more

After seven years in Montgomery County's highest elected office, Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. announced Wednesday that he wants to return to his former post as district attorney.

"I never wanted to leave. I trained my whole life to do that job," Castor said Wednesday. "There's nothing like the immediate effect that catching someone who commits a crime and locking them up and winning in court gives you."

Castor left the District Attorney's Office in 2008, after more than 20 years as a prosecutor, when he was elected commissioner. His first term on the board was tumultuous, wracked by infighting and allegations of corruption - many leveled by Castor against his fellow commissioners.

In his second term, Castor has found common ground despite being the minority Republican on the Democratic-led board, touting the county's improving financial stability and his work coordinating regional public safety initiatives.

He has also maintained a private law practice but finds the pace of civil law too slow. "It's not as rewarding as what I used to do," he said.

If elected, Castor would take the baton back from the woman he mentored, Risa Vetri Ferman, who announced Tuesday that she would run for County Court judge.

As a prosecutor, Castor earned state and national litigation awards, and served as president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. He made national headlines in 2006 and again in 2014 discussing his decision not to press charges against the comedian Bill Cosby after a woman accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her in his Cheltenham home.

Castor said he is no longer interested in statewide office, after losing the Republican primary for Attorney General to Tom Corbett in 2004 and abandoning a potential challenge to a then-incumbent Gov. Corbett in the 2014 campaign.

"That experience changes you when you've gone through it once, invested the time and money, and then not won," he said. "I'm not looking to go beyond Montgomery County. I like where I live, and I like what I do, and I like what I'm hoping to do."

The announcement starts what is expected to be a spirited campaign, as Castor will face off against Ferman's first assistant district attorney, Kevin R. Steele.

Steele has spearheaded many of the county's most high-profile prosecutions in recent years. If elected, he would be the first Democrat to hold the post.

610-313-8117 @JS_Parks

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