Nearly every spring, one political party in Lancaster County fights a civil war over endorsing candidates for the primary.

Usually it's the Republicans.

But this year, the side with the most intractable internal divisions is the Democratic Party.

For Democrats, the elephant in the room is Molly Henderson.

Debate over the performance of the first-term county commissioner has polarized a party that has prized unity in the face of numerical adversity over the generations in Republican-dominated Lancaster County.

Democrats say privately that Henderson's re-election bid has split the party.

Where the splits are occurring is another matter for debate.

On the surface, the fissures seem to be along city and county lines, with city Democrats lining up against Henderson and those in the county more favorable to the incumbent.

Insiders, though, say it's not so simple.

The city Democratic committee, long the strong center of the party, is anti-Henderson for a variety of reasons.

Outside Lancaster, a growing Democratic committee isn't necessarily in tune with the concerns of the city party. The county isn't solidly pro-Molly, but committee members there seem more inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt on the controversies of her first term than are the city committeepeople.

In the middle is county chairman Bruce Beardsley, who has warned for more than a year that this could be the election cycle that tests party unity.

The depths of the divisions will be plumbed Saturday, when Democrats assemble at the Quality Inn & Suites on Oregon Pike to try to endorse candidates for commissioner, judge and row offices.

Party sources say it appears that city Controller Craig Lehman is a solid contender for one of the two commissioner endorsements, based on nose counts. The Democrats require a simple majority for endorsement.

Then it's a question of whether Henderson or the other candidate, Charles Groff, can muster 50 percent plus one for the second endorsement.

Or whether new candidates might emerge either on the floor or afterward.

"My sense is that there is no monolithic 'city' perspective or 'county' perspective," Beardsley said.

"One of the strengths of the Democratic Party," Henderson said, "is that we are not required to agree on every issue."

Hot buttons
Her candidacy seems to be one of those issues.

Democratic incumbents usually win renomination without much debate. But a series of courthouse controversies has left Democrats divided on whether to support Henderson for a second term.

City Democrats are among her most vocal critics, largely because of the sale of the county nursing home, Conestoga View, her opposition to the Penn Square convention center and the commissioners' reluctance to proceed with a promised housing development on the Sunnyside peninsula.

The city party gave Henderson a cool reception at their candidate screening night, observers said.

She also ran into tough questions at the Hempfield interviews earlier this month about her role in the sale of Conestoga View.

Late last year, Henderson pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Sunshine Act for attending an unadvertised meeting about the sale. Her Republican colleagues, Dick Shellenberger and Pete Shaub, pleaded guilty to two counts each.

At the Feb. 2 Hempfield interviews, Henderson said of the April 1, 2005 meeting that she attended: "This was not a secret meeting. It was held in the courthouse, and the door to the room was open."

Later, she added, "Oh, I didn't break the Sunshine Law, by the way."

Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said the minority commissioner — traditionally a Democrat — "defines what a Democrat is in Lancaster County."

But Henderson, he said, has not carried out the watchdog function usually exercised by the Democratic commissioner.

"Some of us have strong feelings," Gray said, "that in the Shellenberger-Henderson administration, there just hasn't been ... a delineation between the two parties.

"... If I'm going to adopt the policies of really the most conservative elements in the Republican Party in the county … what do we have a minority commissioner for?"

The dissatisfaction isn't just about the convention center, Gray said.

"I know a lot of people, especially Commissioner Henderson, would like to make it a convention center issue, but it's not," he said.

Rather, he argued, it's a broader set of issues, including Conestoga View, Sunnyside and openness in government.

Other district committees, Gray said, have also expressed concern about Henderson's record, not just the city.

But it's in the city where Henderson clearly has her biggest challenge.

"We have work to do," her campaign co-chairwoman, Lois Herr, said earlier this month, with the city committee.

"In general," Beardsley said, "I would agree with Lois' assessment."
 

Center of attention
Democrats agree that disagreements over the convention center play a role in the Henderson dilemma, but they say it's not a matter of the city party supporting the project and county Democrats opposing it.

Some city committee members never were enthusiastic about the idea because they saw it as the pet project of former Republican mayor Charlie Smithgall. Some county Democrats back the center.

"Some people out in the county are just fed up with her for other reasons," one Democrat said.

Gray, for instance, pointed to the commissioners' taking of the Enola Low-Grade Line in southern Lancaster County by eminent domain, along with the seizure of the former Armstrong building in Lancaster Square.

"The use of eminent domain — that should echo with the people in the city and in the county," he said.

Lancaster Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Sunday News, is one of the Penn Square Partners building the private hotel to accompany the convention center.

Henderson and her supporters have said publicly that because of LNP's stake, her opposition to the project has generated negative headlines for her on other issues, including Conestoga View.

Old-line Democrats tend to be the most upset about Henderson's vote to sell Conestoga View, party sources said.

But Henderson said she has gotten support across the county, too.

"There is broad agreement among Democrats throughout Lancaster for controlling sprawl, urban revitalization projects, farmland preservation and many other Democratic issues," she said. "Based on meetings with 10 area Democratic committees, I have received support from committee people in the city, boroughs and townships.

"It does appear that support for the hotel/convention center proposal is moderate in the city and low among Democrats elsewhere. This is not enough to keep our party from working together now and through the general election in November."

Wild cards
The Democratic Party is changing, and those changes make the outcome of Saturday's 9:30 a.m. endorsement convention tough to predict.

In the old days, the city party was the only committee with a full complement of members and tended to be the tail that wagged the dog in endorsement decisions.

Now, though, there are more county committee members than there are in the city, and the two groups don't always see issues the same way.

Some city Democrats are upset about what they see as leadership's stacking the deck in Henderson's favor heading into the convention.

"I think our committeepeople will make their judgment on the whole range of issues: the candidates' records, qualifications, positions on the issues and the perceived future, present and past party loyalty of the candidates," chairman Beardsley said.

"My only general sense is that, after the most open and fair screening process our county party has ever had, most committeepeople went into the process with an open mind (i.e., not overly swayed by media coverage), and they have been favorably impressed with all of the candidates."

"A lot is going to depend on who is there," one Democrat said. Party rules call for a simple majority of those present and eligible to vote for endorsement.

The city committee is expected to turn out in force on Saturday, and "for an overwhelming majority" of them, a Democrat said, Henderson isn't "their first choice."

There is talk that more candidates might come forward, either at the convention or later, depending on what happens Saturday.

Gray said a Henderson endorsement could damage the party "on a number of levels."

"A lot of us are concerned because it hurts us where we are electable, in the city," he said.

"... If Commissioner Henderson is endorsed, a lot of people will be looking elsewhere for political leadership."

Staff writer Judy Strausbaugh contributed to this story.

Contact Helen Colwell Adams at hcolwell@lnpnews.com