But they’ll also be forced to take up a thorny issue from the recent past — the support of unendorsed candidates by Republicans at the state level in May’s legislative elections.
Specifically, some local committee people are still angry about the House Republican Campaign Committee’s support of Reps. Gibson C. Armstrong and Roy Baldwin, neither of whom had county GOP backing.
“We make these decisions and we feel like they should abide by us and not go by a rule that says if you’re an incumbent you get extra privileges,” said Marilyn Gallagher, a West Lampeter Township committeewoman.
She has drafted, and will introduce tonight, a resolution asking that state campaign committees “provide no actual or implied support to sitting members which could subvert or weaken the decisions properly made by the County Committees.”
Asked Gallagher: “They expect us to abide by their decisions and support them. How come this street doesn’t run two ways?”
Gallagher will introduce her resolution at tonight’s county GOP convention, being held to endorse a slate of candidates for an 11-member home rule study commission. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Willow Valley Resort & Conference Center.
In Baldwin’s primary race against challenger John Bear, the GOP’s endorsed candidate for the 97th district seat, the HRCC gave the incumbent more than $71,000 in direct and in-kind contributions.
And in Armstrong’s race against challenger Bryan Cutler, HRCC’s top official asked the state GOP to mail out thousands of campaign brochures on behalf of the incumbent. The ads were critical of the challenger.
Neither Armstrong nor Cutler were endorsed; both were “recommended.”
Regardless of HRCC’s influence, the challengers in both races were victorious. Bear faces Democrat Timothy L. Callahan in the November election. Cutler is unopposed.
Talkback on LancasterOnline
Welcome to the new TalkBack on LancasterOnline. Please use the comment box below to share your opinion on this
article. If you would prefer to use the previous TalkBack forums instead, please use this link.
