Thursday, March 02, 2006

Brentley switches parties for bid for Pa. House

This is very good news. Bring it on Mark! Not me, but Mark Brentley.
Brentley switches to GOP in bid for Pa. House Mark Brentley Sr. plans to run for the state Legislature as a Republican.
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Anonymous said...

Brentley switches to GOP in bid for Pa. House
Thursday, March 02, 2006

By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After being rebuffed by the Democratic Party, Mark Brentley Sr. plans to run for the state Legislature as a Republican.

Mr. Brentley, a member of the Pittsburgh school board, said he switched his registration from Democratic to Republican in hopes of winning the GOP nomination to challenge Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District, in the 19th Legislative District.

In a vote of the committee members elected from each voting district, Mr. Wheatley, a two-term incumbent, won the Democratic endorsement Sunday over Mr. Brentley and county Councilman Bill Robinson, the man that Mr. Wheatley defeated in winning his first term in 2002.

In the balloting, Mr. Wheatley won 45 votes to Mr. Robinson's 32 and Mr. Brentley's 22.

"I'm resigning my Democratic committee seat," Mr. Brentley said yesterday. "I just ran into a brick wall with the Democratic Party."

Mr. Brentley said he hoped to prevail as a Republican in the heavily Democratic district "with a message of self-help.''

"There is no question that it will be difficult, but I'm up for the challenge and I'm looking forward to putting forward my suggestions to the Republican Party and to the people of the district."

Mr. Brentley said his message to voters was, "Just look at the basic conditions in the 19th District,'' which includes the Hill District and parts of the North Side and Oakland. "Very little has changed there. The only thing that has changed is the name of the person in the seat.''

Mr. Brentley said that if he is elected to the state seat he would resign from the school board.

He complained about the voting procedures for the endorsement contest in that Mr. Robinson was able to run without stepping down from his seat on County Council. The county's home rule charter requires members to resign if they choose to run for other offices.

Mr. Robinson, along with two other Democratic council members who are seeking legislative seats, contends that filing for the party endorsement does not trigger that requirement. Some have contended that the resignation requirement should be enforced once they file nominating petitions, or after the last day to withdraw those petitions has passed. The deadline for filing petitions is March 7; the withdrawal date is March 22.

Mr. Brentley said that if Mr. Robinson had faced a resignation demand, he might not have sought the endorsement and that many of Mr. Robinson's votes would have ended up in his column.

(James O'Toole can be reached at jotoole@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1562.)

March 02, 2006 1:38 PM
Anonymous said...

That's fine. We don't wait that race-baiter in our party anyway.

March 02, 2006 6:18 PM

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