Shake-up possible on Montgomery County Board of Commissioners

For almost three decades, Joseph M. Hoeffel has been one Democrat in Montgomery County not to be taken lightly.

Starting in the late 1970s, he routinely defeated front-running GOP rivals in races for the state House, the county Board of Commissioners, and the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms.

But this year, party leaders stand ready to jettison from their 2011 ticket the man who has long stood as their standard bearer.

"The electorate can be fickle. They want newness," said Marcel Groen, the county's Democratic chairman. "I have a great deal of admiration for Joe Hoeffel, but we have some young people who can really capture the imagination and sweep us in."

Hoeffel, vice chairman of the Board of Commissioners, has pledged to run even without his party's backing, which would shake up what are already expected to be bitter campaigns for all three board members.

Republicans, doing some recasting of their own, are expected to shed Board Chairman James R. Matthews from their slate, throwing full support behind the third commissioner, Bruce L. Castor Jr.

Should Hoeffel and Matthews lose their party backing before the primaries, Montgomery County's governing body could undergo its most significant shake-up in recent memory.

"The mark of a mature party is not to run against an established incumbent," said Hoeffel, who seemed surprised that the county Democratic establishment was now speaking so openly against him. "I'm still hopeful we will come together. We need to get our act together."

As a true swing region with active voters and frequent campaign donors, Montgomery County has long drawn statewide political attention.

The commissioners control a budget of $400 million and oversee more than 3,100 employees. But more important, political insiders say, they serve as the public face of their parties on a board considered a launching pad for higher office.

For the last three years, Hoeffel and Matthews have presided over that panel, thanks to an unlikely alliance struck days after the 2007 race.

The election ushered in a high-wattage crew of officials including Castor, a telegenic and outspoken former Montgomery County district attorney; Hoeffel, the face of county Democrats; and Matthews, a three-term incumbent with a bit of celebrity in his own background. His brother is TV cable news host Chris Matthews.

Early on, Hoeffel and Matthews agreed to work together and named Matthews chairman, sidelining Castor, the election's top vote-getter.

Matthews defended the decision as a bid for a bipartisan government that he felt Montgomery County voters wanted, but many in his party saw it as a power grab made at the expense of those who helped elect him.

For Castor, the betrayal was unforgivable. The two have routinely traded public swipes since, often derailing county meetings with displays of their unbridled enmity.

"[Matthews] is the most hated man in the Republican Party," Castor said. "He stands no chance of being nominated by Republicans for any office in Montgomery County."

A likely snub from his party on the 2011 ticket would be no surprise, Matthews said. But he vowed during an interview this week to run for reelection with or without Republican support.

"I've been estranged from the party leadership - the Dark Side, as I call them," he said. "The leadership is pretty vacuous right now, and we have to focus on putting the organization back together."

That Democrats seemed poised to set Hoeffel adrift is more surprising. After the party lured him back to run for his old seat in 2007, he finished second in the four-man race - better than any Democrat in ages.

Still, Groen said, with a voter registration edge over their rivals and a fractured Republican Party, the Democrats should be winning local elections. Hoeffel's two recent bids for higher office - a U.S. Senate race in 2004 and a last-place finish in this year's gubernatorial primary - don't instill confidence for 2011.

"It's a very hard decision, but not a difficult one," Groen said. "This really is a year where we have to be smart in our nominating process. It's put-up-or-shut-up time for us."

With two of the county's biggest political names on the chopping block, a new crop of candidates is emerging.

Groen's choice to replace Hoeffel at the top of the Democratic ticket is State Rep. Josh Shapiro of Abington. The 37-year-old legislator is seen by many as one of the party's rising stars. He worked for five years as Hoeffel's congressional chief of staff.

Although Shapiro has reportedly expressed interest to Democratic committee members, he did not return phone calls this week to discuss a possible candidacy.

But Groen described the possibility of a Hoeffel-Shapiro ticket as "highly unlikely," saying the party hoped to run a woman as one of its two candidates.

Whitemarsh Township Supervisor Leslie Richards has expressed an interest.

On the Republican side, three women have emerged as possible successors to Matthews. And, in a sign of where the party's power lies, Lower Merion Supervisor Jenny Brown, county Jury Commissioner Marie Cavanaugh and Jill Govberg, a former Lower Merion school board president, have all approached Castor, seeking his endorsement. Matthews said no one had yet sought his support.

"It's a critical time for Montgomery County," Brown said, announcing her candidacy at an event Monday. "It's important enough to make these big moves now."