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Holden may get challenge from his own party, too

For Republicans, the time is right to mount a challenge against incumbent Congressman Tim Holden (R-17), who they charge is “too liberal” to represent a district that went for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

Maybe. Or maybe not, considering that Democratic strategists hardly put Holden’s seat on the endangered list this fall.

But there could be a new twist for Holden. There’s been some serious grumbling that Holden, the Blue Dog Democrat who voted against health care reform, is not a Democrat at all.

“We have serious issues in the 17th Congressional District: health care, education, energy and jobs,” said Sheila Dow-Ford, the former chief counsel and vice president of the state’s higher education assistance agency. “Those are fundamental issues that need to be addressed.

“I am considering a run,” added Dow-Ford, who met last week with Democratic groups in Berks and Lebanon counties, including the Lebanon County Executive Committee, where she was invited to speak. “We need strong leadership and, perhaps, new leadership.”

In the meantime, Holden has another Republican gunning for him. State Senator Dave Argall (R-Schuylkill) announced Monday that he’s running for the seat. He joins Josh First, president of Appalachian Land & Conservation Services, in the GOP primary.

Holden said it might be a sign that he’s holding true to his moderate position that both Republicans and Democrats want to challenge him.

“I’m getting hit from the left and the right, but I’m a moderate who had voted in the middle of the road to represent my district,” Holden said. “I’m not very liberal, so people who support cap-and-trade and health care are upset with me, and on the right, there are people who are mad that we’re making investments in infrastructure and we still have work to do.”

In the past week, Holden has brought more than $1.1 million in federal funds to schools, hospitals and other programs in the district.

“Still, I’m getting kicked by the left and the right,” he said. “Maybe that means I’m doing my job.”

Holden said Dow-Ford is certainly entitled to run.

“She’s been a supporter,” he said. “I know her very well. Let’s see what happens.”

Argall’s announcement brought a chorus of criticism against him, who was a member of a General Assembly conference committee that wrote the notorious pay raise legislation in 2005.

“Dave Argall’s role as an architect of the 2005 pay-raise scandal proves that he represents all that’s wrong with Harrisburg politics; state Senator Argall is grossly mistaken if he thinks voters are going to send someone with his kind of self-serving background to Washington,” a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Monday.

Harrisburg watchdog Eric Epstein of RockTheCapital.org said expense records reveal that as a state Representative, Argall collected an “exorbitant amount of supplemental, tax-free income in the form of “per diems.”

“A thorough review of Argall’s expenses for the period 2005 through 2007 indicates he routinely collected the maximum per diem allowable even as he assumed his duties on the Speaker’s Commission on Legislative Reform,” Epstein said.

January 11, 2010 at 4:15 pm

--Laura Vecsey

Tags: Dave Argall, Josh First, PA-17, Sheila Dow-Ford, Tim Holden

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