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A low-key afternoon for Hoeffel, Doherty (Updated)
LANCASTER—Joe Hoeffel was out of sight by the time he was knocked off the first ballot. Chris Doherty had already left, and didn’t even bother with the vote.
After the Democratic State Committee met here Saturday to vote on endorsing a candidate for governor, it was Hoeffel and Doherty who clearly seemed to have come out on bottom. Despite being in the race for months, Hoeffel was knocked off the first ballot by state Senator Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), who hasn’t even officially declared his candidacy. Doherty, meanwhile, addressed regional caucuses in the morning but left before the statewide committee vote was taken. His name was not even entered into nomination.
For two candidates who are low on campaign cash and find their three opponents each surging in one way or another, it was hard not to see their path toward a nomination in May narrowing.
Hoeffel’s campaign, for its part, maintained that everything was on course.
“We called for an open primary, and that’s what happened,” co-campaign manager Lauren Townsend said. “Jack Wagner did extraordinarily well, and we congratulate him.”
It was striking to see Doherty’s name not in the voting mix at all, even with his name on the ballots that had been printed. There was immediately speculation that he might be dropping out, but some party insiders cautioned against reading too much into it. The state committee was never his crowd, they said, and he would continue to move forward. A Doherty campaign spokesman could not be reached for comment after the vote.
Update: In an e-mail, Doherty spokesman Mark Nevins says that “We leave the state committee meeting with tremendous energy and encouragement. Mayor Doherty is still 100 percent committed to running for governor. He has been aggressively seeking the support of party leaders and Democratic voters all over the state and will continue to do so. We are pleased that state committee members did not endorse a candidate for governor and, instead, opted for an open process. Mayor Doherty has run on a platform of creating jobs and making Pennsylvania the best state in the country for families and he will continue to campaign aggressively on those issues.”
February 6, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Tags: Chris Doherty, Joe Hoeffel
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leftylucie
Feb 6th, 2010
I call shennanigans on the cronies of Ed Rendell and the corporate crowd for doing the dirty to a good candidate. Joe has the right progressive message and the right fiscal record to help us win.
David Diano
Feb 6th, 2010
Lefty-
Hoeffel’s not out of the game, but Williams in the race will destroy the support Joe needs to take out either Wagner or Onorato.
Aldo
Feb 6th, 2010
Hoeffel -just another guy running for another job. You must be a great County Commissioner first-before you move on. AND Joe -WE ALL KNOW THAT YOU HAVE AN AWFUL RECORD AS COUNTY COMMISSIONER. Step aside and give that job to someone who knows how to fight for the party.
Sissy Doherty -listen to your canned speeches (which are full of BS). Scranton is in the toliet and you should be stripped from your position as (sic) mayor. What a joke you and your self absorbed family are. We need to move some hard working public servants into Scranton to remove this professional leech. Scrantonians -ask for your money back while he was campaigning…then again, maybe it was better that he was away, so you could mitigate the damage created by this cretin and his overpopulating family.
hank
Feb 7th, 2010
Doherty left early,he was humiliated by not getting 1 vote I find this funny.This guy is so errrogant.Working hard for Scranton! What a joke!
Stan
Feb 7th, 2010
Hoeffel should be humiliated but I’m sure he’s not. That far left position is going to take him back to Montco where he tried to claim hes a moderate but now is on the record being super left wing. He’s finished at home because of that. Someone referred to Hoeffel as “Hapless Joe”. Fits.
hank
Feb 7th, 2010
I live in Scranton and have not seen jobs Doherty has claimed,he has a city lay off in December.Unless you are one of his cronies.He has give contractors which includes his family constuction work with out the bid process, never mind the fire and police he continues to bash!He claims 6000 jobs,Where?Down town business’s are leaving,2 last week alone.It may not be his fault but he likes to take credit where credit is due why not the faults!
phillip
Feb 8th, 2010
Doherty is way out of his league!
Scranton Citizen
Feb 9th, 2010
Maybe if Doherty was seen treating the poor city workers with some respect his bed for Gov. would play out decent for him.
Police and Fire 9 years, no contract, no cost of living increase to attempt to keep up with the rest of the world. Doherty is no friend to anyone but Doherty. Maybe if he had to find ways to pay his light bill or heat bill, he would know how to find ways to bring down debt.
Scranton Citizen
Feb 9th, 2010
Also, if a fireman or police officer gets killed in the line of duty???? No benefits for their family. No benefits at all after retirement. No Social Security. Get hurt and go out on a disablilty? Nothing!
But lets create gov’t jobs all over the city for croney buddies. That will save.
concernedcitizen
Feb 9th, 2010
Doherty has to do something. With Janet Evans at the helm of concil, Doherty is just a figure head. Concil wants to get rid of a few of Dohery’s apponited cronies. Hey, it’s a start. There are so many jobs made up, just to reward their supporters, that the important positions are left to speculation and are not staffed or understaffed with the proper people. It’s time for some real change and if we could put Doherty in a place where he could even less harm, maybe we could get Scranton back on the right track.
phillip
Feb 9th, 2010
You are correct,Doherty only tells you what he wants you to hear,than turn his back giggles and goes on.To many created jobs,and construction projects for his friends.IT has to end some where.If he wasnt such a liar he may of had a chance.And I mean LIAR!