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Catching up with Steven Welch’s new address
I’m ashamed to admit that I appear be pretty much the last reporter in the state to realize that… drumroll… Steven Welch has moved!
Recent articles in both The Inquirer and The Daily News pointed out Welch’s decision to move a couple miles down the road, from Phoenixville to Charleston Township. For some reason, those little details slipped by me until earlier this month.
You may remember the early brouhaha over Welch’s decision to seek the GOP nomination in the 6th Congressional District, despite living across the river in the 7th. At the time, he said he wouldn’t move. There was even some outrage that Welch was claiming residency in Phoenixville, when critics said he lived in Upper Providence Township. With the help of Google Earth, we determined that everyone was actually right; Phoenixville is a borough that partly resides in Upper Providence.
But now, Welch is a bona fide resident of the 6th, where he’s trying to unseat incumbent Congressman Jim Gerlach in the May primary. I caught up with him at last week’s Tea Party forum to ask him about his new digs. He said he moved shortly after Christmas, and lamented what he saw as political silliness that had somewhat forced his hand.
“Despite the fact that I grew up in Chester County, despite that I started by business there … it was clear people wanted to just talk politics about it,” he said of the residency issue. Welch made the move, he said, to keep the campaign’s focus on policy.
“It was a small sacrifice to make,” he added. “It shows we’re committed to moving the 6th District forward.”
This is sort of one of those damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situations. If he stays put, he’s an outsider. If he moves, he’s a carpetbagger. Obviously, Welch thought the second charge was easier to deflect.
February 15, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Tags: Jim Gerlach, PA-6, Steven Welch
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David Diano
Feb 15th, 2010
Not only did Steve Welsh change districts, he changed counties. As a result, he was assigned a NEW state VoterID and his voting history was blown away in the database.
According to the records, the update in the Chester database occurred Jan 5th, 2010.
flynnbw
Feb 15th, 2010
No Internet/public record stalking of Mr. Welch by PA2010 this time.
In the interest of nipping bizarre PA address conspiracy theories in the bud, I must ask this question: is Mr. Welch’s address now Charleston Twp, Phoenixville, or something else?
David Diano
Feb 16th, 2010
Flynnbw-
Welch is now registered in CHARLESTOWN Township in Chester County.
Dan Kristie
Feb 16th, 2010
“With the help of Google Earth, we determined that everyone was actually right; Phoenixville is a borough that partly resides in Upper Providence.”
Sigh – only a local reporter who is paid to be obsessed with municipal borders would know this: a borough can’t be in a township. The Borough of Phoenixville cannot exist as part of the Township of Upper Providence. The borough and the township have totally different governments and are in different counties. Now, the postal code of Phoenixville may spill into Upper Providence, but the borough most certainly does not.
It’s maddening, I know. Sometimes it makes me want to weep, audibly, in a public place.
David Diano
Feb 16th, 2010
Dan-
Simple example from Delco:
Broomall, PA is in Marple Township.
“Marple” is the municipality for voting/election purposes.
politigator
Feb 16th, 2010
Such a sweet piece Dan. Did he ask you over to pick out the curtains???Chintz Dan Chintz
Nonno
Feb 18th, 2010
If Welch’s advisers were smart, they would have left the residency issue on the table for distraction since it is less than a 10% issue. Now that it’s cleared up, other issues will be sought. Perhaps his donation to and support of Joe Stesak, a liberal Democrat and his public admission of supporting and voting for Barack Obama will now take center stage… Hey RINO, you may be able to fool some of the people some of the time but it’s hard to fool most of the Republicans… at least this time.