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Russell: ‘The fix was in’

LATROBE—Republican Bill Russell spent weeks seeking to discredit the GOP’s nominating process for the 12th District special election.

He stuck to that tack shortly after his opponent Tim Burns won the party’s nomination.

“The fix was in,” Russell told reporters shortly after the vote at Saint Vincent College here. “There was a lot of pressure on members of the party, especially members of the state committee.”

The state GOP took pains to frame the process as “fair and transparent.” But with the majority of the 132 voting conferees appointed—either directly or indirectly—by county party leaders, the result was never really in doubt.

Russell said he would press on, blasting state party chairman Rob Gleason for “going against the will of the people.”

Gleason scoffed at the charge.

“My only comment is that there were 132 people here, they all stood up and voted for the person they wanted, and they chose Tim Burns,” Gleason said. “I’m sorry Bill feels that way. Hopefully, Bill will get behind him.”

Russell said he would press on.

“We have open primaries for a reason,” he said. “This is the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, not the Communist Party of North Korea.”

See a video clip of Russell’s speech to the conferees below.

March 11, 2010 at 10:05 pm

--John Manganaro and Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Bill Russell, PA-12, Tim Burns

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