MontCo GOP wants Hoeffel to quit local elections board (Updated)

Now that he is planning a Democratic See Update: Hoeffel had already quit elections board before the GOP called on him to do so.]

In a statement Wednesday, local party chairman Bob Kerns said that as chair of the panel, Hoeffel “can act in that capacity to advantage his candidacy for Governor.”

“Elections should be free and fair,” Kerns said. “Hoeffel needs to step aside immediately to ensure he’s not setting the table for …

September 23, 2009 at 7:45 pm | Comments (0)

Hoeffel’s not the right fit

Pennsylvanians, Joe Hoeffel is the last person we need as Governor.

Hoeffel is nothing more than another run-of-the-mill Democrat trying to tell us the same old ideas Democrats have been feeding for years.

By run-of-the-mill Democrat, I mean you should look at his 2007 campaign theme for County Commissioner—”we need more accountability and new ideas” is a tired spiel. Totally original, Average Joe.

If anything Hoeffel what Pennsylvania desperately needs a change from. Hoeffel is …

September 23, 2009 at 12:16 am | Comments (3)

Hello, Joe

With his nascent campaign touting a recent …

September 23, 2009 at 12:13 am | Comments (0)

Hoeffel ‘announces’

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel used a quote from that’s being reported as his “announcement.”

Forgive the sour grapes.

It’s early.

September 22, 2009 at 8:18 am | Comments (3)

EXCLUSIVE: Hoeffel will run for governor

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel has decided to seek the Democratic nomination for governor, jumping into an increasingly crowded primary field as he seeks to portray himself as a progressive standard-bearer for the party.

Hoeffel, fueled by a concern that the party may be tacking right, made his decision after p“I do intend to run,” he told empa2010.com /emin an exclusive interview on Sunday. “I’m going to move forward aggressively. I’m in the race and ready to ride.”/p
pAn internal poll by noted Democratic pollster Celinda Lake found Hoeffel holding a narrow lead in a five-way Democratic primary. In the survey of 800 likely primary voters, 15 percent said they would support Hoeffel, compared to 12 percent each for Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and state Auditor General Jack Wagner. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty and Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox trailed the pack with six percent and five percent, respectively. The campaign released a poll memo but not the complete details of the survey itself, making its veracity difficult to assess. But Hoeffel was almost certainly boosted by the positive description used by interviewers, who called him “the one true progressive leader in this race, not afraid to stand up for working families, even when it’s politically unpopular.” The poll was consistent with other surveys in showing a majority of voters still undecided. a href="http://www.pa2010.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Lake-Research-Polling-Memo.doc" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F09%2FLake-Research-Polling-Memo.doc','%5BSee+the+poll+memo+here.%5D')" target="_blank"[See the poll memo here.]/a/p
pThe political challenges for Hoeffel going forward are considerable, but he could very well be boosted by a geographic base in the heart of the Democratic primary electorate. He seemed destined for political obscurity after giving up his House seat in a failed bid to unseat Specter five years ago. After being elected a county commissioner, he was looking at a term as the minority opposition in county government. But Hoeffel forged a power-sharing agreement with Republican Commissioner Jim Matthews, locking out Republican Bruce Castor and amassing a significant amount of control over policy in the suburban Philadelphia county./p
pHe won’t have the financial resources of a candidate like Knox, and may lack insider support compared to Onorato. But hailing from Montgomery County, which has led the leftward political trend in the Philadelphia suburbs over the last decade, has made Hoeffel a mainstay of party politics in southeast Pennsylvania, where the Democratic primary is likely to be decided. And having been prominently placed on a statewide ballot in 2004, his name recognition is likely to exceed other candidates./p
p“That’s probably why I have a narrow lead right now,” Hoeffel said. “I’ve got to build on that.”/p
pSince news of his interest in the race a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/07/hoeffel-considering-gubernatorial-bid/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fhoeffel-considering-gubernatorial-bid%2F','first+broke')" target="_blank">first broke, Hoeffel has voiced concern that the party lacks a viable progressive candidate. While never criticizing them directly, his sentiments have clearly been …

September 20, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Comments (19)

EXCLUSIVE: Doherty gubernatorial run seems a sure shot (Updated)

With a political team in place and fundraising outreach well underway, Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty is now all-but-certain to run for governor, pa2010.com has learned.

Doherty, a Democrat who is expected to cruise to a third term as mayor this fall after …

September 17, 2009 at 10:15 am | Comments (28)

Why Hoeffel?

I have a simple question for Democrats.

Why Joe Hoeffel?

It perplexes me that some Democrats see Hoeffel as a viable candidate against Tom Corbett. I understand that he ran Senate in 2004, picking up some statewide name recognition. But Democrats could do so much better.

The fact is, Jack Wagner is the best candidate the party can nominate. Just look at some key facts behind his record reelection win as Auditor General last year:…

September 16, 2009 at 12:45 pm | Comments (5)

Hoeffel wins a straw poll

In a gubernatorial primary that some Democrats say is short on true progressives, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel might be the darling of that crowd.

That’s if you believe an admittedly “very unscientific” straw poll released by Keystone Progress Tuesday.

In the survey of over 1,000 progressive activists, Hoeffel, the former Congressman who is considering a run, won about 35 percent of the vote. State Auditor General Jack Wagner was in second with about 22 …

September 15, 2009 at 1:23 pm | Comments (22)

Not so indirectly, Knox responds to Hoeffel’s ‘progressive’ criticism

It was interesting to read Democrat Tom Knox’s op-ed on pa2010.com Tuesday. In the p“I believe Pennsylvania voters are less concerned with which candidate claims to be the most ‘progressive,’ and more concerned about which candidate is most focused on progress—in solving the challenges and problems in their lives,” Knox wrote./p
pKnox’s sentiment was clearly a response to what Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel told us a couple months ago. When empa2010.com/em reported that he was a href="http://www.pa2010.com/hoeffel-considering-gubernatorial-bid/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fhoeffel-considering-gubernatorial-bid%2F','considering+getting+into+the+race+himself')" target="_blank"considering getting into the race himself/a, Hoeffel voiced concern that there were no genuine progressives in the Democratic field. He has since then taken some tentative but concrete steps toward launching a campaign, including a href="http://www.pa2010.com/exclusive-hoeffel-will-poll-the-gubernatorial-race/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fexclusive-hoeffel-will-poll-the-gubernatorial-race%2F','polling+the+race')" target="_blank">polling the race and …

September 8, 2009 at 4:58 pm | Comments (3)

Gerlach vs. Hoeffel for governor?

Intrigued by the items late last week that MontCo Commissioner and former Congressman Joe Hoeffel …

August 24, 2009 at 4:32 pm | Comments (1)