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Blunt political call to arms backfires in

Bucks
By Thomas Fitzgerald

Inquirer Staff Writer

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Read the e-mail


The e-mail to Bucks County Republicans urged recipients to lean on "courthouse employees and
consultants" for help in registering new GOP voters.

"Many people owe their jobs to GOP leadership," it said. "Professionals, consultants, contractors, and
loyal GOP supporters have benefitted handsomely."

Needless to say, the message, sent July 16 by Northampton Township Supervisor Vincent J. Deon, was
unusually blunt, and could be read as menacing.

It has surfaced in the race for control of the Bucks County courthouse, with Democrats calling the e-mail
an illustration of the dangers of longtime one-party rule. County Republicans disavowed the message.

In recent years, the number of registered Democrats and independents has increased across the
Philadelphia suburbs, threatening the longtime dominance of the Republican Party. "I wanted to
personally assure you his e-mail was not authorized and was completely inappropriate," Mike Walsh,
manager of the reelection campaign of GOP County Commissioners Charley Martin and Jim Cawley,
wrote in a July 25 e-mail.

"Our effort to grow the party is a 100 percent volunteer effort," Walsh said. "No one should feel any
pressure."

He said he sent the disavowal to several hundred names on the party's e-mail list.

Deon, in an interview, said his initial e-mail went to about 25 friends and was a personal "call to arms" to
rouse volunteers for a much-needed voter registration drive. He said he did not intend to threaten county
or local employees or contractors.

"Do I realize now it's something better said than read? Yes, sir," Deon said. "I was a little overzealous. I'm
not a wordsmith, just a passionate volunteer."

The Bucks GOP has set a goal of enlisting 5,000 new registered voters by the Oct. 9 deadline for the
Nov. 6 election.

Except for a four-year Democratic run in the mid-1980s, Republicans have been in control of county
government since 1976. Democrats last won a majority of the three-member Board of Commissioners in
1987.

"This is what happens when you have one party controlling things for such a long time," said Steve
Santasiero, one of the two Democratic candidates for the county board. "It's the arrogance of power."

Diane Marseglia, his running mate, said Deon's e-mail was an example of a "pay to play" mentality and
questioned the GOP's disavowal of the message.

"I don't know how you distance yourself from someone who's an elected official, whose brother practically
runs the Republican Party, and whose family has been involved in Republican politics for years,"
Marseglia said.

Deon's brother, Pasquale "Pat" Deon, is chairman of the regional SEPTA board and a member of the
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Vincent Deon said Republicans in his township and throughout the county hire Democratic-oriented firms
for government work as well. "We're equal opportunity," he said.

By law, one seat on the board must go to a member of the minority party. Incumbent Democrat Sandra
Miller was defeated in the primary this year.

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