Why would a state representative from a moderate suburban Philadelphia district:
- Boast of his 100% rating from the far-right American Conservative Union by posting this photo,
- Post a photo of himself shaking hands with unpopular-in-Southeast-PA Gov. Corbett on the occasion of Corbett signing his second budget, which locked in the nearly $1 billion of education cuts for a second year, and
- Keep his name on the anti-gay “marriage amendment” (H.B. 1434) to the state Constitution seven months after he told a constituent he would stop it?
It could be that Rep. Mike Vereb is covering his right flank since PA has a closed primary. Or it could point to him being ambitious and perhaps getting ready to make a move up from his current rung on the House Republican leadership ladder (caucus secretary).
Capitolwire recently reported that Rep. Brian Ellis, R-Butler, has for months been working to gather support to run against fellow western PA resident Mike Turzai for floor leader after the Nov. 6 election.
It’s plausible that Ellis might not be the only one sniffing around Turzai’s job since (for example) Turzai’s infamous “Voter ID… Done” gaffe has gone national and it just isn’t going away. A large portion of the House GOP caucus is from Southeast PA and might not be satisfied with having the appropriations chairman (William Adolph) be from Delaware County — and might see an opportunity if two western PA reps split that region’s votes for floor leader.
Seen in that light, it starts to make sense that Vereb would boast on his legislative Facebook page about his 100% rating from the far-right American Conservative Union, which puts on the annual CPAC wingnut-fest and has guys like Grover Norquist and John Bolton on its board. Vereb got his 100% ACU rating by voting for, among other things, the “voter ID” voter suppression bill that Republican judges put on hold and Corbett’s second budget, which locked in last year’s nearly $1 billion in education funding cuts for a second year.
It also starts to make sense that Vereb’s name is still on Daryl Metcalfe’s anti-gay proposed “marriage amendment” to the state Constitution, more than seven months after I got this message from a Vereb constituent (March 12):
“This is directly from Mr. Vereb: “it may run in committee but I will block it after that. Right now I cant do a thing.”"
Fortunately for the people of the 150th state House district in Montgomery County, they can vote for someone who will stand with them, instead of Tom Corbett, Daryl Metcalfe and Grover Norquist. You can click here to see the website of Vereb’s Democratic challenger, Kelly Devine.
(An aside: What is it with certain PA Republican legislators and Twitter? Vereb used to be a prolific tweeter and then clammed up in April. The infamous Tarah Toohil said in 2010 that Twitter can make legislators more accessible, but two years later, she appears to have only a private Twitter account, not a legislative one open to the public. Meanwhile, Rep. Stephen Bloom, R-Cumberland, tweets prolifically and interacts with constituents via Twitter, as ABC-27 reported this week. Another Republican who’s not scared of Twitter is Rep. Gordon Denlinger, R-Lancaster.)
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A reminder of what the Keystone Politics roundup of guest blogger introductions mentioned earlier this month: I blog at KP on my *own* time. As you can guess, that means any opinions I express here are my own, not of my employer.
Just what the Republicans need, a cheating on his wife legislator as their leader. Maybe he should ask his desk polishing girlfriend, Rep. Tarah Toohil; too much baggage with the both of them.