I give this to you in full.

The gloves are most definitely off in Montco.

Norristown, PA (August 15, 2007) – Montgomery County Democratic Chairman Marcel L. Groen today blasted as “hypocritical” the letter sent by three Montgomery County Republican candidates to President Bush asking him to remove Alberto Gonzales as U.S. Attorney General.

The letter was sent by fax to the President by county commissioner candidates James Matthews and Bruce Castor and district attorney candidate Risa Ferman. In comments after the letter was sent, Castor said it was necessary to send the letter “because the Republican brand is at an all-time low.”

Groen found that logic specious at best.

“That is the height of hypocrisy,” Groen said. “It is incredible reasoning that these three
candidates, particularly Mr. Castor and Mr. Matthews,worked so hard to get President Bush elected twice, and now that it is inconvenient to run as a Republican they are running as far away as possible as fast as possible.

“There are several legitimate reasons Mr. Gonzales should have been removed from office a long time ago, but the letter from Matthews and Castor fails to list even one,” Groen said.

“Where were Matthews and Castor when Mr. Gonzales was politicizing the Justice Department? Where were Matthews and Castor when Mr. Gonzales on several occasions danced around congressional questioning and parsed words until they were unrecognizable? Where were Matthews and Castor when White House Counsel Gonzales went to the sick bed of then-Attorney General Ashcroft to try to convince him to authorize an illegal wiretapping scheme?

Where were Matthews and Castor when Mr. Gonzales as White House counsel was calling the Geneva Convention restrictions on torture ‘quaint’? They were checking polls, and now, and only now, they want Gonzales gone.”

Groen suggested that if Castor and Matthews are so concerned about the“Republican brand,” they should look at Montgomery County before they worry about Washington.
“Try cleaning up your own party and the government you have controlled for 138 years,” Groen said.

“If you don’t like the tactics used by Karl Rove, don’t use similar ones here in Montgomery County,” Groen said, referring to the actions of a Castor campaign functionary who bought two web domains using the names Damsker and Hoeffel, the names of the Democratic candidates for county commissioners.

“If you don’t like Alberto Gonzales politicizing the Justice Department, then stop politicizing the county district attorney’s office,” Groen said referring to the fact that an a fulltime employee in Castor’s district attorney’s office is also a fundraiser for him and Matthews, and that many assistant district attorneys are active politically and running for office.

“If you don’t like the fact that no one in Bush Administration is ever held accountable, then don’t show an embarrassing department head the exit and then turn around and give him a consulting gig at twice his salary,” Groen continued, referring to the fact that Matthews and his GOP counterpart on the board of commissioners did just that with former Public Property Director Andrew Gulotta.

“If you don’t like the cronyism that has been a landmark of the Bush White House, then don’t hire a woman, who is dating one of the county commissioners, for a $35,000 a year county job,” Groen said, referring to the hiring of a woman, who has a “dating relationship” with GOP Commissioner Thomas Ellis. Matthews voted for the hiring.

“If you don’t like the cesspool of no-bid contracts that Halliburton has received from this Administration, especially in Iraq, then don’t approve RFPs that only allow one company to bid, and then turn around and take over $42,000 in campaign contributions from the CEO of that firm,” said Groen, referring to the RFP, which resulted in only one firm being able to provide forensic services to Castor’s district attorney’s office, and the CEO of that firm writing over $42,000 in checks to Castor’s campaign committees.

“People understand lip service for what it is – disingenuous and hypocritical,” Groen said. “What Mr. Castor and Mr. Matthews don’t understand is when they run away from the Bush record in Washington; they are going to run right smack into their record in Norristown.”