mikemcgann.org

Well, it looks like John Perzel will be moving out of the speaker’s office after all. In an ironic turn of events, spurned Democratic leader Bill DeWeese managed to push through the nomination of Republican Dennis O’Brien, another Philly Republican, to become the new speaker.

O’Brien immediately pledged to embrace reform, something badly needed in Harrisburg, which might be the most corrupt state capital in America.

The vote capped 72 hours of drama after Rep. Thomas Caltagirone of Bucks County informed Democrats that he would not support DeWeese, but rather would back Perzel, because, and I’m paraphrasing here, DeWeese is an imperious jerk who treats other Democrats like crap, ignores the voters and severely punishes those who do not support him. Of course, DeWeese’s slime patrol quickly reminded people about Caltagirone’s issues in the past (a former staffer claimed sexual harassment about a decade ago, curiously, she rejoined his staff a couple years back) and then trotted out the old "he was mad because he didn’t get a leadership post" gambit.

Whatever the truth, a giant protest (if you can call 40 people, all of whom should know better) was mounted outside of Caltagirone’s office to little effect. Interestingly, Gov. Ed Rendell basically went into hiding — leading to further speculation that the rumors that the governor had found a state rep. to flip parties was true — just not the way people thought. As has been well documented elsewhere, DeWeese and Rendell have a far from warm relationship and many thought having the two have to work together could amount to a Democratic armageddon.

It will be interesting to see how O’Brien and this new, bipartisan house works out.