Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor could challenge Pa. Governor Tom Corbett in 2014, PoliticsPA reports.
The 51-year-old former district attorney and Lower Salford resident is the minority Republican on the county's 3-person executive and legislative board, alongside Democrats Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards.
Castor told the political news website that he believes Corbett is "vulnerable" to a reelection challenge.
Corbett and Castor have a storied history, including a 2004 Republican primary race for Attorney General. The Republican State Committee endorsed Corbett for the post and Castor ran a grassroots campaign throughout the state, losing the nomination by five points.
Castor has served on the Board of Commissioners since 2008, but it's widely acknowledged that he spent most of his first term frozen out of the decision-making process by his erstwhile running mate, Jim Matthews, and Democrat Joseph Hoeffel.
Since joining Shapiro and Richards on the current Board of Commissioners, Castor and his colleagues have won generally high marks from observers for their bipartisan approach to the challenges facing the state's third-largest county, most notably the retooling of a 2012 operating budget that began the year with a shortfall of more than $10 million.
On the Democratic side, Shapiro has also been named as a possible 2014 contender for Corbett's seat. Shapiro declined last month to comment on those speculations.
I can't stand Corbett but would vote for a stray dog over Castor.
remember 2008?? Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Matthews has been a fixture in Republican politics for three decades. But the biggest political challenge of Matthews’ career may be upon him. Shortly after he and running mate Bruce Castor emerged victorious from a campaign in which many political experts predicted GOP defeat, Mr. Matthews allied himself with Democratic Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, becoming chairman but effectively giving substantial control to the minority party.
I am a Republican and would vote for Shapiro and would vote for Mickey Mouse over Castor! Castor is an egoist supreme, a giant in his own mind, definitely with need of intelligence!
Here is what you buddy Ed Rendell said: “Should Governor Corbett [as attorney general] have moved faster? I think Governor Corbett’s explanation was he was trying to build a solid case by getting a number of cases to make it ironclad. And I think they do have an ironclad case. I think [Attorney] General [Linda] Kelly has an ironclad case.”
Castor wasn't to blame for the Democrats' victory, Jim Matthews was the turncoat in that whole episode. Then he and Hoeffle conspired to muck up the county finances while misleading the entire County on the state of the books. That's what allowed Shapiro and Richards to run on a "no taxes" platform and why you're seeing discretionary spending being slashed from the County budget. Castor had nothing to do with any of that, since he was essentially a political pariah to the Matthews-Hoeffel cartel and had absolutely no control or input.
I doubt Castor at this point has enough cross-state popularity to run for governor successfully though.
He would make a good governor for Mississippi (oops, they turned down personhood) or Alabama. However Castor couldn't be elected to his township board of supervisors. He's as slick as his greasy hair.
To all you that think money grows on trees, remember this: "Gov. Corbett's first budget was the first in more than 40 years to actually cut spending, and he, along with lawmakers, should be applauded for efforts to prepare for the four alarm fiscal fire facing the state"
As for Corbett he has done an okay job, but not taxing the Natural gas people is a big mistake. He should have learned from the past with the strip mining that was done and totally destroyed water ways as well the natural environment around those affected areas.