And just like that...it's gone!

Who says Repubs are slow-footed, lumbering Neanderthals who find it hard to cope with modern science?

Well, me...but that's not really the point of this piece.

The point here is that these Repubs can apparently move with incredible online speed when the need arises.

Take the case of the Jenny Brown (but not Bruce Castor) for County Commissioner Facebook page. It was just noted here in an item posted a little over 24 hours ago and already -- like magic! --the page has completely disappeared!

I guess it's a good thing that nothing ever really disappears from the Internet.

And I'd say that since they're so obviously sensitive about this, it's another good indication that there really is trouble in Repub Paradise if they need to go to the online shredder this early in the game. I would love to know what kind of phone calls went out to get this done so quickly...and who was doing the calling?

TH to chat live with Marcel this afternoon

This should be interesting.

Maybe they'll ask him what he did with the knife he used on Joe Hoeffel.

With luck, he'll announce he's stepping down after the November election. But don't hold your breath on that one.

UPDATE: We should set some expectations beforehand. Maybe some betting odds.

For example - Number of times Marcel mentions the name of Josh Shapiro's running mate: Over/under 12. I'll take the over on this one - I'm sure that's one of the reasons he's doing the interview, to get some name recognition for what's-her-name.

Number of questions Stan Huskey asks that deal with Joe Hoeffel in some way: let's put the over/under at 6 for this one. Again, I'll take the over.

Any others?

WRAP-UP #1: Good thing I didn't put money on those two bets, I think I got skunked on both. Some talk on the Commissioners' race and some about Hoeffel, but not nearly as much as I expected. Overall, good show by both Marcel & Huskey. Color me surprised.

That didn't take long: Jenny goes it alone

Well, they haven't even turned in the nominating petitions yet, and already there's solid evidence that the two Republican candidates are tired of their marriage of convenience.

Over the weekend, a Facebook page sprouted up featuring GOP candidate Jenny Brown...and no mention whatsoever of the giant ego she's supposed to be running with, Commissioner Bruce Castor.

The page, "Jenny Brown for Montgomery County Commissioner", features Brown's campaign head shot along with a number of posted endorsements from Facebook "friends." There's also an announcement of an upcoming Brown appearance keynoting the Upper Moreland Republican Committee Brunch.

But nowhere on the page does the name Bruce Castor appear.

To be fair, it's possible that the page was the handiwork of a friend or acquaintance who wanted to be among the first to jump on the bandwagon - anyone can create a Facebook page, after all.

But given the Peg Gibbons scuttlebutt about early friction between the Brown and Castor camps, I take this as another sign that the county Repubs may once again be fielding a political Odd Couple.

"Tax & Spend" County Budgets? Not Hardly

I keep reading county Repubs' comments trying to drum up some sort of case that the Matthews-Hoeffel record is marked by high taxes and out of control spending.

Here's one that comes from somebody calling themselves "H2O" (geez, H20 comes from what? a watercooler, maybe?) over on Philly.com:

"...Castor voted against all the big spending budgets."

But in truth, there haven't been any "big spending budgets." Fact is, quite the opposite is true - county budgets since the Matthews-Hoeffel coalition took control have CUT spending and kept tax rates stable, even in the face of drastic cuts in state and federal grant money and rapidly falling real estate tax revenue.

Here is a rundown of the county budget over the past five years: the final two Ellis-Matthews budgets and the first three Matthews-Hoeffel budgets:

2007: Expenditures - $463.0 million; Tax rate - 2.84 mills
2008: Expenditures - $484.4 million; Tax rate - 2.695 mills
2009 (first Matthews/Hoeffel budget): Expenditures - $424.6 million; Tax rate - 2.65 mills
2010: Expenditures - $403.9 million; Tax rate - 2.695 mills
2011: Expenditures - $398.5 million; Tax rate - 2.695 mills

Meanwhile, annual grant income during this period fell from a high of more than $200 million in the final year of Matthews-Ellis to less than $140 million last year.

If Castor wants to try and score points for voting against budgets that lowered spending by more than $86 million dollars while keeping the tax rate stable, he's welcome to try.

But if I was Bruce Castor (ugh, what a thought!), I think I'd stay away from making any kind of fiscal argument for why people should vote for me.

Ego wrestling

From the comments following Peg Gibbons article at Phillyburbs.com about Wednesday night's MCRC endorsement meeting.

Justataxpayer: Bob Kerns will be the downfall of the Montco GOP. The only thing bigger than his belly is his ego.

Montco PA Dem: Ah, c'mon. I'll put Marcel Groen's ego up against Kern's any day. It'd be like two sumo wrestlers. And whoever wins that one would get crushed by Bruce Castor's Giant Hulking Humongous Ego anyway.

Going waaaaay out on a limb with this one

OK, maybe not that far out. In fact, this is probably the surest of sure-shot predictions.

But when the dust settles in West Norriton tonight, the county Republicans will have an endorsed slate of Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown. Just like their Executive Committee told them to do.

There is no way that a majority of Republican committee members have the spine to stand up against Castor's Giant Ego.

It's simply too big to overcome.

UPDATE: And it's official. The vote has been taken and, as predicted, Castor & Brown are your Montco Repub standard bearers. Expect Kate Harper to drop out and endorse these two...might even happen at tonight's meeting. Times Herald coverage of the meeting is here.

LATER UPDATE: Well, it's been more than a week now and still no official word from Kate Harper about dropping out. I wouldn't be shocked if she files a nominating petition, but I still don't see any way she could actually beat either of the endorsed candidates in the primary.

WAAAAY LATER UPDATE: Just stumbled upon what may be the only public utterance by Rep. Kate Harper about her plans for the upcoming primary. Via Twitter (where Kate is known as "Montco061"): "I promised not to run for CC unendorsed, and I am keeping my word---honesty being a refreshing change for (sic) the way things are these days...9:35 AM Feb 16th via web" So I guess we won't be seeing her on the ballot after all. Too bad, it would have given us something to talk about in March & April.

Bruce Castor describes the size of his giant ego