On Dec. 2, a date which should live in Montgomery County Democratic infamy, party leader Marcel Groen launched a surprise attack against the county’s longest serving and most respected Democratic elected official, Joe Hoeffel:
"I have a great deal of admiration for Joe Hoeffel,”
Groen said to Inquirer reporter Jeremy Roebuck, presumably while donning his silk scarf and aviator goggles and preparing to drop a bomb down Hoeffel’s smokestack. “But we have some young people who can really capture the imagination and sweep us in."
Or, in other words, “
Banzai!!!”
Marcel Groen has declared war on his own party.
Of course, that was just the opening salvo of what promises to be a long, bitter and divisive battle for the future of the county’s majority political party. Like any good general, Groen followed his initial sneak attack with
another blast that appeared in today’s Inquirer:
"Joe Hoeffel's had a long career. I have great respect for him. But people are tired of this. You don't elect a child to run your government. He certainly acts very childish."
People who know Marcel and are familiar with how he’s run his county Democratic fiefdom surely had a few “look who’s talking” comments when they read that one.
For whatever reason – and I’ll go into some of the speculation shortly – Marcel Groen has decided that he wants to publicly slime the man he practically begged to come to the party’s rescue four years ago. And he wants to do it in a way that is going to leave blood on the floor and the party in tatters before it’s over.
Marcel could have done this quietly and behind the scenes. He’s a powerful guy and he usually gets what he wants when it comes to Montco Democratic politics. He could have found a way for Joe to step aside gracefully once his commissioner’s term was done.
But that wasn’t the way he wanted it to go down. It is clear that what Marcel Groen wants is nothing less than the political scalp of Joe Hoeffel to hang on his wall – he wants Hoeffel destroyed, and he doesn’t care if he has to burn down his own party to make that happen.
This certainly isn't the first time that Groen has put his personal agenda ahead of what was best for the party. There is a laundry list of such episodes, the worst of which include:
- Groen's efforts in 2007 to make sure that Philadelphia judge Seamus McCaffery got his ticket punched for the state Supreme Court in the Democratic primary over vastly more-qualified opponent Darnell Jones.
- His opposition to Howard Dean's leadership of the Democratic National Committee, which energized Democrats to wins in 2006 and 2008. Groen told Montco Dem committee members that Dean was a “failure” and a “disaster.”
- In 2008, he took every opportunity in the weeks leading up to the PA Presidential primary to talk about what a weak and undeserving candidate Barack Obama was.
- And earlier this year, he was on the executive committee of Republican Arlen Specter’s bid to be the Democratic Senate candidate and engineered the county Democratic endorsement meeting away from an endorsement of Joe Sestak, who won the primary anyway.
And now this.
Why would the leader of Montgomery County Democrats want to launch such a high profile campaign against the Democratic public official that county voters most recognize and admire? There are a couple of possible reasons, neither of them very compelling.
Here’s one: the Dems seem bound to follow a mandate of their own making that their two candidates for county commissioner consist of one male and one female candidate. Unfortunately, there are two highly visible, highly electable Democratic males ready to run – one, of course, is Hoeffel, the current Democratic commissioner. The other is state representative Josh Shapiro, a rising star who is ready to move up to bigger things. And Groen is most definitely in Shapiro’s corner. The only way for Shapiro to leapfrog over an incumbent Hoeffel is if Hoeffel becomes political roadkill, if he can be painted as corrupt and unpopular – regardless of how untrue those charges might be – so that Shapiro can play the White Knight savior in next spring’s county primary.
And here’s another possible reason: for the past four years, Joe Hoeffel has engineered something truly amazing – a bipartisan marriage of convenience that has frozen out the worst of the Republican power structure – namely commissioner Bruce Castor – by cozying up to the lesser of the evils, Republican commissioner Jim Matthews. But rumors say that Groen is not happy with Hoeffel’s handling of the arrangement. According to the grapevine, Groen thinks Hoeffel should have steered more county business toward Democratic interests, and this inability to deliver the goods has turned Groen into an enemy.
Regardless of the reason why, it’s obvious now that Marcel Groen is again putting his own skewed vision of the Democratic Party ahead of party unity, ahead of party success and ahead of what’s best for Montgomery County.
Marcel “Tojo” Groen sent two torpedoes into the S.S. Joe Hoeffel this month with the sole intention of sinking him before the primary season even gets started. It’ll be interesting to see how Hoeffel and his allies respond to the sneak attack.
Joe Hoeffel has had a long and well-respected career serving the people of Montgomery County. I’m sure he never thought he’d have to battle his own party’s county leader to continue that service.
Maybe this time Montco Democrats will wake up and see who the real problem is. Maybe they’ll figure out that what they really need is a change at the top.
Joe Hoeffel isn’t the problem.
Marcel Groen is.
Justataxpayer: Bob Kerns will be the downfall of the Montco GOP. The only thing bigger than his belly is his ego. 
The inferno pictured here didn't happen in the United States - it took place last February in Podyelsk, Russia, when a nursing home went up in flames and killed 23 residents.
Shannondell features buildings as tall as seven stories, filled with aging retirees in various stages of ability and mobility. Some with canes, some with walkers, some with wheelchairs, all of whom would need to get out in a hurry in case a fire breaks out. 
