Maxwell, Walker, Houghton win primaries

Wolf landslide seen as tempering Democratic turnout By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times A number of closely watched races from the governor down to local state legislative races thought to be competitive turned out to be blow outs Tuesday — as Downingtown Mayor Josh Maxwell won the Democratic nod for State Representative in the 74th District and Cuyler Walker won the Republican nomination for State...

Walker: a small government is a better one

158th GOP candidate sees low taxes as key to sparking growth By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Cuyler Walker EAST MARLBOROUGH — When it comes to government, if you ask Republican state house candidate Cuyler Walker, less is more. “In order to have a strong economy, I think the more limited amount of resources the government takes out of the economy, the better off we are,” said, Walker, running...

Letter: Dinniman calls on McCord to pull down ad

To The Editor: Politics is admittedly a rough game but Rob McCord’s TV ad that essentially accuses Tom Wolf of being a racist goes beyond all levels of acceptability.  I join forces with former Governor Ed Rendell, Senator Bob Casey, and other Democratic leaders in condemning this add and urging McCord to withdraw this offensive ad.  When will we Democrats learn to stop shooting ourselves...

Letter: Looting horsemen no way to pay for schools

To The Editor, My background is that of an ‘Army Brat” who traveled the world — Turkey, France, Okinawa — with relatives in England, Australia, and New Zealand.  My grandfather in England used to call his bookie and enjoy making small bets from home and take me to the race courses in the 1950s. I love horses and always have from riding carriage horses in Turkey to now...

Letter: Howard is misinformed on horse fund

To the Editor, It is apparent, after reading Mr. Howard’s letter on the Race Horse Development Fund, that he should not be running for Representative.  His research and information could not be further from the truth and lack any comprehension of the importance of the horse breeding industry and its impact on Chester County’s economy and the preservation of open space. First of all, the...

Letter: Howard misled on race horse development fund

To the Editor: It is a sad reflection on the values of politicians in these times that Roger Howard has chosen to open his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 158th State House District with a negative and deceptive letter to this publication.  I am writing to set the record straight on Mr. Howard’s unfounded and deceitful personal attack on his opponent, Cuyler Walker. In 1961,...

Dinniman says he will back Wolf

St. Sen. says Chester County needs a friend in Gov.’s office By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times State Sen. Andy Dinniman announced Saturday that he will support Tom Wolf in the Democratic primary for governor. EAST BRADFORD — While there are four Democratic candidates for governor, Chester County’s top elected Democrat made his choice plain Saturday, with state Sen. Andy Dinniman announcing...

Democrats step up in legislative races

GOP faces opposition in all but two races in Nov. elections By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Petition season is over, and unless there are some write-in candidates, we know who will appear on the May primary ballots. And, although I took the Democrats to task for seeming to have a shortage of candidates, they’ve managed to challenge all but two legislative races in Chester County. Yes, there...

Do petition numbers really matter?

As campaigns trumpet numbers, do they tell us anything? By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Well, they’re everywhere. Media announcements about the number of signatures a given candidate has gotten to get on the ballot as if it means something. For those who don’t know, political candidates must collect signatures from registered voters in their district — they must be of the same political...

County conventions leave May questions

Few primary battles were settled at either county convention By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times There was a little high drama at the two county party conventions, and in many ways the status quo was largely maintained. There were just a handful of endorsement battles at the meetings — and maybe only one vote there changes the landscape for May. We’ll  get to the Democratic endorsements, which...