GOP CHAIRMAN: “PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATS SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE DECIDING TO PROMOTE JOE HOEFFEL”

For Immediate Release

MCRC Chairman, Bob Kerns:

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel isn’t following his own set of rules according to Montgomery County Republican Committee chairman Robert J. Kerns. The very rules Hoeffel wrote.

Kerns was referring to Hoeffel’s vote last Thursday to approve a $35 million bond issue without sending a Request for Proposal (RFP) to five qualified applicants to act as bond lawyers for the deal as the law requires.

Ordinance No. 98-2, authored and adopted when Hoeffel was a Commissioner in 1998, calls for providing RFP’s to “not less than five” persons who have submitted statements of their qualifications and interest in each and every professional service contract. The ordinance specifically includes "attorneys, engineers, accountants, etc."

“Joe Hoeffel loves to tout all these things he claims he did to promote ethics and open government, but what good is passing ordinances to avoid pay to play and patronage if you don’t enforce them?” Kerns said. Hoeffel made competitive bidding one of the centerpieces of his campaign for commissioner in 2007, but he repeatedly violates his own rules whenever he likes. The Hoeffel Administration operates at the very height of hypocrisy.

Kerns also asked why Controller Diane Morgan’s office has not raised this issue?

“The Controller is supposed to be the one who is elected to be the watchdog for the taxpayers. Has the county, under this administration, bothered complying with this ordinance at all? If they haven’t then why hasn’t she done something about it?” Kerns asked. "Is it possible to have any duty more important for the Controller than to make sure the commissioners follow their own good government ordinances?”

“These safeguards were put in place to stop pay to play and ensure the taxpayers benefit from healthy competition. It’s time for Hoeffel to stop ignoring his own ordinances and it’s time for Morgan to step up and do her job,” Kerns said.

“Joe Hoeffel is off running for Governor claiming he wants to do for Pennsylvania what he’s done for Montgomery County. Our county is out of money, cutting health benefits, engaging in pay to play politics and disregarding ethics and good government rules while the elected watchdog, a Hoeffel ally, turns a blind eye. Pennsylvania Democrats should think twice before deciding to promote Joe Hoeffel,” Kerns concluded.