February 6, 2013

A rift in the Republican Party of Chadds Ford Township has a sitting supervisor wondering about switching to the Democratic Party.

Deborah Love, whose term on the Board of Supervisors is up for re-election in November, is not seeking an endorsement from the Republican Party’s Executive Committee. She sent a letter to party leader Mary Kot saying she did not want the endorsement because the committee has become exclusive and engages in cronyism.

“Exclusivity – This committee in April of last year [2012] closed its meetings to a select few excluding any Republican, elected and non-elected, who offered a different opinion or policy. Cronyism – This committee has sought to advance the personal agenda of its members as opposed to promoting the interest of the Chadds Ford Community as a whole,” she wrote.

The letter may have been anticlimactic since the committee had already voted to endorse Frank Murphy to be the Republican candidate for supervisor before she sent the letter. Murphy currently serves on the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board and spent 10 years as township commissioner in Aston.

“We were very proactive in our efforts to seek a candidate whose primary concern would be the township,” Kot said. “We were thrilled with the responses we received and after an exhaustive process we endorsed Frank Murphy.”

Love told Chadds Ford Live that she is talking to other Republicans, Democrats and independents about her next campaign. When asked if she would change parties, Love responded by saying she’s keeping her options open.

“I hope she would not [change parties],” Kot said. “I would be disappointed if she did. We understand that Deborah would be supportive of Frank.”

Democratic Party Chairman Rob Porter said Love had not contacted him.

Love, a former member of the Executive Committee, said things began changing last spring when the committee went from eight people, down to four — the party’s committee people — Kot, Paul Koch, Valerie Hoxter and Rick Eckman.

That was a mistake, Love said, since the Republicans had lost a school board race and there was a national race in the fall. Instead of reducing the size of the group, she said, it should have been reaching out and being inclusive instead of exclusive.

According to Love, Kot stood fast to the decision. However, when it was time for the committee to interview Love for this year’s endorsement, she was interviewed by six people, not just the four committee members.

Those other two people were Bruce Prabel and Deb Reardon, former voting members of the committee who were moved to the nonvoting positions of treasurer and secretary respectively.

“It dawned on me that the only two people who were removed from the executive committee were Craig Huffman and myself,” Love said. “That was an eye-opening thought.” (Huffman is the township Planning Commission chairman.)

She said there had been disagreements on fund-raising activities for the party in 2011 and then on her campaign fund-raiser last September. Love said she learned that people were told not to attend.

“Phone calls were made to people who usually support me telling them not to support me,” Love said. “They also made phone calls saying ‘don’t go to her event.’ So it wasn’t a passive non-support, it was an active non-support.”

(At that time Kot thought it was too soon to have a fund-raiser for a 2013 election, especially with a presidential election in November.)

The Republican leader said reducing the size of the Executive Committee had nothing to do with Love. Rather, it was a matter of bringing the Chadds Ford GOP structure in line with that in other townships.

“The format we chose is what most municipalities in Delaware County use. That is the elected committee people are the voting members,” Kot said, adding that “it’s absolutely not true” that people were removed from the committee because they had different opinions.

She also said that some committee people felt it wasn’t the best idea to have a sitting supervisor on the committee.

“Members were uncomfortable with that,” Kot said.

As for cronyism and personal agendas, Love said there had been issues between herself and Hoxter, the township tax collector and former treasurer for Love’s campaigns.

Love said there were times when she had communication difficulties with Hoxter over getting campaign paperwork filed on time. In one case those problems led to a late filing. The campaign was fined $20 for that infraction.

She added that last fall’s controversy over the township manager’s salary was also a symptom. Love said that Hoxter and others wanted the manager’s salary to be in line with what other township managers got, but that they balked in January when Chadds Ford supervisors voted to reduce the tax collector’s compensation beginning next year.

“It appears that the cronyism is in support of Valerie,” Love said.

She said her opponents wanted the manager’s salary to fit the market place, but that tax collector’s salary should not. They also want to spend freely on some projects, “but scrutinize others to the penny.”

“This isn’t about Republicans and Democrats; this isn’t about politics and political parties. This is about a group of people who, in my mind, have chosen to go on a witch hunt,” said Love.

She added that people have reported difficulty in reaching Hoxter about township tax issues and that there were complaints from people saying they couldn’t reach Hoxter on sewer issues when she was treasurer for the Sewer Authority.

Hoxter responded with the following formal statement:

“Miss Love’s comments and allegations regarding cronyism and my performance are far from accurate. Sadly, it appears Miss Love has chosen to make matters personal, rather than focusing on what is in the best interest of our township.”

According to Kot, “It’s absolutely not true” that the committee is promoting any individual’s personal agenda. “We have done only what we think are the absolute best interests of the township, not even in the best interests of the Republican Party.”

Love has had the Republican Party’s backing since 2001. With the party’s endorsement, she challenged and defeated then incumbent Republican Supervisor Harvey Kliman in the spring primary that year. She ran unopposed in the general election and was, again, the endorsed candidate in 2007 when she won re-election defeating Democrat Rhona Klein that November.