During a politically charged township council meeting, Concord Township Councilman Joshua Twersky announced he was pulling out of the race for reelection in November. Twersky was offered the Republican Party endorsement for reelection, but he didn’t accept by the given deadline, so the endorsement was rescinded.
He announced his withdrawal from the race during a vote on whether or not to approve the resolution to preserve the 17-acre Hall property.
Referring to his candidacy and that of Jai Oberoi he said, “I will not be running for reelection in the November 2019 general election and will be withdrawing my name from the ballot … Obviously, I will not be going away. It’s not in my DNA. I may run for council or something else in the future. But I will be involved. Always fighting for accountability, transparency, honor and integrity in government.”
He made no further comment nor did he elaborate later when asked. He repeated the comment on Facebook but went no further except to say he does intend to serve out the remaining months of his current two-year term which ends Dec.31 of this year.
He did say during the meeting that he thinks the preservation of the property was due, at least in part, to his efforts.
“It seems that the seeds of accountability, doing what you say, and a decent level of transparency may be starting to take root. Though there are still some issues with how we budget, tax and choose our professionals,” he said
During the meeting, Twersky called into question a political letter written May 14 by Councilwoman Libby Salvucci in which she said she was not running for reelection because of family commitments and that Twersky had created “a toxic atmosphere” in Council.
Twersky had one of his political supporters hand out copies of the letter prior to the start of the July 2 meeting. After calling Salvucci’s comments lies, Twersky asked Council President Dominic Pileggi to have Salvucci censured.
During discussions on the minutes of previous meetings, Twersky asked that a court transcript of a suit he brought against a political opponent — Michael Harding, a Republican Party-endorsed candidate for Council — be entered into the minutes of a meeting in May.
Twersky and the New Concord New Republicans brought the suit against Harding because of Harding’s answers on a financial disclosure form were inaccurate. Judge John Whelan held in favor of Harding.
Township solicitor Hugh Donaghue said the transcript from the litigation could not be entered into the minutes of a previous meeting because the litigation happened in a courtroom, outside of Council.
Twersky then said Donaghue was “conflicted” because he defended Harding in the matter. Donaghue responded saying it was his law partner who represented Harding. The two then spent several minutes over talking each other.
He also challenged elements of the auditor’s report as well as his continued questioning of the propriety of a $10 million surplus, something he’s been doing since last fall’s discussion on the 2019 budget.
Twersky came to prominence when the township voted in 2014 to have a Government Study Commission to determine what type of government Concord should have. Twersky was one of the members elected to that commission which led to Concord becoming a home rule township. and he later ran and was elected in 2017 for Township Council.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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Bye, bye Twersky. Wish I could say I’ll miss you.
Libby is correct. Censured? Really?
Take the criticism and go.