Democrat gives GOP Pa. House majority
Stunning switch by representative from Reading is aimed at depriving DeWeese of top job
HARRISBURG -- A Democratic legislator from Reading stunned his colleagues yesterday by announcing he will support Republican John Perzel for House speaker rather than Democrat H. William DeWeese.
State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone wrote to the other 101 Democrats in the House, criticizing Mr. DeWeese's "petty'' and "vindictive'' way of running the Democratic caucus and calling Mr. Perzel "a man of his word'' who is "open, inclusive and fair.''
If Mr. Perzel holds on to all 101 Republican House members -- which is not a certainty -- he would eke out a 102-101 victory over Mr. DeWeese on Tuesday, the opening day of the 2007-08 session. The Waynesburg Democrat has been hoping to regain the powerful speaker's post, which held in 1993-94.
Republicans have held the speaker's job since January 1995. Mr. Perzel has been speaker since March 2003, but his reign appeared to be at an end when Democrats won control of the House by a 102-101 margin on Nov. 7.
Democrats, naturally, are furious about this latest development.
State Chairman T.J. Rooney called Mr. Caltagirone's action "reprehensible ... selfish ... a slap in the face to his constituents and all Democrats throughout Pennsylvania. Make no mistake, this is an act of political treason. Caltagirone sold out to an ineffective ... Republican Party that was handed enormous losses as a result of unprecedented arrogance and 12 years of unchecked power."
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