“The Toomey-Specter race took place two years ago, but the votes
are still coming in tonight.”
That was the observation of one Pennsylvanian, an establishment
Republican, as he watched the primary returns Tuesday night. Still
upset by last year’s
pay raise, Republican primary voters sent packing two state
legislative leaders, David J. “Chip” Brightbill, Senate majority
leader, and Robert Jubelirer, Senate president pro tempore. Over a
dozen House incumbents were also turned out of office. Speaking to
TAS on the condition of anonymity, the Republican said Pat
Toomey’s 2004 primary challenge of Sen. Arlen Specter did not end
with his defeat. Rather, it sparked a movement. Tuesday’s primary
was “a chance for us conservatives to keep voting,” he said.
Though Pennsylvanians did not vote for Pat Toomey himself
Tuesday, they opted for his type of candidates. To highlight a few
conservative challengers, John Eichelberger, a Blair County
commissioner, defeated Jubelirer with 44 percent of the vote in a
three-way race. Mike Folmer, a tire salesman and one-time city
councilman dubbing himself “Citizen Mike,” handily ousted
Brightbill, 63 to 37 percent. Gary Hornberger, Schuylkill County
controller, took 51 percent to 18-year incumbent Rep. Bob
Allen’s 49 percent.
The election also comes as a rebuke for Arlen Specter. After the
Pennsylvania Club for Growth targeted Brightbill, Jubelirer, and
Allen for defeat, Specter said he was helping them all. “I have
given some money and more’s coming,” he said at a state capitol
news conference, according to Capitol Wire.
LIKE MANY PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVATIVES, Toomey, now president of the
Club for Growth in Washington, had grown fed up with Republican
leaders in Harrisburg, in particular their tendency to raise taxes
and grow government. But last year’s large, unconstitutional pay
raise “really set off a firestorm,” as well as a popular movement
against the legislature, Toomey told TAS yesterday.
Primary challengers solicited Toomey’s help and advice. Once Toomey
determined that they were “solid conservatives” and “serious,
credible candidates,” he endorsed Eichelberger, Folmer, and several
others. He did so on his own behalf and not as president of the
Club for Growth.
Toomey raved about the outcome yesterday but would not claim
credit. “I certainly don’t want to take anything away from these
candidates,” Toomey said. “They ran great races. They were solid on
the issues.”
Chris Lilik, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania
(YCOP), begs to differ. “Without Pat Toomey, we probably would have
had a different outcome in these races,” he said yesterday. Lilik’s
group emerged from the Toomey campaign, energized to promote
Pennsylvania conservatism. They have dogged the state Republican
leaders since the pay raise, helping organize state house rallies
and printing bumper stickers reading, “Remember the Pay Raise!”
Facing off against the Republican state committee, which backed
the incumbents, YCOP and the Pennsylvania Club for Growth (separate
from Toomey’s group) threw their weight behind the challengers. The
New York Times reported that Brightbill outspent Folmer by a 20 to 1
margin and that Jubelirer raised $1.3 million for the race.
Pennsylvania Club for Growth countered by running television spots
for Folmer while YCOP bought radio time, Lilik said. YCOP
supplemented Eichelberger’s advertising with additional radio ads.
In that area of Pennsylvania, where ads run around $14 to $20 per
ad, YCOP’s $60,000 went a long way.
Some commentators claim that the pay raise was not the primary
cause for voter dissatisfaction. Jubelirer blamed “everything,” from the war and gas prices
to immigration. Toomey places the pay raise in a larger context as
“a significant catalyst.” Overall, Republicans voters ousted
incumbents because they are “frustrated by a lack of commitment to
principle.” The pay raise was an enormous part of that, Toomey
said. He cited a poll he commissioned two and a half weeks before
the election that showed Chip Brightbill ahead of Mike Folmer by 44
to 24 percent. But it also showed that voters were unaware
Brightbill had voted for the pay raise. Once ads hit the air
pointing that out, Brightbill sunk.
However, the pay raise was not a deal breaker for Pennsylvania
Republicans. Toomey noted that traditionally solid conservatives
who supported the pay raise but recanted and voted to repeal, won
their primaries.
What does Tuesday’s primary mean for fall elections? At the
state level, Sen. Rick Santorum still enjoys the support of
Pennsylvania’s conservatives, including Mr. Toomey. Some argue the
election indicates widespread opposition to Republican incumbents,
but that anger seems directed at specific legislators who have
abandoned conservative principles. Santorum has been careful not to
join that group, holding the line on spending and immigration,
conservatives’ pet peeves with Congress these days. Gov. Ed Rendell
is still confident that voter ire won’t affect
him in his race against Lynn Swann in the fall. “Naw, my opponent
supported and endorsed Sen. Jubelirer and Sen. Brightbill, the two
architects of the pay raise,” Rendell said. While Swann imprudently
endorsed Jubelirer and Brightbill, voters may not forget that
Rendell not only defended the pay raise as good legislation last
summer, but brokered the deal that made it happen.
Nationally, Toomey sees the Pennsylvania primary as a harbinger
for the upcoming congressional elections. Conservatives are
frustrated over border security and spending, he said: “This is a
very clear reminder that Republicans who don’t govern as
Republicans could be in big trouble. The RINOs may be in the sights
of voters.”
David Holman is a reporter for The American
Spectator.
