Commissioner Brown Preps Constituents for Potential Replacement Process

After two recent resignations of Lower Merion Township commissioners, Ward 2 Commissioner Jenny Brown wants everyone to know: if everything goes as planned, she won’t finish her term either.

Brown, a Republican, is running for Montgomery County Commissioner, and if she wins that seat in the Nov. 8 election, her township seat would be up for grabs in January 2012 since she can’t hold both seats simultaneously.

“I want you all to be thinking about this,” Brown said at Tuesday night’s Gladwyne Civic Association meeting. “I want to make sure the filling of the Ward 2 vacancy isn’t done in the same way as Ward 1 and Ward 13.”

The resignations of Board President Bruce Reed (Ward 13) and Vice President Mark Taylor (Ward 1) and subsequent appointments to fill their spots were contentious ones on a board where commissioners of both parties have complained of partisanship and transparency issues.

Reed, a Democrat who was the Ward 13 (Cynwyd and Merion Park) commissioner and board president,  Dec. 23 for personal reasons. On Jan. 19, the board  Democrat Brian McGuire to the Ward 13 seat and elected Democrat Liz Rogan as board president.

McGuire, one of the two candidates interviewed to fill Reed’s spot, said in an  that Reed approached him as early as October about the possibility of replacing him.

Reed’s resignation came after the board approved a 10.8 percent real estate  for this year. And when Democrat Paul McElhaney nominated Rogan as president in January, Republican Commissioner Lew Gould nominated Democrat Cheryl Gelber.

Gelber said then that she was disturbed that the board's Democratic majority had selected Rogan as the presumptive appointee without telling her or the board's Republican minority, and said board members need to improve discourse amongst themselves.

Taylor, a Democrat who was the Ward 1 (Gladwyne, Merion Park, Penn Valley and Wynnewood) commissioner and board vice president,  Jan. 21, also for personal reasons. On Feb. 16, the  Penn Valley resident and Democrat Daniel Bernheim to succeed Taylor as Ward 1 representative. McElhaney was elected vice president of the board.

Bernheim said at the Tuesday Gladwyne Civic Association meeting that he wanted to be open with the public, and said he had told Taylor before Reed’s resignation that he would step up in the event of Taylor’s resignation.

When one civic attendee commented that sounded like a backroom deal, Bernheim said it would have been irresponsible of Taylor to resign without knowing there would be someone to fill his seat.

“I just said to a friend, ‘I got your back,’ ” Bernheim said.

Rogan  by the Gladwyne and Penn Valley civic associations to extend the application deadline for Ward 1 candidates. At the time, the only applicant was Bernheim, who said he would be amenable to whatever decision Rogan made about the deadline.

The deadline was not extended, and Bernheim was chosen over Republican Joseph Carapico 9-2 in a party-line vote. Brown and fellow Republican Commissioner Lew Gould were not present at that meeting.

Brown won the endorsement for county commissioner on the Republican ticket, along with incumbent Republican commissioner Bruce Castor, on Feb. 9. She is currently circulating petitions to get her name on the ballot, for which the deadline is March 8, she said.

Brown said two of most important issues to her in her run for county commissioner are transparency and budgeting.

Since there are just three county commissioners, as opposed to the 14 in the township, the Sunshine Act is of particular importance because if just two of the county commissioners are discussing county issues in private, it’s a violation, she said.

And the county is currently spending $20 million more each year than it’s bringing in, Brown said.

“I see the county where Lower Merion was back in 2002,” she said. “We are spending excessively more and increasing debt. I believe I have the right ideas to set the right fiscal policy in place to handle that so the county is in good shape and isn’t in the position Lower Merion is in right now.”

In addition to her announcement at the Gladwyne Civic Association meeting, Brown also sent out an e-mail Wednesday to Ward 2 constituents—“in light of the poor process used in announcing and filling the two recent vacancies,” she wrote—to make sure they are aware she may depart early from the township Board of Commissioners as well.

“I welcome Commissioners Bernheim and Maguire to the Board and I wish them success in their public service,” Brown wrote. “Unfortunately, the process involved in filling the vacancies was disappointing in its considerable lack of transparency and disregard for meaningful public participation.  While there were two candidates who applied for the appointment for each vacancy it seemed apparent that the outcome had been pre-determined.”

Brown explained why she may resign and encourages them to get a head start in thinking about new interim candidates that would serve until a full-time Ward 2 commissioner is elected in November 2013.

Brown said she has already spoken with a number of people who have expressed interest, and said that’s because many of her constituents are active in the Gladwyne Civic Association and at township meetings.

“I think that there are a lot of people who will be very interested,” she said. “Republican, Democrat, Independent—it doesn’t matter."