Rick Santorum's withdrawal from the presidential race appears to have cleared Mitt Romney's path toward the Republican nomination. It also knocked some of the excitement out of Tuesday's Republican primary in Pennsylvania. But there are still a handful of reasons to pay attention to what ......

A Republican state House candidate from the Lititz area has gone negative on one of his primary opponents, Mindy Fee, for having been a registered Democrat more than a decade a ago. In a new mailer, Steve Black's campaign claims Fee was a "Bill Clinton-Al Gore Democrat" in the late 1990s,......

Rick Santorum made the right move at the right time. But just barely. His campaign is nearly $1 million in debt, and there was no reason for him to endure the reels of negative attack ads awaiting him in Pennsylvania or to risk the humiliation of losing his home state on April 24.......

In the end, Rick Santorum was humble. And characteristically defiant. The Republican presidential hopeful, who abandoned his long-shot campaign Tuesday, described his run for the nomination as a "miraculous experience." He also described himself as the only GOP candidate willing t......

The Republican Committee of Lancaster County has announced the venue for its April 17 fundraising banquet featuring presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. The event has been booked for the Lancaster County Convention Center in the city and is expected to draw as many as 600 ......

Republicans Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum will bring their presidential campaigns to the same venue in Lancaster County just one week before Pennsylvania's primary, party officials here said Wednesday. The two candidates, who are engaged in an increasingly bitter fight for the party's nom......

Eight Republicans here are hoping to serve as Pennsylvania delegates to the presidential nominating convention in Tampa this summer, and many of them have already pledged their votes to either Ron Paul or Newt Gingrich — regardless of what happens in the April primary. The residents......

Lancaster County is a step closer to naming its top elections official, a key appointment in a presidential election year. But its selection didn't come without a measure of controversy. The county has offered the position of chief clerk of the Board of Elections and chief registr......

The Republican Party chairman here is questioning whether Democratic congressional hopeful Aryanna Strader and her party tried to mislead voters into believing she is a Chester County native and resident of the 16th District. Strader, an Oregon native who moved to Chester County in July, ......

It should come as no surprise that thrice-married adulterer and former House speaker Newt Gingrich has a big problem when it comes to women voters. But exit polls from Florida, where Gingrich suffered a beating at the hands of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney......

This week's Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling throwing out a redrawn map of all state House and Senate districts could force Lancaster County Republican Committee to seek re-votes on all of its legislative endorsements. A redo would be unprecedented in modern history and could alter the r......

Manheim sales executive Mindy Fee won strong support from Republican committee members in the 37th Legislative District on Tuesday night in her bid for retiring state Rep. Tom Creighton's House seat. Fee, who is 46 and a member of the Manheim Central GOP, beat out builder Stephen Black of......

Referees get no respect. Pat Meehan knows that. The Republican congressman, whose 7th district will include part of eastern Lancaster County beginning in 2013, once worked as a professional hockey ref. Years ago, you may have seen him on the ice in Hershey. It was brutal....

Correction Dec. 28, 2011 — Stephen Black, a candidate for state Rep. Tom Creighton's 37th District seat, is a trustee for the Moravian College theological seminary. An earlier version of the story below was unclear on that position....

A candidate for Manor Township supervisor has a pair of felony convictions on his record for emptying his grandmother's bank account without her knowledge, causing her to lose her home, according to court records. Democrat Chad A. George, 37, has been running a spirited campaign desp......

Over the summer, Charlie Smithgall raised more than twice as much money for his Lancaster City Council campaign as his three Democratic opponents combined. And, with a week to go before the election, Smithgall is sitting on a war chest with five times as much money as his opponents. ......

The United States must control spending or it could be headed down the path that Western Europe is on, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said Friday. There is time to right the course, but it will require Republicans to defeat President Barack Obama, hold on to the House and gain control of the Senate......

The first candidate has thrown his hat into the ring for retiring state Rep. Scott Boyd's House seat. Republican Keith J. Greiner, an accountant serving his first term as Lancaster County controller, said he will seek the 43rd Legislative District seat next year. "I'm definitely r......

Here's a little bad news for those of you fed up with both the Republicans and the Democrats, for the hopeless optimists among us who believe there's room enough in Pennsylvania's political arena for a third party: The two-party system is alive and healthy as a horse. It's been bu......

Eric Powell is out and Justin Quinn is in. That's the latest development at the Lancaster County Republican Committee, where Chairman Ethan Demme has replaced Powell, the executive director hired by former Chairman Greg Sahd, with Quinn, a political consultant and a former Lancaster Newspape......

Politically, the story line in Tuesday's primary, as with most primaries here, is whether the local Republican Party can produce victories for the candidates it spent weeks evaluating and endorsing. Keep an eye on these three hot contests, in which some critics in the GOP have suggested t......

Lancaster attorney Leonard G. Brown III, one of two Republicans seeking a county judgeship, came out the winner in a second straight round of informal polls taken among rank-and-file members of the GOP. In the same polls, Dr. Stephen G. Diamantoni, seeking a second term as county coroner,......

A public defender who has taken on high-profile death-penalty cases and a civil litigator who formerly practiced constitutional law have emerged as top contenders for an open seat on the county bench. Merrill M. Spahn Jr. and Leonard G. Brown III, both Republicans, won high marks from Lan......

A doctor who was embroiled in a sensational legal case after accidentally administering a lethal dose of painkiller to his teenage son is taking on the Lancaster County coroner, whose office investigated the boy's death. But the fight won't take place in a courtroom. It will be on......

Republican candidates will begin battling for prized party endorsement in races for coroner and several other countywide offices starting in just a few weeks. To date, only one Democrat — county Commissioner Craig Lehman, who is beginning the final year of his first four-year term &......

No surprises here. Only the four judicial candidates recommended by the bar association for a seat on the local bench are seeking endorsement from the Republican Committee of Lancaster County. GOP Chairman Greg Sahd said the four local attorneys met Monday's 5 p.m. deadline for ju......

If it feels as if you've read this story before, well, you have. Several times in recent years, in fact. The Lancaster County Republican Committee has lost yet another executive director — this time after just 60 days. Lititz native Heather S. Wolf, a former staffer in the G......

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele has shut down media access to his scheduled speech in Lancaster tonight. Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, is scheduled to rally the GOP at the Republican Committee of Lancaster County's $75-a-plate fall fundraising ban......

The Republican Committee of Lancaster County will hold its second in a series of town hall-style meetings on Saturday. The event, designed to allow the public a chance to meet and talk to elected GOP officials here, will be held at the Manheim Township Public Library, 595 Granite Run Drive....

Let's play a little game, shall we? See if you can predict the number of times our gubernatorial candidates will use the word "reform" over the next month and a half. Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Dan Onorato — not to mention their han......

James E. Huber, a four-term Lancaster County commissioner and longtime community activist, died Monday. He was 75.Huber was pronounced dead at Lancaster General Hospital of heart disease, according to county Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni."He was a true Lancaster Countian from start......

Democratic congressional hopeful Lois Herr failed to file a routine financial disclosure with the House in May, in what her campaign called an "oversight."But Lancaster County Republican Committee Chairman Greg Sahd accused Herr of violating serious federal campaign laws.&......

Every four years, voters such as yourself elect prothonotaries and clerks of courts in counties across the state — even if many don't know exactly what those folks do.Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille wants to change that. He said this week that the t......

You could say Greg Sahd is moving forward by looking backward.Elected chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Committee just 17 days ago, he's begun tackling some of the party's lingering issues — a top vacancy at headquarters, sagging finances from a len......

Greg Sahd, a veteran grass-roots campaigner who vowed to "hit the ground running" for the fall election, was elected chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Committee on Tuesday night.The 58-year-old Manheim Township resident, surprising many in the 300-plus member committee,......

A long-running and expensive legal battle between the Lancaster County GOP and one of its rank-and-file members came to an end this week.The two sides reached an agreement on the last outstanding issue: who should pay the $86,000-plus legal tab racked up by the Republican committee over th......

Gov. Ed Rendell has an interesting idea for helping Pennsylvania's cash-strapped cities: Start taxing some nonprofits.In an interview with the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, he said cities should push for a narrower definition of charities — one that wo......

Republicans showed up determined to get an endorsement.And that's precisely what they did.Members of the Lancaster County GOP took less than half an hour and just two ballots Tuesday night to back a successor to retiring state Rep. Katie True: 32-year-old Ryan Aument of Landisvi......

Republican Ryan P. Aument has emerged as the front-runner for retiring state Rep. Katie True's House seat after three other potential GOP candidates said Thursday they will not seek the position.Aument, Lancaster County's clerk of courts, also has won support from True, who has said that "......

The former top administrator for the Lancaster County GOP will stand trial for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover city police officer posing as a prostitute.Senior District Judge Doris James on Tuesday ordered William Coder, 25, of the 1300 block of Union Street, to appear in coun......

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District dismissed a civil rights lawsuit filed by an Elizabethtown Area Republican committeewoman against the Republican Committee of Lancaster County, its former chairman and its former executive director. The defendants expressed hope Sat......

Both plaintiff and defendants say the Millie Max v. Republican Committee of Lancaster County lawsuit could have been avoided. She could have proposed a resolution amending GOP Committee bylaws, said defendant David M. Dumeyer, former committee chairman. They could have apologized, th......

State Rep. Katie R. True, a tireless advocate for children and families whose willingness to stand up to House leaders earned her the reputation of a maverick, will retire after 2010.True, an East Hempfield Township Republican, said she decided not to seek re-election because she has achie......

Correction Oct. 30, 2009 — The party affiliations of Eastern Lancaster County school board candidates Alexander Sitar and Michael C. Upton were incorrect in the article below. Sitar is a Republican, and Upton is an Independent. Both are list......

Welcome to the post-Labor Day edition of Politically Speaking, the first since the unofficial start of the fall campaign season. Time to check in with our pols and parties and ask: Whose stock is rising and whose is falling?Let's start with the obvious.FALLING: ......

William R. Coder says he was just "at the wrong place at the wrong time;" that his arrest was the result of a "misunderstanding."But Lancaster city police tell a far different story about the high-ranking county GOP official's arrest on charges of soliciting a prost......

The executive director of the county Republican Committee was arrested for alleged solicitation of prostitution in Lancaster on Thursday night and has resigned his position.William R. Coder, 25, of the 1300 block of Union Street, was arrested by city police about 11 p.m. Thursday in the 10......

Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide which school board candidates get to run for office in the November general election.While the outcome of the primary is far from certain, it's clear the fall ballot will feature plenty of new faces.Thirty-two seats are contested i......

Intrigue and disappointment ran deep in Lancaster County's political circles Tuesday in the wake of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's switch from 44-year Republican to the state's newest Democrat.The centrist Specter announced Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that he would run for re-elect......

Rudy Giuliani has agreed to co-chair the campaign of School District of Lancaster board candidate Nick Jabbour. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. But this Rudy Giuliani is Rudy S. Giuliani, a 20-something consultant who's a good friend of Jabbour's. He also happens to be a cousin of the ......

The candidates put forward by new Lancaster County Republican Committee Chairman Craig Ebersole to hold GOP executive offices were confirmed last week by members of the committee's advisory committee. Abby Odell, of Providence Township, is the new vice chair. A member of the Republican Committe......

Any organization with a $2.3 billion budget hole is going to desperately seek new revenue sources.And there's new interest in Harrisburg for charging municipalities that depend on state police coverage a fee.The state House Appropriations Committee held a hearing Thursday on the......

He's a stocky former sheriff raised on an Ephrata-area farm who turned his career toward finance.Now Craig Ebersole is the new chairman of Lancaster County Republican Committee.Ebersole, currently in the middle of his second four-year term as Lancaster County treasurer, defeated......

Members of the Lancaster County Republican Committee face a far-reaching decision when they gather Tuesday night for their annual convention.The party's leadership is at stake.Two men have stepped forward to ascend to the chairman post: Frank Fryburg, the 82-year-old former Manheim ......

Doors opened, and into the East Hempfield Township building lobby strolled a smiling R.B. Campbell, a city Republican who's running for Lancaster County controller."They only asked me one question," he said Tuesday night, referring to the Hempfield GOP committee, which had ju......

Lancaster County Council of Churches' second annual Unity Prayer Breakfast will honor and encourage elected officials as they begin a new year of service.The event, slated for Friday, will bring together leaders from the Democratic and Republican parties and the faith community "t......

Two local Republicans have announced plans to seek the party chairmanship being vacated by Dave Dumeyer. Manheim Township party Chairman Frank Fryburg and county Treasurer Craig Ebersole are the first to emerge as candidates for the leadership of the county's largest political organization.......

We return to a familiar theme today.In the aftermath of the November presidential election, Republicans have been discussing the need to expand their base. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said the party must become more open to minorities. Outgoing Lancaster County Republican Commit......

In the wake of the November elections, the Republican Party has been doing some soul-searching. Should it move to the center or stay to the right? Should it recast itself? What does it need to become dominant again?Last week, a pair of Republicans who are leaders in their own camps said th......

December marks the end of the year — and the beginning of the end of Dave Dumeyer's tenure as the face and voice of the Lancaster County Republican Committee.Dumeyer announced Thursday he will step down as chairman of the county GOP effective Jan. 18, ending a six-and-a-half year......

After enduring nearly two years of the campaign for president, voters will finally have their say on Tuesday. If you'll be one of them, expect to wait in long lines and wade through rows of partisan volunteers looking to sway every last remaining undecided voter. Pennsylvania, after all......

Some of the recent discussion about home rule may be making it hard to know what the proposal is actually about. While much of the latest rhetoric for and against home rule is overheated, the proposal does present a unique opportunity to fundamentally reorganize county government. If voter......

A side effect of presidential elections is the proliferation of campaign signs decorating lawns.Invariably, some of those signs end up missing when supporters of one candidate take offense to such a visible show of support for the other side.Given the contentiousness of this year......

A federal judge dismissed Tuesday an Elizabethtown woman's lawsuit against Lancaster County Republican Committee, saying the GOP's action did not violate her rights under the U.S. Constitution.Millie Max, a Republican committeewoman from Elizabethtown, accused the local GOP of infr......

West Hempfield officials have found "a terrific fit, someone who's well-organized and very highly respected" to be their new township manager. And they didn't have to look very far to find him. Ron Youtz, West Hempfield's public works director since 1995, is in line to be appointed the new......

Bruce Beardsley stood with a massive grin on his face Thursday as he reminisced about a time when local Democrats had a harder time feeling fervent about, well, being Democrats."I remember in the New Holland parade a few years ago," Beardsley said, referring to a time when local ......

Republicans at their party's national convention remained determined — even angry — in their support of vice-presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, even as potentially damaging revelations about her continued to brew, local and state sources attending the event said Tuesda......

Sen. John McCain's visit to York County on Tuesday not only assured those skeptical of his ability to side with conservatives, but proved he's willing, and ready, to put party differences aside to better the country, many who attended said. ...

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain likely will stop in Lancaster County today after a town-hall event in York County, an anonymous Republican official said Monday.However, just where and when McCain will make the stop remains unknown. And a number of local Republican leaders say t......

About 200 local Democrats, dressed in hippie, casual, hip-hop or business attire, crammed into Obama campaign headquarters in Lancaster city Thursday evening."They have to demean him," Mayor Rick Gray said, speaking of recent Republican attack ads aimed at Barack Obama, the Democ......

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain next week will make his first appearance in central Pennsylvania since becoming the GOP's presumptive nominee, a local campaign official confirmed Wednesday night.Frank Orban III, McCain's campaign co-chair in Lancaster County, said the A......

He's a Bible student with a knack for numbers, and he's now the Lancaster County Republican Committee's new executive director.He's 23-year-old Bill Coder of Lancaster, who's taking over a position left vacant since May, when Andrew Heath left to work with Anne Beiler o......

Republican Chet Beiler said Thursday morning that he would push for a change in Pennsylvania law to allow the office of auditor general to inspect the spending habits of the state Legislature.Beiler, the former chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Committee, also slammed current Aud......

Take any given road in the United States and count the number of vehicles using gasoline versus those that don't.After tallying your numbers, ask: Is it any wonder why the American economy suffers and every American driver puts less money into savings and investments when the pri......

Nearly 200 members of the Republican Committee of Lancaster County gathered at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Farm and Home Center to pick new officers. By 7:15, they had re-elected David Dumeyer to a fourth term as chairman of the local GOP and approved a new slate of officers. Dumeyer was unopposed, a......

Elections are the purest means of holding government officials accountable.And if you desire accountability, it's essential to have as many competitive races as possible each November.Sadly, Pennsylvania has about as many truly competitive contests this year as the Phillies have......

County Republican Party Executive Director Andrew Heath is resigning to take a job in the private sector. Heath, who was named to run the county GOP in 2006, said he wasn't looking for a change, but he was approached by representatives of businesswoman Anne Beiler, the founder of Auntie Ann......

It was Sen. John McCain's turn on Saturday Night Live last weekend."What should we be looking for in our next president?" McCain asked during one segment. "Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old."McCain, a sprightly 71, told the audience he has the ne......

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, a Chester County Republican who represents Lancaster, has signed on as a co-sponsor for a new bill aimed at illegal immigration.House Bill 5761 would cut off aid to countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens who come to the United States, commit a crime and ser......

A subtle movement has begun in the state House that, if it became law, would change who can vote in Pennsylvania's primary elections.One bill, authored by Democratic Rep. Jaret Gibbons, would allow the state's 374,350 registered Independents to vote in either the Republican or Demo......

At county Republican headquarters, Tuesday marked a quiet end to a fairly subdued campaign.The party faithful who gathered in the building on Columbia Avenue to watch results trickle in Tuesday evening formed a small, largely mellow group. It acknowledged few eyes were on the GOP, as Sen. ......

Republican state Senate candidate Lloyd Smucker, who has taken flak for his ties to builders, raised $33,500 at a construction-industry fundraiser last week, a new campaign finance report shows. That figure includes $20,000 alone from the Associated Builders and Contractors political-action com......

Once John McCain's bitter rival, Mitt Romney spoke here Thursday as one of McCain's top backers. Campaigning on behalf of McCain at the Lancaster County Republican Committee's spring banquet, Romney extolled the Arizona senator as the presidential candidate best able to deal with......

It is "possible but not probable" that Republican Mitt Romney would be Sen. John McCain's pick for vice president, the former Massachusetts governor told the Intelligencer Journal on Thursday.Romney, seen as the favorite to capture the GOP presidential nomination before his c......

A story appeared last week on Politico.com about frustration among Pennsylvania Democrats over the relative lack of candidate appearances in the state, especially by Sen. Barack Obama.For months, we've watched Obama and Sen. Hillary Cli......

President Clinton, speaking to a packed gymnasium in Berks County on Thursday, touted his wife's alternative energy plan as a way to turn around the country's economic woes."It is the only strategy that will create jobs in every rural area, suburban area and city in Pennsylvan......

Mitt Romney, once seen as the favorite to win the Republican nomination for president, will campaign in Lancaster County next month for Sen. John McCain, the man who forced him out of the race.The Lancaster County Republican Committee confirmed Wednesday that Romney will speak on behalf of......

Manheim-area businessman Chet Beiler now has a clear path to the Republican nomination for state auditor general. Beiler's only opponent in the April 22 GOP primary, accountant Chris Walsh of York County, quit the race after Beiler pointed out problems with Walsh's nomination petitions.......

On the morning of Feb. 5, Gov. Ed Rendell will stand in the state House of Representatives before a joint session of the Legislature to deliver his proposed budget.When you're talking about nearly $30 billion, a lot of sweat gets spent and a lot of pride's on the line. The gov......

They entered the night as heavy favorites.They both lost what they wanted.Neither Lloyd Smucker nor Gregory Sahd was able to garner an endorsement from the county Republican committee, despite balloting that stretched from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning at Conestoga Valley Mid......

Local Republican leaders are hopeful that one of five state Senate candidates will receive the GOP endorsement at tonight's convention, landing that candidate momentum, cash and a horde of volunteers heading into the April 22 primary.Dave Dumeyer, chairman of the Lancaster County Repub......

The next consequential event in the local 2008 election cycle happens Tuesday when the Lancaster County Republican Committee convenes to dole out endorsements.All eyes will be watching to see if someone in the race to succeed Gibson E. Armstrong as state senator will garner an endorsement.......

Republican Steve McDonald will no longer ask the local GOP to back his bid for state Senate, although he intends to campaign all the way to the April 22 primary."I'm not seeking the endorsement," McDonald said during a telephone interview. "That's the only comment I ......

If you wanted a clearer picture Saturday of who will emerge in the Republican primary to replace retiring state Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong, well, the only words I can offer are: "Not yet."Although local businessman Lloyd Smucker was the top votegetter in the straw poll taken by loc......

With just three days until they come face to face with local Republican Committee members for the first time as candidates, money is on the minds of most GOP hopefuls for the state Senate.Polled by the Intelligencer Journal Tuesday about what they see as the most important legislative issu......

And then there were five.Five Republicans from Lancaster and York counties are vying to fill the seat being vacated by retiring state Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong.The deadline for candidates filing with the Lancaster County GOP in order to win the party's endorsement was 5 p.m. Frid......

In the final weeks of the Lancaster County commissioners race, candidates turned heavily to expensive television and radio commercials for a final chance to get their message out. In all, the five candidates spent nearly $160,000 in the campaign's stretch run, with Democrat Molly Henders......

Molly Henderson injected nearly $70,000 of her own money into her failed campaign to win a second term as a Lancaster County commissioner, far outpacing what her opponents spent of their own money.Thursday was the deadline for candidates to submit their 30-day postelection campaign-finance......

The Lancaster County Republican Committee has asked a federal court to throw out a lawsuit brought against it by one of its members.In a brief filed Nov. 9 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, attorneys for the GOP said chairman Dave Dumeyer was within his Constitutional rights when he ......

The heads of the local Republican and Democratic parties both think their respective party came out strong as a result of Tuesday's election."We continue to elect more and more Democrats to office," Bruce Beardsley, chairman of the Lancaster County Democratic Committee, said ......

As Janice Jimenez began campaigning a few weeks ago, a man approached her and told her the only reason she would win the election for magisterial district judge is because she is Latino and a woman."He was degrading," said Jimenez.She encouraged him to look at campaign lit......

Lynn Swann walked so many miles during his gubernatorial campaign last year that he wore a hole in his brand-new shoes.The 2006 Republican nominee for governor and former Pittsburgh Steelers Hall-of-Fame wide receiver wore the same pair of shoes Thursday night to the Lancaster County Repub......

Earlier this year, the commissioners race in Manheim Township looked humdrum. With a pair of seats open, two incumbent Republicans, Carol Simpson and Larry Downing, got the party's endorsement and were running unopposed. But in August, former township commissioner and produce farmer Ne......

A member of the Lancaster County Republican Committee is suing the party and its local chairman in federal court, claiming they violated her civil and free-speech rights by not allowing her to criticize two judicial candidates in the May primary. Millie Max, of Elizabethtown, claims the GOP, in......

Dinner this fall will be served with a side order of political celebrity. In the midst of the fall campaigns, both Republican and Democratic parties of Lancaster County throw their annual autumn banquets, and this year they provide a little star power.For the GOP, former Pittsb......

For about the first 45 minutes of a breakfast forum today, members of Lancaster County's Republican legislative delegation discussed such perennial issues as tax and legislative reform, agriculture, health care and transportation. Taking five-minute turns at the podium, the Republican lawma......

The five candidates for Lancaster County commissioner kept the discourse fairly civil Thursday during the first round of debates leading to November's election.No overly controversial statements or personal attacks were launched during the two-and-a-half-hour event at Bethel AME Church......

(Silence … more silence … why don't you get that second cup of coffee awhile? … still more silence.)Sorry I'm late for the start of this week's column, but I have to keep checking my mailbox here at the office. You see, President Bush is going to be speaking i......

The White House confirmed late Thursday some details of President Bush's scheduled visit to Lancaster County next week.Bush will speak to invited members of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday at one of the buildings owned in the county by Jay Group......

President Bush will come to Lancaster County next week to talk about ongoing budget issues he has with the Democratic Congress, sources told the Intelligencer Journal Tuesday.Bush will speak to the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry during an invitation-only speech. A venue has y......

Can a roasted pig mend the splinters in the Lancaster County Republican Party? The answer will be revealed on Sept. 22, when the same Manheim home that nine months ago birthed the unendorsed candidacy of Heidi Wheaton will host a fundraiser for the nominated Republican team of Scott Martin and......

Leaders from two statewide groups of Latino Republicans are criticizing the Lancaster County Republican Committee for inviting Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta to speak today at a donor luncheon.Robert S. Nix, chairman of the Pennsylvania Hispanic Republicans, and Luis Mendoza, chairman of the ......

East Hempfield Township supervisor candidate Doug Brubaker said he's undeterred by his local Republican committee's support for his opponent.The East Hempfield GOP is backing current Supervisor Ed LeFevre's write-in campaign, even though Brubaker finished ahead of LeFevre in the spring pri......

It's September, and you know what that means.Yes, it's fair season, so toss away that diet and make room for cotton candy and funnel cakes, because if you're not chowing down on calorie-filled fair food, you're not a true Lancaster county resident.I guess I'm a hayseed at heart beca......

The heated issue of immigration reform will be the topic of two forums in Lancaster County next month, with one sponsored by Lancaster County Republican Committee and the other by the Lancaster chapter of League of Women Voters.Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta will be the featured speaker for......

The Republican Committee of Lancaster County rallied its support behind Rick Santorum's re-election bid last year.This year, Santorum is returning the favor to the GOP candidates for county commissioner.The former Pennsylvania senator plans to attend a fundraising event for comm......

Former Lancaster County Republican Committee chairman Bob Bensing of Ephrata died Wednesday at age 76 after a "lengthy illness," according to current chairman Dave Dumeyer."I think a lot of people found his leadership very inspirational," Dumeyer said. "And he was ......

A West Lampeter Republican wants Lancaster County Coroner Dr. G. Gary Kirchner knocked off the November ballot and is challenging Kirchner's nominating petition in county court.Immo Sulyok, a local Republican committeeman who says he is taking action independently of the party, filed the c......

Make room for one more candidate in this year's race for Lancaster County commissioner.Attorney Jim Clymer, the 59-year-old national chairman of the conservative Constitution Party, confirmed Monday he plans to add his name to the November ballot. He said he plans to turn in his nominating......

Endorsed candidates from both parties saw success Tuesday in seeking nominations for six available judge seats in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.All candidates from both parties cross-filed, which enabled voters to choose from a field of 15 — 12 Republicans and three Demo......

By the end of today, an estimated 60,000 voters will determine for a county of nearly half a million people who gets a chance at leading local governments and school boards, deciding how high or low taxes go.Today is Pennsylvania's primary election. Across Lancaster County, 233 polls o......

Republican Scott Martin sees a problem in Lancaster County government."The majority of the county budget is mandated to human services, yet you never see someone with a human services or criminal justice background running for county commissioner," the former director of the coun......

Republican Dennis Stuckey said to comply with the state's Sunshine Act, which mandates most public meetings be open, elected officials must be willing to face not only their supporters but their detractors, too.To hide from those who disagree leads to violations of the Sunshine Act, he sai......

Republican Heidi Wheaton has described herself as courageous and willing to speak her mind when problems arise.According to Wheaton, an East Hempfield Township supervisor, she draws inspiration for her outspokenness from President Reagan's 1987 "Tear Down this Wall" speech in......

The four-way Republican campaign for Lancaster County commissioner has drawn divisions among locally elected officials about who deserves the two nominations Tuesday.While a majority of state legislators and municipal officials have endorsed county controller Dennis Stuckey and Scott Marti......

County commissioner candidate Heidi Wheaton released a TV spot Monday accusing one of her opponents of breaking the law and taking fellow Republicans to task for endorsing him in the primary election."In his quest for commissioner, Scott Martin was forced to quit his government job fo......

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter told a packed room of Lancaster County Republicans Monday night that he's a man with a plan.If elected president in 2008, the California congressman vowed to:Level the foreign-trade playing field, which he said currently favors China over the U.S....

Republicans Dennis Stuckey and Scott Martin, standing on a house porch looking out on bright green farmland in western Lancaster County Sunday, addressed what has become a perennial issue for county government: How should the county commissioners pay to preserve farmland?"It would beh......

The names are no misprint.When voters read their ballots during the May 15 primary election, they may see something no one in Lancaster County's lengthy history has before: four women appearing in the county judge contest."There are women who are concerned that there are st......

It was only 6 minutes into Monday night's Lancaster County commissioner debate when a Republican slammed Heidi Wheaton for equating local GOP leaders to the former Soviet Politburo last week."I take great personal offense to that," GOP candidate Dennis Stuckey said. "Rep......

A debate among Republican candidates for Lancaster County commissioner turned testy Wednesday afternoon when one candidate attacked the party's endorsement process.East Hempfield Township Supervisor Heidi Wheaton — who skipped the vetting process and did not receive an endorsemen......

Republican Heidi Wheaton on Sunday launched the first television commercial in the race for Lancaster County commissioner, six weeks before the primary election.The 30-second spot, available Sunday at her campaign Web site (www.heidiwhe......

Lancaster County commissioner candidate Scott Martin resigned his $68,000-a-year position this week with the county Youth Intervention Center to concentrate on his campaign.He handed a letter of resignation to the board of commissioners Wednesday.Martin's action was prompted by ......

A veteran prosecutor who helped put hundreds of sex offenders behind bars is leaving the district attorney's office for private practice.Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey A. Conrad plans to leave April 2 for a position with Clymer & Musser PC, 408 W. Chestnut St.Conrad bec......

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. G. Gary Kirchner dropped out of the Republican primary Tuesday, but he vowed to win a second four-year term in the November election as an independent candidate.Kirchner said running as an independent gave him a "much better chance of having an organized, ......

Could Republicans hold all three seats on the Lancaster County board of commissioners?It hasn't happened since 1992, when Democratic incumbent Brad Fischer changed his party affiliation.But next year, an all-Republican board could govern the county if Jere Swarr is successful in......

Lancaster County Republicans took just one round of balloting Tuesday night to endorse Scott Martin and Dennis Stuckey as the party's preferred candidates for county commissioner.But before the pair delivered their acceptance speeches, Rapho Township Supervisor Jere Swarr told reporter......

It took just one ballot Tuesday for the Lancaster County Republican Committee to endorse candidates to fill four of the six Lancaster County judge seats on the ballot this year.The two other judge endorsements were decided two hours and three ballots later.The county Republican Comm......