Urban Switching From Republican To Democrat

Luzerne County Commissioner Steve Urban announced he is switching his political registration from Republican to Democrat. In this Times Leader article by Jennifer Learn-Andes he cites lack of support for his latest candidacy within the Republican party and lack of unity among the Republicans for his main reasons to jump ship.

Let's tackle his claim- the lack of support for his candidacy. Anyone who paid attention this election knows that the independent voter determined this election, hands down, not Republicans. According to Luzerne County statistics there are 188,091 registered voters- 110,165 Democrats, 61,287 Republicans, and 15,933 Independents.

In this last election 15,775 Luzerne County Democrats and 15,457 Luzerne County Republicans cast a straight ballot. In case Urban wasn't paying attention that means he received overwhelming Republican support since his vote total was 18,863. House Representative John Yudichak, now Senator Yudichak, received 30,171 total votes.

In this report filed by Terri Morgan-Besecker the day after the election she made these observations. Urban performed much better in Monroe County, defeating Yudichak with 2,131 votes compared to Yudichak’s 1,697 votes. Urban also performed well in Carbon County, garnering 4,553 votes to Yudichak’s 5,122 votes

Obviously Urban's math doesn't pass the litmus test. Switching parties will almost certainly mean defeat for any future office he seeks. Tom Stish, Parker Griffith, and Arlen Specter. The homework lesson Urban failed to perform is evident in his presentation to the public.

I'll paraphrase Dale Carnegie. Politicians just do not want to admit to any wrong doing, and put the blame on everyone else instead of really looking at the situation. There you are; human nature in action, wrongdoers, blaming everybody but themselves.

GOP County Chairman Terry Casey aired a little dirty laundry in the article by stating the possibility that a few party leaders may have “overstepped their boundaries” by supporting Yudichak. Engineering an effective campaign effort gets the desired results not boundaries set by party bosses. Polling would have told Urban his weaknesses. That is how a politician tailors his messages during the campaign. But I guess Urban didn't ask anyone for advice. It wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Look at Yudichak's record as a representative and look at Urban's as a commissioner. Hands dow the voters pick the right person for the job. The days of straight party voting are long gone. And for now it appears so is Urban.