Philadelphia Republican Dennis M. O'Brien has been elected speaker of the House.
Mr. O'Brien, who has served in the House for nearly 30 years and chaired the House Judiciary Committee in the last session, received 105 votes over Republican John Perzel's 97.
This sets up the unusual situation of having a Republican speaker in a Democratically controlled House. Democratic Rep. H. William DeWeese nominated Mr. O'Brien, a longtime rival of incumbent Speaker John Perzel, also a Philadelphia Republican.
The Democrats have a one-seat majority in the House but the speakership was thrown into question because of Democrat Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone's intention to cross party lines to support Mr. Perzel. Mr. Caltagirone, of Reading, said last week he would not vote for Mr. DeWeese, whom he called petty and vindictive.
"Due to some challenges amongst some of our groups, the vote counts aren't quite as steely and unremitting as we had hoped," said Mr. DeWeese in nominating Mr. O'Brien. "We have a chance for reform and we have a chance to put a new name on reform."
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http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07002/750660-100.stmThis is a followup to this story:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2671332&mesg_id=2671332It seems the Democratic traitor and his Republican co-conspirator were defeated by getting a few Republicans to sponsor a liberal Republican alternative candidate.