Newly seated members of the state House of Representatives, in a surprising turn of events, replaced Speaker John Perzel with another Philadelphia Republican, Dennis M. O'Brien, after Democrats were unable to maintain unity in their fragile majority.
O'Brien, who has served in the House for nearly 30 years and chaired the House Judiciary Committee in the last session, was nominated by Bill DeWeese, a Democrat who hailed him as "a fine-hearted idealistic Republican" who is well-suited to lead "a clean slate" in House leadership, which Republicans have controlled for 12 years. Perzel had served as speaker since April 2003.
Behind-the-scenes maneuvering intensified in the hours before the new House members were seated Tuesday afternoon.
Republicans met behind closed doors while Democrats attacked Thomas R. Caltagirone, a Berks County Democrat who said over the weekend he supported Perzel for speaker.
UPDATE: Sources say 6 Republicans and 3 Democrats broke ranks and voted for the other party’s nominee.
The Republicans voting for O’Brien were reportedly:
Reps. Kerry Benninghoff (R., Center), Jim Cox (R., Berks), Brad Roae (R., Crawford), Sam Rohrer (R., Berks), Curt Schroder (R., Chester) and David Steil (R., Bucks).
The Democrats voting for Perzel were reportedly:
Reps. Thomas Caltagirone (D., Berks), Angel Cruz (D., Phila.) and Rosita Youngblood (D., Phila.)
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