Nehls switches party affiliation to GOP
Fayette County Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls, a life-long Democrat, has switched his voter registration to Republican, noting that party more accurately reflects his political values and most of his friends already belong to the GOP. Nehls also said he wants no part of a future county Democrat Party headed by Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites and state Sen. Richard A. Kasunic (D-Dunbar), based on his experience dealing with them during his four years as commissioner.
Recuperating a home after knee replacement surgery, Nehls confirmed Friday that he mailed a change of party notice to the Fayette County Election Bureau. A worker there confirmed its receipt and said it was dated Nov. 17.
Nehls won a commissioners’ spot in 1999, when Democrat Party Chairman Fred L. Lebder and Uniontown philanthropist Robert E. Eberly, a Republican, backed his campaign. However, they cut Nehls loose politically prior to this year’s primary election, where Nehls finished last in a field of five Democrats.
“As you saw in the primary election, I found that Fayette County voters were still deeply entrenched in the political system that’s ruled here for many, many years,” said Nehls. “I just obviously did not fit that scenario. That’s OK, because you have the freedom to vote for whomever you want to vote for.
“But most of the friends I have, those that I talk with the most, are Republicans. (We) kind of think alike. They just seem to be more my kind of people.”
Nehls, 65, was weaned on Democrat politics, as his mother was “in the system” as a Democrat committeewoman in Uniontown’s Ward 8. He said her intention, as well as his own in seeking public office, was to be a public servant.
Nehls said that while his switch may surprise some, he wanted his political party affiliation to mesh more clearly with the person he is.
“I guess that in my later years in life, I wanted to submit who I was and my values more clearly, and see if that would work in Fayette County politics. I like to think of myself as just a ‘common sense things’ type of guy,” said Nehls.
While contemplating the change, the one-term commissioner said a post-election newspaper article in early November pushed him to action, after he read comments that Vicites and Kasunic essentially represented the future in rebuilding the Democrat Party.
“The content of that article is what really made up my mind to change parties,” said Nehls. “In particular, I read in there something to the effect that Commissioner Vince Vicites had said that he and Sen. Rich Kasunic had a great deal of admiration for one another, and they were going to make sure some good changes were going to take place in the Democrat Party in Fayette County.”
Nehls’ reaction to that concept was decidedly negative: “As a Democrat, that is definitely not a direction that I would want to see the Democrat Party leadership take. What that said to me, in fact, was that the Democrat Party would seem to stand for everything that I was against with that type of new leadership. I made an immediate decisions to change my party registration at time.”
Added Nehls, “It was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I said, ‘No way.’ When I read that in the paper, I said, ‘That’s not for me.'”
Nehls said that while he disdains politics for the most part, he understands the need for elected officials to develop some skills in that area to survive. But he said his term serving with Vicites soured his perceptions of the board chairman.
“I worked four years with Mr. Vicites and (saw) his inability to make mature decisions that are important to the county; rather (he focused on) their importance to his style of politics,” said Nehls “I found him to border on the incompetent in that capacity. He has a lack of trust in what anybody else’s opinions are, and I found it tremendously difficult to work with him.”
Nehls said there is “no way” he wants to be in the Democrat Party if either Vicites or Kasunic are in charge. He said that Kasunic adopted a condescending attitude toward him during his tenure as a commissioner, and that the senator single-handedly stonewalled the Fayette Films LLC move production company project at the dormant Great Meadows Amphitheater.
“(Being) beneath Rich Kasunic, I felt that he paid little or no attention to anybody who wasn’t in his political camp. I felt that he was looking down his nose at these kinds of people, particularly me,” said Nehls “Whether he does this to anybody else or not, I don’t know, but that’s how he made me feel.”
Nehls said he lost respect for Kasunic after he failed to embrace the immense possibility for jobs and new industry promised by Fayette Films’ backers. The move required state legislation lifting deed restrictions, something Kasunic was reluctant to undertake until the concerns of adjacent Fort Necessity National Battlefield were addressed.
“It was a new kind of industry, and Lord knows we need every type of industry we can get here to bring it new jobs. And he sort of single-handedly kept it from ever being established. We’re never going to know if there might have been a bright new economic spark that might have been lit in our county,” said Nehls.
“To me, that’s irresponsible leadership. That’s not the kind of leadership that I would like to see in the Democrat Party. I just said, ‘Since I don’t fit the scenario, it’s time to make a move.'”
Kasunic could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Vicites did not return a cell phone call seeking comment.
Nehls said his wife and daughter also switched their voter registrations to Republican, although his wife moved back to familiar ground. “My wife had always been a registered Republican but I twisted her arm to register Democrat. She wanted to go back,” said Nehls.
Nehls said that no one should read too much into his switch, which was made out of personal conviction and not for political positioning.
“The only thing that you can read into this is to be yourself. That’s what I’m doing,” said Nehls. “I certainly have no political aspirations. I can’t think of anything right off the hand that I could say in my four-year term that this was so good that I want to remember it for the rest of my life, or (that) I want to hold on to it.
“I have nothing in that experience, so I have no strong desire to get back into it again. There are times when it was more embarrassing than a feeling of pride in being a commissioner.”
Outgoing Commissioner Sean M. Cavanagh said he supports Nehls’ decision, which he thinks aids the need to have a real competitive balance between the two parties. Cavanagh said Nehls’ embrace of the GOP shows further discontent with the Democrat Party headlined by Lebder, Kasunic, Vicites and former state Sen. Bill Lincoln, who was defeated for commissioner by two Republicans in the Nov. 4 election.
“Bravo for Ron, good for Ron,” said Cavanagh. “Kasunic, Lincoln, Lebder and Vicites are the established political machine of Fayette County, and they’ve contributed to running the county into the ground. I think for Fayette County to be taken seriously by the state, we need to have a more balanced county.
“The problem in Fayette County is that the Republican Party and the Democrat Party have been sleeping in the same bed for the last 50 years,” continued Cavanagh. “I think that Lebder, Lincoln, Kasunic and Vicites played with dynamite one too many times in this (2003) election.”
Cavanagh also said that he concurs with Nehls’ assessment of Vicites. “He’s total politics, with treachery and sneakiness. He never broke away from the Democrat machine; he’s part of the machine. I think we’ve had a lot of dirty Democrats running the Democrat Party,” said Cavanagh.
Cavanagh said he would encourage more people to switch over to Republican in order to make the voter registration rolls more balanced, which can only benefit the county in Harrisburg. He also said some people have approached him about switching to the GOP, and while he’s contemplated the change, he’s not prepared to make it.
“I ran and won as a Democrat (in 1995). I ran and won as an independent (in 1999), because I had to,” said Cavanagh. “Right now, I’m a Democrat. But I know that I could get those Republican (voter) rolls inflated pretty quick, with my supporters. …It’s not the party that counts, it’s the person.”
Christopher D.L. Sepesy, chairman of the Fayette County Republican Party, said Nehls’ switch was a “delightful surprise” that really didn’t come as a personal shock. Sepesy said he worked as a county department head under Nehls for a year and knows the frustrations one can encounter in the Fayette County Courthouse.
“I would be remiss to say that I’m too surprised. I have always held Commissioner Nehls in high regard. I worked with him in the courthouse for a little over a year, and forged a very good and compatible relationship with him early on,” said Sepesy.
“Certainly, everyone will agree that I know the kinds of problems some people can encounter within those walls. I can probably sympathize with him better than most.”
Sepesy said that having Nehls join the Republican ranks gives the GOP “the added cache of now having a third former county commissioner to add to our brain trust,” joining Bob Jones and Harry E. Albert III.
“This is both an exciting choice for him and yet another fantastic opportunity for the Fayette County Republican Party,” said Sepesy. “We are planning a massive (voter) registration drive over the next few months. This certainly gives us an added boost, to an already growing arsenal that began over two years ago and just hasn’t stopped yet.”
Sepesy said that the Republican Party has been “organized and marching together, with a common theme” for the past two years. He said that it’s good to have Nehls on board, as “another soldier of his stature in the field,” even if he doesn’t have any goal of elected office.