Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Delco Democrats call for Leach to resign from Senate
Leaders of the Delaware County Democratic Committee passed a resolution Thursday night calling for the resignation of state Sen. Daylin Leach and indicated he would be not be considered eligible to receive the committee’s endorsement for any elected office in the future.
“Unfortunately, Sen. Leach has become more of a distraction than an asset to the party,” said Delaware County Democratic Party Chair Colleen Guiney. “When you get to the point that your behavior is overshadowing the work you’re trying to do for your constituents, it’s time to reevaluate what you’re doing.”
Leach, D-17 of Lower Merion, is the subject of a state Senate investigation following allegations that he forced himself on a 17-year-old girl in 1991. Cara Taylor, now 44, circulated a private criminal complaint to 40 lawmakers accusing Leach of forcing her to perform oral sex on him while he was defending her mother on attempted murder charges.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin has indicated the accusations in Taylor’s complaint fall outside a statute of limitations and are too old to prosecute, but Senate Democrats have nonetheless contacted a law firm to conduct an outside investigation.
Leach, a former state representative who has served in the Senate since 2009, has called the allegations “completely false” and filed a defamation suit against Taylor in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
He claims Taylor is an “admitted liar and notorious perjurer” who falsely testified at her mother’s trial that she, not her mother, had attempted to kill her step-father. Taylor later pleaded guilty to charges of perjury and false swearing.
Leach also claims in the suit that two other defendants, Gwen Snyder of Philadelphia and Colleen Kennedy of Havertown, “have shown a reckless disregard for the truth in gleefully republishing and embellishing upon the serial liar’s fabrication about (Leach) for the admitted purposes of destroying (his) reputation, cutting short his career in public service, and harassing and harming his family.”
Leach has faced mounting pressure to step down since 2017, when he was first accused by eight women of numerous instances of inappropriate touching and making sexually charged jokes.
Leadership of the Delaware County Democratic Committee now officially joins the voices of Gov. Tom Wolf, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and state Rep. Leanne Krueger-Braneky, D-161 of Swarthmore, among others, calling for his resignation.
“I called for Daylin Leach to resign last year,” said Krueger-Braneky Friday. “My position hasn’t changed and, particularly as we see him retaliate against women from Delaware County, I’m glad that the Delaware County Dem-
ocratic Committee has taken action.”
Freshman state Sen. Katie Muth, D-44 of Royersford, has gone the extra step of seeking Leach’s expulsion from the Senate. Muth, a rape survivor who has clashed with Leach before, circulated a letter to members of the Senate Ethics Committee last week indicating his behavior is “disturbing and unacceptable,” and calling for a rare, if not unprecedented, vote to remove him from office.
The resolution Delco Dems passed Thursday indicates the committee has grown “increasingly concerned” about ethical and sexual assault allegations directed toward Leach and is disturbed by his “strongly aggressive and demeaning comments made about Delaware County residents.”
“Most recently, Sen. Leach has filed a defamation lawsuit, which we believe lacks a viable prospect for success, and raises serious concern that the suit’s primary objective is an attempt to silence his critics,” the resolution states. “The pattern of attacking those who accuse him of inappropriate conduct has escalated to the point where we feel a need to speak out.”
Leach spokesman Frank Keel said the committee had been cavalier in denying Leach his right to due process and set a dangerous precedent.
“This process was antidemocratic, discussed in a private meeting with no public notice,” he said. “Further, the decision to pass this resolution was not reflective of the constituents or committee people of the district, as only two of the 49 municipalities in Delaware County are in the senator’s district.”
Guiney said the meeting was posted on the party’s website and open to all registered Democrats in the county. About 50 people attended, including about 40 leaders, and there was “overwhelming support” to pass the resolution by a voice vote, she said.
Guiney said she did not believe anyone had called Leach’s office to inform him that the resolution might be addressed during the “new business” portion of the meeting, but there was discussion beforehand and some in the audience, particularly those from Haverford and Radnor, where Leach’s district lies, did raise concerns of due process.
“But the overwhelming majority felt like it was time,” she said. “His response to these allegations has not been becoming of an elected official and there is work to be done in the state House and state Senate, and we need people who are going to do the people’s work.”
George Badey, chairman of the Radnor Democrats, said he was one of those opposed. He stressed that he did so not because he is on Leach’s side or believes him over the alleged victim, however, but because he believes in the rule of law and due process.
“Even a powerful person accused of despicable things is entitled to due process,” said Badey. “I just think that there’s a Senate investigation going on, there’s a lawsuit pending that’s going to bring people in under oath … he’s not scheduled to be running for re-election until next year, if ever, so I don’t know what the rush was.”
Joe Foster, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, said the rules are a little different in his area and it will be up to a convention of the entire party to decide whether or to endorse Leach.
He added that he understands the due process argument, but said this is a political issue, not a legal one.
“This is a political office and it’s not a right, it’s a privilege,” he said. “One of the responsibilities of an elected official is maintaining a relationship with the party, and with the voters, and with the people.”
“The senator maintains his innocence and looks forward to revisiting the committee’s regrettable decision when the truth is revealed,” said Keel. “In the meantime, the focus should be on the 2019 candidates. The senator’s focus is on his constituents. He fully expects this decision to be overturned when the truth is revealed.”