Fitzpatrick calls for
open GOP primary

Two candidates have already dropped out of the race and more may be on the way.

Showing his willingness to reach out to grassroots groups, Mike Fitzpatrick is calling on the Bucks County Republican Party to forgo an endorsement in the 8th Congressional District GOP primary.

"I am calling for an open primary," Fitzpatrick said Monday. "I am running to be the people's candidate and I believe an open process will improve participation and lead to a higher level of debate."

In the somewhat unprecedented move, Fitzpatrick, who entered the crowded race Saturday, said not having a party endorsement means "everybody will have the same shot as they travel throughout the community seeking support."

The declaration was cheered by Anastasia Przybylski, co-founder of the conservative Kitchen Table Patriots, who feared that a party endorsement could become a coronation and deny the 8th District an energetic primary.

"That's fantastic, this is what we wanted all along," she said.

But Pat Poprik, vice chairwoman of the Bucks County Republican Committee, said she doesn't understand the hullabaloo being made about an endorsement.

"This negative connotation is baffling to me," she said. "I'm perplexed. I don't get how endorsing one candidate forbids another from running."

Poprik said groups like teachers and doctors choose candidates for their special interests. "We have as much of a right as any other group," she said.

Poprik said she'll bring Fitzpatrick's recommendation to GOP committee members. "It may be something the party would consider," she said. "I don't know."

She said the party has six meetings scheduled throughout the county for committee members to hear from and question each candidate. After votes are collected at the six venues, the votes are tallied at county headquarters in Doylestown for endorsements on March 4.

"There's nothing on this earth that precludes anyone from running," Poprik said.

Przybylski said the party endorsement, which can be handed to voters at the polling place, can be "a difference maker."

"I'm glad he's running," she said of Fitzpatrick. "It needs to be a process where the people feel he won fair and square. That way in the fall people will be energized and excited rather than turned off by the whole thing and perhaps not turn out to vote."

Said Fitzpatrick, "I hear the people and I want to be the voice who rallied against the health care fiasco and represent them in that important process of straightening it out."

Fitzpatrick's call was described as "pure genius" by Rob Mitchell, a former candidate who withdrew from the race and endorsed Fitzpatrick. "Mike wants to reach out to everybody who's been carrying the fight. He respects the work they've done and he's willing to work for their support."

Fitzpatrick's entry has narrowed what was a nine-person field.

Mitchell, who was involved in the founding of the Kitchen Table Patriots and is a member of the conservative Thomas Jefferson Club, is working for Fitzpatrick.

Attorney and Warwick Supervisor Judith Algeo said Monday she's dropping out of the race to support Fitzpatrick "who has always made Bucks County his number one priority."

Dean Malik and Jeff McGeary may not be far behind Algeo.

Malik, a former Bucks County prosecutor and Iraq War veteran, said he will make "a final determination in the very near future."

He's scheduled to appear tonight with Fitzpatrick at a meeting of New Britain Republicans.

McGeary, founder of the Thomas Jefferson Club and a captain in the Army reserves, said Fitzpatrick's move has caused him to "reanalyze the landscape. It definitely changes things as far as fundraising and getting volunteers goes."

Five candidates vowed Monday to seek the nomination: Gloria Carlineo, a Republican committeewoman from Solebury; Ira Hoffman, a Solebury businessman; Langhorne's James Jones, a small businessman and veteran of three wars; historian Tom Lingenfelter of Doylestown; and Jeffrey Schott, who runs an information technology firm in Chalfont.

"This is America and everyone has the right to run," Fitzpatrick said. "But let's not lose sight that the target is the rubber-stamping of the current congressman of bad national policies, excessive spending and misplaced priorities."