Jim Gerlach

Usually your first instinct is your best. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) needs to remember that. Gerlach recently voted against the euphemistically named "Gasoline for America's Security Act" before he voted for it - an example of the flip-flopping habit that is hardly unique to John F. Kerry in Washington. The congressman from Chester County fell for a dubious fix to America's refinery shortage. The lapse came during an arm-twisting parliamentary maneuver by the Republican leadership that was reminiscent of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug vote.

Democrat Lois Murphy is expected to announce today in an e-mail to supporters that she is seeking a rematch against incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach for the Sixth District seat in the 2006 election. "I just think it is so important for this district to get the kind of independent leadership we need and deserve that we are not getting from Jim Gerlach," said Murphy yesterday. Despite a late start and virtually no name recognition, Murphy, 42, a lawyer from Lower Merion, nearly toppled Gerlach last year in one of the nation's most bitter and expensive congressional races.

By an overwhelming margin, Chester County Democrats lined up behind one of their own yesterday in the four-way contest for the Democratic nomination in the Sixth Congressional District. Robert Roggio, a retired Charlestown Township businessman, garnered 88 of the 111 votes to win the county Democratic Committee's endorsement in what is traditionally a hotly contested race. The Democratic organizations in Montgomery and Berks Counties will decide later who, if anyone, to endorse.

Efforts to secure federal funding for a proposed passenger rail line between Philadelphia and Reading have failed, government officials concede. They disagree, however, on whether that sounds the death knell for the Schuylkill Valley Metro initiative. "Schuylkill Valley Metro - gone - that isn't going to happen," Gov. Rendell told the Times Herald of Norristown on Tuesday. "We'll never get the funding. " A day later, U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach chided Rendell for his pessimism.

From the beginning, U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach had a target on his back. He narrowly won election two years ago, and was considered the most vulnerable Republican House member in the Pennsylvania suburbs. But, despite a wave that swept Democrats into office across the state and the nation, Gerlach managed to hang on to his seat for a third term - even as two other local House Republicans, Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon, did not. In the face of a determined challenge from Democrat Lois Murphy, Gerlach eked out a narrow win with 50.6 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns from Montgomery, Chester, Berks and Lehigh Counties.

Nanotechnology may not be setting the stock market on fire just yet, but it's a technology that could produce a windfall of jobs for the Sixth Congressional District, said Democrat Lois Murphy, who is running for the seat. In a wide-ranging economic plan that Murphy presented yesterday, she said that by scouring federal agencies for funds, the district could become the Silicon Valley of nanotechnology research and development using the wealth of resources it has to offer. "Nanotechnology is at a very exciting stage," she said.

Representatives from the Philadelphia area who voted for the spending measure were Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), John Carney (D., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Michael Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Pat Meehan (R., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), Jon Runyan (R., N.J.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.). Voting against the bill was Tim Holden (D., Pa.)

Steve Welch, a wealthy Republican biotechnology entrepreneur, abandoned his bid for the U.S. House yesterday in a surprise announcement at the Chester County GOP's nominating convention in Kennett Square. Welch, 33, whose chances at securing the full backing of the GOP all but evaporated when Rep. Jim Gerlach decided in January to run for reelection, said it was time to unify behind Gerlach. "At this point I would be doing more damage than good to the values I hold dear," Welch said in a phone interview yesterday.

For a few hours yesterday, Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) was back on the front lines in the Social Security wars, blasted as a flip-flopper, and accused of having abandoned his opposition to private accounts. The evidence? On Tuesday, Gerlach signed on as a cosponsor of a bill that would create such accounts using the Social Security surplus. Americans United to Protect Social Security, an anti-privatization group, sounded the alarm, suggesting that Gerlach had been strong-armed by Karl Rove, the White House political adviser who had hosted a Gerlach fund-raiser last week.

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week: House 2012 military budget. Voting 283-136, the House on Wednesday approved the conference report (HR 1540) on a $662 billion military budget for fiscal 2012, including $117.2 billion for war in Afghanistan and Iraq, $52.5 billion for the military's health-care system, and $14.9 billion for naval shipbuilding. The bill would require that captured members of organizations such as al-Qaeda be held in U.S. military custody and subjected to military justice.

Representatives from the Philadelphia area who voted for the spending measure were Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), John Carney (D., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Michael Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Pat Meehan (R., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), Jon Runyan (R., N.J.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.). Voting against the bill was Tim Holden (D., Pa.)

WASHINGTON - The House defeated a proposal Tuesday that would have raised the nation's debt limit without any spending constraints, a vote called by Republicans to bolster their case for steep budget reductions in talks with the White House. The vote was 97-318, with seven Democrats voting present. Two-thirds support was needed for the measure (HR 1954) to pass. Two months away from the deadline to raise the nation's borrowing capacity, Republicans called a no vote "absolutely essential" so the government could demonstrate its commitment to reining in spending.