Lawyers Leach, Rogers fill race with objections

Waging a positive political campaign is a platonic ideal to which many politicians aspire but few honor.

Case in point: the fierce race between Democrat Daylin Leach and Republican Lance Rogers for the 17th District state Senate seat held by Democrat Connie Williams, who did not seek another term.

Constituents in the district, which spans the Schuylkill, includes parts of two counties (Montgomery and Delaware), and ranges from the gritty river burgs of Norristown and Bridgeport to the swank suburbs of Lower Merion and Radnor, have been bombarded with mailers that left some wondering whether the choice is between Satan and Beelzebub.

A mailer with a photo of a hypodermic needle says Leach "puts the rights of cocaine and heroin users before our public safety." (Leach: "My bill did exactly the opposite. It cracked down on illegal drug users.")

A mailer with a photo of a handgun says Rogers "opposes new gun safety laws." (Rogers: "False. I actually support everything he says I oppose.")

Leach, who pledged to run "a completely positive campaign," recently threw in the towel ("you can't be a punching bag forever"), distributing mailers linking Rogers to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. "A cheap ploy," Rogers fumes. "I'm not a supporter of President Bush at all."

Each man accuses the other of lies and distortions.

Leach says he's "shocked" by Rogers' "relentlessly negative campaign" and calls him "immature, nasty and opportunistic."

"He has absolutely, blatantly lied about the record," Rogers parries.

"He says one thing at home and does another in Harrisburg."

Leach, 47, resembles ex-Disney exec Michael Eisner, but with more girth and less hair and cash.

He lives in the Wayne section of Upper Merion and is completing his third two-year term in the state House, representing the 149th District.

Leach grew up in Northeast Philadelphia and Allentown.

He majored in political science at Temple University, and earned his law degree at the University of Houston.

He is proud of a law he wrote providing state money for breast, ovarian and cervical cancer screenings and another requiring that 25 percent of the state auto fleet be hybrid by 2011.

A lawyer with a special interest in constitutional law, he also was "instrumental," he says, in stopping an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage.

"I'm a progressive, and this is a progressive district," declares Leach, who is married to a psychologist and has two children.

Registered Democrats in the district outnumber Republicans by about 21,000.

In 2005, Leach, an amateur comedian, made headlines for a blog many considered bawdy and inappropriate. Leach also voted for the controversial middle-of-the-night legislative pay raise, later repealed.

An ardent environmentalist, Leach has championed the Growing Greener II program, which funds pollution cleanup and open-space preservation, and has encouraged the construction of "clean green schools," tax credits for energy-efficient appliances, and the production and use of biofuels.

Among his other concerns: gun violence, health care and insurance, education and nutrition, environmental technology and alternative energy, stem-cell research, civil rights and poverty.

Rogers, 34, who is single and lives in the Penn Wynne section of Lower Merion, is a photogenic Ivy Leaguer who could model preppy togs for the Lands' End catalog.

At the University of Pennsylvania, he majored in political science and communication and later earned a master's degree in government administration.

He holds a law degree from Northwestern University.

He clerked two years for Clarence Newcomer, a federal judge.

At Dechert Price and later Pepper Hamilton, he specialized in media law.

(He has represented The Inquirer.)

Rogers was drawn into politics when Lankenau Hospital proposed an expansion and he led the battle to protect his neighborhood from traffic and threats to pedestrian safety.

Dismayed by a "lack of transparency," he ran for township commissioner as an independent.

During his three years as commissioner, Rogers has monitored spending and fought to keep taxes low.

He blocked the use of eminent domain to acquire property for the redevelopment of Ardmore, and he is proud of his efforts to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters.

Harrisburg, he says, is "broken."

He vows to make state government "open and accessible" and change the way the legislature does business by banning gifts from lobbyists and eliminating "luxury perks."

Rogers became a Republican, he says, because "as you go higher up the ladder in state politics, belonging to a political party is a necessity."

Nevertheless, he promises to be an independent voice in a district with roughly 25,000 voters who are independent or unaffiliated with the major parties.

"I won't let the party dictate my vote," vows Rogers.

"I really believe there is a better way and that I can have a positive impact," he says, uttering words that could fall just as well from the lips of Daylin Leach. "I see problems and want to fix them."