Republicans are touting progressive Delco DA Jack Stollsteimer in messages defending GOP judges up for retention vote

The text messages to voters outraged progressive Democrats in Delaware County, who had just won a fight to have their party oppose the retention of three local judges listed in nonpartisan slots on Tuesday’s ballot after being elected originally as Republicans.

The texts touted a quote from Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, a Democrat seeking a second term Tuesday and widely expected to soon enter May’s primary for state attorney general, saying he supports retaining those judges for new 10-year terms.

“Our commonwealth’s constitution requires judicial elections to be nonpartisan for a reason: to protect the principle of judicial integrity,” the texts said, citing comments from Stollsteimer published in the Delaware County Daily Times last week.

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But Stollsteimer did not send those texts and told Clout he had never heard of the little-known political action committee, Pennsylvania for Well Qualified Judges, that used his words.

That PAC, launched in 2017 with $20,000 in seed money from the Delaware County Republican Party, sat dormant for years with only $200 in the bank. Then it raised more than $82,000 in September and October.

The biggest donor: $20,000 from Commonwealth Leaders Fund, a conservative PAC largely funded by Main Line billionaire Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man. And $15,000 more came from Pennsylvania Opportunity PAC, chaired by Andy Reilly, a Republican National Committee member from Delaware County.

» READ MORE: Delco’s DA is defending his seat as he and his opponent discuss a ‘spillover’ of crime from Philly

Pennsylvanians for Well Qualified Judges disclosed all that in a campaign finance report filed last week, filled out by hand and submitted on paper to the Department of State, instead of uploading it electronically. That delays adding the information to the department’s searchable website.

Call that old trick a slow stroll toward transparency.

Republican political consultant Julia Vahey submitted that report and did not respond when Clout came calling. She is executive director of Montgomery County’s Republican Party, serves as treasurer for Reilly’s PAC, and consults for Carolyn Carluccio, a Republican seeking a state Supreme Court seat on Tuesday’s ballot.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.