by Karl Kurtz
After November's elections and a seemingly interminable recount of one race, Pennsylvania Democrats hold a 102-101 majority in the House of Representatives, but this slim margin was not large enough for them to elect a speaker of their own party. When one Democrat announced that he would vote for the incumbent Republican Speaker John Perzel, the Democrats recognized that they could not elect their leader, Bill DeWeese, to the speakership and brokered a deal to name a Republican, Dennis O'Brien (pictured), to be speaker. O'Brien is a 28-year veteran of the house and served as chair of the Judiciary Committee under the Republican majority. The vote was 105-97, with six Republican voting with 99 of the Democrats to elect O'Brien. Here's the AP story.
In a press release, Rep. DeWeese says that he will become the majority leader after serving as minority leader in the last several sessions. It's not known at this time what will happen with committee chairmanships.
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