Sam Smith

State Rep. Mario Civera has been re-elected minority appropriations chairman.

He reportedly faced a challenge from state Rep. John Maher. 

The top three position in the House Republican Caucus appear to be set, with House Minority Leader Sam Smith and Civera retaining their positions and former Policy Chairman Mike Turzai becoming minority whip. 

Speaker of the House Dennis O'Brien, a Republican by name but installed as House leader this session by Democrats, survived an attempt this afternoon to be expelled from his caucus.

Newly re-elected House Minority Leader Sam Smith confirmed to reporters there had been discussion of removing O'Brien, but indicated it didn't have much of a chance.

"It wasn't well received," he said.

O'Brien is not expected to retain his position now that Democrats have expanded their majority in the House. 

HARRISBURG -- Sam Smith has been re-elected House minority leader, his spokesman has confirmed to reporters. 

Smith ran against former Speaker of the House John Perzel for the position. 

With John Perzel on the outs with his caucus, the Republican leadership for the next session seems to be set. Sam Smith will more than likely keep his current Minority Leader position. With Dave Argall attempting to run for the SD-29 seat vacated by the death of Jim Rhoades, conservative leader Mike Turzai has teamed up with Smith and will be seeking the position of Minority Whip. Joining Smith and Turzai is Mario Civera who will be the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee. This ticket is about as diverse of a Republican ticket as you can get. Turzai is a conservative from the southwest, Civera is a more moderate southeast Republican and Smith is a central mainstream Republican who tends a little more to the conservative end.

It was a very good week for Sam Smith, while John Perzel did not have such a good one. Find out who makes this week's Winners & Losers.

It is a rare day when almost everyone in Harrisburg agrees, but today they do. After yesterdays revelation that former-Speaker John Perzel hired an opposition research guy to investigate not only Democrats, but Republican Leader Sam Smith and other Republicans, the future looks cloudy for Perzel.

House Minority Leader Sam Smith issued a statement Monday afternoon criticizing state Rep. John Perzel (R-Philadelphia) after Capitolwire reported the former speaker of the House had hired somebody to perform opposition research on Smith and other Republicans. 

"This is the kind of politics that the people of Pennsylvania are sick of," Smith said. "My interest is to work within the legislature, as leader of the Republican Caucus to address the real issues of the economy, our budget deficit, health care, energy and the real things that are important to the people of this Commonwealth."

Smith is seeking to retain his position as leader of the House Republican Caucus, a position Perzel is reportedly interested in.

Speaker of the House Emeritus John Perzel (R-Philadelphia) wants back into leadership, and he's allegedly ready to throw a few elbows to get there, Capitolwire reports Tuesday (subscription required).

GOP opposition researcher Joe Carduff told the news service he was hired by Perzel to conduct research on fellow House Republicans, including Minority Leader Sam Smith, Policy Chairman Mike Turzai, and the six Republicans who voted for Speaker of the House Dennis O'Brien (R-Philadelphia) after the 2006 election.

A Perzel spokesman denied the allegations and said Carduff was hired to do opposition research only on Democrats.

Perzel is rumored to be interested in reclaiming the caucus leadership role, which is held now by Smith. Nearly all reports and sources contacted by PolitickerPA.com indicate Turzai is ready to take over as minority whip, especially after current Minority Whip David Argall announced his intention to run for Jim Rhoades' seat in the Senate.

Carduff said he wasn't able to find anything usable against those whom he researched, including two Democrats -- state reps. Josh Shapiro (D-Montgomery County) and Mike Gerber (D-Montgomery County). He also told Capitolwire he was hired to do perform opposition research on Perzel to hide whom he was working for.

Perzel and Carduff disagree over an alleged $2,000 the opposition researcher was paid.

Perzel supporters say the payment was solely for opposition research on Democrats, work they said Carduff in fact didn't do in the first place.

Carduff said he researched both sides but wasn't paid after not finding anything usable.

There has been a lot of talk lately about who will be the next speaker so I decided to reach out to a Republican and Democratic staffer, both on the staff of current leadership members. Both agreed the most likely outcomes were for John Perzel on the Republican side and Dwight Evans on the Democratic side. Both also agreed the wildcard was a house that faced little change in makeup which could very well lead to a second Dennis O'Brien administration.