State Sen. Frank Farry was advocating for funding for community colleges last week when he learned Bucks County commissioners voted to replace him as a board member for Bucks County Community College.
“I’m in Harrisburg fighting for funding for community colleges when I hear I’m getting removed simply because I’m a Republican,” said Farry. “That’s a bit of irony.”
Farry secured a 6 percent funding increase for the community colleges, something some legislators opposed because they don’t have a community college in their districts.
Farry said he cares deeply about the community college and made time to serve on the board despite family obligations and his volunteer position as Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company Chief.
“We reached out to the members who’d gone off this board and thanked them for their service,” said Commissioner Chair Harvie. But Farry said he was never notified before the July 10 commissioners meeting that he was not being reappointed. He did receive a letter from Harvie a week later.
The two Democratic commissioners voted for five new people to serve six-year terms on the community college board: Tabitha Dell’Angelo, Adrienne King, John Murray, Edward Tokmajian, and Vincent Magyar Jr.
Minority Republican Commissioner Gene DiGiralomo voted against the appointments.
DiGiralomo, who served in the state House before becoming a county commissioner, talked about how the majority would switch from one party to the other and back again.
He recalled the phrase, “The majority has their way, and the minority has their say.” He added, “Be careful what you do when you’re in the majority because the minority is going to remember, and you won’t be in the majority forever.
“The five people who are new appointments are taking the place of five people on the board of trustees; all five of them would have liked to be reappointed, but they were not…Believe me, I understand it from a political standpoint. There’s some good people being let go. They served the community college very well.
“One person in particular, who has been there for a term and probably half of another term, is one of our state senators, Frank Farry. And Frank, in my estimation, was an invaluable member of the Board of Trustees. Not only had (he) done a good job, he was an advocate, an elected advocate up in Harrisburg, when he was in the House and now while he’s in the state Senate. And that was really important, because when the state does its budget, a big part of the community college budget is appropriated by the state. And he was always an advocate for Bucks County Community College when he was up there. As I see it with him, we’re losing that voice up in Harrisburg. And I can’t help but think that’s not good for the community college.”
Board Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia said, “One of the things that has happened at the community college is that there has been a series of financial dilemmas that have come up in the past few years. Very serious things that the board should have been dealing with. I’m not sure why they were not dealing with it, but I think sometimes that happens when you have people that are on boards for six, seven, eight terms. They just don’t look at (new) things.”
However, Farry said Ellis-Marseglia never spoke to him about her concerns about the college’s finances.
“Diane Marseglia never raised concerns about the financial well-being to us,” said Farry. “She certainly calls me seeking (state) funding. She’s got my cell phone.”
As for the financial issues, an audit had found some bookkeeping errors that are being addressed, Farry said. Like all colleges, the BCCC faces falling enrollment and higher costs due to inflation, he said.
Farry said he didn’t know the “impetus of her blame game.”
“I was in Harrisburg fighting for funding for the community colleges when I heard I’m getting removed, simply because I’m a Republican,” he said.
“The college means a lot to me,” said Farry. And he will continue to advocate for it in Harrisburg but without the insider information that he had as a board member, he thinks he might be less effective.
“Those actions don’t meet their campaign rhetoric,” he added. He noted Ellis-Marseglia and Harvie campaigned for reelection last year on their bipartisanship. Although, when DiGirolamo and county Controller Pamela Van Blunk were running against Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia, one of the things they criticized the Democrats for was replacing Republicans on the various county boards with Democrats. For years when Republicans controlled the Board of Commissioners, they appointed both Republicans and Democrats to various boards, DiGirolamo said. The longest serving member on the BCCC board is Blake Eisenhart, a Democrat who has served for 36 years.
“That’s a sad state of affairs for Bucks County Community College,” said Farry. “The politics of it matters…They chose to throw me out at a public meeting.”
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