Bob Asher
| Robert Asher | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Republican National Committee from Pennsylvania |
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Assumed office November 18, 1998 Serving with Christine Toretti |
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| Preceded by | Tim Lambert |
| Chairman of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania | |
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In office June 18, 1983 – February 8, 1986 |
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| Preceded by | Martha Bell Schoeninger |
| Succeeded by | Earl Baker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 7, 1937 |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
Robert B. "Bob" Asher (born September 7, 1937) is an American political figure and businessman from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He is the co-chairman of the board of directors of Asher’s Chocolates in Pennsylvania and also serves as Pennsylvania's committeeman on the Republican National Committee by appointment in 1998 by Governor Tom Ridge. He is a member of the 2016 Electoral College.
Asher graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. He is the co-chairman of the Board of Directors of Asher's Chocolates, which his family has owned for four generations.
He has held several positions in the Pennsylvania Republican Party and local elected offices, including:
He maintains a close relationship with Tom Ridge, John Perzel, and many members of the Senate of Pennsylvania. He is known for being a successful fundraiser for Republican candidates.
While chairman of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania Asher was convicted of perjury, racketeering, conspiracy and bribery in connection with a state contract award. He resigned after the conviction and served one year in federal prison. The case gained national attention in 1987 when his co-defendant in that case and political ally, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Budd Dwyer, committed suicide on television just before sentencing.
Asher eventually returned to politics though he was not welcomed back in his home Montgomery County. To re-establish himself, in his first political move after being released from prison, Asher helped defeat the endorsed incumbent county commissioners in Montgomery County Paul Bartle and Flo Bloss in a primary election with Jon Fox and Mario Mele. Mele then spurned the GOP and made a power sharing pact with the Democrat Joe Hoeffel. The primary election between incumbents Bartle and Bloss, and Asher-recruited Mele and Fox in 1991 ignited a civil war in Montgomery County which rages even to this day and is often cited for the dysfunction of the Montgomery County Republican Party. Asher and was appointed Pennsylvania's Republican National Committeeman in 1998. By 2004, Asher, despite not being a candidate for office, was becoming an issue in GOP campaigns. That year, a developing feud between him and then Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor spilled over into the campaign. After initially recruiting Castor to run for the position of Pennsylvania Attorney General, Asher moved to support former United States Attorney Tom Corbett. Castor claimed that this was retaliation for Asher's failed attempt to gain a seat on the board of SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Castor worked to deny Asher the appointment due to a state law which has been used to deny political positions to individuals with felony convictions. The resulting campaign turned bitter with charges from Castor that Corbett's primary supporter was someone who had been convicted of bribery.
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