 Castor and Asher had feuded for several years due to Asher's prior felony convictions for perjury, bribery, racketeering, and conspiracy in 1986 in the context of a political corruption scandal which also involved the State Treasurer, R. Budd Dwyer, leading to Dwyer's committing suicide at a press conference before his sentencing.Asher had been state GOP Chair during the scandal and was convicted for participating in the bribery of Dwyer.Asher's criminal past, connected to a political bribery scheme while he was the Rubublican state chair, became a subject of the campaign for the state's top law enforcement post.