He is a former member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and was the unsuccessful 2006 Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania as Lynn Swann's running mate.
In the 1999 primary election Matthews defeated Mario Mele,[2] whom Republicans had accused of making a power sharing deal with the third commissioner, Democrat Joe Hoeffel, and supporting higher taxes in exchange for the commission chairmanship.
Facing incumbent Ruth Damsker and Frank Custer, the pair won, but with a narrower margin, less than 10,000 votes,[4] than Republicans were accustomed to.
[6] Matthews and Castor faced off with Hoeffel, who sought to return to the commission after a stint in Congress, and incumbent Ruth Damsker in the general election.
Matthews was attacked for support from Bob Asher and a lobbying contract awarded to party chairman Ken Davis.
[10] Despite announcing he would seek a fourth term without party support, Matthews withdrew from the contest, along with Hoeffel, after rumors of alleged violations of state Sunshine laws and awarding of no-bid contracts surfaced.
A subsequent grand jury investigation was critical of both Hoeffel and Matthews over their discussions of county business over private breakfast meetings.
Castor nominated Hoeffel to the position of Chairman ruefully saying he did not want the chair for himself by likening the post to becoming "Captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg."
The lawsuit, brought by a competitive firm, MRS, alleges that Matthews and Ellis, while they were Commissioners, improperly steered county business to XSPAND and pressured the borough of Norristown to hire it as well.