Mercer County Republican Committee Chairman David O. King said Republican Commissioner Brian Shipley lied to county residents and party officials and should resign immediately.

"I'm shocked at the depth of his deception to all the citizens of Mercer County. He (Shipley) has lost the moral authority to lead and I have asked him to resign immediately," King said this morning.

"I am devastated. We all are," King said.

Shipley should not be in office "one more minute," King said.

King said Shipley lied to party officials, initially denying the numerous allegations against him.

Shipley has been the focal point of a state Attorney General's Office investigation since August. The state probe is believed to include information about Shipley's use of a county business credit card, cellular phone and computer and a credit-card file that could not be found by county officials for at least a day before it turned up containing no records from last summer to the present.

County records show that during the past two years, most charges made to Shipley's county business credit card were for personal expenses before the account was closed this spring; that he used his county cell phone for personal calls, including calls to escort services, at least one massage parlor and dating lines; and a county computer to look up pornographic Web sites.

"He (Shipley) looked us in the face and lied to us. His dark side was not revealed to any of us. He betrayed the trust of everyone," King said.

Shipley was unavailable for comment today after King made his.

Earlier this morning, however, it was apparent that the lines of communication were broken among the three county commissioners.

Commissioners Gene Brenneman and Olivia Lazor said this morning that they scheduled a news conference for 12:30 p.m. today in the assembly room of the courthouse regarding Shipley, who has been mired in controversy since summer.

When asked the subject of his and Mrs. Lazor's media conference, Brenneman said, "Brian Shipley, period."

Shipley said he was unaware of the other commissioners' media conference. Shipley said he would stop at The Herald to make a media statement of his own late this morning.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Tom Fontaine at tfontaine@sharon-herald.com