Broken Politics is Hardly Limited to Allegheny County

I agree with Editor Douglas Heuck’s piece entitled “The Broken Politics of Allegheny County.” I moved across the state in 1986 to the Philadelphia suburb of Bryn Mawr, in part because I was tired of the political scene in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County; not that it’s proven to be any better here. Obvious and commonly perceived problems that government could fix aren’t even addressed. In my mind this is due to the fundamental contradiction that what it takes to get elected nowadays has nothing to do with what it takes to govern. We have to look backwards and forwards to solve the situation.  

The problem across Pennsylvania is not one-party dominance, but instead a plethora of elected politicians whose only asset is the ability to get elected. As with college admissions, Pennsylvania has been saddled with “legacy” politicians; anyone named Flaherty, Casey, or Zappala. As a consequence, officials across Pennsylvania now constitute a class unto themselves enjoying a financial status far better and more secure than those they supposedly  represent.

Personally, I found the comments of the “guy from Detroit” to be regrettably all too typical, lacking the proper focus:

First.  he criticized Penn Hills legislator Tony DeLuca’s re-election a month after he died.  (So as to date me, I actually represented first time candidate DeLuca in a court contest in November, 1982)  This bears less on the electorate’s level of knowledge and more on the fact that those in charge of ballots can’t legally modify them under those circumstances.  

Second, and more telling is the Detroit guy’s criticism of U.S. Senator John Fetterman’s election, despite a speech impediment attendant to a stroke. That criticism of Fetterman continues in the media ad nauseum.  Yet where is the media focus on Bobby Casey, legacy pol who hopscotched from State Auditor General, to Treasurer, to U.S. Senator where he’s been since 2007, with virtually no record to speak of? And what about the rest of the U.S. Congress who can’t manage to timely pass a budget or raise the debt limit?  Instead of Fetterman, let’s focus on the many who are truly impaired when it comes to getting anything done.  

Clearly Mr. Heuck and I both come from a time that put public service on a pedestal for all of government’s promise.  This motivated me to work for Pittsburgh State Representative K. Leroy Irvis, in the late sixties and mid-seventies. At that time, government actually accomplished things.  His legacy of successful legislative initiatives that became law remains unparalleled. Being elected in Harrisburg then meant legislating. This isn’t the case now. 

  Yet, K. Leroy Irvis would admit that he wasn’t much of a politician. He didn’t work the electorate. Afterall, he did not need to. After leading a protest against segregation regarding Pittsburgh department store workers, he was summoned to the office of Mayor and national power broker David Lawrence, who took a liking to him.  Lawrence hand picked him for a seat in the Legislature in 1959, where he remained until 1988, when he retired as Speaker.

When Irvis first landed in the legislature, the amenities did not begin to resemble what is now known as America’s costliest and possibly least productive legislature. Legislators did not have offices or staff.  They each had a locker. If a member wanted to have something typed, he stood in line for a secretary.  Moreover, the Legislature only met every other year. Irvis and other leaders wanted to “professionalize” the place with pay and staffing for a full-time body. The problem is that we are now saddled with a class of overpaid and underworked politicians who largely do nothing but get re-elected.  This is the monster we now know.    

In the mid-1970s when I worked as Representative Irvis’s legislative assistant, the Pennsylvania House members were personally far different than those  today. Most were lawyers or business owners who didn’t need the relatively paltry pay. They had a specific legislative agenda. Now politicians can earn far more for themselves in pay and benefits than if they were in the private sector. Their only incentive is to stay on the gravy train. Even if they lose an election, our public pension affords them a cushy soft landing for the rest of their lives.  Beginning in the 1980s, I remember Mr. Irvis telling me that the present day legislator was much better in terms of getting elected than were he or his contemporaries. Not so when it came to legislating. Ability to get elected went up with a corresponding decline in ability to govern.  

Practically speaking, if those elected are actually interested in governing, where do they gain any experience? As Mr. Heuck points out “The County Executive is the third most important political office in Pennsylvania behind the Governor and the Mayor of Philadelphia. Allegheny County has nearly 7,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $1 billion.” Indeed, County Executive is not a job for a barista. Yet we don’t have a process for merit selection.  

When it comes to state government, I still believe that legislating is the name of the game.  Pennsylvania has a host of problems.  It is too soon to see whether another spectacular perennial candidate, Governor Shapiro, will focus on a legislative agenda. I hope that he does.  I remain pessimistic about Eastern Pennsylvania.  Here Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has proven to be not much more than a political hanger on, up from City Council, who can’t wait to leave office.   

So, what has history taught us? Hiking pay and staffing levels to attain our full-time “professional” legislature has instead resulted in this country’s most expensive juggernaut. This was a mistake. Harrisburg needs downsizing.  Elected officials, regardless of whether they are state or federal officials, have become a ruling class unto themselves, having it much better than we do.  Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and Pennsylvania state government are not alone when it comes to paralysis. Our federal government provides plenty of company.

With so much out of whack, what is required? As per Mr. Heuck, being informed and voting is the least one can do. Yet, there is a great deal more needed. First, people have to realize that government affects them personally. For example, who would give Congressman George Santos his or her wallet? (Actually, he already has it.) There is also the matter of organizing to better get out the vote. Moreover, voters need to be able to place their own initiatives on the ballot, so as to unclog bottled up reforms. Informed panels of fiscal and operational managers need to rate elected officials in the same way that panels of lawyers rate judges.  

Long term promise lies with Allegheny County’s plethora of colleges and universities, which need to stress to students the importance of public service. At the same time they must retool their political science curricula so as to substantively equip them to govern. Moreover, the region has to return to the “renaissance” days where the private sector was the thinktank for the public sector. Pittsburgh’s Mayor and next Allegheny County Executive need expertise. Given the circumstances, they might actually welcome it. 

What is necessary may simply be generational change. The pendulum eventually swings in an opposite direction.   I was given some hope recently when I ran into a tech entrepreneur at the Bryn Mawr Starbucks. He told me that his son was interested in politics, of all things.  At first I was aghast. I asked why and was told that his son was motivated because of how bad things are. That young man undoubtedly has a lot of company.  Perhaps a new generation of motivated public servant wanna-bees can get that pendulum to swing back in the right direction.