Tom Corbett, A Contradiction In Terms

GOP gubernatorial front-runner Tom Corbett seems to be getting a little too comfortable as things begin to heat up on the campaign trail this election year. Corbett's gubernatorial campaign has brilliantly masked Corbett's Harrisburg insider status by depicting him as a good government crusader/reformer. Despite the fact that Corbett has been a major political force in Pennsylvania politics since the start of the Ridge administration.

In 1994 Corbet was asked to provide criminal law and policy expertise to the gubernatorial campaign of then-Congressman Tom Ridge. Once Ridge was elected Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett was asked to fill several key roles in service to the Commonwealth which eventually led to his appointment as Attorney General.

Despite his campaign finance connections to state GOP power players like Governor Ridge, former President Pro Temp Bob Jubelirer and former House Speaker John Perzel, Corbett himself has managed to distance himself from all the political corruption scandals that have plagued many state lawmakers by indicting 12 democratic members of the state legislature and two of their aids who received illegally $4 million in bonuses for campaign work. Despite the pending indictments Corbett still accepted campaign contributions from the very same people he he was indicting. Former Speaker of the House John Perzel even held a campaign fundraiser that Corbett attended weeks before Perzel was indicted.

Perhaps the most laughable pillar of Corbett's my hands are squeaky clean gubernatorial campaign is how he has manage to distance himself from the illegal 2005 pay raise scandal. Corbett has even gotten away with criticizing his primary opponent state Representative Sam Rohrer for voting for both the 2005 pay raise and the 2001 pension legislation. At a recent gubernatorial forum in Philadelphia he blasted his republican primary opponent Sam Rohrer for his support for the pension increase.

From the Philadelphia Daily News: "The only political shot of the night came from Corbett, when asked about the state's burgeoning public-pension crisis. He noted that some of the participants in the forum had voted to raise state pension benefits - a veiled reference to Rohrer."

His criticism of Rohrer's legislative voting record on the pension issue and the pay raise issue is laughable because Corbett himself benefited from both of Rohrer's votes. Corbett gladly accepted the pay raise that Governor Rendell negotiated for executive offices in 2005 knowing full well the pay raise was illegal and that it violated the state's constitution.

At the time the pay raise was passed I didn't hear of any outrage radiating from the Attorney General's office. I don't remember Tom Corbet, the state's chief law enforcement officer, holding press conferences saying hey wait a minute we need to investigate the legality of these unvouchered expenses. We never seen any grand jury indictments from the Attorney General's Office resulting from the overwhelming evidence of collusion between the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government.

Corbett is a candidate that seems to love having his cake and eating it too. At a recent state budget hearing Corbett warned state lawmakers of potential layoffs if the Attorney General's office budget wasn't increased despite his gubernatorial campaign calling for dramatic cuts in state spending.

But these contradictions are only the tip of the iceberg for Tricky Tom Corbett. I just cannot allow myself to support a candidate where the more you learn about him the more confused you become.

Continuity & Change: Pennsylvania in the New Century

By Dr. G. Terry Madonna, Professor of Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College

New centuries can be messy affairs to chronicle, often taking a decade or longer to hit their stride. By any measure, however, the 21st century is now well under way. It seems a good time, therefore, to assess the leading trends exhibited in Pennsylvania politics early in the new century.

What's new and not so new in state politics? And where does the state seem to be heading?

One way to answer these questions is to examine six macro trends that now dominate state politics. Certainly Pennsylvania's major trends comprise a blend of old and new. Three of them point toward continuity with the state's sometimes rigid political heritage, while three others point to transformative changes now underway.

1. Continuing Resistance to Change: Certainly the slow-to-change, innate conservatism so familiar to state history remains an important dynamic in state politics. Pennsylvania has been an anti-reform state throughout its modern history, and although the currents of change flowed sometimes vigorously over the past decade, the state's standpatters continue to be influential.

2. Continuing Urban-Rural Fault Lines: Also familiar across the state's political landscape is the continuing rivalry between rural and urban areas. The state still has one of the largest rural populations in the nation, while its two urban behemoths, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, are among the nation's largest cities. The consequent urban-rural fault line continues to polarize state politics as it has for more than a century and a half.

3. Continuing Divide Between the West and the East: Back to the days of Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania has been almost two distinct states: one western, rural, more sparsely populated, and more politically conservative; the other eastern, urban, more densely settled, and less politically conservative. Western Pennsylvania is more culturally akin to the Midwest, while eastern Pennsylvania is more culturally similar to the East Coast. These historical distinctions now include major demographic and economic differences. Increasingly the east is growing and prospering economically, while the west's population growth is stagnant amid a struggling economy. These sharpened differences have produced a geographic dimension in state politics that often plays out in statewide elections as well as in Harrisburg policy battles.

4. Growing Dissatisfaction with Government and Politicians: Historically, Pennsylvanian's have often exhibited indifference verging on apathy toward state government-but no longer. Indeed, the first decade of the new century unleashed a dramatic new awareness bordering on contempt for Harrisburg and its politicians. Pennsylvanians discovered state politics and by and large didn't like what they saw. An ill-advised legislative pay hike, succeeded by a series of legislative public corruption scandals, drove some of the dissatisfaction. And part of the rising dismay is attributable to a darkening national mood of frustration and anger, in part caused by the current recession. As Pennsylvania approaches the second decade of the new century, its citizens are arguably as dissatisfied with state government and its politicians as any period in modern times.

5. A Rising New Generation of State Politicians: Through much of state history well-known politicians trading on famous family traditions dominated statewide elections. Particularly prominent in modern times have been fabled family names like Casey, Flaherty, and Scranton. But the 21st century has seen a gradual movement away from familiar names in the state's electoral politics. Increasingly throughout the decade, a new generation of state politicians emerged in the congressional delegation as well as in legislative and gubernatorial politics. Probably nothing portrays this changing of the guard more than the 2010 governor's race. Indeed, the upcoming gubernatorial primaries largely feature electoral contestants unknown to most voters.

6. Legislative Turmoil and Pressure for Reform: The new century has brought both drama and trauma to the legislative branch. Perhaps the signal event of the decade was the abortive pay raise that occurred in July 2005. The resultant furor brought 31legislative retirements and 23 incumbent defeats in 2006. The pay hike also unleashed a plethora of protest movements, shaking the normally placid legislative culture to its foundations and generating a reform impulse not seen in state politics in more than a century. Compounding this, Attorney General Tom Corbett announced in 2008 the first of 25 prosecutions in the so-called "bonus gate" public corruption scandals, inevitably raising the question of whether systematic corruption had returned to Harrisburg. Amid the turmoil, repeated calls were made for reform, perhaps even a constitutional convention, to comprehensively restructure state government. Should a general constitutional convention be convened, it would be the first in nearly a century and a half.

Yet, unclear amid the mix of continuity and change is where the new century ultimately leads. Not in more than a century has there been more agitation for change and reform in the Keystone State. Nevertheless, the forces for the status quo still loom powerfully. What does seem clear is that the new century will continue to witness the institution shaking conflict seen so often in the last ten years-conflict likely to continue long after the new century isn't so new anymore.

This article has been adapted from Madonna & Young's forthcoming book Political Pennsylvania: The New Century.

Politically Uncorrected is published twice monthly. Dr. G. Terry Madonna is Professor of Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College, and Dr. Michael Young is Managing Partner of Michael Young Strategic Research.

Pennsylvania Lawmakers Don't Want 'Real' Reform

In today's editorial the Harrisburg Patriot-News asks whether or not state lawmakers have the "courage" to push for real reform by cutting state spending. I had to chuckle after reading the editorial. I couldn't help but think to myself just how much legislative leaders in Harrisburg actually hate reform.

For years state lawmakers were allowed to pass expensive legislation and increase state spending without much oversight or accountability. They voted themselves lavish pension increases, illegal pay raises, and bloated budgets that has put us in our current fiscal mess. And the lack of accountability by the voters has resulted in Pennsylvania having one of the largest, most expensive, and most corrupt state legislature's in the country.

How large is our state government? The following is a passage from the article that pretty much sums up the situation.

With 253 seats, our Legislature is the second largest in the United States, but that doesn’t tell the real story. The largest is New Hampshire; its 424 citizen-legislators are paid $200 for a two-year term.

One can only dream.

By contrast, Keystone lawmakers are the second-highest paid in the nation, according to the Pennsylvania Economy League. And California, with the highest salaries, has 120 seats for nearly three times our population.

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Pennsylvania voters and good government advocacy groups continue to put tremendous pressure on state lawmakers to reform state government and stop the wasteful spending. A great example of this occurred in July 2005 when state lawmakers got too greedy and passed a middle of the night pay raise that would have raise some legislators salaries by 30%. The outrage by voters ended up forcing legislative leaders to repeal the pay raise four months later.

Although the pay raise repeal was a success, I think Pennsylvania voters need to ask themselves this election year what really has changed since the repeal of the pay raise in Harrisburg? Most efforts to reform state government have been basically ignored by legislative leaders.

The state budget has continued to increase more than the rate of inflation at a time when working Pennsylvanians are struggling to keep their jobs and pay household bills. The current "bonusgate" corruption trial has brought to the forefront how legislative leader's in both parties used the power of their offices for personal and political gain.

The real truth is that most state lawmakers don't want reform in Harrisburg. State lawmakers love things just the way they are. They like the per diems and perks paid for on public dime. They like the lavish pensions they will receive when they retire. They like that Pennsylvania taxpayers pay for their health care plans with no personal out of pocket cost to them.

It's funny that most state lawmakers even after the repeal of the pay raise still believed they deserved it. So I asked this question to the Patriot-News Editorial Board, do you really think our current state lawmakers want "real reform"? It's not a question of courage when the entire legislative process is controlled by greed.

Some Say Tom Corbett's Plan To Reform State Government Does Not Go Far Enough

Blogger Ben Waxman of Philly.Com's It's Our Money Blog has some great thoughts on Tom Corbett's sudden interest in reforming state government. Although Waxman thinks Corbett's proposals are a step in the right direction, he thinks there is room for improvement.

There are some parts that would shake things up. Corbett promises to increase transparency by putting more state data online, eliminate discretionary grants controlled by legislators, and require lawmakers to pay for their own health care plan, which is currently footed by the taxpayers.. He also proposes prohibiting campaign contributions during the procurement process.

However, we couldn't help but notice that the 1,300 word document didn't include the terms “campaign finance reform”, “redistricting,” or “lobbyists.” And these are the three biggest factors in the special interest stranglehold over state government.

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Waxman also correctly points out that Corbett is not pushing hard enough to limit campaign contributions to state lawmakers. The way it stands now any individual can give an unlimited amount to a candidate. This is the main reason why Pennsylvania has one of the most corrupt state legislatures in the country.