Posted on 11/08/2010 6:13:31 PM PST by Born Conservative
In the legislative halls of Harrisburg and Washington, a legislator's seniority matters.
Seniority means clout and come January, Northeastern Pennsylvania will lose a lot of both.
Six long-serving legislators, people who have served in the state General Assembly and Congress for decades, will leave office for good, defeated in re-election bids or simply retiring.
- U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, 30 years in the Senate, and a top-ranking member of the Appropriations Committee that controls federal spending, perhaps the quintessential go-to panel for "bringing home the bacon" for local projects. In recent years, Specter has almost single-handedly kept money flowing for the studies necessary to build the Scranton-to-Hoboken, N.J., passenger train.
- U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, 26 years in the House, the second-ranked member of the House Financial Service Committee and chairman of its Capital Markets subcommittee. Two weeks ago, President Bill Clinton credited Kanjorski for the Wyoming Valley Flood Control Project. Clinton said the best way to deal with Kanjorski's phone calls for help was to just give him what he wants because the congressman never gave up.
- State Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow, D-Archbald, 40 years in the state Senate. Criticized for failing to be more forceful as a leader, Mellow set aside the initial $35 million for The Commonwealth Medical College, an idea he first raised in the 1970s when he was less senior. Then, Mellow arranged for casino gambling taxes to steadily fund the fledgling school.
- State Sen. Raphael Musto, 28 years a senator, nine years a state representative before that, briefly a congressman and a leader in local environmental reclamation projects and the development of state environmental laws. He gets credit for Nescopeck State Park in southern Luzerne County.
- State Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, 14 years in the House and the departing House majority leader
whose clout was just accumulating. A month ago, he helped convince a state panel to provide $4.8 million for a downtown Hazleton parking garage.
- State Rep. Jim Wansacz, D-Old Forge, 10 years in the House, who endeared himself to the Democratic House leadership, fought hard for major changes in landfill permitting and often brought home money for smaller projects.
Replacing their clout will fall to two rookie congressmen, five first-time state legislators, one second-term state legislator, five state legislators with only four years in Harrisburg, four state legislators with more than a decade experience and a first-term U.S. senator.
Adding to their difficulty:
- Nine of the 15 state legislators - and three of the veterans - are Democrats who will serve in a House and Senate controlled by Republicans.
- Republicans at the state and federal levels are calling for reduced spending in the face of massive deficits. Two years ago, the state House eliminated legislative initiative grants, the so-called "walking-around-money" that legislative leaders dispensed to favored legislators to dole out to their favored projects. That has left municipalities to compete for scarcer state grants at the agency level.
This week, state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, expected to be the next House majority leader, raised questions about the worthiness of the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, known as RCAP, which co-funds large development projects such as Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Gov. Ed Rendell has promised $20 million from the program for a renovated PNC Field.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Mike Washo said he has "great concern" about the lost clout.
"We've been an area that continues to re-elect people in many instances because they've been successful at bringing the bacon home," Washo said. "And all at once, through differing circumstances, they're gone. It's going to have an impact."
State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, one of the re-elected veteran legislators who will begin her third decade in office, said "bringing home the bacon" will be a lot harder.
"Seniority matters in Harrisburg as it does in Washington. It just does," Mundy said.
Seniority is more than being able to get things done more quickly because of your stature, she said.
"It's institutional knowledge. It's knowing who to call and where to go," she said.
Mundy said the budget crunches on the state and federal levels will further pinch the money available for local projects.
"There isn't going to be any bacon to bring home that I can tell," she said, noting Turzai's criticism of RCAP.
On the federal level, House minority whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., who might be the next majority leader, is calling for a moratorium on earmarks - the federal version of "bacon," which congressmen insert in spending legislation - because of massive deficits.
The good news is six state legislators - and one of the veterans - are Republicans in Republican-controlled houses and the two rookie Republican congressmen, Lou Barletta and Tom Marino, will head off to a U.S. House controlled by their party.
Barletta and Marino could benefit if Republican leaders decide to shower them with earmarks to show their clout and enhance their re-election chances.
A large part of the burden for replacing the region's lost clout will fall on U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who will become the state's senior U.S. senator in a Senate still controlled by Democrats. He is close to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden.
"I fight hard for them (earmarks) because I think it's important that we have that opportunity," he said. "I don't want money going to some other state or a bureaucracy if I can get those dollars into Pennsylvania. I'll have more responsibility to get dollars for our state that I may not have had in my first couple of years in the Senate."
Some of the young legislators are no novices.
- John Blake, who will replace Mellow, has 30 years of working with state and local governments, including three as the number two man at the state Department of Community and Economic Development. He has vast experience at writing grants and said he intends to make helping local municipalities navigate state government to look for grants.
Blake said the message of Tuesday's election was that Republicans and Democrats must work together to fix the state budget and improve the economy so he expects more cooperation than might normally happen.
"While I agree that we've lost clout, I think our voice is more important than ever," Blake said. "I'm not naive about the issues associated with being in the minority … This is one election and there will be elections going forward. If they (Republicans) decide to ignore the minority voice in their decision-making and they do things that don't take into consideration … good public policy decisions … they'll have to reckon with voters."
- John Yudichak, who will replace Musto, spent the last 12 years in the House representing the 119th House district and is familiar with the state bureaucracy. Yudichak said some of the partisan barriers that might have existed with older legislators will disappear among the younger ones, perhaps fostering more cooperation.
"Folks really aren't concerned with the party in charge," he said. "Seniority is less and less important."
- State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, is a rising star in the Republican Party with growing influence and years of experience in top positions in Gov. Tom Ridge's administration.
- State Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca, worked for years as an aide to Yudichak.
Carroll argued cooperation among local legislators coupled with hard work in applying pressure can go a long way in replacing the clout.
"I'm always a believer that there's a role for legislators in a project," he said.
Reid, Obama, and Biden’s friend vows to fight for earmarks. I guess he didn’t hear that associating with them could be toxic.
Casey has nothing between his two ears.
ping
Bob Casey is out of touch with PA and the national mood... people are repelled and turned off by being bribed with money from Washington. That is not what they want.
If he wants to continue the old Washington ways, he will be turned out of office in 2012.
In case you missed the November 2, 2010, memo Senator Casey, IT IS NOT YOUR MONEY, STUPID!
Casey is next to go in PA. November 6, 2010.
2012, not 2010
Well, 2012 to be exact, but I get your meaning. ;^)
Guess he didn't get the memo
This lisping fairy is going to be thrown out in two short years. He is also backing a full moratorium on the shale gas industry with Chucky Schumer. Gas is important in PA and this is not sitting well with voters.
Little Patti Casey ain’t much like my memories of his dad, and if Patti really is willing to be Schmucky Chucky Schumer’s anti-energy-exploration-in-Pennsylvania sock puppet, he’s gone like Houdini. Where might the fool think the brand names Pennzoil and Quaker State came from, way back when?
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