By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Electoral strategy is stealthily mapped out in the White House. Dumping Vice President John Hoynes (Tim Matheson) from the re-election ticket is an option.
At the meeting, VP Hoynes is willing to fall on his sword, but President Josiah Bartlett (Martin Sheen) will not let him. The President makes it clear he wants the Vice President to remain Vice President despite media blasts about his drinking habits long ago.
The President writes down his one and only reason and hands the note to Chief of Staff Leo Thomas McGarry (John Spencer).
The note reads, “Because I could die.”
The way we get a second-in-command of the US Government is imperfect. The Presidential nominee and his small circle of advisors decide who will be Veep and a group of inebriated conventioneers rubber-stamped the choice.
Picking a Lt. Governor for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is not necessarily better, just different. Candidates run on their own in the party primary in campaigns that are underfunded and command no attention.
We have a direct albeit ignorant say-so in who the Lt. Governor might be when we cast our ballots in the respective primary. Not much better than portrayed in the April 3, 2002 episode of the popular series “West Wing,” that ran on NBC for eight years.
Both methods have created bizarre “almosts.” Did GOP 2008 presidential nominee John McCain already know he was going to lose when he caved in to right-wingers and named Sarah Palin as his running mate?
Democrat voters nominated the owner of an ice cream stand in 1978 for PA Lt. Governor because he was also named Robert Casey. Gubernatorial nominee Pete Flaherty was able to blow that race with no help from a running mate he made every effort to ignore.
On May 20, we need to nominate a candidate for Lt. Governor based on the same reasoning applied by ‘President Bartlett’. That person might become governor without any other vetting by voters.
On this basis alone, Democrat primary voters need to nominate Brad Koplinski to be the running mate of whomever we select as our gubernatorial nominee.
Koplinski, 44, would likely continue state government in the dictates of the person we elect as governor if a sudden vacancy were created. That and the candidate’s credentials (life experiences) should be the only determinations voters consider.
A lawyer, Koplinski worked at the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and as a policy analyst for the state auditor-general. A book author (“Hats in the Ring: Conversations with Presidential Candidates”), he once was a contestant on the game show Jeopardy. He has been an adjunct professor at Central PA College and, most recently, a member of Harrisburg City council. Much of his pro bono legal work is on behalf of YWCA.
He worked in politics for President Obama, the late Senator Arlen Specter, Senator John Kerry and former Senator Hillary Clinton. Koplinski literally garnered all the endorsements of groups that promote progressive, moderate and liberal causes. He would likely keep the Party on a path of more traditional terms to continue to give state voters a true choice.
Three of the last four gubernatorial reigns have been disrupted by unforeseen incidents. In present Gov. Tom Corbett’s tenure, Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley was acting governor for 90 minutes while his boss went under anesthesia for a minor operation, according to a historical compilation by James O’Toole of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In 1993, Gov. Robert P. Casey recovered from an organ transplant and Lt. Gov. Mark Singel filled in for six months. In the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush made Gov. Tom Ridge the first director of Homeland Security. Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker completed more than a year of Ridge’s second term.
Meadville’s Ray Shaffer was the last Lt. Governor to succeed his boss at the polls. He assumed power from Gov. William Scranton in January 1967.
Bottom Line: PA citizens have decidedly less power than residents of other states do. The Commonwealth Constitution does not permit us to have voter referendums here. The open Primary selection of a Lt. Governor, by the voters, plays at least some role in gubernatorial succession.
Bottom Line: PA citizens have decidedly less power than residents of other states do. The Commonwealth Constitution does not permit us to have voter referendums here. The open Primary selection of a Lt. Governor, by the voters, plays at least some role in gubernatorial succession.
I would say there is little in Mr. Koplinski’s resume that qualifies him to be a governor. He has done little in PA and has no experience leading an organization the size of the state of PA. Worked as counsel for the YMCA; member of the Harrisburg city counsel; Jeopardy contestant; taught college classes? Seems awfully thin to me.