By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Since last Wednesday morning, the most often asked question in Pennsylvania is “What kind of Governor will Tom Wolf be?”
The best answer is that even Gov.-elect Wolf does not fully know, although he has a somewhat less murky picture than others do. We have no history to rely on. Moreover, if Mr. Wolf has pondered how his administration will influence, he has to know that that this depends on how well he will interact with the other players.
Wolf was elected last Tuesday as a Democrat – in a state that has one of the sickest Democrat parties in the nation. Wolf obviously knew this.
Wolf won the primary by a huge margin; brushing aside three heavy hitters who had the political history more likely to lead some sort of party resurge in Pennsylvania. However,
Wolf never deluded himself that he was a “party insider.”
When the Democrat hierarchy foolishly rebuffed his request in June to install his own state party chair, Wolf merely kept his own campaign committee in operation lead by his intended party chair, Katie McGinty. His committee, of course, continued to corner all the political funds. The regular PA Democrat Committee, under the continued leadership of Pittsburgh attorney Jim Burns, was barely able to keep the doors open, and the phone answered.
A worse outcome might have been possible should the regular Democrat Party have continued to raise funds. They would have co-mingled and wasted their funds with the Democrat House and Senate campaign committees. Both of these committees remain textbook examples of incompetence.
Democrat voters outnumber Republicans in PA by about one million. Republicans, however, have run all three branches of government. This was supposed to change, beginning this year. Incumbent Republican governor Tom Corbett was not only supposed to be shellacked at the polls last Tuesday, but he also was supposed to drag his Senate colleagues out of power and tighten the gap in the House.
That did not happen. The GOP ran a down-ballot campaign that pretended Corbett was not running while their Democrat counterparts also seeking legislative offices also ran without fully embracing Wolf.
Some observers believe Wolf’s lack of political experience was eventually going to tighten the race with Corbett. The real answer probably lies with gerrymandering the legislative district boundary lines, which has forever transformed legislative politics and the lawmakers’ role in running the government.
Corbett became the first victim of gerrymandering. His party controlled the way lines were drawn that effect the current decade and, therefore, will give the GOP a member advantage of both chambers of the state General Assembly as well as the Congressional delegation.
Corbett won his first term in 2010 and his party maintained control of both chambers.
Corbett was a career prosecutor who, like former fellow Republican Gov. Dick Thornburg, was not above using his law enforcement powers and connections to punish his political enemies. This relationship combines with gerrymandering able to make huge number of legislative districts safer for incumbents.
Problems needing to be solved will require political courage. Too many lawmakers believe it is more important to get re-elected.
Corbett learned the hard way. With both legislative chambers in his party’s control, Corbett did not need a single Democrat vote to advance his agenda. His failure to get all the GOP lawmakers on the same page resulted in his term being an abysmal failure.
Wolf is about to deal with the same handicap. Since his party is in the minority in both legislative chambers, he will need even more Republican votes to be successful. Is Wolf capable and willing to make deals to get his programs into law? Only time will tell.
What role Wolf plays as at least the titular head of his party is another factor that will define his success as a Governor. The pressure will be on to be partisan.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie set a new level of partisanship as the head of the Republican Governors Association. He visited all states that were in contention this year and gave Corbett over $8 million in funds even when Republicans expected him to lose.
Wolf did not suffer from lack of campaign support. President and Michele Obama made appearances here, as did both Clintons. Wolf would have won as handily without them, but the new issue is what do the national Democrats expect from the new Governor in return?
Obviously, the more partisan Wolf appears, the more difficult it will be to forge a bipartisan government agenda. Stay tuned.
Bottom Line: Say a prayer for Gov.-elect Tom Wolf. He is going to need all the help.
