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Damage done to the GOP
Brad Bumsted is a state Capitol reporter for the Tribune-Review. He can be contacted via e-mail or at 717-787-1405.
And I bet you thought the Republican Party stands for less spending, lower debt and cutting taxes.
Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell "has gotten everything he's asked for," said Matthew Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation, a think tank based in Harrisburg.
And then some. Rendell submitted a $22.7 billion budget to the Legislature. When they were through, lawmakers had added $160 million.
And there are promises from the Legislature to deal with Rendell's $800 million "Growing Greener" initiative when members return from summer recess this fall.
This entire package is not the agenda supported by the majority of House Republicans, said Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County.
In fact, it looks at times like the agenda of the minority party led by House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene County.
It's been a bad eight months to be a conservative Republican.
The Republican-controlled Senate has resisted the agenda more forcefully but in the end has been complicit.
It's happening largely due to the clout of one man, House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, who believes it's the obligation of the GOP-controlled Legislature to support Rendell's agenda since he was elected as the state's chief executive in November 2002.
Perzel was quoted by The Insider, a statewide political newsletter as saying in reference to Rendell: "The people of Pennsylvania elected us both. We have an obligation to help the governor succeed, so yes, we are helping him succeed. That's our job."
Since when is the Republican majority in the Legislature obligated to help a Democrat governor when the agenda conflicts with their own ideas and principles?
How many times can Perzel go to the well? There has been plenty of grumbling for months about replacing him though the votes aren't there. It's only griping -- not a revolution.
It's not likely to change soon because Perzel controls the money - money for legislative races, money to run district offices and staff, and money to do a myriad of good will for members out of a special leadership account. Perzel has amassed more power than any speaker in modern history.
It takes capital to challenge that kind of power.
And that may gradually begin to occur with the entry of the Club for Growth into state-level politics in Pennsylvania. The Club for Growth has wielded some muscle nationally in attempting to bring "moderate" (read: liberal) Republicans back into the mainstream of the Republican Party. They specialize in raising money and scaring the wits out of Republicans who vote like Democrats.
Only that kind of clout might make a "pragmatic" Republican like Perzel sit up and take notice.
From Perzel's perspective, slots had a 70 percent approval rating among Pennsylvania voters. Other options for property tax relief didn't come near that level of acceptance, according to Perzel.
Maybe. And with the help of 20 to 30 House Republicans he carried out a Democrat-driven agenda.
Needless to say, Perzel has some serious fence-mending to do in his own caucus.
But many believe the damage has been done.
