WHY WE SHOULD SUPPORT A GOVERNMENT STUDY COMMISSION

  

County Commissioner Chairwoman, Diana Irey Vaughan, is to be commended for working with Vice Chair, Larry Maggi, in placing the important issue to adopt a government study commission before county voters on November 2, 2021. Her decision demonstrates leadership beyond partisan politics. In addition, the willingness to join forces with Common Pleas President Judge, John DiSalle, to solve an ongoing intransigent crisis in county governance (as detailed in Irey Vaughan’s recent op-ed) is exemplary. Moreover, if voters ultimately adopt a Home Rule form of government, the rewards will broaden far beyond solving the present intragovernmental dilemma.

Change to existing institutions, no matter how outdated or ineffective, is never easy. The Pennsylvania counties that have done the hard work and adopted Home Rule have been rewarded with the independence to formulate their own local form of government. They are free from the constraining cookie cutter requirements set forth in antiquated Pennsylvania statutes that often impede progress in Washington County. 

For a variety of reasons now is the time to establish a commission to study and recommend a form of Home Rule government in Washington County. While Republicans and Democrats may disagree on the final provisions of a Home Rule charter, the bi-partisan consensus to form a government study commission is encouraging.

Even under the best of times, the patronage-driven offices for civil filings (Prothonotary), criminal filings (Clerk of Courts), real estate filings (Recorder of Deeds) and wills and estates (Register of Wills) have long outlived their usefulness. Unfortunately, these are not the best of times. As pointed out by Commissioner Irey Vaughan, since assuming office in January of 2020, several Row Office officials have turned their benign clerical domains into political flashpoints with an agenda to disrupt the court system and impede the collection of county fees. In addition, the prior Clerk of Courts was accused and convicted of diverting a large sum of office receipts for his personal use.

Because these officials were elected, there is little that the Commissioners could do to rectify each situation.  A thief stayed in office until the end of his term.  Clerical operations were run like political fiefdoms. Row Office officials terminated competent employees to hire patronage hacks. These same officials ignored directives from the President Judge they were elected to serve.

It is important for voters to know there are three categories of Row Offices in Pennsylvania. First, are the clerical offices described above that exist solely to support the court system and serve no “check and balance” function in county government.  The public expectation of these offices is simply to perform their clerical responsibilities by processing the flow of legal documents necessary to keep the court system functioning.  Since January of 2020, these clerical offices have performed miserably and taken no action to improve.

Under a Home rule form of government these, court based, clerical, Row Offices would be replaced with a new Department of Court Records. This county function would be organized in accordance with best record keeping practices.  It would save money by eliminating overlapping functions and expenditures. The administrator of this new department and all clerical employees would be retained or hired based on merit.

The second category of Row Office includes the elected Coroner and Sheriff. Some will argue they should remain as elected positions in Washington County. In my view, both should be eliminated. The Coroner position should become the office of a modern appointed medical examiner, qualified to perform forensic pathology. The Sheriff should be a law enforcement official with extensive administrative experience, appointed by the Commissioners and the courts.

Lastly are the Row offices of District Attorney, Controller and Treasurer that should remain as elected positions. Each of these offices serves as a check and balance on county government. This independence ensures that criminal justice, county audits and the receiving and disbursement of county funds remain self-sufficient functions.

In addition to the above, a government study commission will have the opportunity to consider whether to recommend replacing the three-commissioner system authorized by state law with a single elected chief executive.  Under this model, adopted by Allegheny County and others, a countywide council would also be elected to work with the executive in conducting county business.  The executive would be a single voice and the council would reflect the very different needs and priorities of Washington County’s diverse communities. Of course, when the review is completed, the study commission could recommend retaining the three-commissioner system.

Lastly, a government study commission can assemble Home Rule recommendations that would make Washington County less dependent on state government in other important respects. The county could be given greater control in addressing:  a) economic development needs; b) the demands on county government for local services; and c) the ability to invoke a rapid response to address unique problems without waiting for Harrisburg to take action, including public health issues like the pandemic.

Sometimes it takes a political crisis to precipitate long overdue change. The citizens of Washington County should be dismayed at the former illegal activity and present unconscionable high jinx, taking place in the clerical Row Offices. Conversely, citizens should be heartened that there is a bi-partisan effort to resolve the problem.  Now is the time to take action and begin the process to adopt a modern, more efficient, form of government.

 

TRUMP SUPPORTERS, CULTURAL WARRIORS & THE MIDTERMS

To be a moderate in today’s political playground is difficult. Anyone who attempts to begin reasonable dialogue while playing in the partisan sandbox is likely to be attacked by bullies from both right wing Trump nativists and left wing cultural warriors. It is safer to stay at home (away from social media) and hope that the extremes cancel each other out before they burn down the public park.

Democrats and Republicans are experiencing a similar problem of vocal extremists seeking to control each party’s messaging. On the right, traditional conservative Republicans are being “primaried” out of office by neophyte candidates with few political credentials other than their loyalty to Donald Trump. These candidates do not understand or care about public policy. Their forte is energizing the Trump base and attacking all others.

On the left are cultural activists who have replaced the normal push for incremental cultural change with an accelerated cultural agenda. Under this trend, Democrats are judged not only by the public policies they support, but also by the extent they are “woke” on important social issues. This includes the call to defund the police, the recognition of white privlege and institutional racism and embracing the extreme element of the Me Too movement.

What is different about the two political extremes is that most Republicans have welcomed the gravitation to Trumpism as a Faustian bargain designed to win back Congress in 2022. The Republican Party is laser- focused and will tolerate little dissent among its leadership on the road to gain short-term political advantages.

Conversely, all Democrats are not equally sold on the cultural wars. While activist progressives are proud to have pushed the Democratic Party toward the left, a more measured opposition wants to slow the process down to keep moderates and Independents under the Democratic tent. 

In today’s political climate, the extremist dilemma is a greater obstacle to gaining and keeping political power for Democrats than for Republicans. By refusing to exercise moderation, Republicans have kept their coalition together and gained strength among voters who are against one or more progressive cultural positions. On the other hand, when the Democratic Party moves further to the left, it turns off voters afraid of being labeled left-wing extremists or socialists. Better to be considered a patriot in favor of God & Country than to have the neighbors believe you are a closet communist.

In my view, winning elections remains the ultimate prize, not changing social mores faster than the average American can absorb. I am in the same camp as the journalist Kevin Drum, a long-time writer for the ultra-liberal publication Mother Jones. In a recent article, he wrote: “Being personally happy means nothing in politics. What matters is what the median voter feels and Democrats have been moving further and further away from the median voter for years.” (If You Hate the Cultural Wars, Blame Liberals, July 3, 2021)

Mr. Drum does a back of the envelope analysis to conclude that “Despite endless hopeful invocations of ‘but polls show that people like our positions,’ the truth is that the Democratic party has been pulled far enough left that even lots of non-crazy people find us just plan scary.” Moderate voters feel uncomfortable that “their entire lives are being held up to a spotlight and found wanting.”

The recent NYC Democratic Primary has provided an interesting snapshot of the status of more moderate Democratic politics. During the campaign, the progressive leanings of the present mayor, Bill de Blasio, or the firebrand Bronx Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were nowhere in evidence. Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, won the primary. His campaign message was moderate and straight forward, based on recovery from the pandemic and controlling violent crime rates.

The midterm elections in 2022 will determine whether the Biden administration is able to effectively govern in the last two years of his term. Democrats cannot forget that the flood of new voters who helped power Obama to his two historic wins fell away in the midterms.  This permitted Republicans to control Congress and functionally end Obama’s ability to pass legislation.  For Biden to avoid this result several factors are important.

First, it is impossible to win in 2022 without the Democratic base fully engaged. Accordingly, Biden is correct in honoring his commitments to his progressive base. However, he should emphasis those policies, like infrastructure, that least offend moderates and Independents.

Second, Democrats must turn the anti-democratic, anti-immigration and anti-equality messaging of Trumpism to its advantage with the same fervor as when Trump was in office. The more successful Trump is in recruiting unqualified candidates in Republican primaries the better Democrats will do in the general elections.

Third, Democrats must turn Republican attempts to limit voting into a central campaign issue so that young voters and voters of color have a stake in overcoming any voting impediments to prove that their voices matter.

Fourth, analysts believe that Democrats will need to capture about 52% of the national popular vote to maintain a House majority. This can only be accomplished if many of the marginal Democratic voters who participated in the 2020 election remain in the electorate.

Republicans have learned that extremism can win local and state elections.  Democrats must counter by moderating their rhetoric on sensitive social issues. Keeping moderates and Independents engaged is the key to maintaining Democratic control of Congress in 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFTER THE PANDEMIC OUR LIVES WILL IMPROVE

 

In 2016, the Stanford University historian, Walter Scheidel, published a lengthy and somber book. His central thesis was that throughout recorded history the most horrendous historic shocks resulted in the most powerful transformations to society, including income leveling. Scheidel’s work traces innumerable examples of warfare, revolution, state failures and pandemics to show an unmistakable pattern.  In the aftermath of each catastrophic event, societies dramatically changed and the income gap between rich and poor diminished. (The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century, Walter Scheidel, 2016)

Some of the more recognizable incidents covered by Scheidel were the Roman collapse, the Black Death, the Thirty Years War, the Great Depression and the Second World War.  Following each example, societies were reordered and wealth underwent drastic leveling.

Scheidel had no way of knowing that within three years of his publication date, COVID-19 would engulf the world and provide him with a modern laboratory to test his theories. In recent interviews, Scheidel has concluded that the 2020 Pandemic will not have the disruptive effect of the Black Death where a third of humanity lost their lives.   Nor has the economic damage been as severe as the Great Depression. 

While the recent virus was not as unsettling as other catastrophic events, major transitions are taking shape. The American economy is clearly on a vaccine and stimulus-induced upturn following the pandemic slump. This recovery provides the opportunity to establish many social programs that were only pipe dreams before the pandemic.  Moreover, social and work related changes have occurred that no one could have predicted. The remainder of this commentary will summarize these transformations, which are materializing both with and without governmental intervention.

First, a look at post-pandemic government initiatives.  In the past, America has not been able to turn its economic strength into progress on a host of social problems such as education, healthcare and the environment.  There is hope that this time will be different.

The Rescue Plan. On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed a 1.9 trillion dollar relief bill that provided for $1,400 per-person checks, increased the Child Tax Credits, extended unemployment insurance; provided small business support and lowered health care insurance premiums.

The Jobs Plan.  President Biden’s jobs initiative is an infrastructure plan on steroids. It would repair highways, rebuild bridges, upgrade ports and modernize airports and transit systems.  It would deliver clean drinking water, a renewed electric grid and high-speed broadband to all Americans. The effort includes the building and retrofitting of more than 2 million homes and commercial buildings. Schools and child-care facilities would be modernized, along with veterans’ hospitals and federal buildings.

The Jobs Plan includes proposals to create jobs and raise wages for crucial homecare workers. Essential manufacturing would be revitalized. U.S. supply chains would be made less vulnerable to war and future catastrophes. Extensive job training programs would be developed for the information age economy. Lastly, the overall goal is to create good quality jobs that pay prevailing wages.

The Families Plan. The third prong of the Biden “renaissance” for America is a significant investment in our children, our families and our economic future. Much of the plan includes programs that have existed in other western nations for decades.

On education there are proposals to provide universal high quality pre-school and two years of free community college. Direct support will be provided so that no family spends more than seven percent of their income on child-care. A national paid family and medical leave program is also part of the proposal.

The Jobs and Families Plans will require Congressional action to become law.  Recent polls demonstrate that a majority of both plans have overwhelming support among Americans.

In addition to the above, there are important post-pandemic transformations that have occurred without governmental involvement. Each will have a profound effect on the way we live and work.   

● The U.S. personal saving rate, the percentage of people’s income remaining each month after taxes and spending, skyrocketed from a 7% average to a record 32.2% in April 2021.

● The middle class gained wealth as its largest asset, the family home, was worth 24% more in May than a year ago.

● Business productivity has increased based on cost savings during the pandemic and the newfound benefits of digitization.  For example, in healthcare the adoption of telemedicine during the pandemic should drive productivity gains in medicine for years.

● Employees have gained more empowerment in deciding when, where and how they perform their work responsibilities. This happened after the pandemic created a natural experiment in letting them work from home.

● In order to attract and retain good employees, employers must now offer a living wage and benefits like paid sick leave.

● A third of Americans reported positive impacts on their relationships, as they were able to spend more time with spouses and children.

● Two-thirds of Americans report making lifestyle changes since the pandemic, including more time spent outdoors, more exercise and improved sleep patterns.

There is no denying that the past year has been one of loss, hardship and suffering for many of our fellow citizens. However, the beneficial events predicted by Walter Scheidel following a global catastrophe have begun to appear.  We must not squander this opportunity to improve our long-term economic and social standing.