By one definition, “Cutting off your nose to spite your face” is “...a needlessly self-destructive over-reaction to a problem...or pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the source of one’s anger.”
How else would you describe a situation wherein State Representative Dwight Evans' re-election bid for chairman of the House Appropriations Committee was rejected by 50 out of 89 Democratic members of the Pennsylvania House, including what has been described, by people who were there, as a “surprisingly large number” of Philadelphia-based representatives.
They joined in stripping Evans of the seat he had held for 20 years, even though he had demonstrated, throughout his tenure, great sensitivity and support for Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania issues. They also ensured that the power in that seat, held by a Philadelphian for so long that most Philadelphia-area observers had taken that invaluable resource for granted, would be shifted to Rep. Joseph Markosek of Allegheny County. Good "looking out," huh?
Sadly, I got the impression that there had been far too little focus by Philadelphia’s legislators or, even, by their constituents in the private sector and civic leadership community, on crafting a strategy that would preserve meaningful leadership representation in the House for our part of the State.
The local media were certainly not innocent bystanders in southeastern Pennsylvania's "meltdown," focusing as they did,on the titillating prospect of the powerful Evans being deposed, and spelling out why such a thing might be feasible or understandable. That created an environment, in my opinion, that emboldened the anti-Evans/anti-Philadelphia co-conspirators.
There were stories that indicated that Evans had been perceived as “arrogant” by his peers, and rumors about his reluctance to support the convening of the legislature's “lame duck” session (that which is scheduled after the actual election in early November, but before the newly elected members of the House and Senate take office).It was said that Evans wanted to avoid the "lame duck" session because of his concern that a Fiscal Oversight Office would be approved, limiting the power of Appropriations chairs. It was offered as “common knowledge” that the “lame duck thing" had really “ticked off” Evans' Democratic colleagues and sealed his fate.
Evans was not entirely without blame in contributing to some of these negative perceptions and, as the anti-Evans “feeding frenzy” grew, his colleagues – most “off-the-record,” but some few, on-the-record” – even protested the former chairman’s handling of "WAM money" (those off-the-budget allocations to rank-and-file legislators for their own Districts' projects). "WAM's" are not inconsequential, having been estimated for just the last six months of 2008, alone, at $110 million, in a June 2009 article by the Associated Press. That amount, according to the AP, was equivalent to “$438,000, on average, for each of Pennsylvania’s lawmakers.” Tied to that was the implication that Evans funneled a disproportionately large number of such dollars back to his own district and didn’t share enough of those funds with his fellow-House members.
Then, there was the “Bill DeWeese issue,” wherein the “smart people” said that Evans had seriously miscalculated by supporting a challenger to former House Speaker and long-time Greene County Rep. Bill DeWeese, during the last elections. DeWeese won anyway. A wily, verbose, ex-Marine, a student of warfare, military leadership styles and political strategies, with an earned “eye-for-an-eye” reputation, DeWeese, it was said, took Evans’ lack of support very personally, and committed himself to doing everything reasonably or unreasonably possible to ensure Dwight’s defeat in the leadership elections.
Ironically, even during this era of Tea Party/Republican resurgence, it's clear that these leadership election outcomes had virtually nothing to do with partisanship and almost everything to do with geography. This was a political strategy that the"West" had clearly prepared for, while the "East," unfortunately, seemed to be absolutely unprepared and defenseless.
As a result, not only is Pennsylvania’s Governor-elect an Allegheny County resident, by vote of the statewide electorate, but so are, both, the Democratic and Republican floor leaders in the Pennsylvania House (for the first time in 40 years), the minority leader in the Senate and the newly elected Caucus Chair in the House. In addition, Sen. Scarnati, nominated by the Republican Caucus to serve as President Pro Tempore, hails from Jefferson County, in the West, and the House Whip Michael Hanna Sr. and Rep. Ron Buxton, the Caucus Administrator, are from Central Pennsylvania. And , then, of course, there is Markosek, as we said, also from Allegheny County.
In fact, in 2011, there will be no Philadelphia members serving in the Pennsylvania House leadership – none.
There is little doubt that the votes of the Democratic Caucus members were also influenced by the long-standing perception of a strong southeastern bias by Governor Edward G.Rendell, a man some had come to call the “Governor of Philadelphia,” and who had gone so far as to hold down a "part-time job" as a broadcaster for Eagles' games, in a state blessed with, both, eastern and western Pennsylvania NFL franchises.
No one should have been surprised by the western Pennsylvania move. What was surprising, however, is that the Philadelphia-based legislators came to the table without an apparent strategy of their own. Even if they, themselves, had, somehow, developed a distaste for Dwight Evans' leadership style, the shame is that they seemed not to have a cohesive "Plan B."
This is where the “cutting off your nose …” part comes into play.
In media interviews, both, Philadelphia legislators Mike O’Brien and Angel Cruz made it clear that they voted against Evans and, in so doing, opted to diminish Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania influence in the General Assembly and in discretionary aspects of the State's $28 billion budget. While they weren't the only two, they seemed to gloat the most about having played such an important role in unseating a Philadelphia-based decision-maker.
My question to O’Brien and Cruz, and to the other Philadelphia co-conspirators, is this: Now what?
With no Philadelphia-sensitive voice now in the House leadership and with a Governor-elect who will, as an Allegheny County resident, understandably be very much attuned to Western Pennsylvania issues and projects, where do Philadelphians go, in the House, when "juice" is needed? My hunch is that the members of the Philadelphia delegation and most politically savvy southeast Pennsylvanians will start missing Dwight Evans' chairmanship role in about two weeks. By that time, of course, it will be too late.
When Philadelphians went to the polls on November 2, we didn't intend to come away with less support from our state government. But that’s exactly what just happened, as result of the brilliant and ruthless geographic strategy by Western elected officials, and the all-too-spiteful, disjointed and passive reaction by Philadelphia's own legislators.
Next time you go up to Harrisburg, take a peek into the House chambers and get a good look at the legislators who voted to reduce Philadelphia’s influence in the House. You’ll be able to recognize them; they’ll be the ones without the noses.
Oh, and by the way, while you’re out at the State Capitol building, also make a point of stopping into the Senate chambers to say hello to the Hon. Vincent Hughes, the newly elected minority chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Hon. Anthony Hardy Williams, the new Minority Caucus Chair, in the Senate.
Senators Hughes and Williams are the only African-American legislators who will be holding leadership positions in either the House or the Senate, in the coming year, and two of only three Philadelphians with such a role in the Senate. Looks like, at least, a couple of people were wide awake.
Congratulations, Senators Hughes and Williams, but, as you do your jobs in the State Capitol Building, this year, please make sure that you take the time, every now and then, to “count all the noses” in the room.
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