25 years later, we know home rule worked

We often look back at decisions made years ago and opine on the merits or folly of those decisions, especially decisions made about public policy. Sometimes we find that we got it right or we discover that our tail lights burn brighter than our headlights and that we made things worse rather than better. The passage of “home rule” in 1998 and the changes made for the governance of Allegheny County have turned out even better than expected.

In March of 1995, Tom Foerster, the chairman of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners and the last political boss, appointed John Murray Jr., then president of Duquesne University, as Chairman of ComPac 21, a committee tasked with creating a plan to reorganize Allegheny County government. (This was the third such effort over several years. The other two failed.) Murray appointed a blue ribbon committee of 13 community leaders and the Pennsylvania Economy League was designated to staff the committee.

In 1997 the plan was completed and another committee was appointed to develop a home rule charter.

The charter required that a referendum be passed by a majority of the county’s voters. A poll indicated that over 70% favored the charter.

However, the county Democrat committee and organized labor were opposed. The Allegheny Conference supported the charter and appointed David Matter, the former Executive Secretary to Mayor Caliguri and a prominent Pennsylvania Democrat, and me, a Republican, to get the referendum passed.

On March 19th 1998, the referendum passed by a very thin margin. It was to be effective January 1, 2000. The election, both primary and general, for the county executive and 15 county council members would be held in 1999.

I was fortunate to win the election for County Executive by less than 1.5% of the vote, running against the county coroner, Cyril Wecht. We worked well together in the county government and he became one of my closest friends. The two county executives that followed my one, four-year term, Dan Onorato (two terms) and Rich Fitzgerald (three terms), have improved the system, governed with a high level of skill, integrity and a work ethic that has produced an excellent standard of good governance.

Sadly, Tom Foerster, who was elected to serve district 13 as a council member, died on January 11th 2000.

There is another benefit of home rule just as important as the executive: the county council. (Rich Fitzgerald is the only executive to also be a county council member. Dan Onorato was a Pittsburgh city council member and county controller.)

Before home rule, it was not unusual for all of the county commissioners to live in the city of Pittsburgh. Most county residents relied on their local municipal governments and often felt that they were not represented by county government.

Home rule changed that attitude by creating 13 county districts each with a population of between 90,000 and 100,000. Two council members, each from different political parties, are elected “At Large” and serve the entire county. In the past two decades, every county citizen has been represented by the county government.

While we can and should always continue to improve all forms of government, I believe the move to home rule and the changes it brought to county governance has, without question, been beneficial not only to the county, but also to southwestern Pennsylvania.

We can thank all those who conceived and executed the home rule plan. “We got it right.” This year we will elect a new county executive and I hope we can again say “We got it right.”