New Governor Shapiro offers hope for unity

We never expected to be praising Pennsylvania as a model of good governance and bipartisanship, yet a week ago, it looked like things were moving in that direction. Events of the past few days have again set backward the progress toward those goals, but we nonetheless hold out some hope that the times are a changin’. In recent weeks, as the team of Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro has taken shape, there have been clear signs that his reputation for reaching across the aisle could bring change to the ever-deadlocked atmosphere in Harrisburg.

Shapiro’s colleagues in both parties who worked with him and watched his rise in Montgomery County praise his intellect and desire to do the right thing. Those who know him say he is rooted in the tenets of a strong Jewish faith and motivated to do what is good for people instead of for personal or political gain. His loyalty is to those who share his values, regardless of party. His actions in years of public service from congressional aide to state legislator to county commissioner to state attorney general have borne that out.

He was elected in November with 56% of the vote against Republican candidate Doug Mastriano and garnered votes even in areas of heavy GOP concentration. He says he believes voters from both parties supported him because the state is ripe for a change from eight years of a Democratic governor at odds with a Republican-controlled Legislature.

He follows Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf who issued the most vetoes by any governor since the 1970s and used executive orders to work around platforms of the Republican-controlled Legislature. For their part, legislators turned to constitutional amendments to circumvent the governor’s veto power.

As Shapiro readies to take office, Republican legislative leaders have been uncharacteristically optimistic, saying publicly that they see some common ground with the incoming governor. Shapiro’s bipartisan pitch has been more than just talk. His transition team includes Republican leaders and he has not shied away from considering Republicans for posts in his administration, most notably Al Schmidt, a former Philadelphia city commissioner as secretary of state, and state Sen. Pat Browne, a longtime legislator representing Lehigh and Upper Bucks counties who was upset in last year’s primary. Shapiro has tapped Browne to be secretary of revenue.

Alongside these changes came a stunner in the state House of Representatives when Berks Rep. Mark Rozzi was elected speaker. Rozzi, a Democrat best known for his fight to change the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases, was elected with a vow to lead as an independent. Democrats have an opportunity to gain a majority in the House for the first time in a decade while the state Senate remains under Republican-majority control.

Then, things began to unravel. The Republican representative who nominated Rozzi to serve as speaker wrote him to say that Rozzi should resign because he has waffled over changing party registration. The special session called by Rozzi to move forward child abuse reform fell apart with no action and Rozzi called for a work group to forge a path forward.

Two days later, the Senate then pushed through proposals for three constitutional amendments that appeared to thwart calls for consensus.

Still, Shapiro reiterated that he wants to avoid the kind of partisan fights that led Wolf to pursue policymaking through regulations and Republican lawmakers to skirt the legislative process.

“We’re going to have a reset when I’m governor,” Shapiro said last week after a tour of the Pennsylvania Farm Show exhibition in Harrisburg. “We’re going to talk again and we’re going to find some common ground; where we have disagreements, we’re going to work at it and try to find that common ground. We’re going to get back to legislating again.”

We are encouraged by Shapiro’s words and actions, and we wish him well as he takes on the challenge of building trust as a new governor. Our hope for all aspects of this state government is that it can live up to promises and that Pennsylvania can become an example of unity to a divided nation — an example for others to follow and a return to good governance at last.