Schweiker makes mark during mine emergency
HARRISBURG – In the span of just a few days, Mark Schweiker has gone from “Governor who?” to a political celebrity drawing comparisons to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani after Sept. 11. After aiding in the rescue of nine miners who were trapped underground due to a flood, the former Bucks County Commissioner has finally made his mark in what had been a brief and quiet tenure in the state’s highest office.
In a recent statewide poll of registered voters, only half of those surveyed said they approved of the job Schweiker was doing as governor. More than a third said they didn’t know enough about the governor to form an opinion one way or the other.
But after Schweiker’s standout performance in Somerset County from Thursday through Saturday, political analysts expect that to change.
Throughout the ordeal, Schweiker seemed to be everywhere: briefing the media, rallying rescue workers at the mine, and comforting the families of the missing miners. He was a constant source of optimism for a community praying for a miracle.
An army of newspaper reporters and television cameras followed the governor’s every move. It was the first extended mass-media appearance for Schweiker, who took office about 10 months ago and will leave in January.
The reviews were outstanding, with most – if not all – observers giving the governor a thumbs up, way up.
The Philadelphia Inquirer called it a “shining moment for Schweiker.”
Before the mining accident, Schweiker had followed a path of obscurity, Pennsylvania’s largest daily newspaper explained. The former lieutenant governor dropped the lieutenant from his title last fall when then-Gov. Tom Ridge resigned to head the Office of Homeland Security for the Bush administration.
He is just the second governor to come from Bucks County; the first was the state’s founder William Penn. Schweiker’s gubernatorial agenda has mostly been to simply complete Ridge’s unfinished agenda.
“I think it will absolutely be what he’s remembered for,” political analyst G. Terry Madonna said of the mining accident. “Lieutenant governors don’t make much of a mark. Absolutely, this is his finest hour.”
Schweiker may not be the policy wonk that his predecessor was, but when it comes to handling a crisis there probably isn’t a better man for the job than him. As lieutenant governor for seven years, Schweiker was in charge of overseeing the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
“He knew what was going on because it was his job to understand these procedures,” said Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Millersville University. “He’s a genuine down-to-earth, committed, caring person. He acts very much like your next-door neighbor: You have a problem and he’s going to come over and help until it’s fixed. That’s Schweiker.”
Even the governor’s biggest critics had nothing but praise.
“I thought he did a great job,” said House Minority Whip Michael Veon, D-Beaver, who’s been very critical at times of the Republican governor. “I thought he was reassuring to the public. I think he was very approachable.”
While many were surprised by Schweiker’s performance over the weekend, those who know him said they knew he had it in him.
“Mark has always been very good with people,” said Bucks County Commissioner Sandra A. Miller, who’s known Schweiker for more than 30 years. “He’s a very personable guy and he’s always been very good at encouraging people, and that trait certainly kicked in during this situation.”
Pennsylvanians weren’t the only ones who took notice of the governor’s performance.
“Among the impressive engineering feats in the rescue of the trapped coal miners was the sheer, unyielding optimism that Gov. Mark Schweiker made his bulwark in promising the world that the men would be saved, come broken drill or high water,” the New York Times wrote.
CNN’s Paula Zahn congratulated the governor on a “stunning rescue effort.”
Giuliani also called.
Schweiker’s performance included many highlights that were recounted in newspaper stories and played over and over on television. There was Schweiker offering the keys to his hotel room to two rescue workers who had just finished an exhausting shift. There was Schweiker helping to carry one of the rescued miners out on a stretcher. And there was Schweiker pumping his fist in the air, proclaiming that all nine trapped miners had safely been rescued.
Those are the images that will endure in the public’s mind, political analysts say.
“He wasn’t well known and never had a high profile and pictures like that puts him right out in the best possible light,” said pollster Clay F. Richards of Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, which conducted the poll on the governor’s approval ratings earlier this month.
“Every day I saw a thoughtful quote from the governor in the newspaper. I think he handled it extremely well. I would certainly think his approval rating will go up in the next poll.”