House leadership changes appear unlikely
HARRISBURG – When teams keep losing, they sometimes fire their coach. For the past four elections, the Democrats in the state House have been positioning themselves for a big victory that hasn’t materialized. In last week’s election, the party lost seats in the House, a setback that surprised Democrats and Republicans alike.
Might the party’s leaders be on the hot seat?
At the moment, it doesn’t seem likely.
“I plan to vote for my leaders,” said Rep. Pete Daley, D-California. “I think they have done a great job under the circumstances. I think some of the seats we kind of anticipated we might lose because Republicans drew the lines” for the districts.
Other members are less enthusiastic about the current leaders, but say they’ll probably support them.
“At the present time, unless they come with some good candidates, I would support the present guys,” said Rep. Anthony Melio, D-Fairless Hills.
Members will vote Nov. 26 on whom they want to lead them for the next session, which starts in January and ends in November 2004. House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, the leading House Democrat since 1990, and House Democratic Whip Mike Veon, the second-ranking Democrat since 1998, are once again seeking office. So far, no other lawmakers have announced their intention to seek those positions.
“I don’t suspect there’s going to be some sort of uprising going on,” said Mike Manzo, chief of staff for DeWeese, D-Waynesburg. “I think the caucus realizes the job Bill DeWeese and Mike Veon are doing. It’s certainly up to the caucus, but were not expecting any trouble.”
“I support the existing leadership team in its entirety,” said Rep. Frank LaGrotta, D-Ellwood City. “And I specifically support Mike, who I know has raised more money, worked harder and done everything in his power to take the majority. From a political perspective, we have never had a better political leader than Veon, and, from legislative perspective, I have always supported Bill. And Bill and Mike come as a team.”
Since losing control of the majority in 1994, Democrat leaders have vowed every subsequent election to reclaim power. DeWeese and Veon, D-West Mayfield, had said this would finally be their year with Ed Rendell at the top of the party’s ticket. They expected the gubernatorial candidate’s immense popularity in southeastern Pennsylvania would trickle down to Democrat candidates in the region and enable them to win open seats and unseat GOP incumbents. Many political analysts expected Democrats to make gains in the House.
Rendell won by a landslide, but apparently had no coattails as the Democrats suffered a net loss of four seats in the House. In the Senate, the GOP maintained their 29-to-21-seat edge.
Three of the relinquished House seats, however, moved from Democrat strongholds in Western Pennsylvania to Republican-friendly areas in Eastern Pennsylvania, due to population changes. Every 10 years the Legislature redraws the boundaries of political districts to reflect U.S. Census results. This time around, GOP lawmakers had the final say on boundaries because they are in the majority of the Legislature. As a result, Republicans were able to draw districts that were favorable to their incumbents but unfavorable to some Democrat incumbents.
“Everyone in our membership is disappointed” with the outcome of the election, Manzo said. “There is no one more disappointed than Bill DeWeese. I think members understand that [the leaders] did everything they could to pick up these seats and it just didn’t break our way. We got vastly outspent and we played them basically to a draw. Because of reapportionment we lost three seats.”
Many Democrats say they don’t blame the party leaders for the disappointing showing at the polls. That means DeWeese and Veon will probably get at least one more chance to turn things around.
“I do think there are thing we could do as a Democratic Party to get our message out more effectively,” said Rep. Phyllis Munday, a Luzerne County Democrat. “But I’m reluctant to lay the blame at the feet of the current leadership. I plan to support DeWeese and Veon.”