May 18, 2003 By Rebekah Sungala 6 min read

Political party leaders in Fayette and Greene counties admit that blacks are underrepresented in southwestern Pennsylvania, but they say it is not their responsibility to involve more blacks in politics. “There is a lack of black candidates, no question about that,” said Fred Lebder, chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Party.

Lebder said anyone of any race is more than welcome to run for office if he or she is so inclined, but he said the party isn’t responsible for recruiting minority candidates.

“We don’t hand pick people (to run for office), but we encourage everyone to run,” he said.

Chris Sepesy, chairman of the Fayette County Republican Party, said that he has noticed “a gaping hole in Fayette County” when it comes to black representation in local government.

And though Sepesy would not say diversity is needed in Fayette County, he did say it “would be a worthy goal.”

Dave Coder, chairman of the Greene County Democratic Party, said the party has been trying to get more people involved in politics.

“We’re trying to reach out to young folks,” he said, adding that Greene County does not have a large black population.

Likewise, Richard Yeager, chairman of the Greene County Republican Party, said his party “would accept any qualified candidate, regardless of race.”

However, Yeager said, the minority population seems to be uninterested in politics. “I haven’t seen any pursue (office),” he said.

Election officials in Fayette and Greene counties said they keep no statistics on the number of blacks who serve or run for elected office.

The Rev. Robert Spence Jr. of Brownsville, former Fayette County NAACP president and Brownsville Area School Board member, said many blacks are not interested in politics.

“The black community has failed to see the importance of political involvement,” said Spence. “To get anything accomplished, you must be politically involved. Black people pay the price for not voting, for not being involved.”

However, Rev. Spence said the political parties also are at fault for the lack of black involvement in politics.

“The political arena is established to disregard the black population. The Democratic and Republican parties are not interested in becoming diversified,” he said. “They’re satisfied with status quo. They’ve been getting along without black input for the last 50 years, and they’re very content to do that because they don’t have to answer to anyone. The blacks aren’t calling (the political leaders) to task.”

Rev. Spence also claims that many politicians have the “good-old-boy” mentality.

“They’ve been doing things this way for years, and they don’t want any changes,” said Rev. Spence. “They have the power and control, and they keep it by not allowing anyone else in the club. ‘I take care of you, you take care of me, and we’ll keep everybody else away.’ That’s the good-old-boy mentality. No blacks belong; it’s a lily white club.”

Otis Mills, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of Blacks in Government, said discrimination laws keep blacks from being discriminated against legally, but realistically, they are not encouraged to enter politics.

The people who should be encouraging blacks to run for office and vote in elections are the political leaders, but “it’s not in their best interest to do that,” said Mills, explaining that politics is a competition. They don’t want to encourage someone to run against them, said Mills.

The lack of blacks in politics has not gone unnoticed.

In fact, a report released in April found that blacks and women are “not well represented among most types of elected officials” in southwestern Pennsylvania.

A survey conducted every four years by Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) revealed that the majority of the state’s school board members are white men. The 2002 survey, which is the latest, noted that 98.8 percent of the directors were white and 0.8 percent were black.

“I really don’t know what a reason would be,” said Curt Rose, PSBA assistant executive director. “I guess the question would be, why are there no minority candidates? I really can’t speak to why there are no minority candidates.”

According to Rose, PSBA does not actively recruit candidates for school board because the organization represents incumbent directors. However he said the organization welcomes minority members, is interested in anyone who would be a good school board candidate and offers information on being a school board member to anyone interested.

Executives at the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB) and the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) say they have noticed that few blacks are involved in politics in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Tom Klaum, president and CEO of PSAB, said he was not aware of any black politicians from either Fayette or Greene counties. Klaum said the low black population in southwestern Pennsylvania could deter some blacks from entering politics.

“Sheer population characteristics are what drive the thing one way or another,” he said.

Marian Nailor, director of township services for PSATS, also said that she has noticed the lack of black politicians in the region.

Like Klaum, Nailor said political representation “has to do with the makeup of the municipality itself.”

“Most minorities tend to live in urban areas,” she said. “Southwestern Pennsylvania is more rural.”

However, Sepesy said population is a simplified generalization for why blacks aren’t involved in the political process.

“Colin Powell would never be where he is if that were the case, because there’s certainly more whites than blacks in the country,” he said.

Rev. Spence asserts that some “token blacks” have managed to thrive in politics.

“So often, white people like to put a token black into position so they can say, ‘Look, here’s a black that we have.’ But (the chosen black) is not really a reflection of the race he came from, because he’s handpicked by the white authority. He’s a yes man for them,” said Rev. Spence. “He’s just a figurehead. He’s there as a window dressing.”

Ray Paris and Tim Chapman, presidents of the township supervisors’ associations in Fayette and Greene counties, both said that few blacks serve in local government. They said they never heard of so much as a black township supervisor in either county.

Nonetheless, apathy seems to be colorblind.

Nailor said it is becoming hard for some townships to find anyone to run for township supervisor.

“Being an elected official in a second-class township is, a lot of the time, a thankless job,” she said. “In some areas it’s hard to find anybody who wants to run.”

Klaum agreed and said the borough association’s largest concern is the lack of interest all people seem to have in their communities.

“Some boroughs have a difficult time getting candidates to run at all,” he said. “And that’s not good.”