DeWeese says criticism of his effectiveness is inaccurate
Your newspaper recently opined about my performance as leader of the Pennsylvania House Democrats. Your denunciations were plentiful, and fell extensively short of responsible journalism. First of all, no newspaper in this state, particularly a small-town paper in the heart of rural southwestern Pennsylvania, would find it a good idea to advocate the demise of their state representative as the floor leader of one of the two House caucuses in favor of everyone from Philadelphia running the show.
I am privileged to serve as the highest-ranking leader from western Pennsylvania in both the House and Senate (Sen. Pro Tem Bob Jubelier represents his central Pennsylvania bastion around Altoona). And I am honored to represent Fayette, Greene and Washington counties in the state Capitol.
House Republican Leader John Perzel is a Philadelphian. The House and Senate Democratic appropriations chairmen are Philadelphians. The House and Senate Republican appropriations chairmen are from Schuylkill and Chester counties, just one short hour from Philadelphia. What is the narrow-minded and biased author of the editorial trying to do to our side of the state?
The Herald-Standard also attempted to draw a correlation between federal Democratic Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and me, saying, “Gephardt realized that after eight years he had outlived his usefulness as the party’s leader.” That is not why he stepped aside. He’s running for president of the United States and didn’t want to do that from the bully pulpit of the minority.
Another shining difference that renders your journalist metaphor even more irresponsible, self-serving and myopic is that, unlike Mr. Gephardt, I will be privileged to lead the minority when the executive branch is under the iron grip of a Democrat – Gov. Edward G. Rendell. Running for president while serving as minority leader under George W. Bush is not acceptable to Rep. Gephardt and he is very comfortable with his decision.
Regarding legislative reapportionment, at 7 a.m. on election morning, the House Democrats were already facing the reality that the four newly crafted House seats in Lancaster, York, Chester and Monroe counties would go to the Republicans because of population shifts in the 1990s (and not because of anything I had done).
House Republicans were guaranteed those four additional seats going in. After these numbers are factored in the equation, House Democrats lost two seats and won one, for a net loss of one seat.
Your paper also accused me of being disconnected from Gov.-elect Ed Rendell and said that I was not visible on his campaign. Your readers are smart enough to have noted and surely will remember that Ed Rendell and I have a wonderfully variegated political and person relationship of 24 years duration.
When he was Philadelphia’s district attorney and I was a young state legislator, it was not unusual for me to spend time in his office or unmarked car, or make the political rounds of his broad-bosomed hometown.
During the campaign, more than 10,000 pieces of mail went out in my legislative district with my name and Ed Rendell’s on them. I rode his bus to various functions in western Pennsylvania, with me introducing him and him introducing me.
In fact, this summer I made one of my more animated public addresses as I introduced him at the statewide APSCUF convention at the Radisson in Monroeville. When he arrived at the microphone, he declared that, if he were privileged to be elected, one of his ambitions as governor would be to make the representative from the 50th Legislative District, Bill DeWeese, speaker of the House.
Again, the Herald-Standard’s criticisms were wide at the mark. I was on the stump for Ed Rendell not only in western Pennsylvania but in Dauphin, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, as well. I could not have been more visible on the campaign trail.
I have not and will not abdicate my responsibility as House Minority Leader. Slithering away in times of challenge is not the act of “a wise man after a brutal loss.”
As the House Democrats’ leader, I was elected to fight for the people of Pennsylvania. I intend to do just that, just as I have fought for the people of Greene, Fayette and Washington counties throughout my entire legislative career.
H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg) is the minority leader of the state House.