Delegated Authority

Pennsylvania is about to become center stage in the 2012 road show known as the Republican presidential primary race. Already the robocalls have begun, the mailbox is filling up, and the four, no, make that three, remaining Republican presidential candidates have begun spending more and more time in the Keystone State making appearances. Endorsements are starting to come in from key Pennsylvania political players. All of these are mere opening acts to the main event, our April 24 primary.

If you've been paying attention, Mitt Romney, the heir apparent, isn't going over so well with the conservative base of the Republican Party, and those folks had mostly thrown their support behind Pennsylvania's native son, Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are hanging in as spoilers for the time being.

Usually, one candidate breaks out of the pack of contenders and gathers up the minimum number of delegates needed - 1144 - to secure the nomination.  Delegates are those folks elected in each state to go to the party's national convention (this year, the Republicans are meeting in Tampa, Florida at the end of August) and cast their votes in support of the eventual nominee.

This year, that hasn't happened, although Romney leads the pack so far with 651 delegates collected (of a total of 2,286 available) as the result of the states that have held primaries so far. Santorum was in second with 275 before dropping out and releasing his delegates, and as of this writing, Gingrich and Paul bring up the back of the field with 138 and 71, respectively (updates can be found here).

For awhile, it was looking more and more like a brokered convention would be how our 2012 nominee is selected, and Gingrich, at least, is apparently still banking on that.

Not much attention is often paid to the delegate races, because usually it's a foregone conclusion long before the convention who the (one) nominee will be. However, this election cycle, they may play a larger role in determining how our next presidential candidate is chosen.

If you didn't know, delegates are the 'official' way a nominee is selected. You and other voters go and cast your choices at the polls, but it's often a 'beauty pageant' showing of who's most popular, because the delegates you elect at the same time make the actual choice for you. Some states' delegate awards are proportional; some are winner-take-all. In many states, delegates are committed to a particular candidate, and run that way. If you vote for them, you know you are also casting a vote for the candidate they support. 

In others, such as Pennsylvania, they are "uncommitted" and can vote for anyone. Even if they support one candidate early on, they can change their mind and vote for someone else. Pennsylvania's are mostly uncommitted.

The last time a Republican presidential convention opened without the nominee having already been decided in the primaries, resulting in a brokered convention, was in 1976. That year, the Republican primaries gave Gerald Ford a slight lead in the popular vote and delegates entering the Convention, but not enough delegates to secure the nomination. A brokered convention was predicted;however, Ford was able to secure the necessary support on the first ballot to edge out Ronald Reagan.

Gingrich ,who had hoped for better results in Southern states (thus far he's only won in Georgia and South Carolina), at least accurately predicted the likelihood of this scenario early on, and has been pretty upfront about his current, Plan B strategy, which is to hang on long enough to get to the convention (assuming no one assembles those elusive 1,144 minimum delegates) and negotiate to secure the nomination there. Historically convention delegates tend to be more conservative and vote accordingly.

Pennsylvania has a fairly large number of delegate votes up for grabs next Tuesday. Of the total 72 available, 52 are elected, usually 3 or 4 per Congressional District. Anyone can run if you get the minimum number of petition signatures; however, those receiving the party's endorsement are usually party insiders. The remainder are chosen by the PA GOP and are given to party brass who do not have to run for those slots.

I presume our counterparts on the Democrat side of the aisle proceed in a similar fashion.

As a Republican committeewoman, I do what many of my counterparts don't - I reach out to the campaigns directly and volunteer. I've made many great friends and connections that way, and have learned much about how campaigns are run and how to get out the vote.

As I do every election cycle, earlier this year I reached out to the various presidential campaigns and offered to help  circulate nominating petitions to get them on the ballot. Many of you in my own voting district in Lower Providence know I came to your doors asking you to sign whichever candidate's petition was your preference, along with petitions for other Republican candidates for local office.

One of the presidential campaigns asked me to consider running for a delegate slot in my Congressional District (6). It's something that's been on my "bucket list" for a long time, and I thought it might offer our residents a unique perspective and voice into the process, so after learning what I needed to do, I agreed. It involved gathering at least 250 petition signatures to get myself on the ballot, and although that meant being out in snow, ice, sleet, rain and howling winds in early February to get them for me and all the other candidates whose petitions I carried, we got it done and I hand delivered most of them in Harrisburg in person.

Despite being a good Republican party soldier for a long time (the very first campaign I ever worked on was back in 1984 as part of the Arizona effort for Reagan-Bush, let alone the numerous ones I've worked on in Pennsylvania), I was then served with a petition challenge from my own party. Even though I had not declared myself for any particular candidate, the PA GOP tried hard to knock me off the ballot (as it turns out they had already chosen Romney as their guy, and presumed since they hadn't asked me to run, I wasn't one of 'them'). Talk about no good deed going unpunished! It turned out to be a time consuming distraction from my real job for a couple of weeks.

(I am constantly amazed by how many in party leadership selectively choose to forget that the primary is supposed to be all about the voters vetting and selecting a candidate to be the nominee...and not the powers that be in the party's hierarchy dictating to voters which candidate they should line up behind. All too often, those annointed candidates are selected for reasons that have little to do with how well they represent their party's values and, lately, are more likely a reflection of how well they can self-fund their campaigns).

There's a whole eye-opening story behind how that played out which, if you're a Republican, should disgust you, but I'll go into that another day. I didn't mind the challenge, per se; it's merely a tactical strategy used all the time in campaigns, and I knew I could survive it since I'd followed the rules. It was how they went about it that I took issue with. Long story short, I didn't fold my tent in response to their bully tactics, threats and attemps to intimidate, and they withdrew their challenge before we had a hearing on it.

So, I'm on the ballot in Congressional District 6, the only woman among the 9 total candidates vying for the 3 available delegate positions. The GOP organizations of the three counties that make up CD6, Berks, Chester and Montgomery Counties, all conspired to pick the three folks they'd jointly endorse for these slots, and of course, I wasn't one of them.

All three endorsed delegate candidates currently hold some sort of elected position, from township supervisor up to a US House of Representatives incumbent who's House seat is also up for election this year, and for whom I personally gathered almost 100 petition signatures. Arguably, I may be the only 'outsider' of the entire group of 9 candidates.  For a list of the other 2012 Republican delegate candidates in Congressional District 6 and who they are/where they're from, click here.

As to which candidate I support,  let me preface my comments by stating that there are things I like, and don't like, about each. None of them are perfect, and frankly, I think this year's field is not a strong one. When I circulated petitions, voters in my district were all over the place - no clear preferred candidate was evident. I'm currently leaning toward Gingrich, but whomever the voters of CD6 cast the majority of their votes for is who will receive my support if I'm elected. And if I'm not...here's to 2016!

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO VOTE ON APRIL 24!!

422 tolling/rail plan gets a failing grade

I spent last evening with residents from all along the 422 corridor who came out en masse to the tune of several hundred attendees to participate in a panel discussion at Pope John Paul II High School,  hosted by Rep. Mike Vereb (150th), on the subject of "fixing 422", how to pay for it, and whether a rail option should be part of the plan.  Our township manager, Joe Dunbar, and supervisor Colleen Eckman attended from Lower Providence.

Barry Seymour (DRVRPC), Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, Times Herald editor Stan Huskey, and Rep. Warren Kamp (R-157) (photo courtesy Pottstown Patch)

Panelists included Rep. Marcy Toepel (147th), Rep. Warren Kampf (157th), Rep. Tom Quigley (146th), Stan Huskey, editor of the Times Herald, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, and Barry Seymour, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

The forum allowed for residents to have an interactive voice, posing questions to the panel via card, and permitting panelists to elaborate on key provisions of the proposed plan. As several attendees told me afterward, they didn't like the plan as presented - which includes the possibility of tolling and takes into account a new regional rail line - and wondered aloud 'If this is Plan A, what's Plan B?"

Attendees first reviewed a Powerpoint summary of the current scenario.  The document indicated projected population is anticipated to increase 50 percent in the corridor region over the next ten years, bringing with it increased gridlock and delays. Financial data included the revelation that funds generated by tolls - about $60 million a year, increasing over time, of course,  would only cover about 25% of the money needed to operate and maintain 422 and the proposed rail line. Rep. Toepel later stated that 'the numbers don't make sense'. 

Pointing out that federal transportation funding will decrease 35% over the next six years and that PennDOT has $1 billion less to spend than it did four years ago, Seymour hoped that Gov. Corbett would seriously consider implementing the Governor’s Transportation Commission’s suggestions to increase transportation funding by $3.5 billion. If that happens, tolling may not be needed on 422 at all.

Residents questioned every aspect of the proposal, including, but not limited to, why 422 was singled out for tolling when improvements to 309 and 202 were not; what's happened to money already allocated for road improvements; how to keep the toll from being a permanent solution; what the potential costs of implementing tolling would be and what would the impact be on local jobs and roads; exploring other, more fair, avenues of revenue generation such as increased licensing and registration fees and increasing the gas tax - options which spread the cost to all state residents; and of course the train/rail line aspect. The sentiment of the vast majority in attendance was that legislators needed to find ways to do more with less and perhaps find ways to cut spending in other areas to pay for needed transportation improvements - and remove the rail aspect from the plan entirely.

The cost of the proposed rail plan is estimated at $370 million. Hoeffel said that figure could be eliminated from total cost of the project. Estimates indicated that it would cost about $750 million to improve Route 422 and replace the Betzwood Bridge, and pulling the $370 million rail line cost out still leaves the  project short by about $500 million. 

Many fear the creation of yet another 'authority' to supervise and (mis?)manage funds generated by tolling and view tolling as yet another way to divert transportation funds to chronically nonself-sustainable SEPTA.  As Joe Hoeffel observed, however, all forms of transportation are subsidized in some fashion by taxpayers - airlines, buses, and highways, so why not rail? (Hoeffel's repeated use of the word 'investment' in terms of this project did not endear him to any of the folks I talked to).  One resident cautioned planners "not to assume the revenue will be there", as  many commuters would likely choose to avoid 422 in favor of using free local roads even if they have to sit in traffic to do so.

The toll would be collected not via traditional toll booths, but with E-Z pass technology. Seymour said that those without E-Z Pass would be billed through the mail based on photos of their license plates. Some attendees questioned the costs of doing that.

One question submitted asked why this issue could not be put out for vote by referendum. Rep. Vereb observed that this had not been done since the open space referendum a few years ago and that there are considerable costs to put out a referendum; it was felt that a meeting such as this forum would elicit stakeholder feedback more quickly without incurring the costs.

While the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the plan (surprised? I'm not) the question was put out as to whether the local Montgomery county Chamber of Commerce had taken a position on the plan. New Chamber president Kathy Brandon was in the audience and contributed that while the Chamber had not taken a position, they had polled their  members and found no support for it, adding that there 'are too many unanswered questions' at this point.

Privatization was also raised as possibility and the panel indicated that this option may be a part of the ongoing discussion.

The panelists reiterated that "only the State can create a local tolling option", that nothing will happen without legislation being introduced, passed, and signed by the governor; currently there is no legislation proposed. 

Frequent applause and cheering at key points, along with a few loud audience members who shouted out comments, made it clear that the vast majority of the attendees were not in support of either a tolling option or a rail line.

You can see other articles from Reading, Pottstown, and Norristown publications containing more details and photos here,  here, here and here.