Insiders Urge Wolf To Build Bridges In Harrisburg
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Tom Wolf's business background, education and low-key style will aid him as the state's chief executive, but to succeed the governor-elect must be judicious in choosing the senior aides who will be his diplomats in the Legislature and quickly establish rapport with key lawmakers, statehouse insiders believe.
"I think he's going to do just fine," said former Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat. "Because he's an outsider and a fresh face, he will have success in attracting good people" to work in the new administration.
John Hanger, the former state environmental protection secretary who dropped out of the crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary race that Wolf ultimately won, said Wolf will reach out to legislators early in the transition because it's in his nature.
"Tom Wolf is a people person," Hanger said. "He treats every person with dignity and grace and that will be true in the Legislature, whether (they are) in leadership or not."
Former GOP state Sen. Robert Jubelierer, a long-time party leader, said much hinges on the relationship between the executive and legislative branches.
"The Republicans are in charge of the Legislature and you can't get anything done without them, so compromise is going to be the order of the day and the people who negotiate those compromises need to be the right people," he said.
Quipped David Patti, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Business Council: "He's going to have to understand that the Legislature thinks they are a co-equal branch of state government."
On Thursday, Wolf launched a website for his still-to-be-announced transition team that declares, "We're hiring."
The wealthy businessman defeated GOP Gov. Tom Corbett with nearly 55 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election. Wolf ran on a liberal agenda that, among other things, calls for a significant boost in spending for education, new state taxes to pay for it and reduction in local property taxes.
Rendell said Wolf won't get all he wants in his first 100 days, but he knows how to make deals because he ran his family's York-based cabinetry and furniture distribution business for nearly three decades.
"He's well-suited for that, because what do business people do? They negotiate with vendors and they negotiate with customers," he said.
Wolf will face newly expanded GOP majorities in the Legislature, a likely setback for advocates of higher taxes. And he will inherit a $29 billion state budget that relies on one-time revenues and accounting gimmicks as temporary patches for a $2 billion-plus "structural deficit."
"My feeling is that he's going to need some early victories in Harrisburg before he can take on the big challenges," said former Gov. Mark Schweiker, a Republican.
Corbett, a former state attorney general who campaigned for governor in 2010 on the success of a legislative corruption probe that he directed, had limited success with his major legislative initiatives. Republican leaders in both houses publicly criticized his communication and leadership skills. Many voters never forgave him for supporting a nearly $1 billion cut in education subsidies in his first budget in 2011.
Kevin Shivers, state director of the Nation Federation of Independent Business, said Tuesday's balloting amounted to "a referendum on Tom Corbett's personality and ability to carry out policies."
While the federation is concerned about the legality of Wolf's plan to overhaul the state income tax, Shivers said he expects Wolf will take a collaborative approach to governing.
"You don't get to that level in business by (saying) 'my way or the highway,'" he said.
Jubelierer, who served in the Legislature for 32 years, said Wolf should meet regularly with Republican legislative leaders and that the administration's lobbyists should be people who are "well-liked and respected" by members of the Senate and House GOP caucuses.
"There has to be an absolute recognition that they got elected too and each caucus gained significantly" in the election, he said.
Donna Cooper, who was former Gov. Ed Rendell's policy director, agreed Wolf should meet with Republican leaders but said he also should make a special effort to reach out to individual Democratic lawmakers and assure them they have "a seat at the table."
"They have to see themselves as winners as much as the governor and trust that he's sensitive to their needs," she said.
Hanger pointed out that Wolf is not a complete newcomer to state government or elective politics: He served nearly two years as Rendell's revenue secretary, seriously considered running for governor in 2010 and has contributed to other candidates' campaigns over the years.
"He's not a Harrisburg insider," Hanger said, "but he's no babe in the woods."
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