Political Observers See Hard Legislative Road Ahead For Tom Wolf
By Pat Loeb
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Even as Tom Wolf won a historic victory over GOP incumbent Tom Corbett in the race for Pennsylvania governor, Republicans held onto a majority in the state legislature. And that may mean some tough going for the Democratic governor-elect's agenda in the state capitol.
Governor Corbett had a hard time getting the legislature's cooperation even without a partisan divide, so the expectation is the new governor will have an even harder time.
That's what Drexel University political science professor Bill Rosenberg thinks.
"Wolf will probably want to put forward initiatives. He's probably not going to get a lot of them through the state legislature, and he may even have to use his power of veto," Rosenberg tells KYW Newsradio.
But supporters of Wolf's agenda say that despite party labels, those who got elected had to sign on to some of Wolf's ideas -- such as taxing frackers and funding schools -- because they're popular.
Susan Gobreski, of the advocacy group "Education Voters of Pennsylvania," says the job won't be Wolf's alone.
"The public is going to have to hold the legislature accountable," she says. "There's going to have to be an unrelenting demand that they address this issue."
And former governor Ed Rendell says every governor has to do some horse-trading.
"He's an experienced businessman," Rendell notes. "He's used to the give-and-take of negotiations, and I think he'll do very, very well."