Too many grand ideas = not much progress
Since winning re-election to a second term Governor Ed Rendell has uncorked an amazing number of grand schemes ranging from leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to foisting a socialized health care program upon employers in the state. All these proposals seek to address serious problems confronting the commonwealth, but the dizzying speed and sweeping complexity of his policy initiatives suggest he is playing to a different audience.
Although he is obviously not running for President, Rendell continues to be a Vice Presidential prospect. Pennsylvania is a must win state for any national Democratic ticket, and with polls showing front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton vulnerable here, Rendell could be tapped to shore up the commonwealth and other northeastern states.
Absent a run for Vice President, Governor Rendell appears to have some interest in serving in the cabinet if a Democrat is successful in reclaiming the White House next year. Often mentioned is Secretary of Energy, although Rendell is staking policy claims in a number of areas in an obvious effort to broaden his appeal.
The problem for Rendell is that while he postures for national office he could end up empty handed in Harrisburg. That would make him a thinker of big thoughts, but not a doer of big deeds. Given the fact his party now controls the state House failure to actually enact any of his major initiatives would diminish, rather than enhance his national appeal.
It is one thing to propose major policy changes, it is quite another to have anything significant actually occur. The General Assembly has a reputation for barely being able to deal with even one major issue at a time; thus the flurry of major proposals from the governor has gridlocked the legislative system. This is good, in a way, because most of what the governor is proposing to do may appeal to the national Democratic base, but is wrong for Pennsylvania. The downside is that heaping the legislative plate so high means that none of the ideas advanced by the governor – event those that have merit – are likely to get a full and complete vetting.
Already, Rendell is conceding that his plan to lease out the Turnpike is dead in the water. Likewise, he has scaled back expectations on the amount of funding he is likely to receive to deal with the state’s so-called roads and bridges crisis. There is obviously no legislative appetite for raising the state sales tax from six to seven percent, even in the unlikely eventuality some of that revenue would be dedicated to property tax relief.
It is beginning to appear that by shooting for the moon, Rendell’s ambitious agenda is fizzling on the launch pad. With the budget deadline just days away, the governor and the General Assembly will be fortunate to agree upon even a status quo budget – and that only thanks to a surplus in revenue collected in recent months.
While the governor’s ideas are finding few takers, little debate is occurring on alternative strategies for dealing with the many serious problems that confront the commonwealth. For example, although a socialized state-run health care program funded by a new three percent tax on business would deal a crushing blow to the state’s economy; other options such as tort reform, allowing small businesses to band together to purchase insurance, and health savings accounts would offer real, structural change. But these ideas are getting no airing in the crisis atmosphere that has gripped the state capital.
Governor Rendell has committed a fundamental error in strategy. As a result of taking on too much, too quickly, very little is actually going to get done. That is bad news for Pennsylvanians who need real solutions to real problems, and even worse news for a governor anxious to boost his national standing.