In the three decades that I’ve written about politics, I’ve never seen such zeal for change.
I’m not talking about Barack Obama, either.
I’m talking about state government in Harrisburg and the growing willingness of citizens to rattle cages with the hope that crooked elected officials might soon take up residence in state prison cages.
Several good government activists have all but taken up residence on Capitol Hill where they plague and pester some of state government’s most powerful players.
Just a few years ago, Wilkes-Barre native Gene Stilp was a lone ranger of sorts as he tried his best to afflict the comfortable while comforting the afflicted. Now he’s got a gang that roams the hallowed halls where lawmakers sometimes become lawbreakers.
In the eyes of the political party bosses, Stilp and his pack are worse than Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels.
In a famous biker film called the “Wild One,” Marlon Brando was asked what he was rebelling against.
“What do you got?” he replied.
And what we’ve got on the Harrisburg Hill is one big mess that’s out of control with greed and what looks like actual corruption.
We’ve also got a new gang of outlaws, a gang that in the end might be more powerful than Stilp and his merry pranksters.
This gang is called “The Reformers,” a mostly young group of Democratic lawmakers who have challenged leaders of their own party and are calling for heads to roll.
They are relatively small in number, but these 10 or so rebels in the House of Representatives have already challenged House majority leader Bill DeWeese who at least symbolically represents all that’s wrong with public service. DeWeese claims that he knew nothing about what is called “Bonusgate” that resulted in a dozen arrests of current House Democrats with dozens of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest charges.
One of the young radicals is Nanticoke Democratic Rep. John Yudichak.
But another local Democrat, Rep. Frank Andrews Shimkus, is calling for the radicals to back off.
Shimkus is in a particularly odd position.
A judge kicked the incumbent rookie Democrat off the ballot for the primary because Shimkus seemed confused about which home address to list on his official paperwork.
Opponent Kevin Murphy won the Democratic primary.
But Shimkus won the Republican nomination and now appears on the ballot in the November election as a member of the GOP.
Still, Shimkus seems indebted to Democratic Party bosses.
So, despite his reputation as a reformer himself, he’s defending DeWeese, accusing his reformer colleagues of “posturing” and engaging in a “feeding frenzy.”
Murphy, despite being a Democratic candidate yet willing to upset Democratic Party leaders, immediately enlisted with the rebels. I was impressed. Although I like Shimkus and consider Murphy to be something of a loose cannon and Irish-American character, I admire his grit and his willingness to challenge the status quo even before he gets a chance to become indebted himself.
Murphy called “Corbett” at the end of yesterday’s show so I didn’t have time to put him on the air. But we talked off the air after the show and he promised to call today when he gets off work at 5:00. A state worker, Murphy said he has to make sure he does everything right and can’t call before he leaves work.
Attaboy, Murph.
Murphy knows that when you rock the boat somebody’s going to try to hit you in the head with an oar.
I left a message for Shimkus at his district office and he left me a message while I was doing the show. Shimkus said he had taken the grandkids to Disney World and would be back at the end of the week. But he said he would talk with me if I could hear over the noise of Jurassic Park.
What a card.
I’ll call him as soon as I get into my office.
Maybe we can get Murphy and Shimkus on the air together.
Let these Democrats fight it out over some real change we can believe in.
Corbett
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