Today was moving day for me and the staff assigned to me, and the staff and the movers did a great job in getting us from the 4th Floor--the minority office locations--to the first floor--the majority office locations. The issue is not the quality of the office space (there is nothing wrong with the minority offices) but the symbolism involved in moving from the somewhat out of the way 4th Floor to the much-traveled 1st Floor.
Democratic Caucus Administrator Dan Surra, a legislator from Elk County in rural Pennsylvania, had tried mightily to get the Republicans to vacate their offices in mid-December and speed up this process. But Republican Speaker John Perzel was busy wooing Democrats to ignore the will of the Democratic caucus and re-elect him instead. All of Perzel's scheming came to naught when Democrats united on Republican social services advocate Dennis O'Brien for Speaker, and secured control of the agenda, the commmittees, majority status, and office space.
In my 33 years in the legislature, this is the third time I have gone from minority status to majority status. The first was 1974, when I had been in the legislature as a member of the minority for 5 and a half months. The second was 1982, when I had been a member of the minority for four consecutive years. And now, with the Democrats regaining the majority in 2006, I have been a member of the minority for twelve consecutive years.
How long we stay in the majority depends on individual choices and chance occurences beyond anyone's control. For instance, Democratic Rep. Robert Freeman is considering running for Mayor of Easton against the Republican mayoral incumbent in 2007. His victory and resignation would create a vacancy. Hopefully, one or more Republicans is also considering for running for municipal office this year.
A feature of the minority offices for elected leaders not shared by the majority offices for elected leaders is some common office space which is subdivided among the leaders. Sometimes this is a nuisance because the noise level can get high. But sometimes this leads to helpful collaboration as well.
One day in May, 2003, I got a call from Bill O'Reilly's office challenging me to debate him on my position opposing the banning of French wine in Pennsylvania liquor stores, a position I had written on extensively in letters to fellow House members.
My initial inclination was to turn it down. But one of my staff members argued strongly that I should go on. Two staff members from other leadership offices then interjected themselves into the discussion and argued that I should accept, saying that I probably knew much more about the legal issues involved than O'Reilly did, and that I could win the debate. Outvoted 3 to 1, I accepted the debate, prepped extensively for it over the next 72 hours, and did well enough to have O'Reilly say I "might have convinced" him, and never received another invitation from O'Reilly again.
The majority offices have no common private space. Going from one office to another inevitably involves the public. Depending on who one runs into, this can have consequences either good or bad. Last week, for example, on the swearing in day in which we elected our Speaker, a Philadelphian from a neighboring legislative district ask me to pose for pictures with members of his family. I posed for several different pictures, and this perhaps impressed a wandering Philadelphia television reporter who had never interviewd me before, who then interviewed me at length about the Speaker's election.
The office I am in was the office filled by the prior majority caucus chair, Republican Eleanor Z. Taylor of West Chester. It was her retirement after 30 years in the legislature that gave the rising Democrats the ability to win the open seat by a final margin of 28 votes in the town which proudly hosts West Chester State University. Certainly, boosting student registration there will be a major priority there for both political parties.
Our Democratic winner--the woman who put us in the majority--is Barbara McIlvaine Smith. She is the fourth member of her family to serve in the legislature, but the first since the 1920's, when one of her ancestors was one of the early women to serve, shortly after women gained the right to vote. Other family members of hers served in the legislature in the 1800's and the 1700's.
After we unload the boxes and get this office into good shape, one of my first priorities will be to invite Barbara into the office that she gained for me. She is a great woman, and will undoubtedly give her constituents the kind of vigorous representation that they deserve. Our challenge as a party and as legislative body will be see that having a Democratic majority creates positive change in the interest of the people of Pennsylvania.