The View From Highland Ranch
By John McCormick
I've personally met three governors while they were in office; all three in informal one-on-one settings. Two were OK. One of them made my skin crawl and I carefully washed the hand he had shaken.
My favorite was Texas' Ann Richards who once said of George Bush Sr., "Poor George, he was born with a Silver foot in his mouth."
Gov. Richards was attending a Conference while I was serving as a judge of a technology for the handicapped exhibit at The Smithsonian. Adjacent hotel rooms meant we often shared an elevator and a friendly chat.
I now see those as the good old days when nasty things could be said in a humorous manner. This year the TV ads reached a level normally encountered only by reporters and Ralf Kramden's old buddy Ed Norton. (For those of you who are age challenged, The Honeymooner's Norton was a sewer worker.)
I've never met Governor-elect Rendell; probably never will; and don't much care either way.
Like you, I'm mostly concerned with things politicians can't affect. For me its the condition of the pastures and whether I've ordered enough of Mr. Reed's hay to last the sheep and donkeys through the winter. I didn't get excited over governor's race.
But from what I hear at least I wouldn't feel the need to don a hazmat suit or scrub down if we ever did meet. I guess that's all you can ask for in a professional politician these days.
This wasn't really a fight over who will raise taxes. Government always grows so either candidate would eventually bow to reality and raise taxes. Heck, they always do. All we can hope for is some fairness in who gets hit the worst. The only real question in any election is which one will have the guts to admit they will raise taxes if necessary.
In a low point for Pennsylvania Fisher made this the sandwich election by running commercials where he promoted sandwiches which come with French fries and coleslaw right in the bun vs the obviously inferior Philly cheese steak sandwiches.
This was such a devastating political argument that Rendell went to Primanti's to be photographed seen eating the quintessential Pittsburgh sandwich. That only showed that it takes a strong stomach to be a candidate as much as it does to be a reporter.
We all know that which junk food someone professes to like is a vital economic and political question, worthy of TV sound bites in any election but, as long as neither candidate chows down on groundhog stew, just how does it affect us?
We already know what will happen to the great rural middle of the state. Our taxes will go up to help keep the dying cities alive for a few more years.
This election was important to the geographic extremes of the state because it determined whether Philadelphia or Pittsburgh would get the Lion's share of the funding for special projects. Both candidates denied this but the sandwich war was just code for the real issue.
Pittsburgh can probably kiss the monorail good by. Big yawn!
The only promise Rendell made which would help small towns is the one he probably won't be able to keep - his pledge to lower the property taxes which are driving the elderly and disabled from their small farms.
I sincerely hope it's the one campaign promise he is able to keep.
At least that's how the election looked from up here on the
mountain where the price of hay and the livestock auction results seem more important than whether some gamblers get to play slot machines at race tracks.
Copyright, 2002, John A. McCormick, Inc.
