Gov. Tom Wolf, whose hardline leadership during the COVID-19 crisis features both missteps and sound judgement, these days could do with a chill pill.
Yes, he still draws favorable ratings: 67 percent of voters approve his handling of the outbreak, according to last week’s Monmouth University Poll.
Yes, Wolf has (so far) kept us from becoming the virus triage area seen in other states. And that’s of paramount import.
But escalating partisan tiffs, over his social restrictions, restaurant rules, emergency powers, even government transparency, threaten to mar the credibility Wolf needs to best lead the state and deal with the virus as we move forward.
For example: The Democratic governor’s head-bang with Lebanon County is a bad message of power politics ahead of people. Wrong in normal times. Worse now.
Wolf withheld the county’s due share, $12.8 million, of federal coronavirus relief funds, money to help small business, first responders, non-profits, those with mental health issues and more. It should have been distributed by July 15.
All counties get such funding, some directly from the feds. Most, including Lebanon, through block grants appropriated by acts of the legislature, which Wolf signed into law.
But because two of the three Lebanon County commissioners, both Republicans, voted in May to move the county from Wolf’s lockdown “red” phase to the slow-opening “yellow” phase without Wolf’s say so, Wolf turned off the funding spigot.
“There are consequences,” he said, to not following his rules for safety.
But Lebanon County has 140,000-plus residents. If their safety suffered due to local action, they now should suffer financially due to state action? How is it right to punish many people because of how two people voted?
Well, Wolf suggested county voters might want to, “Think twice about reelecting them.”
(Given how Lebanon County’s likely feeling about Wolf right now, I’m thinking that could amount to an endorsement.)
GOP lawmakers representing all or parts of Lebanon County, including Sen. Dave Arnold and Reps. Sue Helm and Frank Ryan, slammed Wolf on social media for “petty tyranny.”
Even the normally staid fiscal wonk, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County, called on Wolf to release the money, “As is required by law.”
Didn’t hear much from the other side. Guess party-of-the-people Democrats see Wolf’s decision as just.
I see it setting us off on yet another tangent and further legal fights to distract all concerned from what should be a full focus on surviving the virus and its implications, economic, educational and otherwise.
Wolf could easily tone things down with just some modification of his “I-and-only-I-can-save-my-people” approach.
It’s an approach that invites outspoken political opposition. And that injects politics into folks’ thinking, and into choices they make when it comes to wearing masks or following other state recommendations.
Senate Republican Leader Jake Corman hits Wolf for his “refusal to work with the General Assembly.” House Republican Leader Kerry Benninghoff talks of Wolf’s “continued overreach and misuse of power.”
And, of course, Butler County’s never subtle GOP Rep. Daryl Metcalfe calls for Wolf to be impeached or resign.
Public officials have constituents who listen to them. And those constituents can use what they hear to justify decisions they make, in this instance, about health and safety.
I’m not saying the legislature – too often a confederacy of dunces – should run the show. But how hard can it be for Wolf to sit down and share some responsibility, or even just thoughts, in order to keep potentially-harmful partisan babble at bay?
Wolf’s missteps, including his essential/non-essential business waiver fiasco, calling GOP officials cowards and marching in a Black Lives Matters crowd after telling everyone to stay out of crowds, are outweighed by his overall management of a novel crisis, and the state’s standing (so far) compared to other states.
But this health/economic disaster isn’t over. It was politicized nationally from the start. It’s become that in Pennsylvania. And it’ll be hard to pull it back to where it belongs, as a health issue and not an ideological one.
Still, Wolf and Republicans have the power to do that. To turn down the noise. To drop the attitude that encourages confrontation. To focus on policy not politics.
And they should. For all citizens of the state. Even those living in Lebanon County.
John Baer may be reached at baer.columnist@gmail.com
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