The results are in. By winning three special elections to fill vacant seats, Democrats have a one-seat majority in the Pennsylvania House
That is, if you count the Speaker of the House, Mark Rozzi, as a Democrat, for, upon taking office, he quite memorably said:
“The Commonwealth that is home to Independence Hall will now be home to this Commonwealth’s first independent Speaker of the House.” He went on: “I pledge my allegiance and my loyalty to no interest in this building, to no interest in our politics. I pledge my loyalty to the people of Pennsylvania.”
It is hard to square that pledge with fealty to a political party.
The narrowly divided House elected Rozzi as Speaker on January 3. The House has accomplished nothing since then. The stumbling block is that the two parties have not agreed on a set of rules by which the House can operate. Rozzi, a six-term Democrat, was elected to the Speakership with 16 Republican votes — including those of the Republican leadership. Since then, some of those Republicans, especially the leadership, have repudiated their earlier support — saying Rozzi, by remaining in the Democratic caucus, lied to them.
Speaker Rozzi is reconvening the House on February 21 to try again to resolve the question of rules. During the adjournment, the Speaker conducted a series of hearings, in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre, and State College, to obtain public input concerning the “brokenness” of Harrisburg and how to get the House of Representatives “back on track.” He has been meeting with a “special work group” comprised of three Democrats and three Republicans to craft a set of rules fair to both parties and adequate to the needs of legislating.
The Speaker has said “reform” rules will be presented on February 21. But the details of a “reform” package have not yet been revealed. He has indicated that any proposed rules emanating from his work group will go first to the leadership of both parties. Past practice is that leadership tells their rank-and-file members how to vote on a rules resolution — without the rank-and-file having the opportunity to read the content beforehand. This time around, the Speaker seems to be insisting that the entire House membership have the opportunity to know exactly what they are saying yea or nay to.
That could be important. Because, if the reform rules are a reflection of the input received at the public hearings, the rules could enable rank-and-file legislators to wrest a significant amount of political leverage back from their leaderships. Committee chairpersons, for example, may no longer be empowered to act like feudal lords. Bi-partisan bills may more likely receive legislative light of day. We might see which representatives go to Harrisburg to legislate and which go there to play-act.
Pennsylvania’s voters have sent an essentially divided legislature to the House. Collectively the voters have not endorsed one party above the other. Maybe the message to the House is, for this session anyway, get along — or at least try to.
Once a set of rules is in place, Rozzi has expressly pledged that the next order of business for the House will be to pass the constitutional amendment to provide a window of legal recourse to survivors of childhood sexual abuse. He has said passage of this amendment has been the overarching purpose of his political career. The implication is that he agreed (some might say dissembled) to take the Speakership only to further that goal. He has recently postured that, once the amendment is passed, retaining the speakership is for him a matter of whatever-will-be-will-be.
So, the third item of business when the House convenes on Tuesday may be whether Rozzi remains Speaker. It requires a majority of the entire House — at least 102 votes of the 203-member body — to elect a Speaker. Presumably, it requires at least 102 votes to remove one.
The Republican caucus has 101 members (and about to lose one through resignation) — not enough to elect or remove a Speaker. Its leadership (probably) is not so maladroit to move for Rozzi’s dismissal. But if they should do so, and a handful of Democrats support the motion, and it should carry, then the next order of business would be to elect a new Speaker. That would very likely be Joanna McClinton, the Democratic leader of the House. Republicans would be explaining that damage to their nose for a long time.
Then again, party leadership notwithstanding, some rank-and-file legislators, of either party, may see an opportunity not to be so rank-and-file anymore. They may recognize Rozzi as the instrument through whom rule reform affords an enhanced possibility to become actual legislators. They may not be quick to remove him.
Rozzi may not be Speaker after Tuesday. He may be Speaker for two years. Tuesday may be a day of performative politics. The next two years in the House may be something substantive.