At age 80, Joseph A. Hardy III is cutting a swath through Fayette County's political scene, asking for a new job.
A candidate for county commissioner, the multimillionaire founder of 84 Lumber has taken a path to public service that's paved with gold, hiring a pricey campaign consultant who last helped a U.S. senator get elected and throwing a $61,000 party the night before the spring primary.
"I hope (my campaign spending) shows evidence that once I get into (office), I'll get something going here," he said.
Hardy vastly outspent all of his GOP competitors in the primary, reporting about $300,000 in expenses, counting unpaid debts. He received 4,851 votes on May 20.
Hardy also outspent all the Democratic contenders. The closest candidate in terms of expenses was two-term incumbent Vincent Vicites, who spent $112,000 on his primary campaign.
Hardy said he hopes to end up as the top vote-getter among commissioner candidates in the Nov. 4 general election. No Republican in living memory has achieved that goal in this heavily Democratic county.
"I'm competitive," he said. "I like to come out in front, and I hate to get the heck knocked out of me. But if I do, I'll get right up and brush myself off and get back out there."
Family business
Hardy has started from scratch before. At age 24, he had a safe career in front of him, working as a gemologist with the family business, Hardy & Hayes Jewelers in Pittsburgh.
Hardy said he tried some new sales techniques, like calling past clients before holidays to suggest gifts, and quickly found himself outselling the full-time sales force.
"I thought I was going to get rave notices," he said.
Instead, young Hardy got "chewed out" by an uncle for hustling too hard on the sales floor.
"I learned a lot that day," he said.
Instead of toeing the line, Hardy went into business with his two brothers and a neighbor, Ed Ryan Jr., of Ryan Homes. Each of the four put $5,000 into the venture, then called Green Hills Lumber.
Although Hardy's relationship with Ryan eventually became very profitable, Ryan was building only about 10 homes a year when Hardy opened his lumberyard in 1951.
By 1954, he had a small string of lumberyards that totaled $2.5 million in sales.
The chain was renamed -- and it continued to grow. The red 84 Lumber sign now hangs above some 500 stores, and this year, for the first time, a single location sold more than $20 million of merchandise.
According to Forbes Magazine, 84 Lumber had approximately $1.9 billion in revenue in 2002 and employed about 5,400 people.
Hardy and his daughter, Maggie Hardy Magerko, also operate Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa, near Farmington. Hardy bought the place 1981, when it was a hunting lodge.
More than $100 million later, it's now a posh resort that has played host to an array of dignitaries, including President Bill Clinton and congressional caucuses.
Hardy has lived on the property, in Wharton Township, since 1994.
Fill the void
His daughter has taken over many of the operations of 84 Lumber, but instead of kicking back to enjoy his retirement, Hardy moved into politics. He said he saw a void in local leadership and wanted do what he could to fill it.
Fayette's economic status also played a part. It's among the poorest counties in Pennsylvania.
"I wouldn't have run for commissioner in, say, Montgomery County, but here we're (near) the bottom of the 67 counties," he said. "I think I can help them in some way."
Hardy's brash, take-charge style and record of success have attracted numerous supporters.
One is Peter M. Casini, the Democratic mayor of South Connellsville. He believes Hardy will stop the bickering among commissioners evident in the last two terms and make something positive happen.
"He's a man of action. He likes to get things done now," Casini said.
If he's elected, Hardy said he'll begin to make headway by inviting local politicians and leading Republican and Democratic lawmakers, both state and federal, to visit Nemacolin. He hopes to introduce them to the area, and then to brainstorm about ways to move the county forward.
Hardy also has pledged to bring in financial experts to examine the county's operations, and to donate his commissioner's salary -- $43,899, including a 3 percent raise scheduled for next year -- to area food banks.
If he hears about an interesting or innovative way of handling a problem that faces Fayette County, Hardy said he won't hesitate to fly his colleagues to any point on the globe, so they all can see for themselves.
"I want to work together," Hardy said. "If there's something good going on in Halifax, I'll tell them, 'Let's jump in the plane, we're going,'"
He's not worried about the politics of the commissioner's job, but Hardy said he's been warned that people will try to focus on the negative so that it becomes difficult to conduct business.
"I'm not going to do that. I'm going to stay positive and move things forward," he said.
Hardy said he's been very, very fortunate, but he did have a minor run-in with the law.
According to Westmoreland County court records, he was cited for drunken driving in 2001. He was admitted to a pretrial probationary program for first-time offenders and has since been discharged, meaning the charge was withdrawn after successful completion of the program.
Although Hardy admits he's made some mistakes in his life, he said he's ready to try out his decisive style in government to "make things happen."
"It'll be fun. I like getting into messes," he said. "As thick as I am, I think there'll be a little that I can do to make people's lives better."
