Ridge entering lame-duck pond

HARRISBURG - There's a mystery unfolding at the state Capitol.

It is expected to play out over the next 15 months. The mystery is the state's agenda.

We are approaching Republican Gov. Tom Ridge's final year in office. Many of his top staffers have gone. Others will leave soon.

The Legislature remains Republican. But the hold is tenuous in the state House. There won't be much risk-taking there. Holding onto control of the House is the top priority.

The once-a-decade task of reapportionment will eat up substantial amounts of time. It is mandatory - something the Legislature must do.

Beyond that it's difficult to see a serious agenda emerging over the next year.

HOUSEKEEPING

Much of the energy will be focused on the 2002 governor's race and the issues that emerge there for 2003.

Sean Duffy, president of the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg-based think tank, sees '12 to 15 months ahead of housekeeping.'

As for an agenda, Duffy said: 'It's not discernible.

'Every time I say that I get a nasty note from (legislative) leadership listing minor items' purporting to be an agenda, Duffy said.

Some mega-issues are being discussed - reshaping the formula for state basic education funding and eliminating property taxes - but don't hold your breath for any resolution. A proposal for an alternative to property taxes - by state Sen. Jane Orie, a McCandless Republican - calls for a nine-month study.

A governor at the peak of his power - Democratic Gov. Robert Casey in 1989 - was unable to resolve the state's tax dilemma.

Much of it seems to be setting the stage for the next governor.

And that may be appropriate, Duffy says. Ridge has done a good job preventing the education establishment from 'dismantling the funding system,' Duffy said. It would not make sense for Ridge to make sweeping changes there that would saddle the next governor.

LEGACY-BUILDING

Much of a governor's final year in office is spent building the legacy - the place in history to be claimed as a result of a chief executive's accomplishments.

Ridge in year-end interviews will be touting seven years of state tax cuts, welfare reform, reductions in the crime rate, education initiatives such as charter schools, a tuition voucher look-alike program (and maybe) electric deregulation.

In his seventh year, Ridge got done more than most governors.

His eighth year will be different.

'A certain amount of that (lame-duck status) is inevitable,' said Tim Reeves, Ridge's press secretary.

Ridge's agenda items this fall will be merit selection of appellate court judiciary and improving the open records law.

Legalizing slots at racetracks is hot in some quarters now and it may survive. But it is hardly, by any stretch, major. It's mired in debate over a statewide referendum and the odds are against it.

The House Democrats plan to push campaign finance reform. The odds are 100-1 against.

'There's not a human being outside the 17120 (Harrisburg) zip code who has any interest in campaign finance reform,' Duffy said.

Applying the state's open records law to the Legislature, as Ridge has proposed, remains an uphill climb.

It's not clear how many outside 17120 care about that either - though they should.

Ridge has used up his two biggest chits with the Legislature - granting an automatic annual pay raise and a pension boost.

They got what they wanted and the governor would appear to have little left to get their attention.

Brad Bumsted is a state Capitol reporter for the Trib.