Analyst explains incumbents' defeats
Other incumbents could be in jeopardy in the fall, a political analyst said.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A team of attorneys sifted through Lawrence County elections records during Friday's official vote tabulation as two other teams did similar work in Beaver and Butler counties.
They came at the behest of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and party caucus in Harrisburg to look over the stunning loss of longtime legislator Frank LaGrotta, who represents the 10th District. LaGrotta lost his re-election bid by fewer than 30 votes.
A 20-year member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, LaGrotta admits he didn't see his defeat coming to 25-year-old law student Jaret Gibbons in Tuesday's Democratic Party primary, but he has mostly resigned himself to defeat.
"I'm allowing the process to play out, and they asked me not to concede, but I'm moving forward," said LaGrotta, who intends to teach a political science course this fall at Westminster College.
LaGrotta is one of 14 incumbent lawmakers statewide who lost re-election bids for their party's nominations.
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Pennsylvania political analyst G. Terry Madonna calls it one of the most stunning upsets in Pennsylvania Legislature history.
"Almost no incumbent legislators lose, period. They have a 99 percent re-election rate," he said.
Madonna said the last time that number of elected state lawmakers were defeated was 1980 when the state was in the middle of a corruption probe, and the last time party leaders with the clout of Republican Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer lost was 1964.
Dissatisfaction over the middle-of-the-night pay increase that legislators ended up repealing was the rallying cry for newly formed groups touting change. PA CleanSweep and Pennsylvania Common Cause were just two of the organizations that urged candidates to take on incumbents.
And while LaGrotta's opponent didn't join any of those organizations, he does subscribe to many of their ideals.
It was the pay raise issue that spurred him to run, Gibbons said.
"I think our Legislature needs to have term limits. I don't like career legislators," Gibbons said. "I would suggest 10-year term limits. Beyond that you start getting too entrenched in the job."
LaGrotta said he does blame the pay-raise backlash for his defeat.
"I think the way they handled it was clandestine. They were handing out fliers saying, 'No more midnight pay raises,'" LaGrotta said.
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Madonna agrees, but he believes LaGrotta's defeat goes deeper.
"You had an incumbent who got soft. He didn't campaign enough or spend enough money and he got caught by surprise," said Madonna, who is director for the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
LaGrotta said, "I guess I didn't go to enough spaghetti dinners on state time or go door to door in the last seven weeks on state time. I've never taken a political contributions from anybody who works for me."
Madonna believes that other incumbents will look at LaGrotta's defeat and the others who lost on Tuesday and learn a lesson.
Nothing for granted
In the 50th state senatorial district, which includes Mercer, Crawford and Lawrence counties, incumbent Bob Robbins says he's taking nothing for granted.
Robbins, a state senator for 16 years and a state representative for eight years, was unopposed in the primary, but has a challenger in the general election.
"We'll put together a good campaign based on my record of results," he said.
His opponent, Democrat Art Allen, much like Gibbons, has no political experience and has been running on a reform platform.
"We need accountability in Harrisburg," he said. Allen said he advocates an already proposed piece of legislation that would require a three-day cooling off period before lawmakers could vote on any newly proposed laws, a direct response to the midnight-pay raise.
Madonna believes that type of talk could put Robbins' seat in jeopardy.
"He's not going to beat Robbins with your typical issues like raising the minimum wage. He's going to beat Robbins by characterizing him as a Harrisburg 'fat cat,'" Madonna said.
cioffi@vindy.com