Catching Up: An Interview with Joe Hoeffel

Regular readers will have noticed that I think well of Joe Hoeffel. I wondered what he has been doing lately and thought you might also. He graciously agreed to answer a few email questions.

How are you and what have you been doing lately? Are you lawyering full time? Do you enjoy that?

I am doing fine and enjoying the spring weather. I am doing both legal and consulting work at the law firm Kohn, Swift & Graf. I am enjoying the work and think highly of my colleagues at the firm, but haven't lost my interest in politics and public policy.

Are you concerned about the integrity of electoral ballots in Pennsylvania? I keep reading about voting machines and falsified absentee ballots, etc. What can we as voters do to ensure that our votes count?

I am worried about the integrity of the ballot. It is important that we not only upgrade our voting technology but also provide a paper trail to aid in recounts and to reassure individuals about the accuracy and security of their vote. I don't share all the conspiracy theories we are hearing about pre-programmed machines and hacked-up software, but we need to keep the public pressure on county election boards to verify the accuracy and fairness of their systems. Those meetings are public and need to be attended by the public.

It is very discouraging to read that judicial decisions on such things as petition challenges and challenges to candidate financial disclosure forms don’t follow legal precedent. What can be done about this as well?

There does seem to be some subjectivity in the way judges handle petition and disclosure challenges. Usually, judges seem to favor granting access to the ballot so that the voters can decide on the candidates, and so the courts overlook minor and technical discrepancies in the qualifying paperwork, and I agree with that approach. Now, outright fraud and forgery on nominating petitions is another matter, and maybe it would stop if a few of those forgeries resulted in jail time. Again, public attention and attendance at public meetings is a terrific disinfectant.

What strategy would you recommend for those of us who would like to see a different junior senator sworn in next January?

Unity. All progressives, liberals and moderates (in both parties) need to rally behind Bob Casey after the primary. The primary itself is fine and not the problem - it is healthy for Democrats to have a debate and Pennachio and Sandals are raising good issues and waging vigorous campaigns. But they don't have the financial resources or name recognition to effectively challenge Casey or Santorum - that is not their fault, it is just the way it is in modern politics. But the problem of disunity will occur after the primary if the defeated candidates or their supporters act as if they got screwed or the party got hosed or liberals got disrespected or life is unfair. Actually, life often IS unfair, and Pennsylvanians will get no help from their junior senator to deal with that unfairness as long as their junior senator is Rick Santorum. So, we need to be unified in our determination to defeat Santorum.

You’ve been giving a lot of speeches and talking to a lot of groups lately. Do you ever get tired of that and just want to take up gardening or go fishing or something?

You forgot golf! Please don't leave golf off the list. I like doing all those things and do them as often as I can. But I still have the bug for public service, and I am glad I do.

Philadelphia is a Democratic city. The number of registered Democrats in Montgomery and Bucks Counties are growing. Yet even when officials are from the same party there is dissension. Why don’t we have better regional coordination on matters like mass transit and development?

Tip O'Neill was right - all politics is local. So, local concerns frequently trump party loyalty or the big regional picture. But don't just blame the local politicians, since a lot of times the voters want and reward that kind of parochial thinking. We all need to understand better that we are involved in a regional competition with the rest of the state and the country, and against other countries, for jobs, public and private investment and cultural amenities. We need to reject the politicians that try to divide the region, or demonize and marginalize their opponents, for their own benefit. In the greater Philadelphia region the biggest, most powerful politician is always the Mayor of Philadelphia, and I have never seen the kind of sustained, energetic outreach from a Philly mayor that is needed to kick start serious regional cooperation on anything. Of course, the elected suburban Republicans are usually too busy trashing the city and its residents to even hear a message of regionalism from the mayor or anyone else. But one of the delicious ironies of the outrageous and hyper-partisan GOP redistricting of 2002 is that several state legislative and congressional seats now cross the city-suburban boundary in a big way - and all are currently held by Democrats. So there.

You have served both in the state and federal house, what do you think would be the best kind of ethics reform in each setting?

No gifts of any kind or amount from lobbyists. No trips from lobbyists and no privately financed travel. Taxpayers should pay for all travel (which can be very educational and broadening), and the pols can buy their own meals.

Do we need to repair international relations and if so, how should the country go about it?

Yes, we badly need to repair our relations with the rest of the world. How? Replace George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and Condi Rice with people who understand that our unilateral foreign policies and cowboy diplomacy have made us less safe, not more safe, and have created more terrorists than we have captured or killed. Acknowledge that we are stronger and safer when we act with our traditional allies, not against them, and when we promote and use international organizations, not trash them.

What was it that originally got you interested in running for office?

Opposition to the war in Vietnam and disgust with Richard Nixon. And a wonderful college professor who made me understand in her American Diplomatic History course that the way to influence American foreign policy is through domestic politics.

You’re not in office currently so you can tell us the truth – what about all those perks we read about? Do you get free movie tickets? Do lobbyists chase you down the halls of Congress trying to give you free trips to Cancun or other sunny places? What is the real influence of lobbyists on government? Are there good and bad aspects?

Never got a free movie ticket. Would have enjoyed that. Never got a free golf trip. Would have really enjoyed that. Once got two freebies to The Flying Dutchman at the opera. Did not enjoy that. As a young state legislator, I used to allow Harrisburg lobbyists to buy me dinner at first, but I stopped that because we always had to talk about their pet issues and it was boring. It was much more fun and relaxing to grab a burger and a beer with my colleagues, on our own dimes. Followed the same policy in D.C. I did turn down a lot of nice trips while in Congress, and was careful to accept only those private trips I could really justify to my constituents as to the host, the purpose and the place. So I accepted trips from AIPAC to Israel, the Sierra Club to ANWR in Alaska, and the Kennedy School of Harvard to two health care conferences. Frankly, all such private travel should be banned, no matter how worthy. If a trip has real merit, the taxpayers should pay and the Congressman should be ready to explain why the trip was beneficial. Actually, the appearance of these trips is much worse than the reality, but appearances count and Congress needs to clean up its act. Then it needs to clean up campaign financing.

On your website Joe Hoeffel and Friends you endorsed some local candidates. At speaking engagements you seem to give some candidates a seal of approval. How do you make those decisions?

I endorse candidates if they are progressive and if I like them.

In the bargain between elected officials and voters, what are the responsibilities of each?

Great question with a simple answer. Voters must stay informed, and officials must stay honest.

What do you see as the top three priorities for the state of Pennsylvania? How should those tasks be divided up among levels of government, other organizations, and the citizenry?

Economic development, improved public schools, health care for all.

Obviously, all the actors and stakeholders must be involved in all three of those challenges. State and local governments must take the lead in investing in job creation and revitalization, but the private sector actually creates the jobs. So the public subsidies, tax breaks and infrastructure improvements that can spur such development must be tied to enforceable commitments with the private companies to create certain numbers of jobs with family-supporting wages and benefits. If the private companies break the deal, the government should get its money back.

Public schools need more federal and state money for remedial programs. We should all support high standards and frequent testing on those standards, but only if we also add funding for remedial programs to help the individual students who don't measure up to the standards.

Health care reform needs everyone's attention. Medicare has 3% overhead. Canada's single payer system has 3% overhead. U.S. healthcare overall has 25% overhead. That is the problem that must be fixed - spending one quarter of every health care dollar on administration, duplication, overhead, unnecessary paperwork and insurance company profits. The healthcare reforms in Massachusetts will get almost everyone in the state covered, which is terrific, but it won't fix the inefficiencies that plague American health care. We need Medicare For All.

I posted a blog entry that quoted from a 1984 Inquirer article saying you had shared an apartmentt with another legislator [David Sweet] that didn’t have a phone. Is that a true story? Weren’t there per diems in those days? (Source: Eshelman, Russell E., Jr., "When House is No Longer Home," Philadelphia InquirerDec. 20, 1984.)

True story. David Sweet and I shared an apartment with two bedrooms, two baths and no phone. Our per diems then were $44. I spent mine on one half of the apartment rent and all those burgers and beers.

Another earlier article I found, from 1982 has this sentence: “For if there is one thing that everyone says about Joe Hoeffel – and they usually say it right away, without prompting – it’s that he is a nice guy who speaks well and works hard.” It is something people still say about you. Having spent so many years in politics, how have you maintained those qualities? [My theory is that it is because you have lost a few elections.] (Source: Von Bergen, Jane M., "He's the Exception to GOP Rule," Philadelphia Inquirer Nov. 11, 1982.)

Yeah, you are probably correct. Every time I lose I get nicer. I am getting entirely too nice. That's gotta change.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

I have probably said enough.