Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

Burg Blog: One Down

Tuesday’s debate shook awake a rather sleepy mayoral campaign in Harrisburg, one that, until then, was marked by little more than Facebook posts and midnight runs along N. 3rd Street to plant signs.

It was the end of the “phony campaign” (to use a war analogy), when, with great anticipation, the sides stare each other down but little happens face to face.

For the first time, in an awkwardly laid-out room at HACC’s Midtown II building, all five candidates were present, sitting close to one another, to answer a barrage of questions from CBS21’s John Hanrahan and PennLive’s John Micek and Christine Vendel.

So, what did we learn?

From a superficial standpoint, we didn’t learn much that we hadn’t already read from the candidates’ websites and social media posts: Lewis Butts has never met a development gimmick he doesn’t like; Jennie Jenkins thinks she can sweet talk SP+ into turning the parking system back over to the city; and all the challengers think the city could be safer and cleaner.

But, on a deeper level, there was more to learn.

First of all, the debate exposed something that had been simmering beneath the surface for months—that the old, Reed-era Harrisburg establishment has coalesced behind challenger Gloria Martin-Roberts.

During the debate, Martin-Roberts was asked, for instance, about former Mayor Linda Thompson, a long-time ally who circulated a nominating petition for her. In responding, Martin-Roberts defended Thompson’s tenure, saying “she did quite well” despite “some hiccups with personality,” which may be the most generous analysis of Thompson’s term I’ve heard.

Martin-Roberts also was asked about James Ellison, who is serving as her campaign treasurer. Ellison has been a fixture around Harrisburg for about 20 years, serving as counsel and chairman of the Harrisburg Authority, as counsel to the Harrisburg school district and as a top campaign aide to Thompson.

In one of his most noted actions, Ellison voted to approve the final bond issue to retrofit the Harrisburg incinerator, doubling the facility’s debt load, an action also supported by Martin-Roberts as a councilwoman. He also advised the school district’s board of control that it legally could fire former Superintendent Gerald Kohn, though 16 months remained on Kohn’s contract, a measure driven by Thompson and supported by Martin-Roberts. Kohn eventually won a $1.2 million settlement for wrongful termination.

But it’s not just Ellison. City Treasurer Dan Miller, who served on City Council during that same period, also supports Martin-Roberts. And, just recently, it was revealed that Reed himself sent out an email encouraging a friend to donate to the Martin-Roberts campaign.

Papenfuse mentioned some of this during the debate, as he feels that Harrisburg’s old guard wants back in power, a group he’s battled for years. For her part, Martin-Roberts said that neither Thompson nor Ellison would serve in her administration. That said, Martin-Roberts certainly is not distancing herself from Harrisburg’s recent, troubled past, an interesting decision that voters will have to weigh seriously.

Secondly, voters got to look at several of the challengers for the first time. I generally wasn’t impressed by their performances, though I’d say Jenkins presented better than Anthony Harrell or Lewis Butts. Jenkins had a few rough patches, but probably did well enough to continue the momentum she’s built up over the past few months.

Without question, Jenkins has run the most visible and energetic campaign among the mayoral hopefuls. While I don’t always agree with her tactics, I can’t deny that she’s run a solid campaign, beginning early and continuing over months with consistent effort. I doubt this will be enough for her to win, though it may be sufficient to play the role of spoiler.

Conventional wisdom has it that Jenkins will take more of the vote away from Martin-Roberts than Papenfuse. I don’t disagree with that, but it remains to be seen just how much support she’ll earn citywide and, thus, how many votes she’ll grab from her fellow challengers.

Because of this, I thought we’d see Martin-Roberts go after Jenkins more directly. I’ve been told that that’s not her style, though I’ve seen her, as a councilwoman, be plenty tough.

With the first debate behind us, we move on. Next is the HYP debate at the Hilton Harrisburg on Tuesday, and I’ll be on the reporter panel for that. It will be interesting to see if the gloves come off, if the candidates decide to shift what they say and to whom they direct their fire.

Author: Lawrance Binda

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