The Good, the Bad and the City: The Harrisburg mayor’s race has said much about the candidates–and a little about us.

By this point, the Harrisburg mayoral election has been analyzed, categorized, sliced, diced, sifted and puréed.

The campaign often has reflected people’s own inclinations and purposes. It became like a Rorschach test, perhaps saying more about the observer than the observed.

I’m not immune from filtering the campaign through my own priorities—what I believe Harrisburg needs in terms of policy and leadership. In this spirit, I’d like to share what I perceive to be three significant strengths and weaknesses of the campaigns and candidacies. I hope these points provide some meaningful information to voters before the election or, following it, offer residents insight into how the next mayor of Harrisburg will govern.

Dan Miller, Republican candidate

Strengths

1. Service delivery: Miller believes that the delivery of basic services is the primary function of municipal government. In my opinion, this message was the strongest part of Miller’s campaign. “It’s really about the city government doing its basic functions,” he said during one debate. “Let’s fix the potholes, let’s get the lights on, let’s clean the streets, let’s make Harrisburg a place where people want to live.” Amen.
2. Management focus: Related to the previous point, Miller emphasized the need to attract competent people into city government. He rightly criticized the Thompson administration for losing so many good, experienced employees who chafed at her management style. During one debate, he said, “We need competent people in city government. That’s the number one priority for a Dan Miller administration.” Amen again.
3. Financial experience: During the campaign, Miller often said that the city needs a financial expert during these trying times. Conversely, his critics said that his knowledge of accounting had little in common with the complex financial issues facing the city. I conditionally agree with Miller’s view. His financial background both as an accountant and as city controller represents a considerable strength, but, in the end, only if used wisely.

Weaknesses

1. Harrisburg Strong: Long an advocate for municipal bankruptcy, Miller repeatedly condemned the Harrisburg Strong financial recovery plan in strong language because, he said, the numbers don’t add up, it relies on shaky assumptions, it’s a tool for Wall Street, it won’t lead to a balanced budget, it rips off the poor, and it generally dooms Harrisburg to a miserable future. But he later said, as mayor, he’d work to implement it anyway. He also distanced himself from his own, 3-year-old recovery plan after daring the audience at the first mayoral debate to go read it. I find Miller’s position on the city’s most pressing priority to be very confusing.
2.  Accountability: I put great stock in people being responsible and accountable for their actions. Back in August, I criticized Miller after he released a two-page statement blaming other people for his loss in the Democratic primary (basically, Papenfuse and his campaign contributors). Not only did I find it odd that Miller blamed his opponent for his electoral defeat, but he and Papenfuse actually raised about the same amount of money from outside sources, albeit in different ways. In my opinion, Miller lost the primary largely because he was out-planned and out-campaigned.
3. It gets personal: In his public life, Miller has sometimes shown a thin skin. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Miller’s legitimate policy differences with Mayor Linda Thompson, who also personalizes issues, quickly turned into a bitter feud. The people of Harrisburg were the ones who suffered from the inability of the city’s mayor and controller to get along.

Eric Papenfuse, Democratic candidate

Strengths

1. Harrisburg Strong: Papenfuse’s position in favor of the Harrisburg Strong recovery plan has been clear, consistent and forceful. There is no guarantee that the Strong plan, in its complexity, will deliver everything it promises. However, I believe that it is better than other options and is far superior to bankruptcy. To help ensure success, the plan requires a leader who will embrace it fully, working every day, with conviction, with the receiver, the county, City Council and others, to implement it.
2. Positive focus: Papenfuse ran a community-oriented campaign that was relentlessly positive. He offered an optimistic, can-do future for a city so beaten down by cynicism and negativity. That said—Papenfuse is no Pollyanna. If things aren’t going well, he can be a stern critic. He also doesn’t hesitate to go on the offensive when he feels he needs to, as was witnessed several times during the mayoral debates.
3. Rock-solid campaign: Both in the primary and general election, Papenfuse set an ambitious plan for his campaign and, each day, took one step forward to implement it. That’s no small achievement, as political campaigns are long, arduous and complex, requiring meticulous planning, hard work and successful execution. Harrisburg could benefit substantially from someone who knows how to set goals then methodically move forward to achieve them.

Weaknesses

1. Too much vision? At one moment, Papenfuse can be deeply pragmatic, the next something of an idealist. It’s the latter quality that concerns me, as I see the mayor of Harrisburg as primarily an administrator who must corral his staff to deliver basic services to the people who are paying for them. In my view, loftier goals should be set aside until the city can do the fundamental things right.  
2. Expansive agenda: During debates, Papenfuse said he wants to “sell Harrisburg to the world.” He also wants to recruit businesses, convince people to buy houses, reform education, investigate past wrongs, lead neighborhood visioning sessions and much more, in addition to fundamentally reforming the broken government. Papenfuse needs to whittle down his list to a core group of goals focused on the delivery of services. If the city is well run—and can achieve reasonably safe, attractive streets—the world will want to live and work here without needing to be sold on the idea.
3. Lack of government experience: During the campaign, Papenfuse tried to compensate for his scant experience in government by emphasizing how he built an entire business—Midtown Scholar Bookstore—from scratch. He makes a fair point, as building a successful business requires a multitude of skills. That said—government is its own beast, and this city’s bureaucracy is particularly dysfunctional. Therefore, if elected, Papenfuse will face a steep learning curve and numerous challenges that some experience serving in city government may have eased.

I have one final observation about the mayoral campaign, which also reflects my wishes for this city.

During one debate, Miller, prompted by a panelist question, told a heartfelt story about first meeting Papenfuse and his wife Catherine, who, 15 years ago, were a young couple thinking of moving to Harrisburg. He saw them walking around his former neighborhood in Shipoke, invited them inside his house, told them what a wonderful city this was and encouraged them to move here.

They did.

Later on in the same debate, Papenfuse said he believed that he and Miller would be able to come together, restoring a decent relationship following a bitter campaign. Given the importance of these two men in our community, I share that hope.

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.