Will the people of Harrisburg ever see justice done?
Last month, a group of panelists convened at Midtown Scholar Bookstore to discuss the issue, with their answers widely ranging from “doubtful” to “highly likely.”
At the Harrisburg Hope forum, Neil Grover, founder of the taxpayer group Debt Watch Harrisburg, said he is encouraged after last month’s state Senate committee hearing on the city’s incinerator fiasco.
“We’re moving towards justice on a lot of parallel tracks,” said Grover. “I sat through that whole hearing, and I am optimistic about what I heard, partly because there were two very different stories, and they are compelled to go forward and find out who’s telling the truth.”
Tara Leo Auchey, editor of Today’s the Day Harrisburg, agreed that recent events are reason for optimism.
“The Senate Local Government Committee hearings have me very encouraged,” she said. “As Neil said, we’re starting to hear public contradictions.”
Nearly 200 people packed Midtown Scholar to hear from the panel, which included Bishop A.E. Sullivan Jr., the president of Harrisburg’s Interdenominational Ministers Conference, firefighter union leader Eric Jenkins and mayoral spokesman Robert Philbin.
Of the group, Jenkins was arguably the most pessimistic.
He said that the receiver’s office has barely communicated with his union since March, which is troubling as re-negotiation of union contracts is a key element of Harrisburg’s financial recovery plan.
In addition, he is suspicious of the state’s role in driving the recovery process, as it played a key part in allowing Harrisburg to amass such a large debt level to begin with.
“I find it difficult to believe that justice will be achieved when the people who are conducting the task and responsibility of getting justice are the very same people who are culpable for the problem to begin with,” he said.
If nothing else, the forum has showed how far the issue of “justice” has advanced recently.
A year ago, few thought that anyone connected with the incinerator disaster ever would have to answer for their actions.
But, in January, the Harrisburg Authority set the stage for a discussion of responsibility with the release of its forensic audit, a damning analysis of how the incinerator was upgraded and financed.
Both City Council and former receiver David Unkovic then sent letters asking for federal and state investigations and, last month, the state Senate began hearings on the matter.
Grover applied some historical context to Harrisburg’s problems, saying that public malfeasance and corruption date back practically to the founding of the city.
“The cloud over Harrisburg and honesty has been here for a long time,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to alter that culture.”
In addition, Grover said that the Reed administration constantly wanted to spend more money than the city took in. Therefore, it took irresponsible actions to plug recurrent budget gaps such as diverting utility and bond fees to the general fund.
“Harrisburg was living beyond its means for 30 years,” he said.
Philbin also expressed optimism that, in the long run, Harrisburg would see some type of justice, whether that will take the form of creditor concessions, restitution, or criminal indictments.
In the shorter run, he said that the financial recovery plan, which currently is being implemented, is the first step towards getting the city healthy again.
“At some point down the road, there may be penalties, fines, etc., but we’re talking about a multi-year process to get to that point,” he said. “In the meantime, I think it’s great that we have this [recovery plan] process in place.”
Both Grover and Auchey said they held out hope that those responsible eventually may be forced to make financial restitution to the city or may even see jail time. They further agreed that “justice” most likely would take the form of concessions from creditors–either via negotiations or as part of a bankruptcy process.
“Concessions from creditors are going to happen either voluntarily or by force only because, if you step back and look at the overall picture, there’s not enough money to pay them” said Grover. “There’s just not enough money to put on the table to pay them everything they demand, and you couldn’t tax your way out of this if you tried.”
Auchey added that she hopes for yet another form of justice for Harrisburg–political justice.
“I also have a little “j” justice in my mind in terms of the justice as citizens of this city feeling that we have leadership that we can count on,” she said. “That we feel that we have people in place who will have our best interest in mind–and not just power for power’s sake.”
