New Pa. House leader isn't the same ol', same ol'

THE NEW state House majority leader, one of the most powerful posts in Harrisburg, isn't exactly a carbon copy of leaders in Pennsylvania.

In fact, Dave Reed, of rural Indiana County, "Christmas Tree Capital of the World," seems an odd fit for leadership in a legislature known for sameness.

He was sworn in last week. He's far from the same ol', same ol'.

He's in the party of old men but, at 36, is the youngest GOP legislative leader in the state's modern history.

He started life in a trailer park, but holds an Ivy League master's degree from Penn's Fels Institute of Government.

He's a conservative who has pictures of JFK and RFK in his office.

And growing up poor in Homer City (population 1,680), about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh, led him to recently lead a statewide initiative, "Gateways Out of Poverty," to find what works and what doesn't in efforts to help the poor.

"It came from my own background," he said, "and from watching the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns spend $1 billion and never discuss the fact that 46 million Americans live in poverty."

When Reed was 8, his father lost his job as a TV repairman, and his mother went to work in a grocery store.

"I remember standing in line at a food bank at a local volunteer fire company."

When Reed was in high school, his father again lost a job, this time as a factory machinist, and Reed told his dad about qualifying for free school lunches.

"My father told me, 'As long as I have $1.25 in my pocket I'll pay for your lunch.' "

Now Reed, a father of three (ages 3, 4 and 6), heads the largest House GOP majority since the late 1950s, a majority he helped build as head of his party's campaign committee the last three election cycles.

So, a young, smart conservative familiar with hardship, savvy in politics, described as a non-ideological pragmatist. Could that (gasp!) mean change in Harrisburg?

Reed ascends in the wake of four years of little cooperation or accomplishment between and among the GOP House and Senate and Republican Gov. Corbett.

He faces a two-year session in which the Legislature is more Republican but must work with a Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, who takes office next week.

Challenges are large and Reed's position is critical.

There's a budget deficit estimated at $2 billion-plus; a growing public pension problem; a coming clash between GOP priorities, including liquor reform, and Wolf priorities, including taxing natural gas and spending for public schools.

Since all revenue bills by law originate in the House, Reed will be at the forefront of any fight over taxes.

In a far-ranging interview, he addressed questions with a noncommittal style that gives nothing away while somehow offering promise to those seeking better governance.

On House Speaker Mike Turzai, who wants to sell off the state stores: "We're good friends. He was at my wedding nine years ago. We don't always agree on policy but we'll work together and with the new governor."

On pensions: "Reform has to happen . . . everybody has an interest in a stable, secure retirement system that taxpayers can afford."

On a gas severance tax: "We should compare all state taxes to other states [with shale taxes] and determine the fairest way forward."

On Wolf, with whom he's already met: "He seems to be thoroughly down-to-earth with a businessman's approach to being governor."

On Philly: "I loved my time in the city [he lived in Penn's graduate towers at 36th and Chestnut] . . . everybody who grows up in a city should live in a rural community, and vice versa."

On MSNBC last spring calling him one of four Pennsylvania "rising stars" - others were U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, Montco Commissioner Josh Shapiro and Attorney General Kathleen Kane (again, this was last spring) - Reed demurred: "I'm just trying to make it through the two-year term as majority leader."

He's already served six two-year terms. When sworn in last week to his seventh he addressed lawmakers and spoke of a "grand opportunity to lead," not as Republicans or Democrats, not as from a big city or a small town, but together, allowing "common sense to be our guide to policymaking."

That, too, would be a departure from Pennsylvania's same ol', same ol'.

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