To help child abuse survivors, Speaker Rozzi must play politics well

I’m done telling politicians, “Don’t play politics.” It clearly confuses them. Take Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi. No, literally, please take him back to the state Capitol and show him where the House is. On the way there, remind him he’s the speaker of it, and not some modern-day Moses commissioned to endlessly bang around Pennsylvania on a listening tour.

It’s not “don’t play politics,” but “play politics well” — as in, to win. Thanks to our checks and balances system that stymies tyranny, winning in politics is different from “winner takes all.” In politics, achieving victory by enacting your priorities into law requires uniting various factions to stand with you. That means you win your issue by advancing some of theirs.

Success in governing requires working with others on the issues they care about, too.

But Rozzi doesn’t seem to want to do that. Here’s a guy who could become the most powerful person in Pennsylvania. Instead, he made a deal with Republicans to secure the speakership, then upended it by not following through on the promise he made to become an independent and no longer caucus with Democrats. Rozzi has also failed to pass any rules to allow the House to operate (which is required for each new legislative session to commence), and left the House at a standstill to launch a listening tour.

If Rozzi was listening to voters, he’d recognize he will be overseeing a House where the majority party (probably Democrats once the special elections are done) will only be holding power by a razor-thin margin. And in the state Senate, Republicans are in control.

This should inform Rozzi that voters don’t want a progressive agenda; they want a sensible one.

Rozzi has that sensible agenda right in front of him, with a slate of proposed ballot measures that enjoy bipartisan support in the legislature and overwhelming favorability with voters.

The compromise package includes Rozzi’s own amendment that would change the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. It also includes two amendments on voter ID and regulatory reform, both of which have been progressing through the ballot process with bipartisan support for years, first passing both legislative chambers in December 2021. The Senate, just this month, has again passed them in the form of Senate Bill 1. Final passage by the House is now the only thing standing in the way of Pennsylvanians being able to directly vote yes or no on each of these three individual measures.

The problem isn’t with the House rank-and-file Democrats or Republicans, it’s with Rozzi himself. He’s so far refusing to compromise with the Republicans. He also hasn’t followed through on his promise to become an independent.

Should he remain a Democrat, Rozzi will have seriously undermined the standing of the House Republican leadership who put him in power in the first place. If the rank and file are mad enough — and boy are they — Republicans could derail Rozzi from passing a successful bipartisan agenda.

What Rozzi must learn is that playing politics well means there is a crucial difference between gaining power and maintaining it.

If Rozzi heads back to the Capitol and allows these three amendments to appear on the ballot, I and millions of others will gladly vote in favor of his measure for expanding the statute of limitations of childhood sexual assault. Voter ID and regulatory reform are popular with voters in both parties, according to polling by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Also, voter ID is the Republican holy grail right now. By passing it along with the others, Rozzi can mollify the rank-and-file Republicans, thus making them more likely to keep in power the GOP House leadership that made him speaker. He can claim victory on his constitutional amendment as a moral and just cause. And he can use his new leverage with the right to start passing Democratic priorities.

I believe that Rozzi has a sincere heart to help adults who were abused as children. Imagine how many more vulnerable people he could champion if he would just work with Republicans.

It’s Rozzi’s game to lose. Here’s hoping he plays politics well.