Pennsylvania's Worst Politicians

King George III was “a Tyrant... unfit to be the ruler of a free people,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence exactly 238 years ago this week.

Tommy had it right.

Ever since then, Americans have been calling out their leaders. “Tyrant” was just the start. We’ve moved on to crook (Nixon), liar (Clinton), and moron (Dubya).

Whether or not you agree with the peanut gallery, there’s no denying that such written assaults on public honchos are as American as baseball, apple pie, and the iPhone.

So on this Independence Day, those closest to American politics — 50 writers and editors of the alternative press from across the land — have combined their collective genius. They’ve named 53 of the nation’s worst elected leaders from 23 of the largest states and the District of Columbia, then separated them into five categories: hatemongers, sleazeballs, blowhards, users and boozers, and horn dogs.

Asked to pick Pennsylvania's reps for this hall of shame, Philadelphia City Paper chose state Sen. LeAnna Washington and state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe. 

Across the country, the roll call includes more than just the usual Washington beltway losers. Try Colorado sheriff Terry Maketa, who allegedly had sex with not one, not two, but three underlings and then lied about it. Or check out Idaho Senate GOP leader John McGee, who stole and crashed an SUV, admitted to drinking too much, and went to jail. Upon returning to the statehouse, he was accused of groping a female staffer.

Want a little old-school corruption? Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, who will be up for re-election soon, founded a health-care empire that was whacked with the largest Medicare fraud fine in U.S. history: $1.7 billion for stealing from the feds. There’s also Washington, D.C. council member Michael Brown, who once accepted $200,000 to stay out of an election and was later indicted after grabbing at a cash-stuffed duffel bag offered by an undercover FBI agent.

Of course, there are big names here too. South Carolina’s “Luv Guv” Mark Sanford made the list. So did Texas’ Green Eggs and Ham filibusterer Ted Cruz and Minnesota loon Michele Bachmann. Even pol wannabe Donald Trump snuck in a side door.

So before you head out for the fireworks or swig some American brew, consider this hall of shame. Here is the complete list.

— Chuck Strouse, Miami New Times, editor-in-chief

  

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania State Senator LeAnna Washington

LeAnna Washington, 68, was not one to let her July birthday go by without a big bash that doubled as a campaign fundraiser. Problem is, she used her state office staff to plan and promote her elaborate gala, according to a grand jury report released this past March. In fact, some of her staffers allege they spent the weeks and months leading up to the party concentrating entirely on the celebration.

Those who objected say they saw their salaries cut or were shown the door. When a former aide challenged the senator, telling her it was illegal to use her state office staff this way, she allegedly blew up at him: “I am the f---ing senator, I do what the f--- I want, and ain’t nobody going to change me,” she told him, according to the grand jury report. “I have been doing it like this for 17 years. So stop trying to change me.”

The Democratic senator is accused of spending between $30,000 and $100,000 in state taxpayer funds on her annual gala fundraiser and now faces felony charges of conflict of interest and theft of services. Voters in the Democratic primary in May told Washington she could no longer have her cake and eat it too. She lost her bid for nomination to another term of the senate seat she has held since 2005. — Lil Swanson, Philadelphia City Paper

Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe

State Representative Daryl Metcalfe likes to walk softly and carry a big flamethrower. Whether it’s gay rights, immigration reform — which he has called “illegal alien invasion” — or requiring voter ID cards, you can count on the eight-term Republican from western Pennsylvania to unleash a double dose of inflammatory rhetoric.

As chairman of the powerful House State Government Committee, Metcalfe authored a controversial voter ID law and then drew fire when he went on a Pittsburgh radio station to complain about people who were too “lazy” to apply for the ID card. Then, when newbie state Representative Brian Sims, the first openly gay lawmaker in Harrisburg, tried to speak on the house floor last June in support of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, Metcalfe relied on his direct connection to the Divine to deny Sims the right to speak. Metcalfe said Sims’ intended remarks were “in open rebellion against God’s law.”

The far-right conservative took the limelight in Harrisburg in 2001 when he introduced a resolution asking the federal government to fund and deploy a national defense missile system. No one could figure out why state lawmakers should be debating the issue, but the measure passed anyway. His latest crusade, launched in June, was to call on Governor Tom Corbett to appeal a federal court decision that struck down the ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. He is consistent, at least, and he sees himself as being ahead of the curve. As Metcalfe, 51, told the liberal news website Talking Points Memo: “I was a Tea Partier before it was cool.” — Lil Swanson, Philadelphia City Paper