Why James Carville was wrong about Pennsylvania

Every time I hear the quote it makes my skin crawl: Pennsylvania is Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle. Political consultant James Carville said some version of this quip while working on Bob Casey, Sr.'s gubernatorial campaign in 1986. Today I hear it from advocates, including my own colleagues, on a nearly constant basis. It's usually said by people from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and is meant as a slam on those of us from the rest of the state.

There are all kinds of threads to pull apart with this quote, starting with the idea that being "Alabama" is a slam. (Carville claims that he only meant that in central and northern PA, people are conservative and churchgoers.)

The meaning that has been projected onto this line, that Pennsylvanians not from Philly or Pittsburgh are bumpkins who take positions on issues based on visceral reactions and fears, is wrong. And it's time for civil rights advocates and civil libertarians to retire the quote.

Carville was not talking about civil liberties, but let's consider the quote from a civil liberties perspective and why it doesn't work.

Philly ain't that great. The city of Philadelphia is responsible for many civil liberties problems. Example A just occurred a few weeks ago when a 17-year-old boy was hit with a Taser by a Philadelphia police officer after the boy ran onto the field at a Phillies game. The kid did something dumb, but he was not a physical threat to anyone. Philadelphia PD is notorious for using excessive force, and this was just another example.

The city has also cost the taxpayers of this commonwealth millions, maybe hundreds of millions, of dollars because the former, long-time district attorney, Lynne Abraham, insisted on pursuing the death penalty in nearly every homicide case she presided over during her 18-year reign as DA. As a result, a majority of people on death row are from Philadelphia.

The people of Philadelphia elected and re-elected Abraham four times.

Philadelphia is also now participating in the federal government's Secure Communities program. You know, we have to "secure our communities" from those robbing, raping, thieving illegal aliens. The city police department's arrest database is linked to ICE. It sounds good in theory, but there is a horrendous track record of racial profiling and harassment when local law enforcement and ICE work together.

Civil liberties belong to all of us. Our national executive director, Anthony Romero, once said that civil liberties don't belong to only the liberal wing of the Democratic Party or the conservative wing of the Republican Party. We have numerous examples of state legislators from areas of the state outside of Philly and Pittsburgh standing up for our rights. Four of the eight senators who voted to table the constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage in March were from areas other than the southeast and southwest. Our greatest champions in opposition to the commonwealth implementing Real ID have been from the "Alabama" area of the state. The list goes on.

The quote disempowers people. When my fellow advocates throw this quip around, the message to those of us in the middle of the state is, Give up. Before becoming legislative director, I was ACLU-PA's community organizer for central PA. It was clear that supporters of the ACLU's mission in this area of the state felt frustrated and had no faith in their fellow citizens. By quoting Carville, we advocates add to that disempowerment.

Carville was wrong about Pennsylvania. We are a striped state where no political ideology dominates. As civil libertarians, we must be willing to talk about our issues wherever the people are, and talk with them in their language, and not simply huddle in the big cities.

(I also recommend this piece from Politico, which quotes numerous PA political observers on the inaccuracy of the line.)

Andy in Harrisburg

The failed- and fatal- war on drugs

If you have anything resembling a heart, you can't help but be moved by the death of Philadelphia police officer Sgt. Timothy Simpson. Regardless of how I feel about their lobbying efforts at the state legislature and the tactics of some officers, we all recognize the tragedy that has befallen the city with five officers killed in the line of duty in the last 13 months.

And as a parent, I always well up a bit when some tragedy befalls a family. Sgt. Simpson leaves behind three kids, two in high school and one in the fifth grade.

Sgt. Simpson died last Monday, November 17, when his cruiser was hit by a fleeing suspect. This article from last week lays out the history of the suspect, William Allan Foster.

As I read this article, I couldn't help but think of what an utter failure the war on drugs is. For more than 20 years, Mr. Foster has been in and out of prison for drug and drug-related offenses.

According to court records, Foster had been prosecuted for more than two dozen crimes in Bucks County alone. Most, officials said, were property crimes - burglaries or thefts of tools or merchandise that he could fence for heroin money.

On the fateful day when he hit Sgt. Simpson's cruiser, Foster was fleeing apprehension after a drug buy. He had $30 worth of heroin in his vehicle.

I don't know if anyone ever reached out to Foster to help him or if he ever made efforts to get clean. Maybe he did and failed. What's clear, though, is that our punitive approach to drug use is nothing short of tragic. Our prisons and jails are filled beyond their breaking point, and people are dying because our political leaders fail to approach this with clarity and maturity.

Our communities can't afford the war on drugs. Our state corrections department and county prisons can't handle the results of the war on drugs. And we don't want any more dead police officers, fallen by desperate users looking for that next high.

It's time to end this failed policy.

For more information about the ACLU's drug law reform positions, visit www.aclu.org/drugpolicy.

Andy in Harrisburg

Philadelphia is not a Constitution-free zone (oh, the irony)

This post has been on my mind for a while: My first thought after seeing the Philadelphia police beating (link includes video) a few weeks ago was, 'These are the people that some city officials want to give more power.'

Now comes the latest news. Two Philadelphia police officers are wanted on criminal charges that they beat a man after catching him in the act of spray painting the side of a building. The man spent five days in the hospital with a broken jaw and other injuries.

The reaction from the FOP was predictable:

"This is a disgrace," McNesby said yesterday. "It can't get any worse... Instead of tracking murders in Philadelphia, we should be tracking the persecution of police officers. It's open season on police officers. Not only do we have to watch out for the criminals on the street, but we have to watch out for the people we work for."

Memo to Mr. McNesby: The city in which the Constitution was crafted and signed is not a Constitution-free zone. The police do not have a right to beat people at will.

We know that most police officers work hard and do their best to maintain proper law enforcement techniques. Those who violate the citizenry's civil rights need to be held accountable.

And last week our friends at Equality Advocates released data showing an increase in anti-LGBT hate crimes in 2007 with a noticeable spike in police misconduct complaints of mistreatment of LGBT persons, especially in Philadelphia.

Most notable in Pennsylvania is the spike in reports of police misconduct. Numbers for offenders in the law enforcement officer category increased from nine reported offenders in 2006 to 48 offenders in 2007. Coupled with this information is an increase in bias incidents occurring in police precincts, jails and police vehicles. Additionally, incidents where the victim reported unjust arrest increased from one in 2006 to eleven in 2007. Over half of the reported police misconduct incidents occurred in Philadelphia.

"Equality Advocates is greatly concerned by the spike in police misconduct incidents across the state," said Jesse White, Legal Clinic Manager/Hate Crimes Victim Advocate for Equality Advocates Pennsylvania. "We are especially concerned regarding the statistics in Philadelphia. We hope that the current administration will look closely at these statistics and will work with the community to address these issues."

It's not all bad news. There are early indications that an increased police presence in southwest Philly is aiding in a drop in crime numbers. The ACLU has long advocated for community policing. When our last legislative director left, he gave me an op-ed he wrote on the issue from 1995. For community policing to be effective, officers need to walk the streets and become a part of the fabric of the community. It's not clear yet if that is happening.

(Neighborhood resident Karl Kelly), too, noticed more police cruisers, he said. But he's unimpressed with the heightened police presence, he said. It would help the community more, he said, if cops were visible - outside their police cruisers.

"Everybody got back in their cars," he said, referring to 12th District police officers, who he said used to patrol his neighborhood on foot.

This will be an ongoing story and a long-term process.

Andy in Harrisburg