“Words can not properly convey how disenchanted I am with our Senator Arlen Specter.”

“It’s not too late to get in right now, but I wouldn’t wait too long.”

Conservative Republicans consider him a RINO – Republican in Name Only – They would like nothing better than if one of their own knocked him off in the Republican primary and took their anti-government, lower taxes, anti-abortion fight to the Democrats.

“I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The country cannot afford not to take action.”

“I feel very comfortable with what I have done. This is the biggest vote of my 28 years (in the U.S. Senate).

“Don’t give me that wine-and-dine baloney, young lady!”

Things got off to a fast start for Montgomery County native Josh Shapiro in 2004 when he started his career in elective politics.

A former congressional chief of staff, he decided to go his own independent way when his boss, then U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat against veteran Republican Arlen Specter.

Shapiro had the opposite result. He too took on a veteran Republican, Jon Fox, who his boss had defeated for the congressional seat. Fox, the former congressman, county commissioner and state representative, was trying to restart his political career by returning to the state House as a Republican. But Shapiro out-raised, out hustled and outdistanced Fox to grab that first rung of his own political ladder. In his first term, often teaming with his colleague, Mike Gerber, a fellow Montgomery County freshman Democrat, he played key roles in recruiting other southeastern Pennsylvania Democrats to successfully challenge incumbent Republican House members. He and Gerber also raised substantial campaign money for the neophytes.

Josh Shapiro

In 2006, the Democrats won the pivotal 103rd House seat by a slim 25-vote margin in an election in Chester County.

The Democrats now had the majority but had a problem. The caucus had at least one public and two other defectors who would not vote for caucus leader, Bill DeWeese, to become speaker.

As Republicans savored retaining the speakership despite the election outcome, Shapiro hatched a plan over New Year’s weekend to recruit a friendly Republican, Dennis O’Brien of Northeast Philadelphia, as speaker retaining all 100 remaining Democrats and a handful to Republicans to elect O’Brien in a secretive last-hour ploy.

O’Brien named the second-term Shapiro to the newly-created post of deputy speaker and also empowered him to co-chair a commission to enact reforms in the staid House in the aftermath of the 2005 pay raise debacle.

With the speakership back in Democratic hands, with the election of veteran Keith McCall, Shapiro is again a rank-and-file member but he remains interested in reform. Two of his key legislative initiatives are banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving and getting the state’s two major pension funds to divest from companies doing business Iran, Sudan and any other nation harboring terrorists.

His quick, early rise in the caucus has fueled speculation he might grab for the next rung in his political ladder – a statewide election attempt for either lieutenant governor or U.S. Senate in 2010. The Insider interviewed Shapiro about that speculation, his career so far and his plans for this session.

Insider: For people who don’t know you, tell us a little about where you grew up, what your parents did and how you got into politics and government.

Shapiro: Sure. I grew up about five minutes from where I live now in Upper Dublin Township. It’s a part of my legislative district. My parents still live in the house that they raised me in; where they raised me and my brother and sister.

My dad is a physician. He’s the chief of Pediatrics at Abingdon Memorial Hospital, one of the two hospitals in my district, Holy Redeemer being the other. My mom was a public school teacher for awhile and then stayed home with us for a period of time and then went back and is a principal of a Jewish afternoon and weekend school.

And they really instilled in me from an early age that to whom much is given much is expected. And I got involved in all different kinds of advocacy efforts when I was younger. In fact, when I was 11, I started an international pen pal program, back when we actually wrote letters to one another instead of e-mail. Linking up young Jewish children around the world, Europe, Canada and America, with Jewish kids in the former Soviet Union, who were called “Refusniks.” They weren’t permitted to leave. This was a program that I think gave those children hope. We called it “Operation Hope.” Ultimately, a week before my bar mitzvah, a Jewish ritual at 13, we were able to impress upon the Soviet government to let my pen pal out and he came to Philadelphia to be with us on that important day.

Insider: Sort of like a Facebook for Jewish kids before there was a Facebook.

Shapiro: Exactly. That was really the beginning of me realizing that if you got involved in something, and kind of put your energy toward something, you could accomplish important things that helped people. And I guess then, over the course of my studies, that manifested itself in wanting to pick a career that where I could be in a position to help people, and my dad had an incredibly positive influence in my life, so I thought I’d be a doctor. That would be a great way to help people.

I went to the University of Rochester …did the premed program and I actually playing basketball there as well, on their basketball team. In one day at U of R, I nearly flunked out of a premed course, and my professor told me I might want to consider some other curriculum. And I got cut from the basketball team. And I remember coming back to my dorm that afternoon thinking, ‘Man, my life was over. My dreams were shattered,’ and that afternoon a friend of mine knocked on my dorm room door and asked me if I wanted to run for the student senate. I said, ‘why would I want to do that,’ and he goes, ‘well, we just need someone to run and you’ll win because no one is running against you.’ And I ran. I won and fell in love with it. The end of my freshman year, I ran and won for student body president.

Shortly after graduation, a few days after, I moved to D.C. to work on Capitol Hill for what I thought would be a year. That year turned into nearly nine years. And I went to law school at Georgetown at night while I was down in D.C. and for the latter five years of my time there was chief of staff to former Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Hoeffel.

And one day when I was in DC, walking Joe to the U.S. House floor, kind of whispering in his ear about an issue coming up on the floor that day, I realized I was tired of whispering and kind of wanted to get out and shout from the rooftops my opinion on things. I went home that night, talked to my wife, and we had a two-year-old at the time and I said, ‘I’m ready to move home and I want to run for office. I want to get involved in Pennsylvania politics,’ and she supported me every step of the way.

We kicked off my campaign in September of 2003. In 2004, I upset a former U.S. Congressman in a very Republican district (Jon Fox) and won a seat here in the House.

Insider: The big question now that people ask is, are you thinking of the running for something other than re-election in 2010? What are you thinking?

Shapiro: I suppose it’s fair to say that I’ve been approached by various people around the state who’ve offered their advice about running for higher office and that is very, very flattering and very humbling and I’m thinking about the different advice I’ve been given and the different thoughts people have shared with me. Ultimately, I think that to be successful in politics you have to have a desire to serve in a particular office. You have to be able to make an argument as to why you’re better than the other person, either the incumbent or the other challenger you’d be facing.

Also, you have to have the resources to do it, and then, most importantly, you have to have the right family dynamics to be able to run for higher office. And so, that‘s, I guess, the process I’m in right now: assessing all of that.

Insider: If you were to run for something, the two offices that have been mentioned are U.S. Senate and Lieutenant Governor.

Shapiro: I guess it’s fair to say those are the offices I’ve been approached about. Yes.

Insider: What are your thoughts? Because we’re roughly 15 months away from the primary and 20-something away from the general election.

Shapiro: Well, again, that is the process I’m going through right now. I think it would be sort of premature right now to offer any final conclusive comments or thoughts on that. I think it’s premature to say.

My plan right now is to continue to serve in Harrisburg and run for reelection to the State House. And as I said a moment ago, I’ve been approached on these other two positions and I’ll think about them.

Insider: Ok. You’ve never been shy about supporting a candidate like you came out for Obama when most other Democrats in Pennsylvania were for Clinton. Have you decided who you’ll support for governor?

Shapiro: No, I have very good relationships with Dan (Onorato), Don (Cunningham) and Tom Wolf, although Tom has dropped out. I don’t really know Tom Knox, but he seems like a nice gentleman. And I think right now I’m focused more on trying to assess where I want to be at the end of this process than who I’ll support. There will certainly be a time to decide who to support and I’ll make my feelings known about that.

Insider: You were the deputy speaker of the House of having helped Denny O’Brien into the speakership. How did that feel last session?

Shapiro: Well, it was a privilege to serve as deputy speaker for O’Brien, but it was a unique moment in time that called for this type of a position, because we had a Democratic majority and a Republican speaker. It was never my belief, or Denny’s belief, that position would go beyond his speakership. So, I never viewed it as something that would continue on if he wasn’t speaker.

I was privileged in that role to be able to push a strong reform agenda, of which we accomplished much. We have a lot left to do as it relates to cleaning up our state government. I was pleased to have a voice in the process; I still have a voice in the process on issues that I care a great deal about. I feel that people here in this chamber, this is not unique to Josh Shapiro, this is something that can be said about all 253 members, that one’s influence on an issue is not so much generated by a title one has but the view they have or the expertise they have or the drive they have to push a message or drive a message home. And I am not shy about pushing issues that I believe in, and that has not changed one iota between the last session and this session. There are still things that I care very deeply about that I’ll push in a very aggressive manner.

We should be continuing in our reform agenda, recognizing, of course, that the overarching issue that we face today is the economic crisis. That is what our constituents expect us to be focused on. And I am. But we can do more than one thing at a time. And reform should not cease. Reform should continue and I will continue to push important issues like campaign finance reform, like returning the surplus that the legislative body has amassed to the people of Pennsylvania. You know it’s my belief that a constitutional convention will be needed. We need to keep moving forward on reform.

Insider: What do you hope you’ll accomplish this term from the position that you’re in now?

Shapiro: There are several things. Number one, I want to continue to see the reform agenda forward. I want to pass things like campaign finance reform. I want to have tighter controls on our spending and in particular, see that legislative surplus reduced, to a bare minimum amount. I want to pursue the process to begin a constitutional convention. That’s on reform.

Number two, I want, as a member of the appropriations committee, to work with my colleagues to craft a budget that is lean, but not mean. That is responsive to the economic times we’re in and to the cuts we need to make, but is not going to unnecessarily hurt people. So I want to play a role in that as a member of the committee working with House Appropriations Chairman (Dwight) Evans and others.

I want to do something about health care. This is something I’ve spent a great deal of time working on, since my first days in the House. Number one, we should ensure that we stem this crisis in terms of a lack of practitioners in the next six or eight years. Thirty-two percent of our physicians practicing today are going to retire in the next eight years. At the same time, only seven percent of our physicians are under the age of 35. So we’ve got a veteran ball club and no farm team to take its place. And I’ve offered legislation, that’s passed in the House, that will offer loan forgiveness to primary care doctors and ob/gyns who agree to practice in Pennsylvania for 10 years. At the same time, I want to make it easier for small business and others who are self employed who offer health care insurance to their employees by allowing small businesses to pool their purchasing power and go out and buy health insurance at a reduced rates. I think that would be a component of our health care package.

And I want to continue to make higher education more affordable. Building on some of our accomplishments. I’ve worked with Republicans and Democrats to make contributions to the 529 college savings plan deductible passed. I’ve worked with the higher education institutions in Pennsylvania to make credits transfer seamlessly between institutions of higher education here in Pennsylvania. That’s now the law in Pennsylvania. I want to work to expand that and grow that beyond the initial 32 credits that we’ve been able to do. So, I want to continue to make higher education more affordable and more attainable to Pennsylvania families.

So health care, higher Ed, reform and obviously working on these budget challenges that we face.

Insider: What do you think of some of Gov. Rendell’s more controversial proposals such as video poker?

Shapiro: I need to study it a bit further. I think the idea of creating new revenue sources to fund higher education is a good one. I need to study a little bit more the social impact of legalized video poker, some of the criminal justice aspects of it. And I have an open mind and I’m going study the issue a little bit further before I offer a final view on that.

Insider: What do you think about the 1 percent sales tax for county government?

Shapiro: I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s something we should be doing at this time. Increasing the sales tax, whether at county level or at state level, will have a regressive impact on middle class and lower middle class families who at this time are struggling more than ever before. So it’s not a proposal that I favor. I respect the Governor for putting it forward, as an option.

Let me be clear because I don’t want that last comment to be taken out of context. I believe I don’t have the right as a responsible legislator to simply say no to everything, either. We have to come up with alternatives. So there are some in this body who just simply say no, no, no but never offer solutions. If I am going to say no to one of the Governor’s proposals that would generate revenue, I know that I have a responsibility as a lawmaker to come up with something on the other end to fund the important investments that we to make in Pennsylvania.

Insider: Traditionally, governors have relied upon legislators from southeastern Pennsylvania to supply the crucial votes needed for tax increases because voters in the southeast are not as punitive to legislators who vote for higher taxes as voters from the rest of Pennsylvania. So would you at all consider, if worse comes to worse, raising taxes?

Shapiro: I don’t think that now is the times to raise broad based taxes on Pennsylvanians. Now is the time to put money in their pockets. Not a traditional rebate. I’ve had this idea that it should almost be like a gift card that expires in four months or some short period of time. Some thing where I give Citizen Jones $500 or $1000, depending on his economic circumstances.

But it comes with the mandate that you have to spend it. I don’t care if you spend it on your bills, on going to the grocery store, paying tuition; whatever you want to spend it on, but you can’t just put it in the bank. You’ve got to spend it. That infusion of cash into the marketplace in Pennsylvania would have a positive impact versus some of the other things we’re considering. Obviously, we don’t have printing presses here where we can print money. They only have that machine down in DC.

I guess where I am going with this, is that my philosophy during these types of difficult economic times, is not to raise the tax burden in a broad based way on Pennsylvanians but rather to look at innovative ways to put money in their pockets. That’s why I’m asking questions about this idea.

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