Editorial: Dermody's upward fall is all-too-familiar in political world

Leaving an elected office is not the end of the world. Plenty of people go on to live rich, full lives after they depart the world of public service.

They might retire to concentrate on things they never got to do before, like President George W. Bush, who has embraced painting on his ranch. They might run for other offices. State and federal positions are filled by people who have swung from one rung of the electoral jungle gym to the next.

Then there are the ones who win by losing.

Frank Dermody is one of those.

At 69, Dermody is well within the Social Security Administration’s range of retirement. But when he lost his bid for a 16th term in the state House of Representatives by a narrow 923 votes, the Democrat was not ready to pick up a paintbrush or take up gardening.

With 32 years in Harrisburg under his belt, he accepted a new job in state government. He took a seat on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the very board to which he used to appoint people to serve.

Is this illegal? No. Is it even wrong? Not really. It is, however, the kind of move that makes people skeptical of the people who work in government because, somehow, so many of them seem to fall upwards.

Of course, after all that time in office, Dermody would know plenty of people who would be able to offer him a position. If it wasn’t in a state board, it could just as easily have been in the private sector, like when former Sen. Joe Scarnati announced he would become a partner in a lobbying firm, or when former speaker Mike Turzai turned his years in the House into a job as general counsel for Peoples Gas.

But when it is with the state, that’s when the people can wonder why the person they just decided to fire is getting a job with a raise. Dermody’s getting a $15,000 salary bump. Let’s not forget the possibility of the lifetime pension (of about $110,000 annually) for the years he has already served.

Dermody should know how this looks. It isn’t the first time he has veered around appearances and come out on top.

He was one of the yes votes for the wildly unpopular 2005 pay increase, and then the Tribune-Review uncovered a $10,500 state reimbursement a week later for mileage on his leased SUV. He later voted to repeal the pay raise, paid back the money and traded his lease for a pricey Chevrolet Suburban on a less-expensive Chevy Trailblazer.

Elected officials need to think about how things look before they look bad, not after. They need to consider it not because people might not elect them but because it makes people distrust the process.

There is a reason people embrace the idea of term limits more than legislators do. There is a reason that periodically the winds of change don’t just push out the opposition but drive people to “vote ‘em all out!” frustration.

When the people ask you to leave office by voting for someone else, there is something disrespectful about making them keep you on the payroll.