Editorial: Wolf and Legislature resort to cartoon cat fighting

Will Pennsylvania ever again have a functional relationship between the Legislature and the governor?

It seems unlikely.

Indeed, it’s hard to remember a time when the two branches could do their jobs without being at each other’s throats in a round-robin of attacks as predictable as a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Cat and mouse, perpetually whacking each other with baseball bats and dropping anvils — ultimately accomplishing nothing but black eyes and broken bones.

The Legislature is supposed to make the laws, and the governor is supposed to execute them. Both like to run to the third branch — the judiciary — for backup. They haul each other into court like neighbors fighting over the fence that separates them.

Gov. Tom Wolf is doing that right now, taking the GOP-dominated Legislature to the Supreme Court, challenging its attempts to make changes to the state constitution on issues including abortion access, voter identification and executive branch authority.

The lawmakers should really have expected it after they spent almost two years in and out of courts trying to stop Wolf’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

The interesting part of Wolf’s latest move is his appeal to the court isn’t just about the slapping at the legislators. It’s about their tactic in recent years of taking the question outside of the three branches of government and delivering it directly to the people through ballot questions and referendums like those needed to make constitutional change.

In 2021, the governor’s power was limited by amendment, after months of Wolf’s wildly unpopular covid response. This time, the Legislature wants to put five proposed amendments in front of voters. It’s the kind of thing they have gotten as comfortable doing as Wolf has gotten wielding his veto pen.

Both sides ignore the fact that their behavior perpetuates the other side’s response. Wolf vetoes, so the Legislature amends, so Wolf sues. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Their disingenuousness extends to their rhetoric. The lawmakers say Wolf is power hungry. That might have worked in 2020, but it holds no water in July 2022, when the governor has less than five months remaining in office. New amendments wouldn’t really impact him.

Wolf likewise taunts the GOP, calling the proposals part of their “failed” agenda.

The real issue is the one that gets lost in the fight. Constitutional amendments are meant to be meaningful and rare, just like a veto and absolutely like one branch of government suing another. It should be the exception, not the rule.

But, at this point, because Harrisburg is so saturated in politics that no one seems to remember what the real job is, the only thing anyone remembers is how to resort to ridiculous extremes.