With another performance of the three-ring circus last week that makes for Board of Commissioners meetings in Montgomery County these days, the county updated its ethics policy.  The newly passed ordinance bars some 180 upper-echelon county employees from  running for office (except for school board), doing political fundraising, or managing political campaigns.  Montgomery County is now the only suburban county in Pennsylvania to place such restrictions on its employees. 

If the degree of high-octane vitriol spewed between the tag team of Chairman Jim Matthews (R) and Vice Chairman Joe Hoeffel (D) and the battling (if not seemingly punch-drunk) Commissioner Bruce Castor (R) during the recent ethics debate is any indication, then the face of politics across southeastern Pennsylvania has been rocked beyond recognition.  Hint: better political indicators might conclude differently - that it's been part political soap opera and part the usual insiders' game, amounting to not very much.  Clearly worthwhile parts of the ordinance, though, include the required posting on the county website of campaign contribution disclosure filings for all county offices and financial disclosure forms for officials. It also is possible that under the new law county employees will be under less pressure to contribute politically, but even that remains to be seen.   

Whatever was behind the ethics fracas, it was enough for two county elected officials to cry foul, telling the commissioners that they'd see them in court on this one.  County Sheriff John P. Durante (R), through his Solicitor, Tom Speer, promised to file suit to have the ordinance overturned, while County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman (R), who spoke in person at the April 2 meeting, said she would challenge it legally if the commissioners tried to impose the restrictions on her employees. 

What is at stake institutionally is the level of independence of the "row officers" - those jobs on the ballot every four years during off-off year county elections, almost all of which, with the exception of District Attorney and maybe Comptroller, have largely mysterious or outdated functions (e.g., prothonotary and jury commissioners; you get the idea).  Should those 11 offices be subject to the personnel policies instituted for the rest of county government by the county commissioners, or does the PA constitution and case law render them independent outside of budget constraints?  Stifle those yawns, please.

On the political front - not surprisingly - it gets a little more interesting.  The DA's office has long been an effective incubator of political careers - Republican careers, that is, since this is Montgomery County.  Most recently, current Commissioner Castor was District Attorney until 2008, when his understudy, current District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman took over the top job after the 2007 election.  If the new ordinance passes legal muster, it just got harder for Assistant DAs and others to use their positions as political launching pads.  They can still run for office, as, for example, Republican Todd Stephens, just did in the 151st district against incumbent Democrat Rick Taylor (Taylor won), but they will have to resign first.  That means no guaranteed soft career landings in the event of political defeat.

Funny, though, that even in a contest of insider politics, significant issues have a way of popping up in the heat of battle.  D.A. Vetri Ferman argued that her office's $12. 3 million budget is not a player when it comes to county contracts ("it's not what we do") and therefore should not be targeted by the ethics ordinance.  But, she said, "if you want to take the stain of pay-to-play out of government, then do it for real."  She was apparently referring to limits on campaign contributions for those seeking county business.  Now there's an idea.