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| - [1] By MONICA VON DOBENECK Beverly Cigler, Penn State Harrisburg professor of public policy and administration, says the tea party groups have no hierarchy, so groups in different areas often have different agendas. Tom Carper, chairman of the Lebanon 9-12 Project, uses an analogy to describe why he thinks it’s important for fiscal conservatives to get involved in local politics. "If you look at the federal government as a drug cartel, and the state as the dealer, then municipalities and school boards are the junkies," he said. "If you cure the junkie, you can fix the system." Several residents associated with the 9-12 Project, an offshoot of the tea party, are running for office in the county, and others are showing up at local meetings to plead for smaller government. Lebanon seems to have attracted more tea party candidates than neighboring counties partly because of particular issues that have raised their ire — a teachers contract in the Cornwall-Lebanon School District, plans to buy land for a park in South Londonderry Twp. and a proposed 400-page zoning ordinance in North Cornwall Twp. Lebanon County also has a history of fighting the status quo, according to political activist Russ Diamond. His organization, PACleanSweep, was out front in the fight against the pay raise five years ago that toppled powerful Lebanon County Sen. David "Chip" Brightbill. The health care town hall hosted by then U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in August 2009 got national attention. Katy Abram, the founder of the Lebanon 9-12 Project, appeared on Fox News and other national media after she told Specter, "You have awakened a sleeping giant." Her husband, Sam, is now running for North Cornwall Twp. supervisor. About 40 candidates who pledged to abide by most of the 9-12 Project’s nine principles and 12 values (lebanon912.org) won seats on the Republican committee last year, creating a rift in leadership between the old guard and the newcomers. Similar groups in Dauphin and Cumberland counties are hosting meet-the-candidates forums and encouraging members to serve as watchdogs to local boards but have no members running for office. Some say they are focusing more on state and national issues. Beverly Cigler, a Penn State professor of public policy and administration, said the tea party groups have no hierarchy, so groups in different areas often have different agendas. Carper hopes the influence of the tea party and similar groups can eventually cure school boards and municipalities of their reliance on taxes, whether federal, state or local. That’s why some members of the organization spoke up at South Londonderry Twp. meetings against buying 15 acres of farmland for a park. Much of the cost would be borne by a federal grant, but that’s still taxpayer money, they said. "When a politician feels his biggest job is to fight for funds for his district and stand there with one of those big checks, that’s the seeds of political corruption," Carper said. In South Londonderry Twp., debate over buying the park land also brought out candidates. Four people are running for township supervisor in a race that in prior years often had no contest. Cliff Orley, whose wife is a member of the 9-12 group, is running partly because he thinks the decision to buy park land "was inappropriate." "Money coming out of the township treasury would be better spent on public safety like road maintenance or the fire company," he said, and neighboring South Annville Twp. seems to make do with fewer employees than South Londonderry. "It’s time for township and school district officials to serve those they represent," he said. In many cases, however, officials must represent people with differing priorities. Despite criticism that the township was not listening to taxpayers’ wishes regarding the park, more than half the residents attending meetings and filling out a survey favored buying the land. William Stoffel, who is also running for South Londonderry supervisor, said he hopes "history will validate the decision." "We need to get more for our money ... but you also have to look into the future and see where you want to be in 10 or 15 years," he said. Political scientist G. Terry Madonna said there could be a backlash as the tea party groups support deep cuts in government spending. "Taxes are lethal right now," he said. "We’re in an unusually conservative period, but people are also not in favor of massive cuts in programs they like." The Cornwall-Lebanon School District race has brought out an unprecedented 16 candidates, some motivated by the tea party and some opposed to them. Harry Cain, a member of the 9-12 Project, is running for school board. He said he became fired up after the board signed a union contract in August that gave teachers raises of about 3.5 percent a year for four years. Although the district is talking to its teachers about a one-year pay freeze, Cain said it is too late. "The school wasn’t listening to the taxpayers," said Cain, an estimator for Arthur Funk & Sons, a construction firm. "The construction industry is seeing 20 percent unemployment. It’s not fair for certain groups to get a pay increase when others are unemployed. ... Taxpayers cannot keep coming up with the money, because we don’t have it." Four other candidates running as a bloc calling themselves the Falcon Four say they are happy with the district the way it is. "We want to preserve the culture and the quality of our education," said Beverly Szakal, one of the Falcon Four. "We have an amazing school district, and our children are achievers. ... We want to be fiscally responsible ... but we want to preserve our amazing faculty, our teachers." Political observers said it is hard to predict the influence of the tea party on local politics over the long run. Jim Broussard, a professor at Lebanon Valley College, said the groups will have an impact "if they can get their members as fired up as they are over national politics." Cigler said she thinks members of the tea party organizations will become better trained and more centralized over time. They could help the Republican Party as they become more ingrained, she said. In the end, as they become more educated about how government works, they may not be very different from mainstream Republicans. They might become angrier with their local school boards as the tax burden shifts there because of Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to education, prompting more to run for school director. On the other hand, there could be a backlash if cuts are deep and voters start to see programs they depend on disappearing. It’s harder to demonize school directors who are your neighbors than federal officials who are far removed, she said. Diamond said he is curious to see what happens "when outrage meets the realities of politics." Madonna said the main influence of the tea party groups might be to keep the Republican Party "on a more conservative bent." "I don’t see any incipient revolution against the Republican culture," he said. "I see them as supporting players to regular Republican candidates."
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