Frank Shimkus by a (held) nose

Published: Friday, October 31, 2008
Updated: Friday, October 31, 2008 4:16 AM EDT

Voters in the 113th Legislative District have been subjected to a bizarre and miserable campaign by state House candidates Frank Shimkus, a first-term incumbent seeking re-election, and challenger Kevin Murphy, a former Scranton councilman.

The Times-Tribune reluctantly endorses Mr. Shimkus, by a held nose, in a race that one dismayed voter wryly described as “Car, Pay, Per Diem.”

Both candidates are Democrats. Mr. Shimkus is the Republican nominee, however. He won that nomination by write-in votes in the spring primary after being removed, by court order, from the Democratic primary ballot.

For reasons that still are partially buried beneath several layers of obfuscation, Mr. Shimkus could not bring himself to accurately state his home address on nominating forms. His subsequent testimony ultimately drove Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer to exasperation. In her opinion and order striking Mr. Shimkus’ name from the Democratic primary ballot, she characterized his testimony about his address as “a purposeful misrepresentation made in bad faith and with intent to deceive the electorate.”

‘Car, pay, per diem’

It’s not often that a candidate enters a general election campaign armed with a court order accusing his opponent of lying in court. But Mr. Murphy expanded upon that gift from Mr. Shimkus, producing a document that accused the lawmaker of improperly collecting daily expense payments known as per diems for work in Harrisburg, during periods when he claimed to have been recuperating at home or in a hospital from injuries suffered in falls.

That document has holes of its own, however, especially in that it does not nail down the supposed dates.

The saga also includes accidents involving a state vehicle assigned to Mr. Shimkus. Oh, and Mr. Shimkus is offended, claiming that Mr. Murphy’s campaign is a sideways attack on Mr. Shimkus’ struggle with alcoholism during his career as a TV news anchor, which Mr. Shimkus publicly has described. And Mr. Murphy is offended that Mr. Shimkus has drawn that conclusion.

Some legislative accomplishments

As voters chew on the lies, half-truths and innuendoes that have characterized the campaign, they might also consider the narrow basis for this endorsement: Mr. Shimkus has been reasonably effective as a freshman lawmaker, while Mr. Murphy had a limited record of accomplishment as a one-term councilman.

Mr. Shimkus had a role in the impending location of a new Army Reserve center in North Scranton, for example. He championed an expansion of tax credits for alternative education, creation of a task force to examine failures in systems that are supposed to protect the welfare of children, and a bill to ensure that police more aggressively enforce Megan’s Law.

Mr. Murphy is correct that Mr. Shimkus has not pressed for legislative reform, even though Mr. Shimkus was a member of the 2006 legislative freshman class that came into office riding a wave of public demand for reform. Mr. Murphy, who has called for the resignation of Rep. Bill DeWeese as leader of the scandal-plagued Democratic caucus, is likely to be more aggressive in that regard.

Political campaigns are supposed to inform the public. Unfortunately, this one has shed more heat than light. The result is a tough call for voters with a narrow advantage to Mr. Shimkus.

Most incumbents unopposed

While the Shimkus-Murphy race is not a triumph for democracy, it is at least a race — the only local one for state representative.

Ken Smith, who beat longtime incumbent Fred Belardi in the 112th District in 2006 due purely to the public’s demand for reforms, was no more active than Mr. Shimkus in that regard during his first term. Yet he is unopposed, along with most other representatives in the area.

That situation alone points to the need for legislative redistricting, reducing the size of the Legislature, and other reforms that not only would improve direct governance but enhance it further by producing competitive elections.