Pennsylvania law forbids people convicted of serious crimes from holding elective office anywhere in the commonwealth, but there’s no such prohibition in the U.S. Constitution for holding the highest office in the land
Capital-Star photo by Stephen Caruso House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster)
Among the youngest people to oversee the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the next two years will be Speaker Bryan Cutler’s first first full session as the Republican-controlled chamber’s presiding officer.
The 45-year old Lancaster Republican’s role is to moderate debate and call up bills on the floor for votes.
The position can be used to exert control of the chamber’s agenda, as shown by previous Speakers John Perzel, the Philadelphia lawmaker who muscled through gambling expansion, or Mike Turzai, of Allegheny County who used his pulpit to push school choice. But Cutler argued he’s tried to use a lighter touch in a recent conversation with the Capital-Star.
Although both Republican and Democratic House leaders called for his resignation when the videos became public, Bernstine ignored them and won re-election in November with 51.5% of the vote in a three-way race.
In a Tuesday letter to current House Speaker Bryan Cutler, Bernstine recounted that former Speakers John Perzel, a Republican; Bill DeWeese, a Democrat; and the late Herbert Fineman, a Democrat, were convicted of public corruption charges.
“Sadly, Pennsylvania has a deep history of bipartisan corruption, and the plaques are an appropriate way to inform visitors to the Capitol about some of those most recent instances,” Bernstine wrote. “I think we can both agree that it is inappropriate to try and erase history.”