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COMMONWEALTH, Volume 20, Issue 1 (2018). © 2018 The Pennsylvania Political Science Association.  
ISSN 2469-7672 (online). http://dx.doi.org/10.15367/com.v20i1.176. All rights reserved.

COMMONWEALTH Matters

J. WESLEY LECKRONE
Editor-in-Chief  

C OMMONWEALTH was founded to provide a mix of traditional 
academic articles, short and insightful research notes, and thought 
pieces about contemporary policy issues affecting Pennsylvania. This 

issue represents an excellent combination of all these formats. The “COM-
MONWEALTH Forum” provides a perspective on one of the most important, 
and contentious, issues facing Pennsylvania: the structural budget deficit. Bob 
Dick of the Commonwealth Foundation provides a free market perspective 
that focuses on balancing the budget by reforming programs and eliminat-
ing inefficiencies. Marc Stier of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center 
provides a progressive critique of recent Republican policies in the state and 
argues that the best course of action going forward is to raise recurring sources 
of revenue and increase spending. Michael McSkimming, Robert Vance Dun-
bar, and Ahmet Guler show the importance of language to the operation of 
government. They examine the development of conservation officer responsi-
bilities and find that a change in title to Conservation Police Officer provides 
enhanced legitimacy to these public servants and allows them to better carry 
out their duties. Jeffrey Carroll and John F. McDonald shift the topic to local 
government taxation in a case study of Philadelphia. They examine the diffi-
cult problem of how to wean the city off of its reliance on the wage tax. Finally, 
James Vike examines why there are more registered independents in New 



2 J. Wesley leckrone

Jersey than Pennsylvania. Through an analysis of American National Election 
Study data, he finds that the modified closed primary system in New Jersey 
encourages people to remain unaffiliated but that citizens are no less partisan 
or engaged than they are in Pennsylvania, which has a closed primary.

COMMONWEALTH is proud to announce that the first edition of Penn-
sylvania Politics & Policy: The Commonwealth Reader will be published 
mid-2018 by Temple University Press. The Reader is a compendium of the 
best policy writing from COMMONWEALTH, with updates to many of the 
manuscripts. Each article also includes discussion questions, a “COMMON-
WEALTH Forum” with a pro/con discussion of a topic related to the article, 
and a further reading section. The volume is ideal for classroom adoption in 
state and local government, public policy, and public administration classes. 
For more information or to receive an examination copy please visit the Tem-
ple University Press website at http://www.temple.edu/tempress/.

If you have an innovative pedagogical practice involving politics or 
policy in Pennsylvania please consider submitting a manuscript discussing 
your teaching design and learning outcomes. Teaching methods including 
local governments in Pennsylvania are also welcome. We will begin publish-
ing a new section entitled “Teaching the COMMONWEALTH” in late 2018. 
All accepted pedagogical manuscripts will be subject to the same strict peer 
review process as other pieces published in the journal.




