





































COMMONWEALTH

A JOURNAL
OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE

PUBLISHED BY

THE PENNSYLVANIA

POLITICAL SCIENCE

ASSOCIATION

VOL. 16, NO. 1, SEPTEMBER 2013



© Copyright 2013 by the Pennsylvania Political Science Association ISSN 0890-2410. Copyright 
on volumes published prior to 2007 are held by the Pennsylvania Political Science Association.



i

COMMONWEALTH
A Journal of Political Science

EDITOR IN CHIEF 
Gerard J. Fitzpatrick, Ursinus College

ASSOCIATE EDITORS 
Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes University 

Donald G. Tannenbaum, Gettysburg College 
Michael R. King, Temple University

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR 
Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes University

MANAGING EDITOR 
Michael E. Cassidy, Temple University

EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD

Aryeh Botwinick 
Temple University

M. Margaret Conway 
University of Florida

Roger H. Davidson 
University of Maryland

Richard F. Fenno 
University of Rochester

Marianne Githens 
Goucher College

Susan W. Hammond 
American University

Samuel Krislov 
University of Minnesota

G. Calvin Mackenzie 
Colby College

Michael J. Malbin 
State University of NY, Albany

Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. 
Harvard University

Kenneth F. Mott 
Gettysburg College

Craig N. Murphy 
Wellesley College

Mark P. Petracca 
University of California, Irvine

Bruce M. Russett 
Yale University



ii

PENNSYLVANIA POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
Officers and Executive Council 

2013–14

PRESIDENT
Brooke Harlowe

Lock Haven University

 FIRST VICE PRESIDENT SECOND VICE PRESIDENT 
 Christopher Borick Steven A. Peterson 
 Muhlenberg College Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg

 TREASURER SECRETARY 
 George Hale Paula Holoviak 
 Kutztown University Kutztown University

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 
2011–14 Term

 Michele DeMary Kyle Krieder 
 Susquehanna University Wilkes University

2012–15 Term

 John Kennedy Mark Sachlaben 
 West Chester University Shippensburg University

2013–16 Term

 Joseph McLaughlin Ayesha Ray 
 Temple University Kings College

EX OFFICIO MEMBERS

 PAST PRESIDENT PAST PRESIDENT 
 Paula Holoviak Stanley Berard 
 Kutztown University Lock Haven University

EDITORIAL STAFF OF 
COMMONWEALTH: A Journal of Political Science

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 
Gerard J. Fitzpatrick 

Ursinus College

 ASSOCIATE EDITOR & ASSOCIATE EDITOR & 
 BOOK REVIEW EDITOR SPECIAL ISSUE EDITOR 
 Thomas J. Baldino Michael R. King 
 Wilkes University Temple University

 ASSOCIATE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR 
 FOR POLITICAL THEORY Michael Cassidy 
 Donald G. Tannenbaum Temple University 
 Gettysburg College



iii

CONTENTS
Volume 16, Number 1 September 2013
 ISBN 0890-2410

About the Authors ......................................................................................v

About the Book Reviews ......................................................................... vii

In the COMMONWEALTH by Gerard J. Fitzpatrick, Editor  .................. ix

Articles
The Disenfranchisement of Black Pennsylvanians in 

the 1838 State Constitution: Racism, Politics, or 
Economics?—a Statistical Analysis

David A. Latzko .............................................................................1

Federalism and the Pennsylvania Legislature: Partisanship 
and Intergovernmental Priorities

J. Wesley Leckrone and Justin Gollob ......................................... 21

Where Was the Electricity? Agenda Setting and the Politics 
of Electric-Rate Caps in Pennsylvania

Daniel J. Mallinson ..................................................................... 41

Three Strikes and You’re Out? Why Three Republican 
Governors  Failed to Privatize Pennsylvania’s State 
Liquor Monopoly

George Hale................................................................................ 63

Collective Bargaining and Municipal Distress: State 
Problem, State Solution

Erik L. Soliván ............................................................................ 81

Administrative Influence over Legislative Policy Making in 
the American States

Joshua Ozymy, Denis Rey, and Samuel S. Stanton Jr. .............. 101



iv

Book Reviews

Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin, Tasting Freedom: 
Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War 
America
Review by Judith Giesberg ............................................................ 122

Brian C. Black and Michael J. Chiarappa, eds. Nature’s 
Entrepôt—Philadelphia’s Urban Sphere and Its 
Environmental Thresholds
Review by Marleen A. Troy ........................................................... 124

Franklin L. Kury, Clean Politics, Clean Streams: A 
Legislative Autobiography and Reflections
Review by Kyle L. Kreider ............................................................ 125

Donald G. Tannenbaum, Inventors of Ideas: An Introduction 
to Western Political Philosophy (3d ed.)
Review by Michael R. Dillon ........................................................ 127

Joe W. Trotter and Jared N. Day, Race and Renaissance: 
African Americans in Pittsburgh since World War II
Review by Arthur M. Holst ........................................................... 130



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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Justin Gollob, PhD, is an assistant professor of political science at Colorado 
Mesa University. He received his doctoral degree in political science from 
Temple University. His research interests include the federal policy agendas 
of state governments, state legislative politics, and public lands management. 

George E. Hale, PhD, is an assistant professor of political science at 
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He received his doctoral degree 
from Syracuse University. For three decades, he served in federal, state, 
and local government, including eight years as Delaware’s Secretary of 
Administrative Services. His research focuses on state budgets, governors, 
and organizational change in public agencies. 

David A. Latzko, PhD, is an associate professor of economics at 
Pennsylvania State University—York. He received his doctoral degree from 
the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the economic history 
of Pennsylvania.

J. Wesley Leckrone, PhD, is an assistant professor of political science 
at Widener University. He received his doctoral degree from Temple 
University. His research interests include intergovernmental lobbying and 
the federal policy agendas of state and local governments.

Daniel Mallinson is a PhD candidate in political science at the Pennsylvania 
State University. He primarily studies politics in the American states, 
with a focus on particular policy areas including education, energy, and 
environmental protection. His dissertation examines the diffusion of policy 
innovations across the states.

Joshua Ozymy, PhD, is an associate professor of political science at Texas 
A&M University—Corpus Christi. His research focuses primarily on 
environmental politics and policy, as well as state politics. His work has 
appeared in Environmental Politics, Political Behavior, American Politics 
Research, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and Review of Policy Research.

Denis Rey, PhD, is an assistant professor of government and world affairs at 
the University of Tampa. He also serves as a research member at the Centre 
D’Etudes Sur L’Integration et la Mondialisation (CEIM) at the University of 
Quebec at Montreal. His current research concerns the relationship between 
electoral rules and public policy.

Erik L. Soliván, JD, is Vice President for Policy, Research, and Enterprise 
Planning at the Philadelphia Housing Authority. He received his Juris 
Doctorate degree from the Rutgers University School of Law—Camden and 
his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Haverford College. He 



vi

was the Henry J. Raimóndo Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at 
Rutgers University. He served as special assistant to the Deputy Secretary 
for Community Affairs and Development in the Pennsylvania Department 
of Community and Economic Development, and he was formerly a senior 
analyst at Public Financial Management, LLC.

Samuel S. Stanton Jr., PhD, is an associate professor of political science 
at Grove City College. His research, which focuses primarily on modeling 
socioeconomic causes of conflict, has been published in Comparative 
Political Studies and Politics and Policy.



vii

ABOUT THE BOOK REVIEWERS

Michael R. Dillon, JD, PhD, is chair of the Department of Political Science 
at La Salle University.

Judith Giesberg, PhD, is an associate professor of history at Villanova 
University and the author of Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on 
the Northern Home Front (University of North Carolina Press, 2009).

Arthur M. Holst received his PhD in political science from Temple 
University and serves as Business and Government Affairs Manager for the 
City of Philadelphia Water Department. He is an adjunct faculty member 
at Fairleigh Dickinson University and has written extensively on politics, 
public administration, history, and environmental issues.

Kyle L. Kreider, PhD, is an associate professor of political science at 
Wilkes University and currently serves as chair of its Behavioral and Social 
Sciences division. He is the coauthor with Thomas J. Baldino of Of the 
People, By the People, For the People: A Documentary Record of Voting 
Rights and Election Reform, and U.S. Election Campaigns: A Documentary 
History, both published by ABC-CLIO in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Marleen A. Troy, PhD, PE, is a licensed professional engineer and 
associate professor of environmental engineering in the Department of 
Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences at Wilkes University. She 
has experience in environmental management and biological treatment 
techniques for remediation, including more than eight years in hazardous 
waste remediation, consulting, and contracting. Dr. Troy’s research interests 
currently focus on environmental sustainability metrics.




