Lt. Gov. Mike Stack, dogged by controversy, to announce reelection bid
Lt. Gov. Mike Stack III, the scion of an entrenched Northeast Philadelphia political family whose first term in statewide elected office has been marked by scandal and a rift with his boss, is expected to kick off his reelection campaign Tuesday.
Stack has scheduled a 2:30 announcement at City Hall in which he promises to be “surrounded by a cadre of Philadelphia leaders” as well as “reformers and activists on the frontlines of the fight for restorative justice and the well being of Pennsylvania’s veterans.”
Despite promises of such broad support, his race to keep his seat, one that typically flies under the radar, is shaping up to be among the most intriguing if not compelling primary campaigns in Pennsylvania in 2018.
The incumbent already has a slate of challengers, including John Fetterman, a small-town mayor and populist who elevated his profile with an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate last year. And one person whose backing Stack has not secured is his boss, Gov. Wolf.
Stack and his wife, Tonya Stack, came under scrutiny last spring after Wolf directed his Inspector General to launch an inquiry into whether they verbally abused the state employees who work for them. In Pennsylvania, lieutenant governors and their families have traditionally received State Police protection and live in a residence outside Harrisburg that is staffed with a cook, housekeeper, groundskeepers and others.
Sources have told The Inquirer and Daily News that the Democratic governor warned the Stacks to change their behavior, and when they didn’t, he asked Inspector General Bruce Beemer’s office to investigate the matter and write up a report.
That report has not been made public, though Wolf early on signaled he might do so when it was complete. The governor also took the extraordinary step of stripping the Stacks of their State Police protection, and scaled back staffing at the residence as the investigation unfolded.
In a public apology after news of the report became public in April, Stack acknowledged that anger and frustration can lead to what he calls “a Stack moment.” He later took it a step further, calling his and his wife’s behavior a symptom “of a larger problem.” He did not elaborate.
Within weeks, Stack’s office issued a statement saying that Tonya Stack, 47, had checked into a treatment facility to receive assistance in coping with a mental health problem.
Since that time, Wolf’s office has been silent about the report’s status. Spokesman J.J. Abbott could not say Tuesday whether the governor’s office still intends to make the report public.
Wolf and Stack have never been close. Though under state rules, the two men ran as a ticket in the 2014 general election, Wolf didn’t hand-select Stack as his running mate. And since taking office in 2015, the two have rarely appeared together in public, let alone, worked together on high-profile policy issues.
Stack, whose grandfather was a congressman and father a Democratic ward leader, was a longtime state senator before winning statewide office in 2014 as Gov. Wolf’s second-in-command. In the Capitol, he presides over the state Senate, dressed in crisp suits and often injecting lounge-like commentary into the normally staid workings of the chamber.
Fetterman, who supported Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, this month won his fourth term as mayor of Braddock, a struggling industrial town near Pittsburgh. At 6-foot-8, Fetterman, who wears all-black short-sleeve shirts and shorts, looks like he could have worked at one of Braddock’s old steel mills. He earned an MBA from Harvard.
Early Tuesday morning, Fetterman’s campaign announced it had raised $100,000 in the last seven days. His campaign described that as evidence of “a wave of enthusiastic support” that showed “Pennsylvanians are hungry for a genuine, progressive candidate like John Fetterman.”
Fetterman isn’t the only one eyeing Stack’s job. Other announced candidates are activist Aryanna Berringer, of Westmoreland County, and Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone. Democratic state Rep. Madeleine Dean of Montgomery County has said she is seriously considering a run.
