The following interview was printed in the June 12, 2018 issue of The Caucus:
Democratic Rep. Leanne Krueger-Braneky of Delaware County was elected in 2015 at the age of 38. She worked in economic development for 15 years and ran a nonprofit organization before turning to politics. She says through her work she realized “the playing field in Harrisburg was not level for the people that I cared about, and that is what inspired me to get involved in politics.”
Krueger-Braneky holds a master’s of business administration degree in urban economic development from Eastern University and a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.
THE CAUCUS: What are your priorities as a state legislator?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: From the day I got here, I have been standing up for women, for families, for employees, against people in power who are not treating them well. I believe that as legislators we are called to fight for justice, and it has been very eye-opening in the almost three years I have been here. Instead of getting to advance the issues that I would love to work on some day like economic development and good job creation and supporting industries that are good for our air and water, I have found myself on the front line defending what I think are fundamental human rights.
THE CAUCUS: Such as?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: Such as access to health insurance, reproductive rights. Such as protections for clean air and clean water, which are constitutionally protected.
THE CAUCUS: You talked about standing up for women and workers. Do you believe that has not historically happened here?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: It has been really interesting to see the bills that run. I serve on the House Labor and Industry Committee as the Democratic secretary, which means that I wind up chairing hearings when our chairman is not able to be there. Just yesterday there was a bill that would further deplete protections under the Worker’s Compensation system. We saw the formulary bill, which House Democrats defeated three times, and then when the Senate version ran, the speaker held the board open for nine minutes and 50 seconds to whip votes. There is an agenda underway in our Capitol, and the folks who are calling the shots on what bills run are beholden to corporate special interests and no longer, I think, to the people of Pennsylvania or to their constituents who sent them there.
THE CAUCUS: What do you think about the Poor People’s Campaign and some other groups that are trying to push the agenda of the working class? Do you think they will gain traction?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: They have been here every Monday, the Poor People’s Campaign, and 35 people got arrested yesterday, I think. That goes back to the core of why I ran and why I am a Democrat. I am a person of faith. I follow a Christian faith tradition. But no matter which faith tradition you subscribe to, I believe that our sacred texts call us to care for the people on the fringes of society — for the poor, for the oppressed, for the widow, for the orphan, for the immigrant. That is so clear in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
THE CAUCUS: Do you preach? Did I see that on your resume somewhere?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: I do not preach, but I have used the Bible on the House floor. There is a passage in the book of Isaiah that says, “Woe to those who make unjust laws.” Last summer during an attack on Medicaid services for families with children with special needs, I got up and I read from that passage. I have been known to read from the book of Matthew, from the Beatitudes. That is what drives me.
THE CAUCUS: Do you think compromise is possible?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: I think compromise is possible. It is more challenging when you have irrational actors at the negotiating table. I want to point out that right now in budget negotiations there are no women at the negotiating table. When you look at all of the four caucuses, there are no women.
THE CAUCUS: So what? What’s the big deal with that?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: The Center for Women in Politics at Chatham University came out with a report last year that female legislators are actually more effective here in Harrisburg regardless of party. They have more co-sponsors on their bills, they are more likely to get bills passed, and they are more likely to work with others to try to get things done. So we actually can be incredibly effective legislators. The problem is that there are not enough of us. Pennsylvania is 49th in the country right now for percentage of women in elected office.
THE CAUCUS: You had an event with Emerge Pennsylvania. The goal of that organization is to elect more Democratic women.
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: One of the things that gives me hope is seeing a number of women who have come forward to run. We had 122 women put their names on the ballot for state House this year. One hundred of them won their primary. Seventy-three of them are Democrats. Right now, when you look at the women in the House and you add the Democrats and the Republicans together, we are at 42. Twenty-one Democrats and 21 Republicans. So 76 women are running. Yes, some of them are incumbents, but we have the chance to change the culture here in Harrisburg. And I do believe part of that is getting more women at the table.
THE CAUCUS: You have been outspoken in your efforts to try to convince others that Rep. Nick Miccarelli needs to be expelled based on the allegations against him. How successful have you been to try to get a Republican to co-sponsor a bill, which is what I believe you think is what it takes, right?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: The last time a member was expelled from the House was in 1975, and it was a resolution that was introduced by the leader of the majority caucus to expel a member of the majority caucus. Precedent says that in order for this to be successful, you really need someone from their own party to be introducing a resolution. In Colorado, when there were allegations against a member of the Legislature, and similar to Pennsylvania there was an investigation that showed that these allegations were credible, it only took them three days to expel that member. In Colorado the speaker of the House and the majority leader are both women. So it only took three days after the allegations were found credible.
THE CAUCUS: If you go by precedent, though, there are a lot of people on the hill that would say you can’t do this unless they are convicted of a crime. That is precedent for the two prior House members who were expelled.
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: Except that our constitution also says that we have a responsibility to protect members of the Legislature. If we have a constitutional responsibility to protect members of the Legislature and we have a sitting member of the Legislature who has a permanent three-year protection-from abuse order against another member because he threatened to kill her, then doesn’t that change the precedent?
THE CAUCUS: How was that argument received by your Republican colleagues?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: I think slowly but surely people are realizing this is not right. And slowly but surely there is more and more discussion happening in both caucuses.
THE CAUCUS: You once described Pennsylvania as one of the most misogynistic places that you’ve worked.
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: I said that to The New York Times. And I will continue to say it until it’s no longer true.
THE CAUCUS: Why would a woman want to come and work here as a legislator?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: Because that is how we’re going to affect change. I have crisscrossed the commonwealth talking to women about running for office. I will speak to Girl Scout troops. I will speak to groups of college students. I will talk to groups of career women who want to know how they can affect change. I think one of the fundamental solutions is for women to run and to win.
THE CAUCUS: What do you say to those who say if we went ahead with Miccarelli’s expulsion we would have to look at Rep. Thomas Caltagirone and Rep. Vanessa Brown and either ask the Democrats to do one of the two or both.
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: I think the reporting on Caltagirone has been clear. I have called on him to resign, as well. Vanessa Brown is a different case. I think it is pretty unfair to talk about all three of them at the same time. Fundamentally, we are talking about keeping women safe in the Capitol and keeping everyone safe in the Capitol and making sure that this is a workplace where any staff or any intern, any lobbyist, any reporter, any legislator can come to work and feel safe. I do not believe that is currently the case.
THE CAUCUS: The whisper campaign that we have heard about, where women kind of quietly tell each other, “Be careful, that guy is dangerous” — do you think that is an acceptable form of protecting women?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: No. I think if we had an independent and transparent process for investigation that is not dictated by elected caucus leaders, then there would be more faith in the system. That is why I authored House Bill 1965, the #MeToo bill, and that’s why I’m working with Representative Tarah Toohil across the aisle to try to get it through.
THE CAUCUS: Any update on that?
KRUEGER-BRANEKY: We had a hearing six weeks ago on the topic of harassment in the workplace. We are up to 66 bipartisan cosponsors and I would really like to see a vote. I’m on the Labor and Industry Committee right now. There are two Republican sponsored resolutions and six or eight bills sponsored by Democrats. In June, during budget season, we are always looking for bills to run while we are waiting for the budget negotiations to conclude. I think June would be a great time to finally get a vote on some of these bills and resolutions.
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