Apr 16, 2016 4 min read

State Rep. Ted Harhai won’t be remembered for fire-and-brimstone sermons on the House floor.

If it’s up to his colleague Pete Daley, Harhai’s claim to fame would be his work ethic.

“He’s a lower-key type of legislator that’s got his shoulder to the grindstone a lot,” said Daley, D-California.

Harhai announced plans to retire from the Legislature in January after an 18-year tenure in the state House during which he said he fought for jobs, services and and infrastructure in his Westmoreland County district.

Harhai, a former Monessen mayor and councilman, took office in 1998 after a special election when his predecessor, Herman Mihalich, died in office.

Harhai said he’s proud of the work he’s done to bring state funds to Monessen and other communities in his district. A particularly large grant was $5.1 million in state money he helped to secure in 2010 that paid for more than five miles of sewage lines in his hometown.

“I know how bad things are there,” Harhai said.

Throughout his tenure, Harhai said he’s tried to hold on to the remnants of jobs left after the demise of industries that used to define his district. He serves on the House’s Coal and Steel caucuses.

He sponsored legislation passed in 2010 that saved thousands of mining and related jobs, primarily in Greene County, by paving the way for a protected species of bat to be moved out of harm’s way when it was threatened by mining operations – the type of common-sense solution he said he prefers.

Harhai said polarization and a lack of compromise in state government influenced his decision to retire from public office.

“It’s unfortunate that the type of politics that has hamstrung the federal government has moved to Harrisburg,” he said.

Harhai also said he’s proud of state support he’s drummed up for Rostraver and Monessen libraries.

“If anyone’s under the impression that we don’t have a need for libraries, they’re sorely mistaken,” he said.

Fran Rendulic, assistant director of Rostraver Public Library, said she was surprised when she learned Harhai planned to step down. She described him as a generous and frequent attendee at library events.

“He was down to earth and he would just talk to anybody, like you and I are. He was not aloof at all.”

If you ask Monessen Mayor Lou Mavrakis, he’ll tell you the system that should be helping build infrastructure and remove hundreds of blighted buildings is already broken.

He doesn’t believe politicians at any level do enough to help the depressed third-class city.

“If ISIS was to come through here, they’d keep going because they’d say somebody already bombed it,” he said.

Working-class voters in Western Pennsylvania have traditionally favored “blue-dog” Democrats over more moderate Democrats like Harhai and Daley, according to G. Terry Madonna, political science professor at Franklin and Marshall College. Daley, whose district in Washington and Fayette counties abuts Harhai’s, is another long-serving, moderate Democratic representative who plans to retire from office this year.

As they and other long-serving moderates step down, they leave behind a state House controlled by its largest Republican majority since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president.

Many of the Republicans across the state who’ve taken seats in recent elections have a different philosophy of government.

Lawmakers of Harhai’s and Daley’s ilk are proud of their fights to bring infrastructure and services to their districts. In contrast, many Tea Party Republicans who’ve recently gained ground see their main roles as decreasing spending and rolling back government regulation, Madonna said.

The changing dynamic in Harrisburg, has frustrated many of these moderates, who were often willing to compromise with opponents.

“I think they’re largely getting out because they’re trapped between the liberals in their own party and the Republicans,” Madonna said.