Behind the Scenes with Josh Shapiro

“Politicians are actors, too, don’t you think?”

It was a simple question, posed by child actor-turned-political diplomat Shirley Temple Black, likely with no ill intent. But many years later, it summarizes Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who uses his “get shit done” script to grab big-screen attention while behind the scenes, his indecisiveness and ineffectiveness as chief executive are putting jobs and opportunity at risk. 

Pittsburgh is the latest – albeit not the only – stage for Shapiro’s hollow show. 

As thousands of Pennsylvania union workers face the real risk of losing their livelihoods if the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel is blocked, Shapiro won’t take a position on one of the biggest potential economic crises the commonwealth has faced in recent years.

In fact, he flatly said recently that he’s “not going to respond” to calls to take a stand on the matter. Instead, he repeatedly delivers his well-rehearsed lines that he will “continue to engage” and “fight for Pennsylvania” – empty words when unaccompanied by action.

On issue after issue, Shapiro’s reputation can be summed up as chasing the limelight while avoiding the hard work of governing. Case in point: he is notorious for holding multiple press conferences to “ceremonially” sign the same bill over and over – with the goal of seeking widespread media attention in different parts of the state. 

Just recently, he debuted a new website to “showcase” the “progress” of his first two years as governor. It may be a well-designed playbill, but it ignores Shapiro’s failures and inaction.

For example, Shapiro takes credit for reducing Pennsylvania’s corporate net income-tax rate – a reduction already scheduled to occur before he took office. Not mentioned, however, is that Shapiro campaigned on accelerating this scheduled reduction, a promise he has not fulfilled. 

Shapiro also basks in self-praise for dumping hundreds of millions in additional taxpayer dollars into a broken education system. He fails to mention, though, that this spending includes no accountability for results and is poised to bankrupt the commonwealth and spark tax increases. Meanwhile, he says nothing of his broken promise to support scholarships to help children escape Pennsylvania’s worst-performing schools in favor of better ones. 

Shapiro has also bragged that his first executive order as governor eliminated college degree requirements for most state government jobs and opened 92% of these jobs – or about 65,000 positions – to individuals without college degrees.

But nearly all the jobs affected by the order either didn’t require a college degree to begin with or had options for substituting experience for education. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board wrote, “the substance of the governor’s executive order doesn’t quite match the hype.” 

Unfortunately, Shapiro seems to view the role of governor as that of an actor, where success is measured by playing a role on screen or stage without actually doing the hard work of policymaking or delivering substantive improvements for constituents. 

In his first two years in office, Shapiro couldn’t manage to visit all 67 Pennsylvania counties –where the real work of governing happens – yet he found time to audition for the role of Democratic vice presidential nominee. He lost out, with some saying that Kamala Harris feared he would steal the spotlight. 

Shapiro also found time to travel to Arizona for the 2023 Super Bowl, courtesy of a nonprofit “that has received millions of dollars in state money.” This was just one of multiple sporting events Shapiro attended – none of them on his own dime. 

Using his own office as his taxpayer-funded publicity agent, Shapiro floods social media with photos and videos of him playing the role of governor. But behind the scenes, his incompetent leadership has left Pennsylvania workers, business, and families without a true champion in the governor’s office. 

Shapiro will soon take the stage for his third budget address. Instead of focusing on an overplayed script, Shapiro should use this platform to begin doing his job. He needs to clearly state his support for the U.S. Steel sale to save hardworking Pennsylvanians’ livelihoods. And he must unequivocally call on the legislature to rescue kids trapped in failing schools. 

Maybe then Pennsylvanians could start to believe Shapiro is fit for the role he’s playing.