Climbing the ‘Hill’
New Congressman Gerlach ’77 Confronts Capitol Stresses
By Tom Nugent

With Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert far left, Gerlach is sworn in. At his left is his mother, Helen, and to his right is his sister, Heddy Luke.

Ask Pennsylvania’s new U.S. representative Jim Gerlach ’77 what it’s like to be a freshman on Capitol Hill, and the 48-year-old lawyer and legislator will tell you that serving in Washington is “a little bit like playing college football.

“I spent four years as a starter for Dickinson,” recalls the former all-star running back for the Red Devils, “and I think some of the lessons I learned on the field are going to be quite useful in Washington. To win a football game, it isn’t enough to just be tough and determined. You also have to be smart. You have to be mentally prepared, and you have to know how to execute your game plan.”

He pauses for a moment, remembering his years as a record-breaking Dickinson fullback (1973-77), then surprises you with a rumble of unexpected laughter. “It also helps to hang onto your sense of humor,” says Gerlach, one of 52 new faces (33 Republicans, 19 Democrats) in the 108th Congress. “I’ve always said that football is a game where you try to run over people—but a lot of the time, you’re the one who gets run over. I’m going to try and keep that lesson in mind as I go about my tasks here in Washington.”

While serving as a legislator for a dozen years (1991-2002) in the Pennsylvania statehouse in Harrisburg, Gerlach says he gained “a whole lot of valuable insight” into the “slow and sometimes messy process” that is representative government.

As the first-ever U.S. congressman from the Keystone State’s newly created Sixth District (Chester County and environs, near Philadelphia), this self-declared “middle-of-the-road Republican” understands that he’s going to be facing some huge challenges ahead—including the situation in Iraq, health-care reform, federal tax cuts and the highly daunting task of sorting through President George W. Bush’s $2.2 trillion federal budget.

“It’s a formidable challenge, that’s for sure,” conceded the affable congressman during an interview in his D.C. office. “There are undoubtedly going to be some trying times up ahead. As a newcomer, you’re also facing some logistics problems—starting with the fact that you’ve got to get your office up and running as quickly as possible.

“I expect this to be a tough job, but I don’t feel like it’s going to be overwhelming. After 12 years in the state legislature, none of this is foreign to me, and I think I have a pretty good idea of how I want to approach the issues and the problems of the people in my district.

“We’re going to be very clear and specific about the needs of the people I represent—and then we’re gonna keep pushing until we get some good things accomplished,” he adds. “At the end of the day, you’re never going to have a perfect bill, a perfect product. But on any particular issue, if you’re able to move the ball down the field a little bit and make things a little better for people in some way, then I think you’ve been successful at your job.”

Ask Jim Gerlach to remember his youthful days at Dickinson—where he earned a degree in political science—and he will say he enjoyed his football exploits and his many hours in the classroom.

“What I liked most about Dickinson was its size,” he recalls. “With only about [1,600] students [in the mid-1970s], the college was small enough that the classes were usually very intimate, very intense. I’ll never forget the courses I took from [the late English professor] Joe Schiffman. He had an amazing ability to bring a novel alive by portraying the characters and reading their lines, almost as if he were delivering them onstage.

“Professor Schiffman loved books, and he loved ideas. And what a showman! Once a year he’d stage a reading at the auditorium on campus, and he’d play Edgar Allan Poe doing ‘The Raven.’ He’d read the poem in the dark, with candles burning ... and the effect on his students was electrifying.

“That was a great liberal-arts education, let me tell you,” continues Gerlach. “But I also enjoyed the football enormously, and I enjoyed lots of good times with my fraternity, Sigma Chi. I’ve kept up a close connection with the school as a result—even to the point of serving on the board of trustees [in the late 1980s].

“As a lawyer and also as a legislator, I know the liberal arts have played a major role in helping me understand issues and articulate positions effectively over the years,” he adds.

While spending 12 years in the Pennsylvania statehouse (four as a representative and eight as a senator), Jim Gerlach established a reputation as a moderate Republican who was passionately committed to more efficient government. Among his major legislative victories were initiatives aimed at reforming welfare and improving local land-use management to reduce the debilitating effects of “runaway suburban sprawl” and poor regional planning. The passage of those measures and several others like them resulted in a host of civic and “good government” awards for Gerlach, including citations from such regional organizations as the Pennsylvania Planning Association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Green Valleys Environmental Association.

Gerlach’s impressive record as a legislator also drew accolades last year from George W. Bush, who paused during a visit to the Sixth District to tell local reporters, “Jim Gerlach has a track record that inspires confidence from people of both political parties—and that’s why it’s in Pennsylvania’s interest that he become this district’s next congressman.”

Ask the freshman from Chester County (Upper Uwchlan Township) to describe his “vision of government,” and he’ll tell you that his years of legislative deal-making have taught him a lot about “the need for pragmatism in conducting the people’s business.

“I think you always want to work as hard as you possibly can to put your proposals forward,” he says with a frown of determination. “At the same time, you have to recognize that the bottom line is, you’re one of many—and you do have some limitations on what you can accomplish. We’ve got 435 members in the House and another 100 over there in the Senate, and each one of them is working as hard as he or she can to support the people they represent.

“What I tell myself is that I want to use every day to the fullest and to accomplish everything I can. When I finish here, I want to be able to tell myself, ‘Well, I made a difference on this or that particular issue.’ But it’s not going to be perfect, I know that. The key thing is to keep working at it, and to remain pragmatic about the results.”

With Iraq in shambles and the U.S. economy sputtering, there’s no doubt that America faces some enormous dangers and challenges in the years ahead.

Nevertheless, Gerlach remains “confident and hopeful” about the country’s future, even as he begins rolling up his sleeves for the legislative tasks ahead. “I think we need to remember that we’ve had some very trying times in this country,” he says. “If you look back at the Revolutionary War era, for example, you realize that we weren’t at all sure we could win that. And what about the Civil War, in which we were a hair away from splitting as a country and becoming two separate nations over the issue of states rights and slavery?

“And then of course there was the Great Depression and World War II and the Cold War. Those were extremely dangerous times, and yet we got through them somehow. I think those experiences have taught us a key lesson—which is that we’ll be fine as a nation, provided that we just stay true to the principles on which this country was founded.” •

Tom Nugent is a freelance writer.

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