So if you’re keeping score, Governor Josh Shapiro is now opposed to data centers. Loudly and forcefully — for Pennsylvania voters to hear from Allentown to Ligonier, and for progressive Democrats to hear from Des Moines, Iowa, to Charleston, South Carolina.
For Pennsylvanians, I understand if you’re confused. After all, Shapiro had been passionately for data centers — making a play to be the national leader and offering tax incentives and expedited concierge service for new applications. He was so grateful Amazon was going to build two mega-centers in Northeastern Pennsylvania that he all but gave Jeff Bezos the keys to the Governor’s Mansion.
Editor’s note: A version of this column ran in Broad + Liberty.
Then there was grumbling in King of Prussia, central Pennsylvania, and outside of Wilkes-Barre. So Shapiro was for them, but not for them.
Stacy Garrity, his GOP gubernatorial challenger, called for a data center pause. She said citizens and politicians should talk about what was happening across the state. She cited possible impacts on electricity and water rates, the role Pennsylvania natural gas could play, questions about how many jobs would or would not be created, and what data was being stored and for whom.
Shapiro’s 21 polling has decreased since earlier in the year, down two points, according to Quinnipiac, whereas the same poll had Garrity up three points. Garrity had touched a nerve, giving a voice to voters. They finally felt heard.
Other incumbents would feel boxed in. But no problem if you’re Flip-Flop Josh.
Now he’s hell no — thunderously signing executive orders against data centers like he was Oprah handing out cars.
He lectured passionately, with fire and anger directed at tech giants, calling them scoundrels: pressuring their way into communities, lying, deceiving, and bringing fear to the good people of PA.
That’s a long, long journey from the celebratory press conference with Amazon in Northeast PA just a few months ago. Shameless.
Garrity bravely offered leadership. She called for a pause to guarantee everyone was talking and listening so that projects could be rejected or proceed with input and transparent planning.
Flip-Flop Josh couldn’t be outdone. So Shapiro is now not only opposed — he’s angrily throwing his selfie-buddies under the bus to be ridiculed and hated.
There’s so much anger. So much hypocrisy. Such a lack of leadership.
Another episode under the bright lights: “The Josh Shapiro Show.” It’s never about us. It’s always about him.
Just last year, Shapiro arrogantly rushed to the cameras to proclaim his leadership for data centers. Now he “triumphantly” rushed to them again — vilifying the very thing he told us was going to reignite PA’s economy.
A governor so lacking in core values that he shamelessly moves from leading a press conference welcoming Amazon’s data centers to posturing TV appearances angrily denouncing the very companies he had been posing with.
He lectures us in his self-taught Obama cadence. If you listen, it’s all about him — his quest to be “President Shapiro.”
He’s a governor with a record of success so small it fits on a business card. On the national stage, his only claim to fame is that he’s Governor. He’s not a socialist, not the wealthiest, not the loudest. He’s not a woman, not gay, not a racial minority. He’s not even the most “centrist” by Democrat standards.
So he’s trying to win the pander award — or the waffle award. He wants Democrat activists to see his ability to be passionately for — or against — the issue of the moment, armed with whatever rhetoric serves him best.
He’s flip-flopped before. We should understand he’ll do it again — maybe even on data centers.
He’s had several positions on school choice. As a candidate and governor, he said he was for it but then vetoed the very bill he asked for. Nonetheless, he assured us he’s still for school choice. Yet he cut funding to Cyber Charter Schools and tried to take away up to $100 million in tuition assistance for poor and working-class families who attend private schools.
He’s done the same regarding PA natural gas. He said he supported using our gas, but as attorney general he essentially tried to put several companies out of business in our state. Yet he complained when Governor Wolf signed a compact harming natural gas. Then Governor Shapiro sued to uphold the very compact he had allegedly opposed.
There are many reasons why some citizens and elected officials support data centers. There are many understandable reasons why nervous, anxious, and distrustful citizens are opposed.
Shapiro has been at both extremes — loudly and publicly — within the span of months.
What we need is a leader to explain the pros and cons, the costs and benefits. Tell the companies up front what they must do for us if they want to build here and use our land, natural gas, and water. Or show some leadership with that alleged 60 percent approval rating: Have a real conversation with us, share a vision that addresses our fears, and maybe ask us to support data centers despite our concerns.
Instead, he pandered to the rich, powerful, and connected. And when the going got tough, he abandoned them like the plague — worse, he vilified his former “besties.”
Another episode under the bright lights: “The Josh Shapiro Show.”
It’s never about us. It’s always about him.
Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, a commentator and strategist. Guy is the former CEO of the Chester County Chamber and Republican nominee for Congress. @PhilaFreedomGuy.
The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.
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