Among the throngs of well-wishers at the celebration and reunion of the Governor Tom Ridge/Lt. Governor Mark Schweiker Administration, was Ben Reichley of LB Water Company, local community/political activist, and active member of your Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee. (A Pennsylvania history reminder: When Ridge was tapped to be the first Secretary of Homeland Security after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, Schweiker completed their shared term as Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.)
While many stories and fond memories flowed throughout the weekend’s reunion, Ben caught up with Ridge and Schweiker on Friday evening in the President James Polk Ballroom of the beautiful Bedford Springs Resort. Pictured (left to right) are Governor Mark Schweiker, Governor Tom Ridge, and Ben Reichley.
Please feel free to read on about the reunion, Governor Ridge’s health, and his take on the current state of political affairs.
This article is re-printed from PennLive:
Written by Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
BEDFORD – It’s been 27 years since Tom Ridge stepped into the role as governor and surrounded himself with a team that he believed shared his commitment to making Pennsylvania “a leader among states and a competitor among nations.”
The passage of time hasn’t eroded the close bond he built with his Cabinet and other administration officials during his six years as the commonwealth’s chief executive. Nor has it erased their appreciation of him, the memories they made together and still laugh about.
That was obvious this weekend when 140 people gathered at the historic Omni Bedford Springs Resort for a “family” reunion to share stories of their time running state government.
Ridge called the weekend “a celebration of service and friendship.”
“All these good people were committed to Pennsylvania and to serving their fellow Pennsylvanians and their governor’s office in the most admirable way possible,” Ridge said. “They brought a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of integrity, a lot of great ideas hopefully to make Pennsylvania a better place to live and work and worship when we got done.”
It began Friday – Ridge’s 77th birthday. Guests registered in a room decked out with Ridge memorabilia: from campaign materials, photos, a framed copy of the front page of a newspaper the morning after he was elected in 1995, and a framed copy of the 1998-99 budget bill, along with the pen he used to sign it on April 22, 1998, with a notation “earliest budget ever.”
This gathering was supposed to happen in 2020 – the 25th anniversary of the year the Ridge Administration began – but was canceled because of COVID-19. Then last June Ridge suffered a stroke.
“Delayed but not denied,” Ridge said Friday, seated in a chair in the James Polk Presidential Suite in the picturesque inn that has hosted several U.S. presidents over the past two centuries.
Ridge sat down in an exclusive interview with PennLive to talk about his health, politics today, politicians and other current events, his family and life on the home front. And he reflected on the historic gathering of administration officials that his lieutenant governor – or “partner” as he called him – Mark Schweiker said he made it a point not to miss.
Here are highlights of that conversation:
Recovery from his stroke: “I’m feeling very well. Blessed,” Ridge said, showing only slight signs of being slowed by his stroke. “When the sun shines, I wake up every day and say thanks for another shot at this. Hopefully I do better today than I did yesterday.”
Three times a week he goes in for cognitive and physical therapy. He joked that he tells his therapists that PT really stands for “pain and torture.”
A goal he said he shares with others he sees at therapy is to leave better than when they came in. He said he feels the sessions are helping him accomplish that. But he said it also instills in him a fresh appreciation for the gift of good health.
“Fortunately, none of my experiences including my military service has led me to a point where I’ve had limited mobility and restraints on what I do physically, which gives me a greater respect for those men, women and children who work their way through whatever physical challenges they have,” he said. “I see it every day when I go to therapy. I now appreciate the gift of a healthy child when you see young kids in there. Or healthy older people such as yours truly.”
Ridge’s wife, Michele, chimed in later that his visits are therapeutic in another way, too. It allows him to relive the thrill he got from campaigning and interacting with people.
“It takes me an hour to leave,” Ridge said, with a laugh. “I have to say goodbye to everybody.”
“They call him the Perle Mesta of the therapy place where he goes,” his wife said, referring to the socialite who earned the moniker “hostess with the mostest.”
This year’s gubernatorial race: Ridge said the difference between the nominee his Republican Party has chosen, Doug Mastriano, and Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro are stark.
“I think it’s probably been a long time when there’s been such a significant difference in philosophy and priorities and there’s a real distinct difference in the campaigns,” he said.
Ridge made a point of mentioning that Shapiro as well as Republican Mehmet Oz, who is running against Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman among third party candidates for the open U.S. Senate seat, stopped by to pay him a visit while they were campaigning in Erie.
He said they talked about Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania issues.
Asked if he could see himself voting for Shapiro, Ridge replied, “He’s a very impressive man.” Then he added: “My ballot’s like everybody else’s, it’s mine, private.”
Identifying with Fetterman’s health situation: Ridge empathizes with the situation of lieutenant governor and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, knowing well what it takes to run a statewide campaign.
“I identify the challenges he has with them today and ahead,” Ridge said. “Knowing the rigors of the campaign and the limitations on his ability to campaign because of what it does to your mobility. Obviously, regardless of your political persuasion, you wish him a speedy and complete recovery. There’s a lot of challenges associated with it. A lot. I know.”
Reflecting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021: After a big exhale, Ridge said it was heartbreaking to watch the crowds break into the nation’s Capitol, a place where he spent six terms while serving in the U.S. House.
“I used to walk those halls when they open the door politely to welcome guests,” he said. But on that day last year, “they were not welcome guests. It’s distressing that politics has taken that turn and I can’t say anymore.”
Pausing first for a moment, he went on: “if you really thought about it, it could bring a tear to your eye. It’s the kind of conduct you’d see in a Third World country, not in the United States of America.”
He said it will take time to figure out what all the factors were that built up to the events of that day and he’ll let historians figure it out.
But he shared as the nation’s first homeland security director and later as secretary from 2001 to 2005, the concern during White House briefings focused on foreign terrorists who might come in to disrupt our democracy.”
“That’s what saddens you about January 6,” Ridge said. “It was an assault on democracy not by foreign terrorists but by people who felt so aggrieved that that was the only way they could get their grievances heard in spite of the constitutional protections for free speech and going to the ballot box and changing your leadership if you don’t like it.”
Ridge said politics have become personal, vengeful, mean-spirited. Even when he was in the military, protesters opposed the war in Vietnam but he said it never got to the point it is today.
“Some sociologists and psychologists and political experts will figure it out down the road maybe. I can’t figure it out,” he said.
Life on the Homefront: The Ridges spend most of their time in Erie these days. This year, they got a puppy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, from a breeder in Lancaster County. Michele Ridge said this is the first dog they’ve had since their Labrador retriever that they had while living in the Governor’s Residence died in 2008.
“I sobbed for two weeks. He was such a wonderful dog. It took me from 2008 until just 2022 to finally decide to get another dog,” she said. She named him Sir Oliver Hazard Perry after the famed Naval officer who led the American forces in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
That 7-month-old pup is now the “alpha male in the house,” Ridge said. “I used to be, but I have been replaced by Sir Oliver.”
Their daughter Lesley Ridge Allen, now vice president of business engagement at the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, lives nearby and their son Tommy lives in Washington D.C. where he works as a major event décor planner. Ridge said both have helped their mom in caring for him in recent years.
Another delight that brings a twinkle to his eye is 6-year-old grandson Grady, Lesley’s son. He shared a story that he said he would be repeating over the weekend about telling his grandson how old he was turning. When he said 77, his grandson’s eyes grew big.
“At least he didn’t ask me if I’ve ever seen a dinosaur,” Ridge said with a chuckle.
The weekend gathering: Despite the circumstances that delayed the silver anniversary celebration of the start of the Ridge/Schweiker administration, there was a determination to make it happen. Schweiker said he had no intention of missing it.
“You wouldn’t miss a family reunion and I think we feel that same way about each other and I mean collectively,” Schweiker said, who entered the room near the end of the interview drawing laughs by saying, “Can I bring out the vodka?”
After sharing a fist-bump greeting with Ridge, Schweiker said, “I know Tom well enough to know he enjoys a good policy challenge and a good bottle of vodka.”
Also seated in the room were Ridge’s former chiefs of staff – Mark Holman and Mark Campbell – and a former press secretary Steve Aaron who echoed the sentiment that those who served in the Ridge Administration became like family.
“That’s not all that common,” Holman said, “Families don’t even have reunions these days.”
“It says something about him,” Campbell said, referring to Ridge. “It’s all owed to him but at the same time there is an incredible bond among all of us.”
Among the guests who turned out for the gathering were seven of Ridge’s Cabinet officers: Public Welfare Secretary Feather Houston, Adjutant General William Lynch, Transportation Secretary Brad Mallory, Budget Secretary Bob Bittenbender, Environmental Protection Secretary Jim Seif, Secretary of the Commonwealth Kim Pizzingrilli, and General Services Secretary Gary Crowell.
Having so many people turn out for this reunion “really does speak to what he and Schweiker built – an administration who enjoyed and respected each other, enjoyed working together,” said Aaron. “That’s so special. You have this many people who...come together and see each other and see him because they love him so much.”
Michele Ridge said the mutual respect that her husband and his administration’s team shared was special. They all had a good sense of humor but not huge egos.
Some of the bills that Ridge signed – such as the 1995 law that grants automatic pay raises to lawmakers, judges, and top executive branch officials and the 2001 pension enhancement that has contributed greatly to a huge unfunded liability in the two pension systems – continue to this day to draw criticism.
But others are celebrated for the positive impact they’ve had, from welfare reform and redevelopment of old industrial sites to investments to clean and protect the commonwealth’s waterways, introducing school choice options through charter schools and a tax credit program for businesses that donate to preK-12 private school scholarship funds.
Ridge credited the people he had around him for his administration’s accomplishments.
“I could never have done that alone,” he said.
“What I want them to understand is how grateful I was that they put their lives on hold to come help me govern. I don’t know if they felt it was a hiatus or a break. I hope they felt it was time well spent. It certainly was for Pennsylvanians that’s for sure.”
Ridge-Schweiker-Reichley: A Reunion of old Friends
