Harrisburg City Councilman Brad Koplinski will not run for mayor, as many expected, but rather for lieutenant governor.
As first reported by Today's The Day Harrisburg, Koplinski issued a news release Sunday afternoon, saying he would make his official announcement at noon Monday in the East Wing of the State Capitol.
Brad Koplinski
Koplinski's platform "will be to help Pennsylvania’s municipalities make their own decisions without being dictated to by the Governor and the State Legislature," according to the news release.
He would do that, according to the news release, through his role as head of the Local Government Advisory Committee.
“Pennsylvania’s municipalities are in trouble," Koplinski said in the release. "They are spending more money than they are taking in. Their infrastructures are crumbling. They are not allowed to generate their own revenue without asking for permission from the Governor and the Legislature.
"Having fought Governor Corbett in determining the best course for Harrisburg, I want to be able to continue that fight on behalf of all of our cities, towns and boroughs.”
Koplinski was part of a group of four Harrisburg City Council members who attempted to take the city into bankruptcy rather than accept the Act 47 plan, resulting in a new state law prohibiting the filing of protracted litigation.
The power of the lieutenant governor is notoriously nonexistent. The position does come with the most lavish office in the Capitol, which the late Catherine Baker Knoll used to quip was compensation for being largely irrelevant.