Philadelphia Daily News - Commentary: Whatever happened to the Rendell who praised Toomey?

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By Tom Ridge

At a time when bipartisan cooperation is needed more than ever, I was disappointed to see former Gov. Ed Rendell suddenly attack Sen. Pat Toomey in these pages with partisan talking points and misleading statements.

For a long time, Rendell has praised Toomey as one of the senators who has done the most to encourage bipartisan gun safety reform in Washington.

Rendell described Toomey as "a man of uncommon decency and a man who wants the process to work" after his bipartisan efforts with Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, to strengthen gun background checks in 2013.

The governor further praised the Toomey-Manchin bill, saying, "We can be proud of our senator and proud that a Pennsylvanian played a key part in reaching the solution" if it passes. Rendell was roundly joined by editorial pages around Pennsylvania that heralded Toomey's determination to cut through the partisan environment in Washington and protect Pennsylvania families.

Following Toomey-Manchin, the senator continued his much-needed leadership on many important issues. Whether the issue is gun safety, saving jobs, protecting children from predators, or tackling prescription drug abuse, Toomey has stood out in the Senate precisely because he is willing to work with his Democratic colleagues to get legislation passed and make a difference.

Immediately following the tragedy in Orlando, Toomey introduced his own compromise bill to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. He also joined other Republican and Democratic senators in supporting Main Sen. Susan Collins' legislation to achieve the same aim.

Rendell knows how difficult it is to get important legislation through the partisan roadblocks in Washington. Invariably, Republicans and Democrats cling to their respective positions, with both sides refusing to give an inch. Toomey is one of the few senators in Washington willing to cross the aisle, buck his party's leadership and even take on the National Rifle Association to find a compromise that has a chance of becoming law and protecting Pennsylvania families.

That is why it was so dispiriting to hear Rendell embrace such a partisan role on behalf of Katie McGinty, whose Senate campaign he chairs, and distort the facts about Toomey's gun safety record, which he once effusively praised.

The terrorist watch list bill that Rendell touted was a partisan proposal that had already failed last year and predictably failed on Monday. McGinty supported this extreme proposal and actually criticized Toomey for trying to find bipartisan compromise.

In addition, Toomey and Manchin reintroduced their widely praised bipartisan legislation to strengthen gun background checks last week. Even Vice President Joe Biden praised Toomey shortly after it was announced. And this is the very same legislation Rendell has enthusiastically praised.

Instead of embracing Toomey-Manchin, Democrats pushed an extreme proposal, which promptly failed and achieved nothing more than political theater. In fact, several Democrats joined Toomey in opposing this partisan measure, which was an obvious effort to stifle compromise.

Washington is full of people playing politics on the most important issues facing our country. Sadly, McGinty has demonstrated she will be another partisan voice, choosing party politics over bipartisan compromise every time. That is something Pennsylvania neither needs nor wants.

As Rendell has said, Toomey "was solely responsible for trying to push his caucus (toward a compromise), and that was not an easy feat."

That is exactly the kind of leader Pennsylvania needs in the U.S. Senate.

Tom Ridge was the nation's first secretary of Homeland Security and the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania. He is chairman of Ridge Global in Washington.

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