Effective Government

We often talk about the American experiment as though it were born of a single idea, freedom. But that’s only a part of the story. The...

Local governments must become sites of innovation and resilience. They must prepare not only to endure the coming years but to use them as a crucible for reform. We can, and must, emerge from this moment with a more honest politics, a more realistic planning discipline, and a more grounded sense of the work ahead. The era of inherited security is over. The age of adaptive government has begun. We did not choose this moment. But we do get to choose how we meet it.

If we gut Medicaid, we don’t just cut a budget line — we cut through the care that holds our communities together. In Allegheny County, more than 250,000 people rely on Medicaid. It supports our seniors, our EMS response, our rural hospitals, and our children’s access to mental health care. The proposed cuts out of Washington would shift the burden to local governments, strain our emergency services, and force impossible choices.

On a 350,000-acre ranch in Montana, there was no manual, no backup, and no time to dwell — just seven of us and whatever the day threw our way. You learned to stay calm under pressure, take responsibility, and get the job done right. That same ethic guides me today, whether I’m in turnout gear or sitting in a budget meeting. Public service isn’t about being in control, it’s about being ready when it counts.

A call to reimagine local government in Western Pennsylvania, not as a patchwork of siloed jurisdictions, but as a network of communities building shared solutions for a changing world.

The First Amendment is only 45 words long. But those 45 words contain the essence of American liberty: freedom of religion, freedom of...

In the grand machinery of American government, federal dollars often seem like the oil—flowing silently, invisibly, sustaining the...

We often convince ourselves that democracy is safe so long as we keep its trappings: voting, legislatures, courts. But the true strength...

There’s a quiet contract between citizens and the state. We go about our daily lives—working, raising families, checking the weather with...

This spring, Mt. Lebanon and Dormont are embarking on something simple but transformative: creating a shared Active Transportation Plan ....

In the hills and hollows of Southwest Pennsylvania, the remnants of an earlier American century still stand—steel trusses, redbrick mill...

By reclaiming its streets, reshaping its air, and reimagining the very experience of movement, Paris has performed something bordering on a civic miracle.

There is something paradoxically modern and ancient about Earth Day. Conceived in 1970 amid the maelstrom of American cultural and...

By any fair reckoning, America’s economic policy has entered an era of weaponized interdependence. The re-imposition and expansion of...

It’s an honor to be here today at the  CONNECT 2025 Utility and Critical Infrastructure Summit, where we have the opportunity to gather...

The enduring debate over the role of government in American life has long been distilled into a binary: should the state be an active...

For most Americans, the power lines crisscrossing their neighborhoods are an afterthought—noticed only when they fail or when a...

We’ve reinvented ourselves before, and we can do it again. The question isn’t whether we can—it’s whether we will.

Emergency medical services are the invisible backbone of our communities. When the worst happens—a heart attack, a car crash, a stroke—we...

History doesn’t repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. The Roman Republic and the United States were both founded on the idea that no...