Meet Pa. House Speaker Bryan Cutler: A farmer, a triathlete, a leader who never forgets his mistakes

• Jan Murphy/PennLive
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  I cover state government and basic and higher education policy. Reach me at JMurphy@pennlive.com or at 717-255-4106 or 717-255-4106.

(Harrisburg) — It’s not often when the top leadership position in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives opens up in the middle of legislative session.

But when it did this year, there was broad agreement it was Lancaster County native Bryan Cutler’s job for the taking.

The 45-year-old father of three ascended to that post in near-record time after first being elected in 2006 to represent the 100th House District and rising up to serving as majority leader last year.

His GOP colleagues offered high praise for the job Cutler did as leader, helping to steer more than 560 pieces of legislation through the chamber in the first 18 months of the 23-month session.

Even more impressive, some of those bills touched on substantial issues that had been sitting on the back burner for years, if not decades, including election reform, police reform, criminal justice reform and even a historic reform bill opening the door to a reshaping of the 37-year-old system of state-owned universities.

His team credits the success Cutler had in moving bills at a pace not seen since 2005 to how he defined goals for each session week and tied bills together with a theme: “Educating for tomorrow”, “GoodJobs4PA”, “Protecting victims,” and “Helpers and Heroes.” Committees then worked ahead on bills that fit those agendas.

Now as speaker, he takes on a new role of presiding over the 203-member chamber for at least the remaining five months of this legislative session. The former X-ray technician who went on to pursue a law degree sometimes ponders what his late father would think of him.

Cutler said his dad never trusted politicians or lawyers. His dad died from ALS in Cutler’s senior year of high school and his mom died a few years later from the same disease.

He sat down last week with PennLive in an empty House chamber to talk about his role, the issues that lie ahead for the remainder of the session, and the tenets by which he lives.

The interview ended minutes before the state Supreme Court issued its ruling on Wednesday that upheld Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 emergency declaration that the General Assembly sought to end, so no questions were asked about that.

To make up for it, we’ll start out with 10 personal details Cutler shared about himself to better acquaint Pennsylvanians with him.

1. He raced amateur triathlons up to a Half Ironman until he injured himself five years ago and separately had to have a series of foot surgeries.
2. He started doing CrossFit workouts regularly and has lost 70 pounds in the past 18 months.
3. He loves to read.
4. He taught himself how to solve a Rubik’s Cube at age 35 “because I was frustrated I never learned it as a kid. YouTube is a wonderful teacher.”
5. His youthful appearance led to him being carded on his 40th birthday.
6. Being speaker of the House doesn’t absolve him of household chores. On the night of his swearing-in as speaker, he had to take out the garbage.
7. He lives in the log home his parents built in 1980 on land where his grandparents had a dairy farm.
8. He has a photographic memory that he calls a blessing and a curse. It helped him in school but also never lets him forget his mistakes.
9. He and his wife Jennifer were high school sweethearts who will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in August.
10. He not only has a garden but keeps chickens, sheep and goats on his nearly 11-acre farm.

Here are other highlights from the conversation with the new speaker:

Q: Will people notice a different leadership style in your serving as speaker compared to your predecessor, former House Speaker Mike Turzai?

A: Institutionally, Cutler said a lot of how the House is run is already set in rules that govern the chamber. But one thing he will insist on as he said Turzai did was to maintain decorum on the House floor.

“I think it’s important,” Cutler said. “This is where we exchange ideas and have debates about very important issues and so I plan to continue that. My leadership style is probably a little bit different in some aspects. I ran the majority leader’s office slightly different. I tried to pick the best practices of everyone before me and made some of our own and I intend to make the speaker’s office the same way.”

As speaker, he said he recognizes his role is different than as majority leader.

“I kind of went from being on a team to being more of an umpire in terms of what’s appropriate for amendments and bills, what’s that scope look like, what’s the decorum during the debate and offering that same attention to detail and try to work with everybody through this office as well,” he said.

Q: Do you see yourself stepping down from the rostrum to participate in debates on issues of importance to you?

A: “I think on some issues that may be important for me on a personal level because I still have a job as a representative for the members and residents of the 100th district but I also recognize both literally and figuratively the speaker is kind of above the fray that comes with that job. That’s something I’ll work through,” he said.

Health care is an issue that his near and dear to his heart, given his history in working in that field prior to his legislative service. While he will be engaged in that issue, particularly since Medicaid spending is one of the biggest expenditures in the state budget, he also thinks his role is more about helping other members get their ideas across the goal line.

“The vast majority of the time it’s consistent with what I believe or the individuals in the district that I represent believe so it’s OK. It doesn’t have to have my name on it,” he said.

In fact, as majority leader, he said, “I’ve not put any bills in since this time last year. I viewed it as my job as majority leader to represent the caucus issues, whatever they were. I view the speaker’s role to be very similar to be that of a mentor to help some of the other legislators work through the legislative process, the amendment process.”

Q: What’s your relationship like with the governor?

A: “It’s good,” Cutler said. “I think he and I have had some very open and honest dialogues on some very tough issues and I expect that to continue. Likewise with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and across the chamber in the Senate, one of the things, one of my approaches is I’ve always tried to be very direct when it comes to working through issues.

” I love some of the meetings with the governor and his staff because they’d be 15 minutes long. We each run through our list. What can you do? Yes? No? Maybe? And if it was a no, we understood each other and we kept moving. That’s efficiency but it’s also respectful of each other’s time and positions. I think that’s important as you work through issues. Because once you demonstrate that level of trust and honesty, it becomes much easier to solve some of the other issues.”

Q: Do you think the House Democrats will consider you to be fair?

A: “I think so,” Cutler said.

As majority leader, he was able to work through some difficult issues and amendments with the Democratic caucus. “Because of that, I think they kind of tipped the hat to that by making it a unanimous vote on my election day” as speaker,” Cutler said. “I expect that relationship to continue you as well.”

Q: What are some of the big issues you expect the House will tackle in the remaining months of this legislative session that ends Nov. 30?

A: “Obviously, the big one that’s kind of hanging out there is the budget,” he said.

Lawmakers in May passed a partial budget that funded most governmental agencies at the same level as the just-ended fiscal year through the end of November; education and debt service were funded for the full year at last year’s levels.

“We’re going to wait and see what the federal government gives us if they give any additional funding. … We also put back I think $1.2 billion originally of the federal CARES dollars so that’s sitting there,” he said. “Then we need to take a look at what other components of the budget and what revenue comes in so we can prioritize the spending. Because the economy certainly took a big downturn, very sharp. It is starting to come back. That’s good. I saw a lot of ‘Help Wanted’ signs as I was driving around the district the last couple weeks. I think that’s a positive sign.”

Beyond that, he noted committees are working on election reform and probation reform, to name a few issues that could see action this fall. He also is aware that discussions are ongoing about further police reforms beyond the two bills that strengthen police hiring, training and mental health screening that are on their way to the governor’s desk for his signature.

He said the conversations that led to those bills getting across the goal line exemplifies his style of governing.

“I’m a firm believer in you get what you can agree to off the table and then keep moving,” Cutler said.

On the issue of the police reform bills, he paused to credit the role that legislative staff play in law-making and said their role in working that issue made the difference.

“As members, we get thanked for all the good things our staff does and oftentimes, our staff get yelled at for some of the votes that people disagree with that we make,” Cutler said. “While we may be the public face, it’s really the staff that’s the gears in the machinery that really makes everything work.”

Q: With the partial budget that gets state government through November, it sets up the potential for a post-election, or sine die, legislative session that month. In recent years, the General Assembly has tried to avoid those sessions because it leads to departing or retiring members whose term ends on Nov. 30 casting votes sometimes on controversial issues for which they can no longer be held accountable. What is the likelihood that there will be a sine die session this year?

A: Cutler said it depends on whether and when the federal government provides additional stimulus money to the states as well as how state revenues are coming in. If the revenue picture becomes clearer before the election, that could eliminate the need for a post-election session.

Then again, he said, “The taxpayers pay us through the end of [November] in terms of our term so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that we should work through the end of the month.”

But he also said he recognizes historically those sessions have raised concerns.

“The good news is the transparency and the atmosphere are very different now than it was even 14 years ago when I ran for the first time,” he said. “And it’s way different than it was decades ago. Obviously, the job [the media does] is very important in terms of following what goes on up here, informing your readers of that so the internet is a two-edged sword but it also helps convey information. But I think if there’s still tough topics that need to be handled or if the budget’s not done, I would expect to be back.”

Q: Is it too soon to ask what mark you hope to leave on your tenure as speaker?

A: “Honestly, it all goes back to what I mentioned during my swearing-in speech,” he said. “It’s really the three things my parents taught me: You treat everyone with respect. You never ask somebody to do something you’re not willing to do yourself. And the third is you always leave things better than you found them. If I can do that, I’ll be very pleased.”

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