Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Farewell, Sen. Chip

In the end, it came down to the raise alone:
"Only 18 percent of the state's voters went to the polls, but they ousted 17 lawmakers, including the two most powerful members of the state Senate -- Majority Leader David J. 'Chip' Brightbill, R-Lebanon, and President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Blair County."

To this day, I can't watch Goodbye, Mr. Chips (at least the 1939 version with Robert Donat and Greer Garson) without it bringing a tear to my eye.

The same cannot be said for the passing from the political scene of Sen. Chip Brightbill. Looking back 24 years to Chip's first run for the state Senate, it is hard for me to believe that I would look on his removal from office in a GOP primary with approbation.

In that earlier era, Chip seemed to be one of the good guys. He employed Pete Zug in his office, Pete was one of the good guys in the Young Republicans. In 1992, Pete was elected to the state House of Representatives.

And, in 2006, both Chip and Pete lost their primary re-nomination fights. The overwhelming issue, as it was for eleven other Republican state legislators and four of their Democrat colleagues was the 2:00 AM vote, one fateful night in 2005, to raise the already exorbitant pay and perks of senators and representatives.

Reapportionment removed my township from Brightbill's senate district several years ago, so I was spared the painful necessity of voting against him myself. I'll shed no tears for Chip. He wasn't run out of town on a rail covered with tar and feathers, he just gets to retire from state service with a nice pension - and he will have more time to devote to the practice of law.