In a statement, the Democratic candidate for the 16th Congressional District breaks with President Barack Obama over his decision to send 30,000 more soldiers to the country. But she also couches her opposition by saying, “I assume President Obama knows more than the rest of us and that he weighed [...]
ABC News will broadcast live coverage of President Barack Obama’s speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1 from 8:00 – 9:00 p.m., ET / 5:00 – 6:00 p.m., PT.
Charles Gibson will anchor the primetime coverage. He will be joined by Chief Washington [...]
H/T Capitol Ideas.
[...]Here is what U.S Rep. Joe Pitts says about the amendment passed by the House earlier this month.
It is purely, and only, about whether or not the government will pay for abortion in the so-called “public option” and through new “affordability credits” if the legislation now in Congress becomes [...]
At least not for 2010.
Reports WHTM: Pennsylvania legislators will not give away free 2010 calendars to their constituents. Rep. John Payne (R-Dauphin) said Republican and Democrat leaders of the House of Representatives recently decided not to print the calendars. “After completing a difficult state budget, and with all signs pointing [...]
In a post on his campaign blog Sunday, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts says his opponents on the left are making “wild claims” about the Stupak-Pitts amendment. He also indirectly criticizes Lois Herr, the Democrat who is running against him in next year’s election.
There is, however, a small [...]
The National Organization for Women, which says it will target Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in next year’s election, is holding a rally Saturday morning in opposition to the health-care amendment the congressman co-authored with Democrat Bart Stupak.
Lois Herr, the Democratic candidate for the 16th Congressional District seat, will [...]
The county commissioners on Wednesday rejected, by a 2-1 vote, a spring arbitration award that gives county corrections officers raises in 2010 and 2011. The arbitration panel gave the 185 corrections officers, who are represented by AFSCME Council 89, a 7 percent pay this year. The officers are contributing [...]
Yeah, we had problems well before Bonusgate. I love the Patriot-News’ not-so-brief history of political wrongdoing — alleged and otherwise — in our fair state.
[...]Politically Uncorrected
By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
TOM CORBETT’S PROBLEM
Attorney General Tom Corbett has a problem. More precisely, he had a problem. More about that in a moment!
Corbett’s problem was the same problem confronted by each of his predecessors since the Office of Attorney General became elective in [...]
Republican Tony Allen conceded the race for Lancaster Township supervisor early this afternoon after a painstaking, 3½-hour manual recount showed his Democratic opponent won by 13 votes. “That’s it,” Allen said after the tally was announced by Lancaster County elections officials shortly before 2:30 p.m.
The results will bring an end [...]
You’ve heard about those taxpayer-funded robocalls Rep. John Perzel ordered against fellow Republicans who refused to “adequately conform to his directives” on how they should vote. Perzel also allegedly directed those calls be made against lawmakers he felt had become a “liability” to the caucus, according to the grand [...]
Of all the things in the grand jury’s 188-page Bonusgate presentment against John Perzel, I found this the most humorous: Perzel allegedly punished a group of Republican House members who refused to “adequately conform to his directives” on how they should vote by directing untraceable “robo” or automated calls [...]
Lancaster County elections officials completed their official canvassing of votes in the race for Lancaster Township supervisor this morning, and though they found four votes that had not been previously counted, the discovery did not change the outcome of the race. Democrat Ben Bamford picked up two of those votes, [...]
The Lancaster County Board of Elections has scheduled the official count and canvass of the 11-vote upset of Lancaster Township Supervisor Tony Allen for 9 Thursday morning. The official count is mandated under state law; officials compare return sheets and count used and unused ballots to verify the original results.
As [...]
Gov. Ed Rendell, offering his synopsis of Tuesday’s election on NBC’s Meet the Press, acknowledged the results weren’t great for Democrats.
“I’m happy I wasn’t running this year,” Rendell said, adding that he didn’t believe the results were a referendum on Obama. “When things are bad, incumbents are held responsible [...]
The newly formed Pennsylvania Tea Party Patriots Coalition — a group that includes the Lancaster Tea Party and like-minded organizations from around the state — will march on Harrisburg and hold a rally Saturday to demand an end to fiscal irresponsibility in Pennsylvania.
“The recent Pennsylvania budget fiasco illustrates [...]
The county’s top elections official, Mary Stehman, says there might be additional military or overseas absentee ballots that have not been opened in the race for Lancaster Mayor. Former two-term Mayor Charlie Smithgall picked up 11 votes from provisional ballots, bringing the Republican’s total to 3,485, in the final canvassing [...]
As I mentioned earlier, Tony Allen could potentially petition the courts to order a visual recount of the election results for supervisor in Lancaster Township. Allen, a Republican, appears to have lost by only 11 votes or less than half a percentage point to Ben Bamford, a Democrat. I [...]
Just in case you missed them in this morning’s print edition, here are a few brainteasers for your Friday evening enjoyment:
1.) And you thought this year’s mayoral race was close? Yes, Democrat Rick Gray won a second term by only 313 votes of the 7,261 cast in the race, or [...]
Former two-term Mayor Charlie Smithgall picked up 11 votes from provisional ballots, bringing the Republican’s total to 3,485, in the final canvassing of returns completed early this evening. Mayor Rick Gray, a Democrat, picked up five votes from provisional ballots, bringing his total to 3,792, said Mary Stehman, the county’s [...]
Former U.S. Rep. Robert S. Walker, of Manheim Township, has announced his support of Tom Corbett for governor, saying Pennsylvania’s attorney general is the Republican with the best chance of “helping our party take back the Governor’s office” and restoring fiscal discipline in Harrisburg. PoliticsPa has [...]
AMVETS Post 19 will hold its annual “Meet the Candidates” night on Sunday, Oct. 18. If you’re not familiar with this event, it’s become a staple of the local political scene since its founder, the late Harold Sommers, launched it back in 1996. This year’s [...]
Spending and tax bills approved by the Republican-controlled Senate earlier today are on their way to the House, where Democrats are threatening to strip $12 million in what they believe are discretionary grants from the $27.8 billion plan and quickly send it back to the Senate. Senate Republicans, meantime, say [...]
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh will give “A Report from Washington” at Franklin & Marshall College on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at F&M’s Barshinger Center for the Musical Arts in Hensel [...]
Rep. John C. Bear, a Lititz Republican, scheduled a rally in support of a bill that would end project labor agreements in Pennsylvania, contracts he says reward unions with large contracts and drive up the cost of taxpayer-funded projects.
The local trade unions found out about it. [...]
… and watch this. It’s gotta beat anything else on the tube tonight. Seriously.
[...]
Republican state Reps. Scott Boyd and Bryan Cutler were among a group of GOP lawmakers who drafted a letter to the president encouraging him to examine their 14-bill health care-reform package.
“We recognize that you may not approve of every [...]
If you can’t get enough of Chris Matthews’ freewheeling, in-your-face style of punditry on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” here’s a chance to get your fix in person. Matthews will be at Franklin & Marshall College next Wednesday night to talk about health care reform, the state of the [...]
Brad Bumsted of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has Rendell on the record:
“This budget is not balanced for this year, and it’s a billion dollars short for next year,” Rendell said in Pittsburgh. He said he plans to tell the legislative leaders who announced the agreement that he would “absolutely” veto the [...]
Gov. Ed Rendell’s office is putting the finishing touches on a statement opposing the so-called budget agreement reached by three of the four legislative caucuses, a spokesman said. But his chief of staff, Steve Crawford, told The Post-Gazette Rendell cannot support the plan.
The spending proposal by Senate Republican and [...]
You decide. From Capitolwire.com Bureau Chief Peter L. DeCoursey:
HARRISBURG (Sept. 10) – A $27.945 billion proposed budget is expected to be announced Friday morning at a joint press conference of leaders of the House Democrats, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats.
House Democrats were ardently lobbying Rendell to agree to [...]
Is it for real this time?
State lawmakers are nearing a handshake agreement on the budget, according to various media outlets. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports tonight that “aides confirmed that the administration and legislative leaders have agreed on an overall spending figure of roughly $28 billion - less than Rendell had [...]
The Tweeting senator says, “Rep. Wilson apologized immediately afterward but I don’t think that’s adequate.”
[...]U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts’ office released the following statement this morning on President Barack Obama’s call for passage of sweeping health-care legislation Wednesday night:
“I don’t really know whether this speech is going to change things for the President. He continues to support a deeply unpopular government-run public option [...]
H/T PoliticsPA:
Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett will officially declare his candidacy for governor Monday night in Pittsburgh, two independent sources with knowledge of the announcement tell PoliticsPA. Corbett is considered the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination. U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach is the only other Republican [...]
Never thought you’d see that headline, huh?
From the Toomey for Senate campaign:
Toomey Praises Obama’s Inspiring School Speech
Allentown, PA – U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey called President Obama’s speech today to school children in Arlington, Virginia “an inspiring and moving speech for students across America.”
“Education is the [...]
The Charlotte Observer recalls:
On Oct. 2, 1991, President Bush spoke to students at Alice Deal Junior High School in the northwest part of the District of Columbia.
The president’s comments sounded a lot like those contained in an advance copy of Obama’s speech.
“When it comes to your own education, what [...]
Feed from Muhlenberg College forum via WFMZ-TV 69 in Allentown, and also available at Rep. Joe Sestak’s site.
DayPortPlayer.newPlayer({domain:"wfmz.web.entriq.net", playerInstanceID:"DFD5337E-D717-1EE5-6E56-DC274393923B"}); [...]If you missed our live broadcast of last week’s town hall meeting on health care at Conestoga Valley High School last week, the congressman has posted the footage online.
Here are a few clips:
[...]
From The AP:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given $1 million to Franklin & Marshall College, where the new Center for Business, Government & Public Policy will be named after his top deputy, Patricia Harris. Harris, Bloomberg’s longtime friend and adviser, graduated from the Lancaster, Pa., school [...]
If you can’t make the health care town hall meeting at Muhlenberg College between Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Pat Toomey tonight, a live video feed will be available here. You can also check back here at 6:30 p.m. We’ll be embedding the [...]
In Connecticut, that is. The state budget there is to take effect Sunday because Gov. M. Jodi Rell is reluctantly letting it become law without her signature. According to The AP, Rell criticized the budget as calling for more borrowing and vague plans for future spending. But [...]
U.S Rep. Joe Pitts sent the following in reference to today’s news that the jobless rate here crept to its highest level in more than 26 years, to 7.4 percent, in July:
“These statistics underscore the seriousness of this recession. I think we all need to keep [...]
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who will seek his eighth term in Congress next year, is raising more money than his challenger and has nearly five times as much campaign cash in the bank, finance reports show. But Democrat Lois Herr has raked in twice as much [...]
… about health care in the rest of the world, by T.R. Reid, a former Washington Post reporter and author of “The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care,” to be published Monday.
My personal favorite? No. 3: Foreign health-care systems are inefficient, bloated bureaucracies.
Writes [...]
Today’s subject: former state Rep. Gibson C. Armstrong.
The state Senate has confirmed Armstrong to the board of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority. The authority finances innovative clean-energy projects such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal through grants, loans and loan guarantees. Armstrong is the [...]
The jobless rate here crept to its highest level in more than 26 years, to 7.4 percent in July, a new report shows. Here’s the Labor & Industry report, and here’s the labor force data.
[...]From the friendly folks over at the commissioners office:
The Lancaster County Commissioners announced today that the County Commissioners’ Association of Pennsylvania’s (CCAP) Annual Conference will be coming back to Lancaster County in 2014 and will be held at the Lancaster County Convention Center. The 128th Annual CCAP Conference is [...]
Pennsylvania legislators are reconvening a conference committee as the state budget stalemates enters its third month. The panel of three senators and three representatives met for two days in late July, but the discussion quickly bogged down and produced no visible progress toward a budget deal. The committee has reassembled [...]
The Lancaster County Democratic Committee will honor city Mayor Rick Gray with the Janice Stork and Russ Hay “Good Government Award” during a ceremony in Akron on Wednesday. “The award is being presented to Mayor Gray for excellence in public service and his commitment to good [...] 
Per The Washington Post:
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) called on the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday to consider suspending its use of an end-of-life planning document that critics have dubbed the “death book for veterans.”
“There is an issue as to whether the VA document inappropriately pressures disabled [...]
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts announced today he will hold a town hall meeting on health care reform here Thursday night. The Republican lawmaker, who had been criticized for not appearing before a public that is deeply skeptical of the proposals, said he will meet with [...]
So I can’t sleep and roll out of bed at 2:30 a.m. and happen to flip on PCN (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) and there’s the House-Senate conference committee. I watch a half hour. And I come to the conclusion that Pennsylvania is no closer to having [...]
Gov. Ed Rendell does “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. He said 1.) he doesn’t look at approval ratings (”Politicians should dedicate themselves to doing what they believe is the right thing.”) 2.) his proposed tax increases would cost Pennsylvanians only 70 cents more a day (or, he added, “about $4.90 [...]
As it turns out, a Lancaster County pastor is behind that recent kerfuffle over opening prayers in the House — specifically those mentioning “Jesus” or other specific religious figures. House leaders objected to a prayer delivered on June 10 by Pastor Jamie Mitchell, of NewSong [...]
Let’s ask state Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr., who returned to the House floor for the first time this week since being diagnosed with acute pneumonia in February. The Northumberland County Democrat, at one point, had slipped into a coma for a week and was reportedly near death. [...]
… Mount Joy Township, according to Census Bureau estimates made public this week. Since 2000, the largely rural northwestern county municipality has grown faster than any of the county’s 59 other municipalities, by 31 percent or nearly 2,500 people.
Rounding out the Top 10 fastest growing municipalities here are: [...]
Came across this little nugget, an October story from The Associated Press, in researching previous state budget votes (emphasis is mine):
The deteriorating economy and rising costs for such big-ticket items as health care and prisons is leading the state government on a path to a massive deficit that [...]
New Era staffer Bernie Harris confirming what we reported on Thursday:
Lancaster County elections officials confirmed with an official count that former Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall received enough write-in votes on Tuesday to be placed on the November general election ballot as the Republican nominee. Smithgall needed 100 votes. He [...]
You may remember our little caption contest from last week, involving this picture of Republican Democrat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.
It’s a 1991 Lancaster Newspapers photo of Specter inspecting the former low-grade rail line in southern Lancaster County. At right is former county Commissioner Bob Brenneman. To the [...]
All Arlen, all the time today. Here’s a roundup:
The Senate last night stripped Snarlin‘ of his seniority on committees, a week after the 29-year veteran of the chamber quit the Republican Party to join the Democrats, reports The Washington Post. Those crazy Democrats. Earlier in the day, [...]
A sampling of the feedback I’ve gotten about Wednesday’s story on U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party.
“Tom, In the small and narrow-minded world that you live in, I understand it’s hard for you to comprehend why Senator Specter decided to switch parties. So allow [...]
A new feature detailing what Lancaster County’s representative in the U.S. House, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, says and does in Washington, D.C.
For the week of April 27-May 1, Pitts:
THURSDAY: Gave President Barack Obama bad marks on the House floor. “Madam Speaker, yesterday marked President Obama’s 100th day in office. [...]
IS EL RUSHBO really the de facto leader of the Republican Party, as some Democrats suggest? Nah. At least not according to Republican voters in Pennsylvania. No, the picture is a lot bleaker than that. Who is steering the ship of the GOP these days? Apparently, GOP voters [...]
Have at it.
This is a 1991 Lancaster Newspapers photo of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter inspecting the former low-grade rail line in southern Lancaster County. At right is former county Commissioner Bob Brenneman. To the left is former county Administrator Sherri Heller. New Era staffer Tim Buckwalter, who [...]
Lots of it going on in the Republican Party these days in the wake of Specter’s defection, says Politico.
Faced with a high-profile defection and the prospect of political irrelevance in the Senate, Republicans took off the gloves Wednesday for a ferocious game of finger-pointing.
Republican [...]
Key Republican U.S. senators believe Pennsylvania’s 2010 race is now Arlen’s to lose.
From Politico:
Still stunned by Arlen Specter’s party switch, Republican senators are pessimistic about the chances for conservative GOP hopeful Pat Toomey in the Pennsylvania Senate race. “I don’t think there is anybody in the world [...]
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter dropped hints — hints that he expanded upon today — that he was dissatisfied with the Republican Party during an appearance in Lancaster County Monday morning. Much of Specter’s troubles can be traced back to his vote in favor of the stimulus package, and [...]
Breaking news from The Washington Post:
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.
Specter’s decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof [...]
The latest data from the folks at Voter Registration:
313,444 voters are registered for the May 19 primary — down 13,064 or 4 percent since November because of a voter-roll purge. 169,817 or 54 percent are Republicans — roughly the same portion as in the fall. 100,148 or 32 percent are [...]
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who faces perhaps his toughest re-election fight in 2010, will speak in Lancaster County on Monday. The veteran Republican lawmaker will appear at a morning breakfast being held by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Willow Valley Resort. Specter, who will [...]
Roll Call says Pennsylvania’s Republican representatives in Congress, including Rep. Joe Pitts, are staying out of what is expected to be a blockbuster of a race in 2010 — despite calls from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn to unite behind Sen. Arlen Specter in his [...]
You probably remember from last week that Gov. Ed Rendell, standing alongside Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray and city police Chief Keith Sadler, called on Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons like the one used recently to kill three Pittsburgh police officers. On Sunday, the governor faced off [...]
Here’s the site. The Republican lawmaker is already on YouTube. What’s next? Twitter? Maybe.
[...]
Arlen Specter goes on Howard Stern. Apparently Stern is a “long-time admirer” of the Republican U.S. senator, according to Politico’s Glenn Thrush. The talk-show host said he’s going to send a check and help get him re-elected, and that his audience votes in a [...]
Who’s right? Who’s wrong? I don’t know. But The Washington Post’s Jennifer Agiesta makes a good point about the dueling polls out today on the potential Specter/Toomey matchup in 2010. (The Franklin & Marshall College Poll has Specter beating Toomey 33%-18%, but Quinnipiac University [...]
… doesn’t mean the National Republican Congressional Committee isn’t out to get you.
So this is what politics has come to: The NRCC has been sending out video “trackers” to ask provocative questions of Democratic members of Congress — in hopes of catching that “macaca” moment meant to be [...]
Lancaster County’s Republican state House delegation is putting pressure on leaders of the higher-education system and Millersville University to cancel an upcoming lecture by radical-turned-professor William Ayers. The county’s seven GOP lawmakers say Ayers’ appearance would represent “an inappropriate promotion of a man whose history includes violence [...]
New Era staff writer Ad Crable says stink bugs have become quite the problem here.
Indeed, populations of unusual brown stink bugs, the latest overseas invader, are exploding in Lancaster County. One local exterminator this week declared the smelly, armor-plated bugs to be flying insect public enemy number [...]
From the office of state Sen. Lloyd Smucker:
In celebration of President’s Day, the James Buchanan Foundation, Lancaster County Historical Society and Senator Lloyd Smucker will host an interview with President James Buchanan on Monday, February 16, from 1 pm to 2 pm. The interview will be held at [...]
I know, I know. This blog is supposed to be about politics. About straw polls and all the haggling over the economic stimulus plan and the ongoing fencing match between Rep. Joe Pitts and Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray.
But come on. It’s almost Valentine’s Day. [...]
