Category: Pennsylvania

I’m a few days late on this one, but Corbett is officially in the race now, running against 6th District Congressman Jim Gerlach.  I have nothing against Gerlach as a Congressman, but I’ll be honest, his candidacy for Governor never really made that much sense to me.  Corbett has a track record of being able to win state wide elections, even in years where it’s tough to be a Republican.  Gerlach is giving up his previously very tightly contested Congressional seat, meaning the GOP is going to have to pour money and resources into that district in order to keep it.

I understand politicians are ambitious, and Governor is an easier step to the Oval Office than Congress or Senate, but I think Gerlach is unlikely to capture the nomination. Still, Gerlach has a track record of winning tough elections too, so he is probably not to be underestimated. It should be an interesting race.

For a second term Congressman, Patrick Murphy is one arrogant bastard. While he did win his last race handily and is a very successful fundraiser, the more stories of his absolute disrespect of residents come out, the less important money and past performance will be in future races. When it comes down to votes, constituents who actually show up to the polls don’t like this form of arrogance.

Take, for example, his refusal to do town hall meetings. He’ll claim he did have town hall meetings, but only because citizens crashed his private meetings and demanded he open the doors. He absolutely will not listen to residents with concerns, and there are numerous reports that he won’t answer questions. During a so-called town hall meeting, rather than talking to constituents, he decided to take time for an interview with a left-wing organization in DC where he explained that as a Congressman, it is his duty to explain to residents what is best for them. Funny that most citizens, regardless of political affiliation, would consider it your job to STFU and listen to them.

After being called on to host town halls, Murphy told the local media he would do it – on the day that many regional government health care opponents would be in DC. Except one new upstart group of citizen activists wasn’t too confident in that claim given his past performance. A few phone calls to the owners of the restaurants where the town halls were scheduled confirmed the suspicion. It turns out Patrick Murphy quickly canceled the town hall events.

As if that isn’t enough arrogance, he won’t even send staff in to do the dirty, lowly work of talking with the residents of his district. When the Thomas Jefferson Club organized their own health care forum when Murphy refused to host one in the district, they reached out to him with an invitation. Patrick Murphy decided a DC fundraiser was more important, but at least agreed to send a staffer to represent him. Except when more than 300 constituents turned out last night to hear from their Congressman’s staff member, they found he/she was a no-show.

To their credit, this new organization here in Bucks County really seems to be capitalizing on the discontent, and based on the events we have attended with organizers, it is clearly not an off-shoot of the local GOP. I don’t know if the GOP could turn out these kinds of results. 300+ to a health care town hall on a Tuesday night. More than 100 attended a general meeting in August, up from 50+ in July. This is the organization that developed out of the highly successful Bucks County Tea Party we attended in April. These folks are really taking it to the next level and turning the energy and passion into something useful. Perhaps if the GOP can find a quality candidate, we can show Patrick Murphy what arrogance in politics buys you – a one-way ticket home.

Capitol Ideas points to this SEIU ad targeting State Senator Pat Browne.  I think it’s high time that SEIU found some new villains.  I mean, I know running against Bush is getting a bit overdone, but how long has Gingrich been out of elected office now?

From Capitol Ideas:

Looks Like Rep. Doug Reichley …
… may have a challenger in 2010. Patrick Slattery, a health care industry worker from Lower Macungie Twp. in Lehigh County, writes this morning to let us know he’s decided to throw his hat into the ring for next year’s contest in the 134th House District.
A look at Mr. Slattery’s campaign Web page reveals that he has a wife, family and an MBA. He also goes to church and appears to be active in environmental causes. Annoyingly, however, neither the Web site nor his press release make any mention of whether he’s a Republican or Democrat.
In the absence of such information, we’re pleased to inform the voters of the 134th District that Mr. Slattery will be the first Bull Moose candidate since 1912. So please join us in a hearty welcome to the state’s newest Bull Moose candidate. We’re glad to have you back.

You know, given how both the Republicans and Democrats have been performing, I have to wonder if this is actually fail, or a brilliant campaign strategy.

Apparently sixty eight percent of Pennsylvanians don’t think our Guv is doing that great a job:

Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed say the two-term Democrat is doing a fair or poor job, compared to 29 percent who gave him a good or excellent rating. That’s an historic low for Rendell.

I almost get the feeling Rendell stopped trying after he got reelected.  After 2006, and after a huge defeat of Lynn Swann, he figured he didn’t have to work to please anyone, or worry about pissing voters off royally.   Now that rooster is coming home to roost.  If I were a Democratic hopeful for the Governor’s seat in 2010, I’d be more than a bit unhappy with Rendell’s behavior.  Pennsylvania has oscillated back and forth between Democratic and Republican governors since World War II.  Rendell seems to be doing everything he can to ensure that trend continues.

I’m sympathetic to this guy’s plight, but I’m not sure it will really fix much in the long run.  The guy essentially argues that we ought to abolish the Pennsylvania Legislature, and replace it with a unicameral legislature, with fewer members who have fewer perks.

The problem of our legislature costing so much is a real one, but I’d prefer solving it by going to a part-time legislature, like Virginia has, and cutting some of the perks.  I doubt folks in Nebraska would agree a unicameral legislature is going to fix anything, and I would worry that a smaller legislature, where each state representative represents more people, will pay even less attention to constituents than the current one does.  By making them part time, it should cost less money, and reduce the amount of time they have to screw things up.