Category: Pa Legislature

Pileggi vs Corman – Tale Of The Tape

Dominic Pileggi of the 9th District  is facing a challenge from Jake Corman of the 34th District to be Majority Leader of the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Senate, a spot Pileggi now holds.

Pileggi has been under fire from conservative groups and has come under fire from newcomer Sen. Scott Wagner of the 28th District for the inability to get commonsense consumer and taxpayer oriented reforms in the state that would gore the oxen of the state’s powerful and wealthy unions but would make life a lot easier for everybody else.

We have been asked to compile a list of Pileggi’s major contributors.

After going through Pileggi’s 34 pages of contributions for 2014 on the state’s campaign finance website, we have found these groups that have donated at least five figures to Friends of Dominic Pileggi. (Regarding Steam Fitters Local 449, we figure a steamfitter is a steamfitter.)

University City Housing Company
10/08/2014     $25,000

Vahan H. Gureghian
05/15/2014     $25,000

CARPENTERS LEG. PROGRAM OF GREATER PA PAC
04/07/2014     $25,000

CARPENTERS PAC OF PHILADELPHIA & VICINITY
04/07/2014     $25,000

LOCAL 66 PAC CLUB
04/07/2014     $25,000

Local Union #98 I.B.E.W, Committee on Political Education
05/15/2014     $25,000

PA FUTURE FUND (business)
03/10/2014     $20,000

PENNSYLVANIA HORSEBREEDER’S ASSOCIATION INC PAC
04/07/2014     $20,000

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
05/14/2014     $15,000
06/24/2014     $1,000
09/08/2014     $1,000
10/01/2014     $1,000

Robert C Robb, Jr.
05/15/2014     $15,000

Comcast Corp & NBCUniversal PAC
06/24/2014     $15,000

PSEA PACE
03/10/2014     $1,000
08/20/2014     $10,000
03/10/2014     $1,000

Responsible Citizens
05/08/2014     $10,000

Pennsylvania Healthcare Assoc. PAC
10/02/2014     $10,000

PECOPAC
10/02/2014     $10,000

McNees PAC
06/28/2014     $10,000

Steamfitters’ Local Union 420 Committee on Political Education Fund
05/14/2014     $10,000

Steam Fitters Local 449 PAC Fund
05/14/2014     $3,000

However, a supporter of Pileggi sent us the following list of contributors to  Corman for 2014 and noted that Corman was a yes vote on the pay raise and pension hike.

PSEA PACE
7,500
10 20 2014
$5,000
3 24 2014

For the People
Allentown
$5,000
3 24 2014
(PAC formed by former Democratic State Rep. Jennifer Mann with leftover campaign money.  Mann now Chairs the PAC)

Committee for a Better Tomorrow (Philly Trial Lawyers)
$5,000
3 28 2014

AFSCME Council 13 PAC
$2,000
2 26 2014

Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 19
Philadelphia
$1,000
3 28 2014

LAWPAC (Statewide Trial Lawyers)
800 North Third Street 2nd Floor
Harrisburg
PA 17102
$1,000
10 9 2014

APSCUF/CAP-PA (State University Faculty)
$1,000
3 24 2014

Steamfitters Local 449 PAC
Pittsburgh
$500
1 6 2014

Can we wish a pox on both houses?

Truthfully, we suspect that both men are smart enough to read the very large writing put on the wall by the voters in the once union-dominated  states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and remember the fate of soon-to-be former Gov. Tom Corbett. They are also smart enough to know they are being watched and being held accountable.

To our Tea Party friends who see bright red whenever they look at Pileggi’s name, stop making it personal. If Pileggi should win, focus on issues. To use a local example, a new $150 million high school is being proposed for Springfield. Repealing the prevailing wage law will cut the cost greatly with some estimating it could be by as much as $30 million. The unions that contribute to both men but especially Pileggi don’t want the law to change.  We suspect it would be far more effective to focus on the issue of  saving elderly and unemployed people a lot of money while getting a school built rather than about how  Pileggi is a bad, bad, bad person.

And that is the Pileggi vs Corman – Tale Of The Tape.

Pileggi vs Corman - Tale Of The Tape

Pileggi vs Corman – Tale Of The Tape.

 

New Legislative Session Begins Jan. 6

The Pennsylvania  General Assembly will convene on Jan. 6 for a swearing-in ceremony, signaling the beginning of a new legislative session, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

All members of the state House of Representatives will take the oath of office to serve a new two-year term.

Any bills that were introduced and in various stages of approval in the General Assembly, but did not become law, expired with the end of the current session and must be re-introduced, he said.

The new makeup of the state House and Senate – with many new representatives and senators taking office – also means that bills that did not have enough support in previous years may have enough votes to be approved by the General Assembly, he said.

New Legislative Session Begins Jan. 6

New Legislative Session Begins Jan. 6

GOP Senate President Scarnati Union Owned

GOP Senate President Scarnati Union Owned

Joseph B. “Joe” Scarnati, the president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, appears to be pretty much in the pocket of those who make the lives of the state’s citizens more difficult.

Scarnati, it should be noted, represents the 25th District which is  top of the state’s fabled “T” and arguably the most rural and conservative part of the Pennsylvania.

He likes to portray himself as a friend of conservatives.

Well here are his real friends:

CARPENTERS PAC OF PHILA & VICINITY gave $50,000 and CARPENTERS LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM OF GREATER PENNSYLVANIA threw in another $25,000 for this election.

COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW, which is what the Philadelphia trial lawyers political action committee calls itself, gave $50,000. Why are the Philadelphia trial lawyers so interested in the goings on in Elk County? They are not of course but it is nice to have an in the rest of us can’t with the number two guy in the State Senate.

LOCAL 66 PAC CLUB (IUOE) of Pittsburgh contributed $25,000.

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS PAC of Pittsburgh gave $25,000.

PSEA PACE which represents the teachers union and opposes all commonsense educational reform — really, why is it so hard to fire a bad teacher — gave Scarnati $20,000 for this election.

AFSCME Council 13 PAC, which represents government workers, gave $5,000

1776 PAC (UFCW)  which represents the state stores and the Pennsylvania SEIU, which also represents government workers, were pikers just giving $1,000 apiece. Of course, that is still more than you or I can likely afford to have the ear of a powerful political figure.

One can do one’s own campaign finance search here. It’s not the most intuitive site but it works.

GOP Senate President Scarnati Union Owned

Wolf, Saylor Same Donors

The victory last night means the fight has just started. It’s not the beginning of the end, as Churchill said, but the end of the beginning.

Stan Saylor, the Pennsylvania House Republican Whip, who represents the 94th District, has much in common with Democrat Gov-Elect Tom Wolf,  namely the same big donors.

Louis J. Appell Jr., chairman of Susquehanna Real Estate LP, gave Citizens for Stan Saylor $126,000 between Sept. 24 and Nov. 3 with $100,000 coming on Oct. 3.

M. Thomas Grumbacher, chairman of The Bon-Ton Stores, gave $225,000 to Citizens for Stan Saylor with $200,000, interestingly, coming on Oct. 3 and the rest on Nov. 3.

Grumbacher has given Wolf $1,450,100 while Appell has given our governor-to-be $475,000.

Saylor is campaigning to be Majority Leader of the House Republicans which has a commanding majority of 119 to 84.

Guys like Grumbacher and Appell are not you and don’t have your interest at heart. Guys like Wolf and Saylor are far more likely to listen to them than you.

Hat tip Bob Guzzardi

Wolf, Saylor Same Donors

Wolf, Saylor Same Donors

Unions Fund GOP State Senators

Pennsylvania Independent  reports that state senators Pat Browne (R-16), John Rafferty (R-44) and Tommy Tomlinson (R-6) received a massive union cash dump shortly before yesterday’s (Nov. 4) election with Browne getting $37,000 from 10 groups including $10,000 from the PSEA (public school teachers) and  $500 from 1776 PAC UFCW (state stores); Rafferty getting $7,000 broken down as $5,000 from the PSEA, $1,000 from the Professional Firefighters Association PAC and $1,000 from Steamfitters Local 420; and Tomlinson getting $22,000 from seven groups including $10,000 from PA SEIU (government workers) and $1,000 from 1776 PAC UFCW.

It’s a pretty good bet that this trio will vote with Democrats in opposing legislation such as selling the state stores, effective pension reform and making education more effective but less burdensome on the average Joe and Jill.

Hat tip Keystone Report

Unions Fund GOP State Senators

Unions Fund GOP State Senators

 

Scott Wagner Letter Explains What Needs Doing

Today is Election Day. Sen. Scott Wagner (R-28) who is running for a full term after winning a special election, March 18, has sent the following letter to his constituents. It’s worth being read by all who care about this state and the nation.

Scott Wagner Letter Explains What Needs Doing

By Scott Wagner

I am writing to the voters of the 28th Pennsylvania State Senate District regarding the upcoming election . . ., Tuesday, November 4th.

I made a decision over a year ago to run for the State Senate position that I currently hold.

I made that decision because I was fed up with the status quo.

Without going into details, most people know that I am in the Pennsylvania State Senate because of unusual circumstances.

I was fed up with a government that was making what I love to do harder and harder each year.

What I love to do is start up and build businesses that create jobs and employ people.

Let me repeat – create jobs and employ people.

Pennsylvania has a lot of opportunities and it also has many issues.

Let’s talk about some of the issues.

The number #1 issue in the 28th Senate District is school taxes.

A significant driver of the ever increasing school taxes is a state pension system that is vastly underfunded and facing a $47 Billion Dollar shortfall.

During my short period of seven months in the Pennsylvania State Senate it is crystal clear to me that the public sector unions have complete control of Harrisburg and are blocking pension reform, school tax elimination, liquor privatization, and prevailing wage mandates on school districts to name a few.

Pennsylvania needs government reform and it needs it quickly.

Pennsylvania does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

I knew this fact before I went to Harrisburg and I now see it first-hand.

My opponent will say we need jobs.

Here is the real issue. We have a skilled labor shortage. South Central Pennsylvania has approximately 3500 job opening for skilled workers.

By skilled workers I am referring to truck drivers, mechanics, welders, industrial electricians, HVAC technicians, plumbers and machine operators to name a few.

This past May, Pennsylvania colleges graduated 12,000 teachers with 3,000 positions available.

York County needs to change its junior and senior high school education programs to include education for the trades.

Pennsylvania has a prescription drug epidemic and that has created a heroin crisis.

Pennsylvania is not a “right to work” state.

Pennsylvania is ranked 34th in the nation as having a percentage of its workers unionized.

Pennsylvania has major competition with southern “right to work” states.

We have a lot of work to do to make Pennsylvania more competitive against other states.

I started my business career over thirty-five years ago; it has taken a lot of hard work and risk to get to where I am today.

Success doesn’t just happen; I have had many failures also and have turned those failures into learning experiences.

Having served in the Senate for seven months it is crystal clear to me that there is not a single person in the house or senate that has my extensive business experience and knowledge of how the real world operates.

In my short time in the senate my name has been in newspapers continuously, or I am on TV and you can find me on the internet because I am not a status quo person.

I ask questions, continuously looking for ways to improve things, and as a result I am seen as a disruptor.

I love when someone says “we have always done it this way”.

People have said, “Wagner’s style won’t work in Harrisburg – he is abrasive and he is outspoken”.

Let me be clear – I am not a status quo person.

I intend to be a Senator who will be disruptive.

I will break the rules with professionalism, a strategy, style, and class.

I already have a career.

I am a leader, I am a strategist, I am a visionary and I am a team builder.

And most important – I am not, and will not be owned by lobbyists, special interest groups, senate leadership, and a corrupt system.

I have pledged to serve two four-year terms in the Pennsylvania State Senate.

It is not my goal to become a career politician. I am seen as a very dangerous person to a lot of people who live on the system in Harrisburg.

We have a lot of things in Pennsylvania that are simply outdated and broken, and need fixed quickly.

If you want a Senator who will go to Harrisburg to make Pennsylvania a better, more competitive state so Pennsylvanians have good sustaining jobs and Pennsylvania is a better place to live and prosper, then I ask for your vote on November 4th.

Scott Wagner Letter Explains What Needs Doing

Pileggi Union Ties Lead To Senate Rebellion

Pileggi Union Ties Lead To Senate Rebellion Scott Wagner             Pileggi Union Ties Lead To Senate Rebellion Dominic Pileggi

Scott Wagner vs Dominic Pileggi

Anti-establishment Republican Scott Wagner has picked up a supporter in his rebellion against Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi of the 9th District which includes large parts of Delaware and Chester counties.

Don White of the 41st District has also declared that Pileggi should step down from the post.

Pileggi has been majority leader since 2006, a rather remarkable feat since he only entered the Senate in 2002.

Wagner crushed party-pick Ron Miller in a special election, March 18, to fill the 28th District seat that was vacated by Mike Waugh for a suspiciously sweet job to direct the Pennsylvania Farm Show complex.

On Sept. 30, Wagner posted on his website a manifesto as to why reforms aren’t getting done in Harrisburg.

“The roadblock standing in the way of getting any real reforms passed is our Republican Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi,” he said.

“There have been countless times since I have taken office, where at least two-thirds of our Republican Caucus members wanted legislation to go to the floor for an up or down vote,” Wagner said. “Senator Pileggi has continually refused to do so.”

Wagner has concluded that it is because Pileggi is tied to closely to labor.

“After reviewing Senator Pileggi’s Political Action Committee campaign finance reports, I have concluded that Senator Pileggi is heavily influenced by public sector unions and private trade unions,” Wagner said. “In fact, on May 28, 2014 the Philadelphia Inquirer published an article referencing the Electricians’ Union “Local 98’s $100,000 Club” which lists Senator Pileggi as having received $175,000. Senator Pileggi is 9th on the list behind President Obama and seven other Democrats. Local 98 is just one of many unions that Senator Pileggi has taken a significant amount of money from.”

Wagner said that “after spending considerable time considering how best to address” the issue he sent a letter to Pileggi on Sept. 29 “informing him of my conclusion that it is not in the best interest of Pennsylvanians for him to continue as Senate Majority Leader.”

The letter can be found here.

White, yesterday, Oct. 10, sent his own letter to Pileggi in which he says “You have succeeded in fracturing our caucus and bastardizing the committee process to promote an unknown agenda that is debilitating to our caucus and, more importantly, our Commonwealth.

“To be clear, I will not support your re-election as Majority Leader should you choose to run.”

White  accused Pileggi of being the deciding vote in the Appropriations Committee in favor of an an amendment drafted by “extremely liberal environmental group Penn Future to House Bill 2354, and failing to advance House Bill 1243 which passed the House overwhelmingly with bipartisan support to prevent harassment of gun owners by local governments unwilling to respect state law.

White also noted that Pileggi squelched SB7 that would limit the rate of spending growth in Pennsylvania to the rate of inflation and did the same to paycheck protection in June.

White was specifically angry about Pileggi’s actions regarding health insurance.

“On an issue important to me personally, and as a favor to Big Pharmacy, you engineered an end run around the committee process in an attempt to enact a health insurance mandate that is terribly written and simply unworkable, without a proper vetting or debate of the issue,” he said.

White’s letter can be found here

Hat tips Donna Ellingsen and Bob Guzzardi.

Pileggi Union Ties Lead To Senate Rebellion

 

 

Pennsylvania Redistricting Takes Effect Dec. 1

After a contentious, Constitutionally mandated redistricting process, the state legislative district boundary lines officially change on Dec. 1, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

It’s after the November election so the person you vote for may not be who ends up being your representative.

 

Pennsylvania Redistricting Takes Effect Dec. 1 Pennsylvania State Senate Districts

How Pennsylvania’s 50 state senate districts will look.

Pennsylvania Redistricting Takes Effect Dec. 1 Pennsylvania State House Districts

How Pennsylvania’s 203 state house districts will look. Remember, the smaller the district the more the representation, which is a good thing.

PDF files of the maps which may provide better detail can be found on the state’s website here.

Pennsylvania Redistricting Takes Effect Dec. 1

Disenfranchisement Push Continues

The push by the wannabee lords and ladies to disenfranchise the citizens of Pennsylvania continues.

Jack Nagel, a professor emeritus of political science at Penn, has a guest view in today’s (June 25) Philadelphia Inquirer about how the unicorns will play and the rainbows will shine if the size of our legislature is shrunk as per the proposed constitutional amendment passed by the State House that is pending before the State Senate, or –better yet in his view — have the entire legislature turned into a unicameral body with proportional representation like a European parliament

The Amendment on the table while not turning our legislature into a total highway to central government control as per Nagel’s wish will cut the size of Pennsylvania’s House from 203 to 153 and the size of the Senate from 50 to 45 (the Senate’s preference) or 38 (the House’s preference).

The argument being made is that it will save money as our legislators draw a base salary of $84,012, which is second highest in the nation behind corrupt California.

OK, help me out here. If we were trying to save money wouldn’t it be better to cut the salary by 25 percent rather than the number of representatives by 25 percent?

Even better yet, how about we cut the salaries to $7,500 — which is what Texas legislators get — and leave the size as is? That would be a 91 percent savings.  Texas by all accounts is doing pretty well.

Or how about this: we cut the salaries of the legislators to $7,500 — and end all benefits — and expand the number of senators to 67 with each county getting its own senator.

That way Anthony Williams won’t have to represent Philadelphia and Delaware counties.

 

Disenfranchisement Push Continues

Disenfranchisement Push Continues

 

 

 

Bills Give Pa Less Representation

The Pennsylvania House, Dec. 17 passed bills calling for state constitutional amendments that would significantly cut the size of the state legislature, reports state Rep. Jim Cox (R-129) Bills Give Pa Less Representation

House Bill 1234 begins the process of cutting the House from 203 to 153 members and passed 148 to 50 with all but five of the nays being Democrats.

House Bill 1716 begins the process of cutting the size of the Senate from 50 to 38 members. The vote was 148 to 48. All but five of the nays were Democrats.

The only Delaware County rep that was a nay on both bills was Democrat Greg Vitali (R-166) albeit Democrat Thaddeus Kirkland of the 159th District was a nay on the bill to cut the size of the House.

Way to be a profile in courage Thaddeus.

The claim is that cutting the number of legislatures will save money. Of course, cutting their salaries, expensive accounts, pensions and health benefits would also save money and their doesn’t seem to be a push in that direction.

What the bills actually do is cut representation and make getting re-elected easier.

These proposed constitutional amendments now go to the state senate.

Article XI, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution states such amendments must pass two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly, and then be placed on the ballot as referendum questions to be approved or disapproved by the voters. If the amendments are approved in total, they would take effect with the first session of the General Assembly that begins after the 2020 census and subsequent reapportionment.

Bills Give Pa Less Representation