Category: Activism

Toomey Gives Response On Gun Bill

James J. Fitzpatrick, the Southeast Pa. regional manager for Sen. Pat Toomey,  has sent the following response to Mary Ellen Jones of the Delaware County Patriots regarding proposed firearm background check legislation that Toomey and Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) are supporting.

On the gun issue, first I think we have come a long way. When it started out they were talking about bans, registries, and magazine limits. When the back and forth debate is whether or not to slightly expand background checks I think it is a win either way with this President.

Second, on the background check issue. We were approached by Sen. Machin’s office to potentially broker a deal on certain private sales and transfers. Right now in PA if you wanted to sell me a handgun/pistol, I would need to go to a federally licensed dealer to receive a background check. If, however, you wanted to sell me a rifle, or any other type of long gun, I would not need to do that. We think there is a potential room for a deal in that space given that many gun owners already require individuals to whom they are selling long guns or rifles to go through a background check. I think Pat’s thinking on it is at the very least on these transactions, the check would reduce the likelihood that someone would be selling to a felon, someone with a past of substance abuse, or someone that has a past of mental illness. It would also in turn protect the seller from liability on the back end if anything were to happen with the gun they sold.

With that said, these are simply conversations at this point between Manchin and Pat. No bill has been written and one will not be on the floor until next week at the earliest.

Ed note: The above message was sent April 9. A vote to start debate on the measure passed cloture in the U.S. Senate the afternoon of April 11 by a 68-31 margin preventing a filibuster. The Toomey-Manchin amendment has yet to be added.

Toomey Gives Response On Gun Bill

Toomey Gives Response On Gun Bill

Delco Pats Hear Matt Brouillette

Matt Brouillette of Commonwealth Foundation gave an upbeat but realistic talk to the Delaware County Patriots, this evening, April 10 about solving Pennsylvania’s and the nation’s problems.

Brouillette said that it wasn’t a matter of Republicans versus Democrats but rather of David versus Goliath that was pushing us to fiscal disaster and poverty. Pennsylvania, he said, had a State House in which the GOP held the largest majority either party has had in decades and that the Republicans controlled the state Senate here by a greater margin than their counterparts in Texas.

Unlike in Texas, though, it is Goliath that rules. Many of the state Republican legislators have joined against the taxpayer who is David.

He noted though that one uses a slingshot to beat Goliath and not another giant. In Texas, where the union dues of state workers are voluntary, state unions dump about $12 million in political campaigns. In Pennsylvania, they spend $50 million. Pennsylvania, remember, has half the population.

He said the stones for the slingshot are new laws to allow union workers to pay their dues voluntarily. He cited Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana as having gotten very positive results for average citizens with such laws. He said that in 2012 when Obama was handily winning Michigan an amendment was overwhelmingly voted down — which obviously required the support of a lot of Obama voters — that would have made the mandatory collection of union wages part of the state constitution. It was that, he said, that set things up for the entire state going right-to-work, an event the possibility of which would have been laughed at just a few short months ago.

He noted that unlike Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who initially said he would not sign a right-to-work bill, our own Tom Corbett has expressed a willingness to do so from the beginning if one would reach his desk.

Brouillette had generally nice things to say about Corbett, albeit he slammed his unwillingness to get before the public and said he would fire a lot of staffers, who he thought to be encouraging this, if he were running things.

He said the privatization of Pennsylvania’s state store system is not  a done deal and is being held up by Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, the Bucks County Republican with strong ties to the existing system, who chairs the Senate’s Law and Justice Committee. He noted that privatizing the state stores would cut about $1.5 million from union political contributions.

Brouillette, a former history teacher, said that the conventional Tea Party message is compassion-based. He noted that each of his four children is going to start his or her working lives with $60,000 government debt. He said that one of his neighbors, a retiree, has to work an extra job selling tickets to pay his property tax. He said another neighbor has laid off his seven employees from his small building company and has become a one-man business. All this suffering is related to existing governmental policies.

The next meeting of the Delaware County Patriots is tentatively scheduled for May 20. The topic will be Common Core Standards in Education.

Delco Pats Hear Matt Brouillette

Delco Pats Hear Matt Brouillette

Smith, Perry To Be CAP Speakers

Smith, Perry To Be CAP Speakers — Tom Smith and Congressman Scott Perry will be the speakers at a reception sponsored by Citizens Alliance Pennsylvania, 2-3:30 p.m., April 19 at the Governors Ballroom, Radisson Penn Harris Hotel, 1150 Camp Hill Bypass, Camp Hill, Pa. 17011.

Smith was last year’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania. Perry, who has a Bronze Star for service in Iraq, represents Pennsylvania’s 4th District in Congress.

For tickets or information call Leo Knepper at 570-617-2994 or email him at leo@empowerpa.org

 

Smith, Perry To Be CAP Speakers

Tea Party Seeks To Save Swindled Vet’s Home

Tea Party Seeks To Save Swindled Vet’s Home — The Independence Hall Tea Party Association has come to bat for Ray White, the 88-year-old World War II Army Air Corps combat veteran and South Philly resident who was swindled out of his home and possessions a few weeks ago.

He is now in a rehabilitation facility recovering from a broken hip and is looking forward to getting out, said Teri Adams of the Association.

“Because he has no housing at this time, we have been working with the VA and several Center City real estate agents to find him affordable housing,” said Ms. Adams.

She says that the total dollar value of what White has lost  is $383,000.

“We have reached out to City Councilman Mark Squilla regarding whether Ray could reclaim his home. The Councilman’s staff has researched this and found a way that will allow Ray to appeal and quite possibly get back his home,” said Ms. Adams.

She also says that Sen.  Pat Toomey’s office has found several federal benefits for White and is  standing by to work with Ray to apply for them.

The Association held a fundraiser for White yesterday, April 1, at Tazla’s Restaurant & Bar in Center City.

For those who can’t make the event, please write a check payable to Ray White and mail it to:
Ray White
C/O Joe Eastman
2514 S. 10th Street
Philadelphia PA 19148

Tea Party Seeks To Save Swindled Vet’s Home

Tea Party Seeks To Save Swindled Vet's Home

CAP Reception Is April 19

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania has scheduled a reception for 2 p.m., Friday, April 19. Cost is $100. Email  Leo Knepper at Leo@empowerpa.org

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania is dedicated to freedom and political accountability and that includes Republicans.

Defending The 2nd Amendment

A panel discussion featuring Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro, poet and sports shop owner Ben Viden, Delaware State Sen. Dave Lawson, and Pennsylvania State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe will be held 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3, at Independence Visitors Center Ballroom, Independence Mall, Philadelphia.

Sponosrs are Independence Hall Tea Party Association, WNTP 990AM, American Sheepdogs, Cherry Hill Area Tea Party, Coalition for Advancing Freedom, Delaware County Patriots, Founders Values, Greenwich Tea Party, Patriots of South Jersey and Patriots of Lower Bucks County.

Visit here for tickets.

Defending The 2nd Amendment

Jennifer Stefano Hosted By Delco Patriots

An enthusiastic crowd of well over 100 packed the Newtown Square Knights of Columbus Hall, tonight, Feb. 26, to hear Jennifer Stefano, who is the state director of Americans for Prosperity (AFP),  describe the importance of grassroots tea party activism and the need for the groups to present a united front.

The event was sponsored by the Delaware County Patriots.

“A national organization is useless if we don’t have (local people) who trust us,” she said.

Unity was something the left did very well she noted.

“Sometimes we have conversations about nonsense,” she said, however.

She emphasized the importance of priorities.

“Before I ever complain to another group, I’m going to be on the line with my elected officials,” she said.

Among the issues that she discussed was the upcoming sequestration battle which mandates a 2 percent cut in spending — about $85 billion — and was  cooked up by Jack Lew as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011. Lew was then President Obama’s budget director. Obama has since nominated him to be secretary of treasury.

Obama now wants to break the deal and not cut spending. Mrs. Stefano is among those wanting to hold him to his word.

“I’m sure all of us have cut 2 percent (of our spending) over the last two years as all of our incomes have declined,” she said.

Among the state issues she mentioned was holding Gov. Corbett to his pledge to block the Medicaid expansion scheme that would give 700,000  low-wage working people access to the federal program. Whether it would give them access to competent doctors is another matter.

Mrs. Stefano noted that the proposal was anti-poor, as it is being discovered that those on Medicaid have health outcomes actually worse than those without insurance.

Also speaking was Mike Henry, who is the new Philadelphia coordinator of Heritage Action for America, who noted that his group concentrated on federal policy while AFP involved itself in state and federal matters.

Mary Ellen Jones gave the opening and closing remarks.

 

Jennifer Stefano Hosted By Delco Patriots

Jennifer Stefano Hosted By Delco Patriots

Alison McHose Honored By IHTPA

Assemblywoman Alison McHose was honored, Feb. 21, as the Independence Hall Tea Party Association’s 2012 New Jersey State Legislator of the Year.

“Assemblywoman McHose is second to no one in matters the Association cares deeply about–tax reform, free enterprise, and Second Amendment rights,” said Association President Teri Adams.

“Alison McHose has sponsored nearly 100 legislative bills designed to limit government, protect citizens rights, and invigorate our free market system,” said Somerset County, NJ resident and Association board member, Bill Miller

 

Alison McHose Honored By IHTPA

 

Alison McHose Honored By IHTPA

Delco Pats Legislative Update

Regina Scheerer of the Delaware County Patriots has sent out this legislative bulletin:

Our US Senator Pat Toomey, along with Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, introduced legislation to create a Constitutional amendment that limits the terms of US Congressmen and Senators.
The limit would be 3 two-year terms for US Representatives and 2 six-year terms for US Senators.
If you support such legislation, please email our Senators Toomey and Casey, and our Representative Pat Meehan, to voice that support.
Senator Pat Toomey’s website,www.toomey.senate.gov/ and then click “Contact”.
Senator Bob Casey’s website,  http://www.casey.senate.gov/ and then click “Contact”.
Representative Pat Meehan’s website, http://meehan.house.gov/ and click “Contact Me”.

Our Governor Tom Corbett will propose to the State Legislature that Pennsylvania end its running of liquor stores.
Pennsylvania is one of only 2 states that still run its own liquor stores and that is not a government function.
The money generated by the sale of the liquor stores and businesses, more that $1 billion, would go to block grants to local school districts, and the retraining and placement of any state store employees not taken on by the private sector.
The money to the school districts would make up for lack of money in recent Federal and State budgets.
The State Pension System could also use some of that money to relieve the taxpayers of the burden of funding the state pensions.
If you support such legislation, please email Governor Corbett, State Representative Bill Adolph, and State Senator Ted Erickson, to voice that support.
Governor Corbett’s Contact: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1072219&parentname=ObjMgr&parentid=11&mode=2
Representative Bill Adolph: http://www.williamadolph.com/ and click “Contact”.
Senator Ted Erickson: http://senatorerickson.com/ and click “Contact Me”.

BillLawrenceOnline Wins Franklin Award

BillLawrenceOnline Wins Franklin Award — BillLawrenceOnline.Com and Matt Rooney of SaveJersey.com are the 2012 winners of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association’s (IHTPA) Benjamin Franklin Award for Courageous Journalism.

The awards were presented this afternoon, Jan. 5, in a ceremony outside Independence Hall that followed a re-enactment of the Philadelphia Tea Party of  1773 starting with the readings of resolutions writing by Dr. Benjamin Rush and passed in Philadelphia on Oct. 16.  WPHT talk show host Dom Giordano played the role of Dr. Rush in reading the resolutions with the crowd supplying the assenting votes. The Bostonians used the resolutions as justification for their more famous tea party on Dec. 16.

John Peteraf of the IHTPA’s board played the role of Captain Ayers who sailed his ship the Polly back to England on Dec. 27, 1773 after being warned what would befall him if he should attempt to unload his tea in Chester as planned.

The narrator was Tory McClintock, a senior at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School, who  recently served an internship with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

Also receiving awards from the IHTPA were U.S. Congressman Allen West, 2012 Federal Legislator of the Year; Sen. Dave Lawson, 2012 Delaware State Legislator of the Year; Alison McHose, 2012 New Jersey State Legislator of the Year; and Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and Rep. Tom Quigley, 2012 Pennsylvania State Legislators of the Year.

Also a check was presented to Broad Street Ministry on behalf of the work they do for homeless veterans. Accepting the check was Joe Eastman, the retired naval officer who directs veterans service for the ministry. Eastman said more women are availing themselves of this service. He said they are learning that many women have been traumatized by sexual assault during their military service. He said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has been instrumental in investigating the problem and seeking ways to address it.

A panel discussion featuring Rooney, Bill Lawrence and former Highland New Jersey Mayor Anna C. Little was held following a hoagie brunch in the National Constitution Center upstairs banquet hall.

One very good reason to attend an IHTPA function is the music. The excellent Whitehall Fife and Drum Corp entertained the crowd before re-enactment and provided the appropriate backing during it.

During the  brunch they put down the fifes and drums and used a guitar for some nice background music.

Right after the re-enactment, Mayor Little, who has a professional quality voice, led the crowd in God Bless America making sure to include the song’s rarely sung introduction.

The awards were presented by IHTPA President Teri Adams. Don Adams provided the panel questions.

BillLawrenceOnline Wins Franklin Award

BillLawrenceOnline Wins Franklin Award