GOP Reps Face Lentz Plan, Form Circle, Prepare To Fire

The Republican state representatives from Delaware County have come out swinging against a proposal by Democrat state representative from Delaware County Bryan Lentz (161) to prohibit elected officials from holding more than one seat at a time.

The bill is aimed at Republican state representative from Delaware County Mario Civera (164) who won election to County Council, a seat he assumes Jan. 4, and who has announced he will keep his House seat until April when it will be too late for an election for his replacement to be held congruent with the May 18 primary election, a day in which a large Democratic turnout is expected due to the that party’s hot intermural contests.

Now while I suspect Lentz would be doing the same as Civera if the shoe were on his foot, he is basically right and the Republicans ought to tone down the outrage, especially in their attempts to tie Lentz’s pursuit of a seat in Congress to actually holding — and perhaps getting paid for — two different seats at the same time.

And regardless of how this turns out, Civera really better not be collecting two paychecks (and pension contributions etc.) after Jan. 4. If the Republicans want to get some moral traction on the matter they ought to declare now that he won’t be, and perhaps counter by submitting a bill prohibiting elected officials from running for re-election for a second office but allowing for existing terms to be completed.

Lentz is the Democratic front-runner to replace Congressman Joe Sestak who stepped down to run for Senate against Arlen Specter. He will almost certainly face well-respected federal prosecutor Pat Meehan in the general election even if  former Fox29 anchor Dawn Stensland should change her registration, move into the district and run against him in the GOP primary.

29 Percent Of Pa. DEMOCRATS Oppose Obama Health Care Plan

The latest Rasmussen poll of Democratic primary voters show that 29 percent of them oppose President Obama’s healt care plan with 16 percent of them strongly opposed to it.

Rasmussen also has Sen. Arlen Specter leading Congressman Joe Sestak 48 percent to 35 percent.

Philly Schools Are Better Than Detroit’s (And Fresno’s)

The good news is that public schools in Philadelphia seem to be doing better than those in Detroit.

And Fresno, too.

Philly was one of 18 cities to voluntarily participate in the
Trial Urban District Assessment, a special administration of the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test.  It’s average score for fourth graders was 222 compared with
239 for the national average and 244 for Pennsylvania fourth graders
who take the NAEP exam annually, and 265 for eighth graders compared
with 282 for the national average and 288 for Pennsylvania.

Here’s a link to the NAEP results.

Before you write off Philly schools as failures remember that their purpose is not to provide an education for children but to provide jobs for Democrats.

The district is a resounding success.

Dawn Stensland For Congress?

Chris Freind  is reporting that former Fox29 anchor Dawn Stensland is considering a run for Congress as a Republican in the 7th District — the seat which Joe Sestak is leaving in an attempt to unseat fellow Democrat  Senator Arlen Specter.

Ms. Stensland, the wife of former KYW-TV anchor Larry Mendte, would face in the primary party-endorsed Pat Meehan, the well-regarded former Delaware County District Attorney, who became a well-regarded federal prosecutor.

Nothing official and nothing on paper, but still fun to talk about.

Retired Congressman Says Dump Pa. Turnpike Commission

John E. Peterson, who represented Pennsylvania’s 5th District in Congress from 1997 until his retirement in 2009, is saying dump the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Before winning election to Congress, Peterson held the state Senate seat for the 25th District which  along the New York border in the center of the state.

“I served in the State Senate for 12 years and saw firsthand howthe Turnpike Commission is the Senate’s patronage pit.  It is a cauldron of corruption,” said Peterson.

Well said, Congressman. You can also point out to those concerned about energy conservation or greenhouse gas emissions that toll plaza traffic snarls don’t help things.

This morning, btw, five Republican state representatives filed a bill abolish the Turnpike Commission. HB 2134 would transfer the transfer its assets and functions to PennDOT.

And did you know that the Turnpike was designed so that the straightaways could be negotiated at 102 mph and the curves at 90?


Pa. House Gives OK To Searchable Database On Spending

The Pennsylvania House, today,  voted to create a searchable online database regarding state spending.  The vote to pass HB 1880 to  establish the operation of the Pennsylvania Government Accountability Portal, or “PennGAP, was unanimous.

Gov. X-Man Rendell is reportedly against the bill citing cost.

The Commonwealth Foundation estimates the cost to operate such a website at $160,000.

How To Find Dollars In Tough Times

The Neshaminy School District is saying it could save nearly $9 million over three years by outsourcing janitorial services. Similiar savings could be found in most school districts.

The Commonwealth Foundation notes that state entities can save $70 million over three years switching to online public notices rather than mandated legal advertising, and HB1757 was introduced in July 2009 by State Rep. Tom Creighton to do just that .

And of course forbidding strikes by public school teachers and transit workers would see major cost savings in those areas — certainly teacher salaries would stop rising 3 and 4 percent per year as they have for the last 3 decades and this of course would mean the home tax levied by your school district would not keep rising $200 to $300 per year.

The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 in at the turn of the millennium would have paid $3,134 to the Springfield School District (Pa.). This year, he would have paid $5,240.

If the tax rate simply matched inflation, however, the bill would have been $3,934. I could use that extra $1,300. And I could have used the extra $900 or so — the difference between a tax bill according to inflation vs. the one that was  — last year.  And I could have used the difference in the previous year and the previous year etc.

Just some things to think about in tough economic times.

Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Award Winner Dies Of Swine Flu

Liza Northrop Beale, the general manager of The Almanac, a weekly newspaper in Washington, Pa. died Saturday of complications related to the H1N1 virus. She was 49 and lived in Peters Township which is suburban Pittsburgh.

Mrs. Beale won a first-place 2009 Keystone Press Award from the Pennsylvania NewspaperAssociation for niche publication production, along with top honors for weekly editorial writing.

She was also the editor of Southpointe Today and Suburban Living.

She is survived by her husband, William.

Anti-Mullah Protests Draw Tens of Thousands

Not sure you’ll be seeing this on the evening news (or in tomorrow’s Inquirer) but protests have broken out today across Iran against the ruling mullahs. They reportedly involve tens of thousands of people. Anti-Mullah Protests Draw Tens of Thousands

Twitter feeds show the crowd is unbowed despite beatings, tear gas and gunfire.

“Our Nation is Awake it Despises Dictatorship” says GreenRebelion. Green in this case is the color of the revolution and has nothing to do with environmentalism.

“I don’t know about other cities but Tehran is Green today,” said Manic77, who also noted “Students chanted anti Coup until midnight in Tehran Uni dormitories”

The patriotic freedom-lovers are also placing videos on YouTube for the world to see and the dinosaur propagandists to ignore.

Anti-Mullah Protests Draw Tens of Thousands

SEPTA Workers Watch Your Pensions

During the SEPTA strike I sympathized with Transport Workers Union Local 234 chief Willie Brown’s late demand for a forensic audit of the organization’s pension fund — a demand which eventually disappeared from the table.

Well, the Commonwealth Foundation is reporting that SEPTA’s two largest pension fund (SAM and City Transit) were funded at 71% and 61% of accrued liabilities – underfunded even by government standards – as of June 2007, which is, of course, before the massive decline in the market which hit all pension plans hard.

So SEPTA workers fear for your retirements. Taxpayers fear for your wallets.