Lowman Henry wrote a piece today on his blog which mirrors what I’ve been saying -

“Proving my point that Republicans lost because they acted like Democrats, so voters decided to go with the real thing.”

 I encourage you to read Lowman’s article - it is right on target and a good warning for elected Republicans.  Here’s my quick version of his piece - get your head out of your ass and start acting like Republicans again.  Of course he says it much more eloquently than do I. 

As for Perzel.  I won’t be surprised if Mr. Perzel is somehow able to maintain being the Speaker when the House votes in January.  He’ll pull out all of the stops to save his own skin.  The voters of PA will need to hold their breath to see if the House Dems are full of weenies to. 

On a last note - Bill DeWeese.  I’m not crazy about the guy, but you have to give him credit for something.  He sees the gambling situation is a mess, so he has the idea of having full, no holds bar, gambling - meaning blackjack and other card games.  I don’t agree with the idea of expanding gambling like that, but hey, he’s right in one sense, if you are going to allow gambling, atleast do it right and allow as many forms of gambling as you possibly can.  Why do it half-ass and only allow the same amount of gambling as the other states that surround PA. 

I want to take a moment and give two thumbs up to my state Sen. Pat Vance.  I sent her an e-mail before the Senate leadership vote asking her to support Sen. Piccola for Pro Temp. 

Today I received her response - nice, short, sweet and to the point - “I did support Sen. Piccola.” 

I thanked her for her efforts to reform Harrisburg.  On a side note, I still haven’t gotten a response from Rep. Gabig on how he voted. 

The PA House of Representatives have now flipped to the D’s.  I guess that’s one way to get John Perzel out of the Speaker’s seat.  What the House Republicans whimped out of doing the people of Chester County ended up doing for the rest of the state.  I wonder if the weenies in the House Republican Caucus will now have the guts to totally get Perzel out of all leadership positions. 

Tim Potts asked me to forward this out to anyone who would be interested in it - this is the best way that I know how.  If you want to receive Tim’s Update, please send him your e-mail to be added to the list - tim.potts@democracyrisingpa.com

Democracy Rising PA News

November 27, 2006                               tim@democracyrisingpa.com                              717-243-8570
 

$30,000 for this?
It costs us about $30,000 a day – extra – for per diems (on top of salary and catered meals) every day when the legislature’s in session. But, you say, the legislature ended its business last week (see below), and half of them are now in the woods hunting for prey other than our Constitution. So what’s up?
 

Today was a “non-voting session day” in the House, and the Senate is recessed “to the call of the President Pro Tempore.” Most of our Representatives and Senators will do nothing official, yet any of them who wants it will get yet another per diem at your expense. Today. Tomorrow. Just look at it as a hunting subsidy – for them.
 

Slots for Sots – Pay Raise Deja Vu

Last Tuesday, minutes before midnight, “gut-and-run” lawmakers proved once again why PA should become the 39^th state to prohibit lame-duck sessions of the legislature. These are sessions that occur after the election but before the newly elected legislature takes office in January.
 

As they did with the original gambling law in 2004 and the pay raise in 2005, the General Assembly violated the Constitution they swore to obey by gutting a two-line bill, inserting 26 pages of completely new language, and running it to a vote. They did this:
·        within days of a major holiday,
·        without public hearings,
·        without public debate,
·        without lawmakers themselves knowing what was in it, and
·        without citizens and businesses affected by it having a chance to express their opinions.
 

This time, “gut-and-run” lawmakers decided to let slots parlors provide unlimited free alcohol to slots players. Those who live near slots parlors, those who work in or near slots parlors, and those restaurants and taverns who will have to compete with slots parlors, and those who treat alcoholics and advocate on their behalf were denied the opportunity to express their opinions about the actual proposal that they will have to pay for and live with.
 

The Lame-Duck Factor
How important were the 55 lame-duck lawmakers whom voters never again can hold accountable for their actions? Important enough that without their votes, this couldn’t have happened. In the Senate, only one lame duck voted for it, Majority Leader “Chip” Brightbill, R-Lebanon. But in the House, 32 lame ducks voted for it. Without their votes, the bill would have received only 80 of the 102 votes needed for passage. But no one should have been voting on anything in the first place.
 

The Hypocrisy Index

Last summer, 53 House members signed onto an agenda to “restore faith in Pennsylvania government.” Led by Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Philadelphia, and Rep. David Steil, R-Bucks, the group proposed to stop gut-and-run practices. One of their proposed reforms would require a two-thirds vote to pass legislation in lame-duck session. Another would require a “minimum 24-hour notice” before the House could approve amendments made in the Senate. It’s not clear whether last Tuesday’s vote, which approved amendments made in the Senate, got even 24 minutes notice.
 

What is clear is that 23 of the 53 so-called reformers, including Manderino, failed to walk the walk. They could have stopped this latest violation of the Constitution, but instead they voted for it. They are:
 

Stephen Barrar, R-Delaware
Paul Costa, D-Allegheny
Peter Daley, D-Fayette
Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny
Florindo Fabrizio, D-Erie
Neal Goodman, D-Schuylkill
Richard Grucella, D-Northampton
Michael Hanna, D-Clinton
Ted Harhai, D-Westmoreland
Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia
Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery
David Levdansky, D-Allegheny
Kathy Manderino, D-Philadelphia
Michael McGeehan, D-Philadelphia
Anthony Melio, D-Bucks
Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne
Bernard O’Neill, R-Bucks
John Pallone, D-Westmoreland
Scott Petri, R-Bucks
Jess Stairs, R-Westmoreland
Curtis Thomas, D-Philadelphia
Thomas Tigue, D-Luzerne
John Yudichak, D-Cambria
 

It’s hard not to notice that 20 of the 24 on the Hypocrisy Index are Democrats.
 

Lame (-Duck) Excuse of the Day

Speaking of hypocrisy, Sen. Sean Logan, D-Allegheny, gets the lame-duck excuse award for claiming in the Nov. 23 Post-Gazette that lawmakers “have been talking about the free drink issue ever since Act 71 [the slots gambling law] became law over two years ago. There was plenty of discussion.”
 

Quack!
·        The Constitution only allows lawmakers to consider actual bills, not hallway gossip, dinner conversation with lobbyists, news releases, newspaper articles or campaign brochures. Talk is cheap; laws are expensive. That’s why there’s a difference.
·        If this was such a good idea and had such a long history, why didn’t lawmakers “discuss” the specific proposal – the actual language of the proposed law – with their constituents in the light of day at any time during the past two years? This was yet another sneak attack upon citizens and their communities, nothing more.
 

One Who Gets It

Sen. Patricia Vance, R-Cumberland, gets it. She told the Harrisburg Patriot that the gut-and-run procedure is “abominable.” “If one wants to rehabilitate the image of the Legislature, that’s a very poor way to do it,” Vance said.
 

About a year from now, Logan will begin campaigning for re-election in 2008. Between now and then, he’ll be raising campaign money from special interests so that he can tell his constituents how much he listens to them. Is Logan really listening to his constituents? Or to Sen. Vance?
 

One Who Should Get It

Gov. Ed Rendell also swore to obey the Constitution. He can and should honor his oath by vetoing this “abomination” and inviting lawmakers to try again – this time adhering to the Constitution – when the new session begins in January.
 

Marvin Olasky just wrote an intriguing piece that really summorizes very well what happened to Republicans on election day.

The buzz word from past elections was “values voters.”  This election was different there were “Integrity voters.”  I am one of those voters and I didn’t even know what to call it. 

I’ve written plenty of times about how we lost our trust in our representatives for the many things they have done - the pay raise being one, but also gambling, tax increase, etc.  When one loses trust in another individual, it is very difficult to get it back. 

The real interesting part of Olasky’s piece is where he talks about honest apologies vs. the rhetorical apologies so many politicians give us.  People aren’t stupid and can tell the difference.  Sen. Kerry’s recent “apology” falls into the rhetorical camp in my opinion.  He was sorry that some people were offended, not that he said the wrong thing. 

This is the reason why I am still upset with people like Perzel and the other establishment Republicans - they give worthless apologies and have no intent on changing. 

And so that no one can claim that I won’t follow Olasky’s advice - I’m going to apologize.  I am sorry for every stupid and idiotic thing I have ever done.  I’m not going to make excuses for anything, but will learn from my past mistakes.  I’m sure as I go forward with life I will continue to make mistakes - that’s what life is all about.  Having the humility to recognize this and apologize when necessary is also good for life. 

I only wish some of our Representatives in government could do the same.  I’d have more respect for alot of them. 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. 

I’m grateful for so many things.  Here’s just a few of the best things I am grateful for:

- Life

- Opportunity

- Abundance

- My family

- Doing something everyday that I have a passion for

- Living out my purpose

- Living in a country where opportunity flows

- Being able to freely and openly express my thoughts and opinions

- My health

Like I said, there’s more.   In fact, too many to list here.  What are you grateful for?

There’s a million things to write about King of the House John Perzel. 

First, if you haven’t already, read Lowman Henry’s piece - it’s a great article, and really expresses all my feelings.  Great stuff Lowman!!!

Second, there have been several articles around the state on Perzel talking about the need for reform and how he is going to start fighting the Governor. 

He’s a day late and a dollar short in my opinion.  King John is about as interested in reforming the system that is benefiting him and his cohorts about as much as David Duke is interested in singing “cume by yah” at a black church.  It ain’t happening folks, don’t hold your breath.  How many times does he have to prove it to us before everyone really, really believes this.  The latest proof was the e-mail he sent in response to someone asking for a reform ticket - he told that guy to mind is own business - too bad King John doesn’t understand that anything the almighty Legislature does is the public’s business.

That’s leaves one more thing to cover - the other spineless Representatives.  Louis R. Petolicchio wrote a great piece on what he wrote to his Rep and the reply that he received. 

Before the House Leadership election I sent my own Rep, Will Gabig, an e-mail asking him to vote for anyone, anyone besides Perzel and his cohorts and to push for an open and public election of the leadership.  I still haven’t gotten a response - though that doesn’t surprise me considering that he won’t even acknowledge my presense if we stand next to each other.  I’m not making that up either - we were both at a Santorum rally a couple of weeks ago, where he stood a few steps behind me.  He acted like I wasn’t there.  Of course I’ve helped campaigns against him this past year, so I can understand that he doesn’t like me - but I could care less about that.  Ignoring me though?  Isn’t that a bit pathetic, or high-schoolish?  No wonder we have Reps who won’t stand up to Perzel - they won’t even pretend to to be nice with people who oppose them anymore.  It’s rather wimpy in my opinion.  From here on out, until the Republican Representatives get a backbone, I am renaming their chamber to the House of Wimps.  They no longer represent the people in their district, they are just plain wimpy.  Since when did we start getting wimpy legislators?  How pathetic.  There is more courage in my youngest daughter’s pinky than most of the other Reps combined. 

According to my friend Chris Lilik at www.grassrootspa.com, the Pennsylvania Senate has installed Sen. Scarnati as it’s new Pro-Temp. 

So let’s take a moment and tally things up here.  First you have the voters who got rid of 1/4 the incumbents up for election because of their arrogance.  You also have an unemployed Supreme Court Justice.  The people have been doing some house cleaning. 

On the other side you have a spineless State House and Senate which re-instated the same people (or their puppets) that got the members into the situation in the first place.  You also have a Supreme Court Justice which plans on retiring, but does so arrogantly claiming that judges should not be subject to the people.  You also have a State Party Chairman who won’t resign even though the Party suffered two butt-kickings at the state level. 

Hmm, where does that leave us?  Well, pretty much where we were on the day of the imfamous pay raise.  It’s the same leadership, with an even bigger case of arrogance.  The people thought they corrected this problem - but the establishment refuses to listen. 

There is a term for this - it’s called stubborn.  And because of this stubbornness, the entire Republican party will continue to suffer - both sides will see to that.  The establishment complains about reformers willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but the establishment is doing the exact same thing by their act of stubbornness.  What we are about to see in Pennsylvania over the next two years is the destruction of the Republican Party.  But I would argue that this destruction is necessary because the Party is plagued with arrogance.  Once the party is torn down, it can be rebuilt from the bottom up. 

When I look at the state of the Republican Party here in Pennsylvania, it makes me sick.  I can’t wait for the 2008 primaries.  I’ll only be working on campaigns that are set on removing incumbents. 

Will the Pennsylvania Senate Leadership elections go any better than the House did?  There’s actually a chance it could, thanks to the voters doing a job that the members of the Senate should have done long ago. 

But considering that the House has a bunch of thick skulled nitwits, and the Party establishment believes we haven’t lost enough seats by refusing to resign, and our Judiciary continues in its arrogant ways, I won’t hold my breath. 

I sincerely hope Jeff Piccola wins.  He would be a breath of fresh air as he was one of the few in Senate Leadership that wants to make alot of changes.  Plus, I can see that he will be open to reforms that are so desperately needed. 

If the Senate Leadership goes to another pay-jacker, then maybe Russ Diamond can resurrect Clean Sweep again and start working on 2008 elections for all the branchs of government.  I’ll be the first one to sign up Russ. 

If the state house stays the way it is, 102-101 in favor of Republicans, I wonder if one brave Republican soul would decide to take a stand and abstain from voting for Speaker when the chamber votes for Speaker.  I’m not sure what would happen in that case, but I think the chaos would be appropriate.  I know this much, that Republican would be considered in high regard by the public and villified by his colleagues.  Considering how spineless most Reps are, I won’t hold my breath on this idea.

If I recall correctly, Mark Harris, when he was running for the House, said that he would not vote for Perzel as speaker.  Too bad Mark didn’t win his election though because it would have made for an interesting vote. 

On the federal level, I heard an interesting theory - more fun than reality.  What if Republicans hand-picked a Democrat to run for speaker, or just voted for Steny Hoyer for Speaker instead of doing the usual opposition vote?  Hoyer would only need 15 Democrats to support him - he’d be the next Speaker.  He already has support of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats.  It would almost be a coalition much like a parliment.  The biggest benefit would be that Republicans would be able to deny Pelosi her dream of being Speaker of the House. Hoyer would also be able to give her the finger too - since they really don’t like each other.  Again, I don’t think it will happen, but it sure would be fun to watch.