Above Average Jane

Friday, December 09, 2005

weekly legislative update

As I mentioned in the previous posting, the governor called a special legislative session to look into property tax reform. Information from that session is included here as well. Standard caveats apply (resolutions not generally included, list of sponsors deleted if it was too long – three lines in the originally formatting).

Our accountants friends at PICPA have updated their legislative page, and have a lot to say about property tax reform.

Other weekly updates are available for this week:

PA House Democrats
PA House GOP daily updates
PA Senate Democrats
PA Senate Republicans

Special Session

These bills were introduced, or referred to a committee, not voted on. The descriptions tended to be pretty much the same, with only a few variations.

Monday 1 bills (HB 68) referred to finance committee, (House); HB 14, 15, 16, 17 shuffled
Tuesday no activity
Wednesday no activity
Thursday no activity
Friday no activity

Regular Session

Resolutions

There were 2 resolutions honoring fallen soldiers.

Bills

House

HB 194 Prior Printer's No. 202. Printer's No. 3213. An Act amending the act of December 20, 2001 (P.L.969, No.116), known as the Dormitory Sprinkler System Act, further providing for the sprinkler system program.

HB 509 Prior Printer's No. 547. Printer's No. 3215. An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, further providing for campus police powers and duties.

HB 609 Printer's No. 682. An Act providing for a loan program to assist colleges to install automatic fire suppression systems in student residences; establishing the Sprinkler Loan Fund; providing for the powers and duties of the Department of Community and Economic Development; and prescribing a penalty.

HB 659 Prior Printer's No. 752. Printer's No. 3211. An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the offenses of possessing instruments of crime and of scattering rubbish.

HB 804 Prior Printer's No. 966. Printer's No. 3216. An Act amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for unattended children in motor vehicles, for fleeing or attempting to elude police officer and for restrictions on highway and bridge use.

HB 1112 Prior Printer's No. 1319. Printer's No. 3212. An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the offense of corrupt organizations; providing for the offense of trafficking in persons; further providing for order authorizing interception of wire, electronic or oral communications; and providing for sentencing for trafficking of persons and for criminal forfeiture.

SB 157 By Senators ARMSTRONG, VANCE, GORDNER, THOMPSON, PILEGGI, EARLL, COSTA, KASUNIC, ORIE, LOGAN, ROBBINS, WONDERLING, BOSCOLA, M. WHITE, WAUGH, WENGER, FUMO, PIPPY and D. WHITE. Prior Printer's Nos. 143, 708, 784, 809, 1048, 1401. Printer's No. 1413. An Act amending the act of December 31, 1965 (P.L.1257, No.511), known as The Local Tax Enabling Act, further providing for delegation of taxing powers and restrictions thereon; providing for local services taxes; repealing provisions relating to emergency and municipal services taxes and to continuation of occupational privilege taxes; and making editorial changes.

SB 712 Prior Printer's Nos. 859, 898, 1055, 1272. Printer's No. 1410. An Act providing for the notification of residents whose personal information data was or may have been disclosed due to a security system breach; and imposing penalties.

HB 348 Prior Printer's Nos. 369, 2999. Printer's No. 3229. An Act amending Titles 23 (Domestic Relations) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for multidisciplinary team; establishing the Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Response Account; providing for additional duties of the Department of Public Welfare; making an appropriation; and further providing for deposits into account.

HB 1139 By Representative J. TAYLOR. Printer's No. 1345. An Act amending the act of June 21, 1939 (P.L.626, No.294), referred to as the Second Class County Assessment Law, repealing provisions relating to triennial assessments.

HB 1348 Prior Printer's No. 1606. Printer's No. 3168. An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for restitution for identity theft; and making a related repeal.

HB 1467 Prior Printer's Nos. 1785, 2559. Printer's No. 3261. An Act providing for dispute resolution procedures relating to residential construction defects between contractors and homeowners or members of associations.

HB 1607 Prior Printer's Nos. 2042, 2738. Printer's No. 3238. An Act amending the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L.233, No.64), known as The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, further providing for schedules of controlled substances, for professional prescription, administration and dispensing, for prohibited acts and penalties involving ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and marijuana and for effect on local ordinances.

HB 1632 Prior Printer's No. 2017. Printer's No. 3230. An Act amending the act of July 22, 1974 (P.L.589, No.205), known as the Unfair Insurance Practices Act, further defining "abuse," "unfair methods of competition" and "unfair or deceptive acts or practices."

HB 1641 Prior Printer's No. 2026. Printer's No. 3240. An Act amending Titles 30 (Fish) and 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for boat and marine forfeiture, for the powers and duties of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, for boat, marine equipment and watercraft trailer forfeiture and for the powers and duties of the Department of Transportation.

HB 1697 Prior Printer's Nos. 2159, 2887, 3262. Printer's No. 3279. An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for failure to comply with registration of sexual offenders requirements; and providing for the offense of selling or furnishing liquor or malt or brewed beverages to minors resulting in injury or death, for protection of consumers from having spyware deceptively installed on their computers and for criminal and civil enforcement.

HB 1784 Prior Printer's No. 2322. Printer's No. 3239. An Act amending Titles 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) and Title 44 (Law and Justice) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing, in registration of sexual offenders, for registration, for information made available on the Internet, and for the definition of "other specified offense" in DNA data and testing.

HB 1993 By Representatives GEIST and McCALL. Prior Printer's Nos. 2734, 3259. Printer's No. 3278. An Act amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for an automobile insurance discount for students who meet certain criteria; further providing for automated red light enforcement systems in first class cities; providing for restrictions on mobile phone use; further providing for unattended children in motor vehicles, for periods for requiring lighted lamps and for restrictions on highway and bridge use.

HB 2136 Prior Printer's Nos. 2940, 3057. Printer's No. 3236. An Act amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for unattended children in motor vehicles, for accidents involving death or personal injury and for restrictions on highway and bridge use.

HB 2191 By Representatives KENNEY and S. H. SMITH. Printer's No. 3026. An Act creating the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Recycling Act; providing for redistribution of prescription drugs at State correctional facilities; and imposing powers and duties on the Governor's Office of Administration.

HB 2216 Printer's No. 3090. An Act providing for State funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

SB 539 By Senators PIPPY, WAUGH, VANCE, COSTA, RAFFERTY, BOSCOLA and STOUT. Prior Printer's No. 572. Printer's No. 872. An Act amending Title 34 (Game) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the offense of trespass on private property while hunting; and prescribing penalties.

SB 596 By Senators LAVALLE and STOUT. Printer's No. 616. An Act authorizing and directing the Department of General Services, with the approval of the Governor and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, to accept by donation a tract of land and any improvements thereon situate in the Borough of Ambridge, Beaver County.

SB 712 Prior Printer's Nos. 859, 898, 1055, 1272. Printer's No. 1410. An Act providing for the notification of residents whose personal information data was or may have been disclosed due to a security system breach; and imposing penalties.

Senate

HB 1057 Prior Printer's Nos. 1213, 2204, 2402, 2948. Printer's No. 3103. An Act providing for the issuance of identification cards for retired law enforcement officers; and providing for the powers and duties of law enforcement agencies and the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission.

SB 618 By Senators WAUGH, WENGER, SCARNATI, M. WHITE, WONDERLING, RAFFERTY, STOUT, CORMAN, LEMMOND, D. WHITE, KITCHEN, PUNT, GORDNER, THOMPSON, TOMLINSON, ROBBINS, ARMSTRONG and PICCOLA. Prior Printer's No. 682. Printer's No. 1359. An Act providing for immunity for equine owners, possessors or handlers.

SB 860 By Senators WAUGH, MUSTO, M. WHITE and RAFFERTY. Printer's No. 1136. An Act amending the act of June 23, 1993 (P.L.128, No.29), known as the Plain Language Consumer Contract Act, further providing for contractual requirements.

HB 111 By Representatives MUSTIO, BELFANTI, CALTAGIRONE, CRAHALLA, ENLINGER, J. EVANS, HENNESSEY, MANDERINO, O'NEILL, REICHLEY, SAINATO, T. STEVENSON, WASHINGTON, YOUNGBLOOD, HARPER, DALLY, RAYMOND and MELIO. Prior Printer's Nos. 103, 1393, 2742, 2995, 3217. Printer's No. 3237. An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, further defining "case" and "eligible entity"; providing for extension of existing license to cover additional area; and further providing for breweries, for surrender of certain licenses for benefit of licensee, for unlawful acts relative to malt or brewed beverages and licensees, for hours of operation relative to manufacturers, importing distributors and distributors and for unlawful acts relative to liquor, malt and brewed beverages and licensees.

SB 394 By Senators CORMAN, PUNT, PIPPY, RAFFERTY, RHOADES, BOSCOLA, KITCHEN, LOGAN, O'PAKE, TARTAGLIONE, GREENLEAF, WONDERLING and LEMMOND. Prior Printer's No. 401. Printer's No. 1400. An Act amending the act of May 29, 1956 (1955 P.L.1804, No.600), referred to as the Municipal Police Pension Law, further providing for payments under existing pension plans for service increments to pensions of police officers.

SB 435 Prior Printer's No. 458. Printer's No. 1357. An Act amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, amending provisions relating to comparative negligence.

SB 895 By Senators TOMLINSON, CONTI, RAFFERTY, TARTAGLIONE, GREENLEAF, PILEGGI, ERICKSON, THOMPSON, M. WHITE, BOSCOLA, LOGAN, COSTA, PUNT, WENGER, WAUGH, C. WILLIAMS, WONDERLING and STACK. Prior Printer's Nos. 1176, 1372, 1377. Printer's No. 1403. An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for police animals.

Blog Round-Up

Trying to kill time before I have to suit up, boot up, and go out to "plug in the house," I did my morning blogroll and came up with following:

PoliticsPA raised over $8,000 in an online auction, with the winner spending the day with Flavia Colgan, including attending talk show tapings. The man with the winning bid donated the prize to two young Iraqi war vets. Proceeds go the to Boys & Girls Club, an asset to many communities including mine. Good job all around.

America's Hometown highlights a bill to deny gay and lesbian couples any family benefits. Call your state reps and senators and give your opinion on this. Personally, I think this is bad legislation, morally and legally.

Joe Hoeffel has a nice entry on needed campaign finance reform.

Attytood has an intriguing idea -- have the Pew Foundation buy the Inky and the Daily News.
If done well that would be a splendid solution to the newspapers' future.

Two new'ish blogs to watch: PennPatriot and Barnestormin.

For other news round ups visit A Smoke-Filled Room and the other blogs listed on my sidebar.

An explanation of "plugging in the house" for the curious -- in heavy snow our house tends to develop "ice dams" that force melting water into the attic and through the walls into the kitchen and dining room. Mr. J put specially designed wires on the roof that can be plugged in to melt the bottom layers of snow on the roof. Somehow this lets the upper layers melt into the gutters instead of being forced into the house. The physics of it are beyond me but if you ask a clerk in the hardware or home building supplies stores, they can explain it to you. I just plug and unplug as directed.

Friday White Out

It's a snow day!! When severe weather is forecast Mr. Jane and I will sit down and compare calendars. Whoever has the least "important" stuff gets tagged for "mom/dad" duty in case school is closed. I'm home today (whether I won or lost is a matter of opinion) with the kids, two newly spayed cats, a bunch of guppies and one crab (no, not me, a real one). The vet send home pain meds for the cats which may come in very handy later in the day.

We live on a hill and the afternoon agenda may include sledding (kids) and pulling sleds back up the hill (me). Baking will probably also show up on the to do list.

It looks like about 4 inches of snow on top of the cars, but it isn't snowing at the moment. Freezing rain was coming down earlier. It was definitely cold when I waited at the door for Mr. J to bring me the paper as he left to hike out to the train station. Always buy a house within walking distance of public transit, a grocery store and a laundramat, because you never know....

We havent' been plowed yet but the Inky delivery truck still made it through. Yippee!!

Expect more postings later as cabin fever starts to set in.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Republican Primary in 152nd?

Interesting press release on politicsPA today. Former Upper Moreland Township Commissioner Thomas P. Murt has declared his candidacy for the 152nd state house seat. Murt resigned from his township office when he was called up for service in Iraq. Tom has a long record of public service and I've heard a number of good things about him. Read more about him here, here, and here.

Sue Cornell, currently in office, was elected in 2004. She took the office earlier in 2004 after the death of her father, Rep. Roy Cornell. Read more about her here, here, and here.

Does this mean there will be a Republican primary?

Hoeffel Officially "Considering" Lt Gov Run

Others have suggested it but now it's official: Joe Hoeffel is thinking of running for lt. gov. In today's Inky:

"I am considering it," said Hoeffel, a lawyer in Philadelphia. The governor needs the best possible governing team for his second term."

Hoeffel formerly represented the 13th district (parts of Montgomery County and Philly) in Congress, and held office as a Montco County Commissioner, and state representative for the 153rd district (now held by Josh Shapiro).

Currently the governor and lt. governor run separately but a bill in the state legislator would allow the gubernatorial candidate to select a running mate. If passed it could affect the 2006 election.

[Update: selected previous Joe Hoeffel postings here, here, here, here, and here]

(More recent Hoeffel postings here)

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Philly in the Dec. Fast Company

Reading through the December issue of Fast Company, I see two references to the Philly area.

A brief profile of Dondeena Bradley, director of strategic marketing for McNeil Nutritionals in Ft. Washington, is on page 32. I've never heard of McNeil Nutritionals, but apparently they are the nice people who bring us Splenda.

On page 56, we find a brief profile of Brian Roberts of Comcast. Them we've heard of.

"You Can Get Your Meds" Bill

Some of our state legislators have introduced legislation that would allow residents of Pennsylvania to fill legitimate prescriptions (those written legally), regardless of the inclinations of the pharmacist. In other words the pharmacist couldn't refuse to fill a prescription if they didn't believe in, say, contraception or psychiatric medications or little purple pills. See press releases here, here, and here.

It's bad enough that insurance companies and HMOs are interfering with our medical decisions. Now we have to worry about jumping through the pharmacist's hurdles as well.

Matthews Makes It Official

Jim Matthews, Montgomery County Commissioner, made it official today -- he is running for the GOP Lt. Gov spot. Here is his announcement. My two previous Matthews posts are here and here.

The only other officially declared Republican candidate is Greg Sahd of Lancaster County.

Rumor was that John Pippy was also interested but nothing has been said (in print or Internet that I could find) lately; too bad I liked him. The GOP continues to avoid candidates that would tempt me to cross vote.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

More on Murphy

While much of Southeastern Pennsylvania is sitting
down in front of the Eagles game, I’m sipping hot
cocoa (with marshmallows) out of my “I’m not Sy
Snyder” mug and looking over my notes from tonight’s
conference call.

Tonight’s guest was Patrick Murphy, Democratic
candidate for the 8th Pennsylvania Congressional
district. Yesterday I posted an email interview with
him. This was the first time I had actually spoken to
him.

Earlier today Murphy posted his vision for bringing
our troops home from Iraq. You can read it here.

In addition, the law firm where he works, Cozen
O’Connor, has a program called Cozen soldiers to
encourage employees to write letters and send packages
to servicemen and women. The law firm picks up the
postage.

Not content to support the troops overseas, he has
also founded the Bucks County Veterans Committee to
raise money for families of those deployed. As
someone from a military family I can tell you that
mail and packages to soldiers and support personnel
far from home, and a kind word and deed to their
family stateside, does a world of good for morale.

He also touched on energy conservation and some
strategies for becoming more energy independent. This
impacts most people individually in choice of
automobile and heating costs.

His campaign is also geared toward community service.
He has developed MurphyCorps,
an opportunity for campaign volunteers to contribute to
the district in tangible ways. Each month Murphy leads
a group project. One month they cleaned up the grounds
of a YMCA. On Dec. 17th they will be volunteering on a
homebuilding project in Langhorne. All are welcome to
participate.

Murphy discussed the need for campaign finance reform.
Several million dollars will be spent in the 8th
district race and he thinks that money could be better
spent on community projects in the area.

Throughout the 50 minute call he showed the sincerity
and intelligence I have come to expect from him and
his campaign.

Any blogger reading this should seriously consider
joining in on some of these calls. Most are
coordinated by Chris at mydd; you can get his email
there and let him know you are interested. It is an
especially important opportunity for those who, like
me, have family concerns and can’t easily get out to
Drinking Liberally and other opportunities to meet
candidates.

Thanks to Murphy for participating and Chris for coordinating.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Missing Monday

This posting has appeared on Philly Future but I'm reposting it here.

The Philadelphia Police Department is reporting (PDF) that Jacqueline Finch, who is 64 years old, is missing as of 11/22/05.
Please note, Finch suffers from dementia.

If you have any information, please call Detective Hunker at the South Detectives at 215-686-3013 or 215-686-3014.

Name: Jacqueline Finch Age: 64 Years Old

Last Seen: 11/22/05 at 3:30 PM on the 1200 Block of Bonsall Street in South Philadelphia.

Description: 5'1" and 120 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. Last Seen Wearing: A white hat, a pink and white jacket with a hood, black and white New Balance sneakers, and an orange sweatshirt.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

An Interview with Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy, one of the "Fighting Democrats" (Iraqi War vets running for office), is challenging Republican Michael Fitzpatrick for the 8th Congressional District, Bucks County, some of Northeast Philadelphia, and a sliver of Montgomery County.

He recently took the time to answer a few email questions. His answers show intelligence, values, a quick wit, and a sense of humor. My favorite quote in the entire interview is this: When I was in Baghdad, I didn’t wear the issued wrap-around sunglasses because I wanted the Iraqis to be able to look in my eyes when I was out and about.

Here is the full interview:

The 2006 edition of CQ’s Politics in America comments that the 8th Pennsylvania congressional district has a lot small businesses but no really large industries. Is this a matter of concern?

Small businesses account for more than 90% of the job creation in the US, so I’m glad that entrepreneurs and small-business owners have found the 8th to be a good place to live the American dream. The lack of large industry is part of a nation-wide problem. Industrial jobs are being shipped overseas because of unfair trade practices. I am absolutely for free trade as long as it’s fair trade. My concern is that people like Mike Fitzpatrick have been bullied in Congress into passing legislation like CAFTA that include no worker protections or environmental protections, and have therefore put labor and working families on notice that he is not on their side.

Along those same lines, the Intelligencer recently printed a story on daily demographic changes in the greater Philadelphia area. A significantly larger number of people live in Bucks County and leave it to work elsewhere than live outside it and work there. Does this have any effect on the issues you will track or committees you would want to be on?

Absolutely. The Greater Philadelphia area, and Bucks County specifically, is where I got my start—where I started my college education at Bucks County Community College. The issue is that while many young professionals are educated in our region, they feel the economic pull to work elsewhere—the so-called Brain Drain. We need to invest in the infrastructure of job creation here in our region. That is why I salute the Governor’s efforts to address this challenge and have pledged to him that I will take this battle to Washington DC as the Representative of the 8th Congressional District.

We have all recently seen the devastating effects of flooding. Bucks County is bordered on two sides by the Delaware River and crossed by the Neshaminy, Tinicum and Mill Creeks, and is the home of Lake Galena. The Sandy Run Creek is in the Montco section of the 8th district. What needs to be done by the county and by the federal government to minimize flooding risks and to be prepared should flooding occur?

The Delaware River Basin has been weakened by irresponsible sprawl and overdevelopment, and we need to bring New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to the table to address this issue. The runoff problem is aggregating our flood mitigation plan. People talk to me all the time about the problems they’ve encountered as a result of flooding, and the government’s response has been sub-par to say the least. We all saw the kind of job that FEMA did in New Orleans, but even here in the 8th, I hear horror stories about the inadequate response that residents have gotten from FEMA and other agencies. As the next Congressman, I will hold hearings to address this exact issue and reach across the table as necessary to accomplish a responsible flood plan that will not put my constituents out in the street when the next heavy rainfall occurs. I will also stand up to those who mismanage disaster response and hold them responsible for their actions—or inactions as the case may be.

Let’s say you are elected and have taken office. A genie tells you that you can magically pass one bill and have it become law. What would it be?

I’d pass a workers’ bill of rights, guaranteeing a livable wage, quality health coverage, and pension portability.

Being single while campaigning must have some benefits – you don’t have to keep apologizing for not being home for dinner. Are there also drawbacks?

I was blessed to come from an incredibly tight family—I’m the youngest of three—and I can’t wait to start a family of my own and frankly, while the military certainly put a crunch on my personal life, I feel like I am now again putting a certain aspect of my life on hold. With that said, though, the challenges that our nation faces under this Republican administration and Congress call for action. For me, that means making some personal sacrifices, but if those sacrifices help me bring about change, it will all be worth it.

My father was a drill sergeant and I spent part of my childhood around the military. If you have the right stripes on your shoulder you can tell people to do something and they will do it without question. Will you be able to handle the wheeler/dealer aspects of Congress, the trading and persuasion?

There are some things that I’ll never compromise—for example, my belief in the fight for the working families of the 8th District. I’m not naïve enough to think that I will walk onto the floor of the House my first day start giving orders, but one thing that I learned in the military was how to quickly and accurately assess a situation, then take immediate action. I’m a pretty quick study, which is how I went from a rowhouse in the Northeast to teaching at West Point, so I believe I’ll be able to spot those legislators that truly have the American people at heart. A large legislative body, where all members are more or less equal, is an entirely different animal than a military unit, and the “rules of engagement" are different. I know in my heart that I will be able to make that transition without ever compromising my principles.

The odd section of Montgomery County that is included in the 8th district used to be known as the Greenwood Gash. During the last election I heard it referred to as the Schrader Section. If elected what will you call it?

The Patrick Pinch? It doesn’t matter to me what people call it. What matters to me is that I am able to represent all of my constituents to the best of my abilities.

Realistically speaking, what can Congress do to encourage businesses to hire more people here in the U.S. and provide them with good benefits?

There’s more health care cost than steel cost in the price of a new GM car. We need a fresh approach to solving the challenges as true partners with American businesses and working families. We need to address the healthcare crisis in America. We need to ensure that our trade practices are fair and we need to stop giving tax incentives to companies who ship jobs overseas. Every one of these issues should be addressed by our elected Representatives before it’s too late.

Every candidate talks about jobs, health care, and the environment. What are you saying that is different?

That I’ve seen first-hand the results of the Administrations disastrous policies in Iraq. I mean, if we’re going to win the War on Terror, we have to stop pursuing a foreign policy that breed terrorists, and we have to focus on eliminating the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have men and women who are dying overseas because of an administration that is too arrogant to give a responsible exit strategy and timeline of when they’re coming home. Thank God we finally have courageous democrats like Jack Murtha taking a stand on our behalf.

But that’s not all I’m talking about. I do talk about jobs, healthcare and the environment because, despite what the administration wants people to believe, Americans are hurting at home. They’re working two jobs just to put food on the table. In a lot of families, the second wage-earner makes just enough to cover out-of-control health care costs. And our failure to address environmental issues like global warming is already having disastrous results. Just look at the hurricanes in the past year. Any expert will tell you that warm water feeds hurricanes, and that this year’s devastation was caused, in part, by rising ocean temperatures.

What are the most important issues Congress will be grappling with in the next few years and what could you contribute to those debates?

First and foremost, the War on Terror and how we choose to confront terrorism, both at home and abroad. I’ve lived in Germany and Bosnia, and also in Iraq, and I can tell you that this is an International struggle. In Bosnia, the United States ended the worst ethnic cleansing since World War II. We were saving the lives of Muslims. Now, many Muslims feel we are an occupying force in Iraq which has become the rallying cry and recruitment pitch for Al Qaeda. Bobby Kennedy once said that if our enemies do not want peace, then there will be none. We must be smart and strong in our posture in the world.

I am also very concerned about the erosion of constitutional rights and civil liberties over the past few years. I taught Constitutional Law at West Point, and it makes me so angry to see our elected leaders in Washington—specifically the White House and the Republican leadership in Congress—pushing policies that erode the foundation of this country. The equal protection clause of the constitution is absolute. The right to privacy is absolute. The right to assemble is absolute. Yet time and time again, the administration has supported, and the Congressional leadership has supported nominees and policies that do not follow the constitution. With my background, I can add to this debate. And I’m not afraid to take a stand for what’s right.

What are three things about you or this political race that you wish the voters in the 8th Congressional district knew?

First, how dangerous Mike Fitzpatrick really is. He’s a guy who went to school with Rick Santorum and is cut from the same political cloth. The Republicans are grooming him to be Rick’s successor, and they’re going to make sure he has the money to run an aggressive campaign. If we don’t beat him in 2006, he will quickly become so entrenched that we will never get rid of him. It should be no surprise that Fitzpatrick votes with Tom DeLay 95% of the time when DeLay increased his campaign coffers by $15,000.

Second how important it is for Democrats and progressives to come together early in order for us to win. Many people want to sit on the sidelines and watch from afar. We need people to get involved today, whether it’s donating money,writing a letter to the editor, or signing up for the MurphyCorps—a group of supporters who not only volunteer on the campaign, but volunteer in the community.

Third, I’m an outstanding singer—where’s that Genie again?

The campaigning process can be grueling, especially with the constant need to raise money. Doesn’t it become tiresome and how do you keep from becoming too cynical?

When you’re in war, you see the best and worst of people. When I was in Baghdad, I didn’t wear the issued wrap-around sunglasses because I wanted the Iraqis to be able to look in my eyes when I was out and about. That helped me earn their trust, and it helped them know that I was sincere. Campaigns far too often follow the same script, bringing out the worst in people. I’m committed to maintain a positive approach which is evident through our monthly community service projects (the aforementioned MurphyCorps) and debate on the issues. This is just too important to me to allow myself to become cynical.

How many years of your life have you actually lived in Bucks County, or had it listed as your home of record? [Interview's note, I meant the 8th District not just Bucks County and that is actually what Murphy answered -- note that he was able to figure out what I meant not what I said, and answer in a way that didn't make me look bad. This is a valuable quality in an elected official.]

Although I have only lived in Bucks County since December of 2004, the 8th District includes the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood where I was born and raised. It includes Bucks County Community College where I began my college career in 1991. It’s where I played youth hockey since grade school. And it’s where I returned when I came home from 11 years in the Army. Bucks County is where I chose to make my home, and where I plan to raise my family.

If your campaign is remembered for one thing, what would you like it to be?

Winning.

What one question didn’t I ask that you would like to answer?

How can I get involved?

Volunteer, join MurphyCorps, contribute, write letters to the editor, donate office supplies, e-mail your friends and family, sign up to help me knock on doors, phonebank, and work the polls on election day.

Oh, and my campaign manager says that home-made cookies are always welcome at campaign HQ.

Thanks to Patrick Murphy for his time and thoughtful answers.

Gerlach's Typo

US Rep. Jim Gerlach's (Republican. PA-06) re-election campaign has a few numbers problems. For one thing, they took $35,000 in excessive contributions that had to be returned. That’s sloppy but it happens.

The other problem is a bit stranger. They over-reported their income by $2.2 million. According to the campaign it was a computer and clerical error. A staffer typed in an incorrect date and information from the 2004 campaign was included in this year’s FEC filing.

My one foray into actual campaign work was in campaign finance. It was short lived, only lasting a few months, but I had to file a few reports. It is a gruesome business. While everyone else in the campaign is fixated on bringing in money the few working on campaign finance reports are trying to make sure everything is by the book. I’d see checks that weren’t signed that made it past three other people, checks signed by someone whose name wasn’t listed on the check, and so on. It wasn’t anyone else’s job to notice these things and suggesting that money be returned won’t make you any friends.

It is possible to make errors on dates when typing in data. When I did it, though, I always ended up losing money. Transpose some numbers on the date of a check and it won’t show up on the report, because it no longer falls between the specified starting and ending dates. When defining the ending date of a quarterly report I once typed in 30th and instead of 31st and all the receipts for the last day of the month at the end of the quarter disappeared. As soon as a draft copy of the report was distributed someone was on the phone saying “Where’s that MONEY???!!!!” I always had to file amendments. You can see why I resigned. You can imagine the candidate was a little relieved. The press doesn't help any here. Although reports aren't due until a certain date if one candidate (usually the better financed candidate, with the paid finance workers and the jazzy computer set up) sends political reporters a copy of their finance report the reporters are on the phone asking where the other candidate's report is, and then the unpaid volunteer on that campaign gets no sleep at all.

But I’m not sure how you can include an extra year. The software I used caught a lot of errors (except it wasn’t programmed to know which months had 30 days and which had 31). Including an extra year would have been next to impossible. But maybe the Gerlach campaign uses a different software. Usually there are a number of people tracking contributions so a number far out of line with daily or weekly updates would be noticed. They certainly were in the one campaign I worked on.

In cases like this I tend to cut a challenger or an independent some extra slack. An incumbent or someone with a lot of party support is likely to be able to have experienced people working on the campaign reports, maybe tucked away on some patronage job where they get paid for doing the work. A challenger is likely to have some doofus volunteer like me, staying up till all hours typing things in and struggling with a manual or calling tech support at one or two in the morning. Candidates with strong party backing are going to have a robust Internet connection to file their reports online. A challenger might be in their basement with dial-up.

In the eyes of the law all candidates are the same, but someone who’s been in office and presumably has access to campaign workers who have used the software and filed reports before clearly has an advantage.

Either the Gerlach campaign is far more disorganized than any incumbent should be or someone was playing fast and loose with the numbers.

Gerlach's opponent, Lois Murphy is rightly having a field day with this and other blunders he has made.

***********************
[Update -- this post is designated as the clearinghouse for my Lois Murphy posts. Read Lois Murphy in the Money (here); Bermuda Triangle -- Gerlach, Rove, Delay (here)]

weekly legislative update

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Sad News for Short Women Everywhere

Petite Sophisticate and it's taller cousin, Casual Corner, are going out of business, the entire chain. Not much is left so if you need one last sweater with sleeves that aren't too long, better get out there now.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Vince and the Inky

Philadelphia Magazine has a lengthy article on the Inky's coverage of Vince Fumo over recent years. I'm not sure I agree with their conclusions but it is interesting to read. (via PoliticsPA)

Missing Person

I've been remiss in posting about this. An elderly woman with dementia has wandered away from home in South Philly. Take a look at this and if you have seen her please contact the number provided.

The young boy listed in a previous missing notice was found. Thanks for all your help.

Casey / Pennacchio

Some good stuff out today.

Joe Hoeffel has an excellent posting on his blog today outlining his suggestions for Democratic election strategy, including his reasons why Democrats should support Bob Casey. Dragonballyee comes back with a long posting on why he is supporting Chuck Pennacchio. The two essays complement each other nicely.

Public Transit Rules

As someone who used (in pre-kid days) to keep subway maps of Chicago, DC, and London in her purse, and is now conversant with Amtrak, SEPTA, and assorted other public transit systems, I really enjoyed reading these two posts (here and here) on Clublife. The Doorman outlines his suggested rules and regulations for those riding the NYC transit system. The language is a little rough but I agree with him on most of them.

Two Tales of Good Government

Two days in a row I picked up a paper to find a story of elected officials talking with constituents, working together and trying to pass laws that would make a positive difference in the lives of some of the voters (and not just the rich ones).

In the City Paper (11/24-12/01 issue) we find the story of Philadelphia city councilman being chatted up outside the dry cleaners by a reservist who asked him to consider offering property tax relief for those called up for active duty. Read about it here.

In today's Inky we find the story of Rep. Katie True working with varying interest groups across the state to hammer out a compromise to remove weapons from those charged with protection from abuse orders. Read about it here.

I don't know enough about either of these two to say whether or not they are always such stand up officials but, at least this week, they earned their pay.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Judicial Spending

A Smoke-Filled Room found an interesting article on GrassrootsPA detailing the spending habits of some of our judges. Read it and weep.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Assorted Updates

A few interesting items came through email this week.

The PA House Democrats are maintaining a website on the taxpayer bill of rights (which they are calling something else). Some good stuff here.

Chris Bowers of mydd is now officially a Philadelphia Democratic ward committeeperson.

On a more personal note, if you really want to entertain your cats get a couple of small crabs. If you want to make a lot of money, sell special crab accoutrements. There are special crab food dishes, special crab food, crab habitat items like plastic plants and fake hollow logs for them to hide in, and people dumb enough to buy all of them, all at once. The cats are going nuts trying to get the crabs through the glass. The crabs don't seem to care. They did seem a little nervous when the habitat was on the kitchen counter, though. Maybe it was the pot of boiling water on the stove for spaghetti. The best thing about adding crustaceans to the household? They aren't reptiles.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Fairness to Some is Not Fairness

As truth in advertising I will admit to not having read in depth on this topic, so the opinions presented here are not as well-grounded in fact as perhaps they should be.

The PA House and Senate have each passed some form of the "Taxpayer Fairness Act," and are now trying to reconcile some details. Here is a conservative view. Here is a liberal view. Here is a blog on the topic managed by the chief of staff of the prime sponsor (Sen. Brightbill).

In my limited understanding this seems to be a legal way of limiting the state's spending. Here's why I don't like it: Our illustrious elected officials, who, under present leadership, think it is just fine to rig their voting machines and then leave town, don't see any reason to make lobbyists report what they have spent on whom or why, have liberal campaign finance regulations, and so on, are people I would not trust to make a choice between cutting their own lunch budgets (and these folks eat well) and cutting medical insurance for poor children. No, I don't. Someone who thinks immigrant dairy workers earn $50,000 a year probably isn't going to be willing to reduce his vehicle lease allowance to give the elderly with no income except social security flu shots. A group that won't put any limits on their own ability to earn outside income or uniformly excuse themselves from decisions that will personally benefit themselves or their families are not likely to chose student loan funding over a break to, just as a hypothetical example, the payday loan industry (especially if that break would give a hypothetical pesky brother-in-law a nice bonus).

Color me cynical but until these folks clean up their own house (and senate), I don't intend to make them decide between helping themselves and helping the indigent and infirm.

Dream Come True Week

I knew it was too good to believe. SR522 A Resolution declaring December 5 through 9, 2005, as "Dream Come True Week" in Pennsylvania, is not, in fact, another pr attempt by the legislature to win back our love, affection, and respect by going house to house and handing out goodies.

It no doubt refers to the Dream Come True, a tax exempt nonprofit organization which seeks to fulfill the dreams of children who are seriously, chronically, and terminally ill and reside in the greater Lehigh Valley area. Organizations like this are wonderful and should be recognized and supported. This past fall I went out on a rainy night to the annual Sleeping Angels beef and beer. Good people, good cause.

While just about everybody supports larger, national charities, sometimes it's nice to help folks close to home, too.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Digital Social Norms

I ran across a really interesting article, “Bloggers’ Expectations of Privacy and Accountability: An Initial Survey,” by Fernanda B. Viegas. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 10 #3 (Apr 2005): article 12. It available freely on the Internet here.

We as a society have come to some general understanding of personal space in a public setting. Unless an elevator is crowded we don’t stand close to each other. Smoking is prohibited in many public spaces. We have decided it violates our privacy when our social security numbers are used on everything from student id cards to health insurance cards.

The blogosphere, though, is still sorting through these things. A sense of what is private and what is public blurs in online journals. Where does someone’s virtual smoke end and where does our personal space begin? We’ve all read about people who lost (or found) jobs by virtue of their blogs. Many of us have heard about people who lost friends or significant others because of something written on their blogs. This isn’t really new. I remember Ma telling me never to put anything in print that I wouldn’t want to see in the newspaper the next day. When I was in college the student newspaper ran a photo of an elected student government official nude, from the back. It was taken and published with the man’s permission. Stories circulated about him nearly (or actually) losing a job when someone mailed the photo to his post-college employer.

Viegas looks at some of the emerging social norms among the 492 bloggers surveyed in January, 2004. They may not have been the most usual bloggers, as most had been blogging for over a year and only 10% were under 20 (46% between 21 and 30, 28% 31-40). A little over 40% said they had gotten into trouble over something written in their blog either to some extent (34%) or frequently (6%). One passage that really struck me was this:

Bloggers write not only about themselves but often also about other people with whom they interact. When asked whether they sought other people’s permission to blog about them, 66% of respondents almost never asked permission, and only 3% said they always asked permission first. Interestingly, only 9% of the survey respondents said they never blogged about people they knew personally.

This one also stood out for me:

Nevertheless, most bloggers must rely on limited indicators of past actions (access logs, comments, and trackbacks) in order to form a mental picture of who is reading their posts. This paucity of clues indicating identity and presence can cause distorted views of readership to emerge. For one thing, bloggers may begin to perceive the people whose presence is more tangibly obvious (e.g. commenters) as their entire audience.

And later:

This has significant implications for privacy in the sense that, once people start thinking about a small part of their readership as the whole of it, they may customize their postings for that particular group of people. For instance, if all the comments a blogger gets on his site come from close friends, he might forget that his actual readership is broader and might start blogging about things that he would only talk about with close friends.

75% of the bloggers responding to the survey thought they could not be sued for what they wrote.

These are issues I have struggled with as well, from both sides of the coin. Once I have posted an entry, even if I edit or delete it later, the original post can still be reposted or quoted by someone else somewhere else. When I blog I try to always be conscious of the fact that anyone I write about could read it or that the people who know me could read it. In part this is because a few of the people I interact with or whose lives intertwine with mine in some way blog and more than once me or mine has appeared in these blogs. In one case I have minimized my contact with someone because of how people were described in their blog. In one case it was me being described in less than glowing terms, in others it was people I care about. We were not mentioned by name but by circumstance described it was obvious. In another case the blogger was so mean spirited that I just didn’t want to be around them anymore, even if they were pleasant in person. In a third I have changed my route on a weekly trip because if even a small percentage of the things I have read about happening in that house actually happen I don’t want to be anywhere near it when the bullets start to fly. I doubt any of these people are aware that I know of their blogs because none of them use their full names (although some use photos).

If I know of these people I can only assume that at least of few of my readers know me, in addition to those I have told and who may stop in from time to time. There have been times when something interesting has happened and I have wanted to blog about it but could not shake the nagging feeling that it might infringe on someone else’s privacy. In some cases I have changed some of the details and gone ahead, but wondered if it was wrong to do so. If something is said in public it seems okay to blog on it, but if it was said in private or in a personal email I don’t, unless permission is explicitly given, but in the future I might. I struggle and want to stay on the right side of the line but am aware that I may have sometimes crossed it. As a parent I struggle with what can be said about my children. Much of my life revolves around them but their stories are their own and I try not to talk about them too much. Someone I knew years ago has a blog and discusses her children’s lives in detail and while I enjoy reading it, I wonder how her children will feel when they get older about this information floating around out there or how they will feel about some of the comments she has made about their father.

More than most people I am aware of how permanent the Internet is. Yes things do disappear but someone persistent enough can often find them again. Dumb questions I asked on listservs back in 1990 are still out there and come up every once in a while when I am looking for something else. It never fails to crush my ego when they do.

The digital social norms are still forming; I think Viegas’ article is a fascinating snapshot of what they were in early 2004.

(cross posted to PSOTD)

Rep. Tim Murphy Injured in Iraq

CNN is reporting that Rep. Tim Murphy (PA) and Rep. Ike Skelton (MO) were injured in Iraq. Murphy was airlifted to Germany for an MRI. Expect more info in tomorrow's paper.

Reason #59 to Wear Bike Helmets

You and the spouse have taken your kids and a few others out to an unused parking lot to ride bikes. Your child is zooming along, just ahead of a friend in a race. Your child hits something on the pavement and goes flying. The friend can't stop and runs over your child. Runs over your child's head. Your spouse gets their first and the two of you assess the damage. No marks, the fingers can bend, just fear and tears. You look at your child's helmet. The area near the temple is a little dented and there is a skid mark over the top. Thank you thank you thank you to whoever invented bike helmets and to the legislators who make it mandatory for kids to wear them.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

weekly legislative update

As I mentioned in the previous posting, the governor called a special legislative session to look into property tax reform. Information from that session is included here as well. Standard caveats apply (resolutions not generally included, list of sponsors deleted if it was too long – three lines in the originally formatting).

Our accountants friends at PICPA have not updated their legislative page. Other weekly updates:

PA House Democrats
PA House GOP daily updates

PA Senate Democrats

PS Senate Republicans

Special Session

These bills were introduced, or referred to a committee, not voted on. The descriptions tended to be pretty much the same, with only a few variations.

HB 39 Prior Printer's No. 41. Printer's No. 62. An Act amending the act of December 31, 1965 (P.L.1257, No.511), known as The Local Tax Enabling Act, restricting the power of certain school districts to levy, assess and collect taxes.
Passed and now referred to legislation

Monday 2 bills referred to finance committee, to appropriations, HB 39, 42, 43, acted upon in some way (House); bill referred to legislation (Senate)
Tuesday no activity in the House, 2 bills referred to legislation (Senate)
Wednesday 0 bills referred to finance committee (House). 2 bills referred to legislation (Senate)
Thursday no activity
Friday no activity

Regular Session

Please note SB713, prohibiting cell phone companies from publishing your number without your permission. Good job on that one. Resolution 522 sounds wonderful but I wonder if it’s in the budget….

Resolutions

Serial No. 522 A Resolution declaring December 5 through 9, 2005, as "Dream Come True Week" in Pennsylvania.

Serial No. 518 A Resolution commending Pennsylvanians on their recent volunteer efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.

SR 524 A Resolution recognizing December 10 through 16, 2005, as "Bill of Rights Week" in Pennsylvania.

There were 3 resolutions honoring fallen soldiers.

Bills

House

HB 344 Printer's No. 365. An Act amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, excluding smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and other fire prevention and fire safety equipment from the sales and use tax.

HB 496 Prior Printer's No. 535. Printer's No. 3157. An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for the offense of the destruction of a survey monument; further providing for actions relating to land surveying; and making an editorial change.

HB 1350 Printer's No. 1608. An Act designating State Route 291 in Delaware County as the Willie Mae James Leake Memorial Highway.

HB 1427 Prior Printer's Nos. 1737, 2883. Printer's No. 3155. An Act amending the act of December 31, 1965 (P.L.1257, No.511), known as The Local Tax Enabling Act, further providing for collection of taxes, for audits of earned income taxes, for earned income taxes, for suits for tax collection, for penalties and for delinquent tax collection costs.

HB 1528 Printer's No. 1877. An Act amending Title 34 (Game) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for licenses and fees relating to taxidermists.

HB 2041 Prior Printer's Nos. 2818, 3027. Printer's No. 3156. An Act amending the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), known as the Public Welfare Code, further providing for the Health Care Provider Retention Program and for reporting.

HB 39 Prior Printer's No. 41. Printer's No. 62. An Act amending the act of December 31, 1965 (P.L.1257, No.511), known as The Local Tax Enabling Act, restricting the power of certain school districts to levy, assess and collect taxes.

SB 260 By Senators ARMSTRONG, STACK, THOMPSON, RHOADES, MUSTO, RAFFERTY, KITCHEN, ORIE and O'PAKE. Printer's No. 264. An Act joining with other states in an effort to establish an interstate compact to regulate designated insurance products.

SB 573 By Senators GORDNER, LOGAN, PILEGGI, RAFFERTY, VANCE and WONDERLING. Prior Printer's No. 623. Printer's No. 1382. An Act amending the act of May 21, 1943 (P.L.571, No.254), known as The Fourth to Eighth Class County Assessment Law, further providing for valuation of persons and property.

SB 599 By Senators D. WHITE and CORMAN. Prior Printer's Nos. 670, 1322. Printer's No. 1380. An Act amending the act of December 21, 1998 (P.L.1064, No.140), entitled "An act designating Route 581 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, as the American Ex-Prisoners of War Highway; designating a section of the Bay Front Parkway in Erie County, Pennsylvania, as the Bernard (Benny) J. Dombrowski Memorial Highway; designating a section of Route 26 in Centre County, Pennsylvania, as the Nittany Parkway; designating a bridge in Bethel Township, Lebanon County, as the Senator Clarence F. Manbeck Bridge; designating the Mount Union Bypass in Huntingdon County as the James DiCosimo Bypass; designating a portion of Route 26 in Huntingdon County as the Standing Stone Parkway; designating a portion of State Route 0094 in York and Cumberland counties as the 94th Infantry Division Memorial Highway; and designating a bridge in Chester County as the Ben Weaver Bridge," extending the Bernard (Benny) J Dombrowski Memorial Highway; designating State Route 132 in Bucks County as the Armed Forces and Veterans Memorial Highway; designating a bridge on State Route 150 crossing the Beech Creek in Clinton and Centre Counties as the Beech Creek Veterans Memorial Bridge; designating State Route 291 in Delaware County as the Willie Mae James Leake Memorial Highway; and designating a road in Philadelphia County as Senator Hank Salvatore Drive.

Senate

HB 1400 Printer's No. 1688. An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for indecent assault.

HB 2082 By Representatives ALLEN, DALLY, SAYLOR, PETRARCA, ZUG, TRUE, FEESE, ARGALL and KAUFFMAN. Prior Printer's Nos. 2872, 2886, 3037, 3117. Printer's No. 3152. An Act establishing spending limitations on the Commonwealth; providing for the disposition of surplus funds; and making a repeal of provisions in The Fiscal Code relating to the funding of a stabilization reserve.

SB 178 By Senators CORMAN, WONDERLING, RAFFERTY, TOMLINSON, KITCHEN, COSTA, LAVALLE, STACK, ORIE, RHOADES, ERICKSON, BOSCOLA, C. WILLIAMS, LOGAN and PIPPY. Prior Printer's Nos. 188, 408, 1237. Printer's No. 1374. An Act amending the act of November 24, 1998 (P.L.882, No.111), known as the Crime Victims Act, further providing for powers and duties of the Office of Victims' Services and for Victims' Services Advisory Committee membership.

SB 987 By Senator CORMAN. Printer's No. 1297. An Act authorizing and directing the Department of General Services, with the approval of the Governor, to grant and convey to Centre County Industrial Development Corporation, certain lands situate in Benner Township, Centre County.

HB 1049 Prior Printer's Nos. 1205, 1959, 2884. Printer's No. 3153. An Act amending the act of June 19, 1931 (P.L.589, No.202), referred to as the Barbers' License Law, further providing for license application for barber-teacher, for examination and for requirements for operation of barber shops.

SB 713 Prior Printer's Nos. 880, 1331. Printer's No. 1376. An Act prohibiting a provider of commercial mobile service from including the dialing number of any subscriber without first obtaining the express consent of that subscriber.

SB 798 By Senators BROWNE, PILEGGI, ARMSTRONG, M. WHITE, BOSCOLA and COSTA. Prior Printer's No. 991. Printer's No. 1360. An Act amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for right to bail.

SB 995 By Senators M. WHITE, MUSTO, MADIGAN, PUNT, FONTANA, EARLL, PIPPY, ROBBINS and WONDERLING. Prior Printer's Nos. 1299, 1305, 1370. Printer's No. 1381. An Act amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for a snowmobile or ATV restricted account; providing for snowmobile or ATV special event passes; and further providing for registration of snowmobile or ATV.

SB 999 By Senators LEMMOND, THOMPSON, EARLL, D. WHITE, RAFFERTY, MUSTO, PILEGGI, GORDNER, WENGER, WAUGH, WONDERLING and ROBBINS. Printer's No. 1327. An Act reenacting and amending the act of October 8, 2004 (P.L.830, No.98), entitled "An act providing for effect of standards adopted by the Voting Standards Development Board in the 2004 general election," expanding the scope to include all elections in 2006 and 2007.

State of the Blog -- Year 1

A little over a year ago, on Nov. 19, 2004, I posted the first entry to this blog. Initially I intended to post once a week, usually on Friday evening. Later I added in the weekly legislative update, and in the spring started to post more, eventually going to five or more posts a week. Blogging can be addictive, and even the occasional trip couldn’t slow the pace. At various times, I’ve posted entries from four states and, that country unto itself, the Atlanta airport. When the “kerfuffle” hit last August I was in the mountains, with only limited Internet access from the local public library, in a double wide trailer.

Initially I identified my location as “somewhere in Pennsylvania.” However, after I was invited to participate in the Seth Williams blogging campaign it became very apparent how effective a regional blogosphere can be and my description changed to “somewhere in the greater Philadelphia area.”

Looking back over the past year that campaign is one of the things I am most proud to have been a part of; the Missing Monday movement is another. The third is the effort many people put into keeping the legislative pay raise in the public eye. The repeal of that raise is a definite sign that a large group of vocal voters can have an impact.

A few of the posts I’ve regretted; some I thought were pretty good. My opinion of their quality seems to have no correlation with the number of comments people leave on them.

One of the best things about starting this blog has been the interaction with other bloggers. The Philly Future team are wonderful and have provided not only access to a wider audience, but encouragement as well. Thanks, Karl, for all your hard work. Other members of the Philly Future team that have reached out have been the bloggers at Dragonballyee, the Tattered Coat, America’s Hometown, and the Smedley Log. In addition to these fine gentlemen, the bloggers from A Smoke-Filled Room, Rowhouse Logic, Politics Philly, Young Philly Politics, Rowhouse Logic and the Disenchanted Forest have been exceptionally kind. Newpaper bloggers Will from Attytood and Dan from Blinq have both mentioned this blog in theirs, which gave me a boost in readership. Behind the scenes Dan has also been willing to answer my junior detective questions. From the political world, Sy Snyder of PoliticsPA, John Micek of Capitol Ideas, and from across the aisle, Chris Lilik of GrassrootsPA, have also been willing to answer questions and provide tea and sympathy.

Readership of the blog bumped along throughout most of the year, actually reaching around 40 hits per day (excluding visits from me and my mother) earlier this month. Then, in one week, I was named the featured blogger at Philly Future, and mentioned on a list of best political blogs in the state on PoliticsPA. Suddenly usage skyrocketed. One day it was more than triple the usual. Over the year I had worked my way up from an Insignificant Microbe in the TTLB ecosystem, to flirting with Flappy Bird status and, at least for a day or so, I’ve been an Adorable Little Rodent. Pretty heady stuff for a relative newcomer with a narrow focus.

What will the next year bring? If the blog lasts that long, the primary and general elections next spring will provide fodder for a lot of posts. I won’t be able to track all elections in the region but some of them I will watch closely.

Regardless, I am grateful to all those who have stopped in to read this past year. I hope you found it worth the effort.

[Note: Twice now I have had blinding revelations that I left someone off the list and updated it. The post has thus been edited but I'm too embarrassed to publicly say what the specific edits were.]

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Jim Matthews Running for Lt. Gov?

Today's Inquirer has an interesting article on the chairman of Montgomery County's Board of Commissioners possible run for Lt. Governor. As you know, in PA candidates for gov. and lt. gov run independently, not as a team (something that may change). Jim Matthews is said to be announcing his campaign on Dec. 7th (or 8th? I don't have the paper in front of me).

I wonder at the thinking behind this. The paper said it was hoped he would bring in the SEPA area. I'm not sure that can be counted on. Matthews picked up some baggage when he allied himself with fellow commissioner candidate Tom Ellis last time around. Ellis won but given the pfa his significant other (and mother of his child) asked for and the subsequent press surrounding the situation, he's not exactly someone you would want to associate with politically. If Matthews is elected (a very long shot here) it would allow the county GOP to perhaps appoint someone to fill in the last year of his term. In a county where the GOP is seeing its voter registration advantage shrink, having an incumbent with less baggage going into the 2007 county election may be desirable.

Running Matthews and Ellis again as a team may mean Ellis drags both of them down. If Matthews is in higher office and Ellis doesn't run then it may be possible for two Dems to get into office and that would shake things up quite a bit. Having a fresh incumbent, even one with little seniority, would give the GOP a better foothold. Possibly Matthews didn't intend to run for commissioner again and this is just a diversion. He may think he actually has a shot. Just to make my preferences clear, at this point, not having done any real research on any of the candidates, my money would be on Pippy. I've heard and read only good things about him.

This is all conjecture, mind you. I can think of a couple of people the county GOP could put in that would do a wonderful job (I always liked Ellen Bard) and a few that would be just truly awful (I won't mention names).

I can't figure out why Matthews would run for statewide office at this point, unless it is just a pr move to improve his image. We will have to wait and see.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

"Sexy" Ads on Cartoon Network?!

Can someone explain to me why, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., during the "Penocchio 3000" movie, Cartoon Network is running ads for "Sex and the City" on TBS? Our computer is in the same room as the tv. I'm reading email, scanning blogs, and suddenly a little voice says, "Mommy, what's sexy mean?" I glance over at the tv and nearly jump out of my skin. Fortunately it was the ad showcasing shoes and not some of Samantha's exploits.

I watched "Sex and the City" when it was on and still enjoy the reruns -- after the kids are asleep, not when they are in the room!!! That's why they are limited to Cartoon Network, Nick, and Animal Planet.

I definitely feel a complaint letter coming on. Someone in marketing must have read that part about Penocchio's nose and gotten the wrong idea.

Shakespeare Quiz

You aren't going ot get anything done in the office today. You know you aren't. So gather the gang around the old pc and take this Shakespeare quiz from the bbc news site. I got a 6 out of 10, making any intellectual credibility I had a little shaky.

Political News Update

For those whose thoughts are still on politics here are a few tidbits (of course, if you are that involved, you probably know this already):

New Santorum/Casey poll. Santorum leads among Republicans (go figure), those who think abortion should be outlawed in all cases, and those who don't believe in evolution. Otherwise, Casey is ahead. Take a look at the age breakdown. Unless I misread it, the young folk seem to be more red than blue in this case.

Paul Lang has decided to run for state senate. This strikes me as an excellent idea and helps clear the way for Patrick Murphy in the 8th congressional district. Young Philly Politics has more.

Monday, November 21, 2005

House of Hootchie Mama

The nurse’s office at my kids’ elementary school keeps some extra clothes on hand in case the younger children have accidents. It recently came to my attention that they had very few girls underpants (don’t ask me how I know this). Next time I was in a store that carried them I bought some to give to the school. It was hard to find regular briefs. There were plenty of bikinis and low cut styles, but very few briefs. Fortunately no thongs.

This past summer just about your only choices for fall girls’ sleepwear were character related (Dora, Disney Princess, etc.) and things like looked like Gaborwear, feather boas, opaque negligees, and so on. So much for flowered flannel nighties.

This spring look at the shorts being marketed for little girls and little boys. Boys’ shorts are nearly knee length with lots of pockets for rocks, dead chipmunk parts, cards (Pokemon, YuGi’Oh, baseball), and so on. Girls’ shorts have inseams about 2 inches long, made of spandex, often with side slits and with no pockets. What message does this send? It might as well all be made by the House of Hootchie Mama.

Look at toys. The hot new items for girls are Bratz Dolls. They are big eyed, curvy, thin, dressed in clothes with most midriffs showing, and usually stand hipshot. If you look hard enough you can find Ello’s (sort of like Legos for girls), and computer games like Barbie as Rapunzel where Barbie has to redecorate the castle, and find the missing jewels in order to rescue Prince Stefan. In the great majority of games and movies aimed at girls there is a love interest. Games and movies aimed at boys tend not to. What is this teaching? That girls are incomplete without a boyfriend?

I wonder how much of this attitude is created by marketers and how much is responding to research on what girls want. I only know that I don’t like it very much.

(PSOTD is away for a few days and I'm one of the guest bloggers filling in. This is cross-posted there.)

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Yes on Pay Raise If..... #3

As you read this, keep in mind that I am strictly an amateur at tracking legislation and the like. In my continuing series on what I would like to see changed before I would be in favor of a substantial legislative pay raise, here is the third condition from my original July post.

3) A more transparent legislative process. Bills seem to pop up out of nowhere and there doesn’t seem to any time for discussion or questions on some of them. A full-time, well-paid legislature should be able to arrange things better.

Serendipitously enough, it goes along well with some of the items listed in today’s Inquirer editorial on needed Harrisburg reforms. Two of their list are lobbying disclosure, legislative reform and open government.

A clear cut example is the recently repealed legislative pay raise, passed in the middle of the night with no public notice beforehand. Even in normal legislation things happen and, reading through the list of bills passed, one wonders how it came to be. To provide an example of what I (and maybe the Inky also) mean, let’s take a look at one bill in particular. It passed last May and I noted it as it showed up in the weekly legislative update.

SB 198 An Act prohibiting a deceptive business practice in the floral industry; and providing for a private cause of action.

Now, what does this mean? I looked at the text of the bill and in my layman’s translation it makes it illegal for out-of-state (or even out of area) florists to put a local phone number in phone books if that number automatically transfers you to a florist out of town. In other words, people were calling what they thought were local florists when they were actually calling a florist out of the area. I can understand why people might feel deceived and why local florists would be angry.

My cynical side automatically assumed that some big florist lobby tucked several large bills into a state senator’s pocket and thus the bill was born, suspecting that if I checked campaign finance reports I would see some big donations in advance to the bill’s sponsors from monied florists. So I looked at the bill’s sponsors.

GREENLEAF, WONDERLING, GORDNER, TARTAGLIONE, THOMPSON, MADIGAN, RAFFERTY, LOGAN, KITCHEN, VANCE, STACK AND WAUGH

Now this was distressing. I don’t know much about most of these people other than what might have shown up in the paper (for Sen. Stack this is not so good). I’ve met someone who worked with Sen. Wonderling before he was elected and said good things about him. Sen. Greenleaf I have heard wonderful things about. (Note: I’m not in either of their senatorial districts.) I did not want to find out anything untoward about Sen. Greenleaf but I kept poking around anyway.

All of the senate sponsors are on one or more of these committees: consumer protection and professional licensure, labor and industry, agriculture & rural affairs, and law and justice. They may overlap in other places as well but these would seem to be the committees most concerned, especially the first. Greenleaf, Wonderling and Gordner were on that one. So that would, at least on the surface, explain why these particular senators sponsored that bill.

Let’s look a little deeper. Here is Sen. Greenleaf’s newsletter article on the bill. Greenhouse Product News also provided some information. Once when it passed the senate, congratulating Senators Greenleaf and Brightbill, and another when it was discussed in the house. The PA Floral Industry Association also wrote about it. It included this paragraph:

Members of the association, Katy Miller of Dillon Floral Corporation; Charles Kremp of Kremp Florist; Greg Royer of Royer's Flowers and Gifts; Paul Zieger of Zieger and Sons, Inc. and Rick Davis of Teleflora, Inc., along with PFIA Executive Director, Denise Calabrese, and Executive Assistant to Senator Stewart Greenleaf, Eric Pauley, testified in front of Consumer Affairs Chairman, Representative Robert Flick (R-Chester), and the House Consumer Affairs Committee.

Well, now we’re getting somewhere. I believe at least one of Mr. Kremp’s shops is in Sen. Greenleaf’s distrist and Mr. Kremp is the past president of the Society of American Florists and provided some of the arrangements for Pres. Bush’s second inaugural. Surely he is a big political donor. While I’ve never purchased any flowers from Kremps I have seen some and they have been uniformly lovely. I checked the PA Dept. of State’s campaign finance report database. (Rep. Vitali used to provide this information in database form as well but took it down when the state updated theirs. I liked his much better. It was much much easier to use.) Mr. Kremp did not make any political donations in 2004 nor are any listed in 2005 (although I didn’t see any reports for this year yet.) In 2003 he made a $100 donation to a PAC not to an individual candidate. I checked one or two of the other names that testified before the state house but did not see anything for them either. I also looked through Sen. Greenleaf’s campaign finance reports and did not see anything that looked suspicious. Unfortunately Pennsylvania does not require lobbyists to report how much they and on whom, so there’s no way of finding that information.

At the national level, the Society of American Florists does have a PAC but in the information provided by www.campaignmoney.com, the group did not donate to any Pennsylvania federal candidates, although Mr. Kremp did donate to the pac.

Laying all the cards I have accumulated on the table I come up with this scenario (keep in mind this is my interpretation and may have no basis in fact whatsoever):

Mr. Kremp went to his state senator with a business-related concern. This would indicate that Mr. Kremp is a concerned citizen who understands the political process and finds his state senator approachable. Sen. Greenleaf sat down with a constituent, thought his concern had merit and would be a general public good, and proceeded to shepherd a bill through the state senate. This is how democracy is supposed to work.

Locating all the information presented in this post (and additional background information) took the entire length of a Disney movie tape (one of the standard measures of time in my house). Writing it up took an equal amount of time. Voters simply don’t have the time to run this kind of research on each and every bill that we find interesting, let alone all of them. And no one does this kind of research and makes it available to the public free of charge. We would like to be able to trust our elected officials and not feel the need to look into nooks and crannies. However, given the shenanigans going on with the slot machine deals, assorted land grabs, and other malfeasance that become public, we are often understandably skeptical.

It would be great if the legislature would make it easier for us to believe they are honest and working hard on our behalf. It would be great of the leadership of the house and senate made honesty and integrity a priority. In any event, I am pleased to keep the white hat on Sen. Greenleaf and to be able to order my mother’s birthday flowers through Kremp Florist this year with a clear conscience.

weekly legislative update

Saturday, November 19, 2005

A New Blog to Read

The Lehigh Valley Democrat, who has left inciteful and thought-provoking comments on a variety of area blogs has started his/her own. If you have any interest in Lehigh Valley politics, check out lvdem.blogspot.com

FAQ

Are you really above average and is your name really Jane?

The pause between someone’s suggestion that I blog and the blog going online was about 15 minutes long, and this was the first title that came to mind. The various educational, occupational, and psychological tests I’ve taken over the years as part of school and work do show a fairly consistent deviation from the norm, but whether that makes me above average, below average, or just odd is open to interpretation.

I do write under a pseudonym and that is for a number of reasons. My spouse and children should not be subject to commentary or prejudice because of something I have said. Nor should any of the organizations I volunteer with be similarly tarred. Anonymity allows me to speak my mind more freely. There is also a natural human tendency to imagine the unknown as something larger and more powerful than it is. It has certainly played out in my case as those who have read this blog and later met me in person seem as surprised as Dorothy discovering the wizard was really a traveling salesman.

How do you decide what to write?

Sometimes things appear in my email with an outright request or an implied suggestion that I write on them. If it strikes my interest, I investigate what is said and if it appears correct I write on it. Sometimes I read something in the paper, or hear something at a community event, and decide to see if I can get a good post out of it. Timing plays a factor. Sometimes I want to write on something but don’t have the time to go into it as fully as it requires; when the time is there the issue is no longer relevant. It is one of the challenges of the working blogger. Sometimes I see something really juicy, but I can’t verify it in a reputable source and let it go.

What is your mission for this blog?

This is a niche blog, focusing on state or lower level politics. Sometimes I venture into the national arena but not often. Since this means writing sometimes on people I know or have met it requires a level of thought not always needed by those who write solely on national figures whom they are unlikely to encounter. Although a registered Democrat and self-viewed progressive, I am sometimes at odds with the party, and with many of the people who define themselves in a similar fashion, but I would like to think that at least a few other voters agree with me. The limited focus means that I am not likely to ever develop a large readership, but I am very content with the readership I have, and am actually surprised that I have any readers at all.

Is Above Average Jane really a front for a particular politician, lobbying group, or special interest?

Alas, no. If it were there might be some money in it. As it is, most of the entries posted here were written late at night after the kids were in bed. The mornings are too hectic and I often don’t get a chance to finish reading the paper until the evening. Sometimes they don’t appear until some time the next day but most are written late at night, which may account for spelling and grammatical errors. The blog has brought no material benefit to me or my family, although I have met some very lovely people because of it.

How long is this little joyride going to last?

Dunno. I have some exit strategies planned out, depending on whether the end is by choice or circumstance.

originally posted 11/19/05

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Yes on Pay Raise If..... #2

In yesterday's posting I discussed one condition the state legislature would have to meet before I would support a substantial pay raise for them. Today I would like to go over another one:

2) More accountability. Immediate access to voting records. No more of this waiting for the House Record to show up at the law library nonsense. Also, a firm, rigorous system of reporting lobbying expenses by special interests. I want the list of financial disclosure forms to be more readily available. The rule passed earlier this year saying legislators don’t have to be in the chambers to vote but just in “the greater Harrisburg area,” has got to go. For $80,000 a year they could at least show up to vote.

Let me provide two examples of what is meant here. In a comment to the previous post on outside income, someone left this comment:

I supported the effort by Representative Michael McGeehan to adopt the federal formula limiting earned outside income to the 15% of salary allowed for a member of Congress. McGeehan sought to attach it to the pay raise repeal bill, which he believed the Senate would have to pass and Governor Rendell would have to sign. An odd coalition of Republicans and anti-pay raise Democrats opposed the amendment, and ultimately McGeehan felt compelled to withdraw it.

This is intriguing, but how would a voter go about verifying this information? Citizens can't even find out how legislators voted let alone what else happened, until the House Journal comes out. It tends to be published months after events happen. Votes in the federal congress are published in the paper but state legislative matters are not, except in extenuating circumstances. The pay raise vote was one of those so I found an article in the Inky tell me that McGeehan had voted for the raise and had taken the unvouched expenses. (August 2, 2005).

Going to Google I did find a link to a Beaver County Times article that did confirm what the commenter said. It took three search modifications to get the terminology narrow and exact enough to find it, though. If you can't find some reputable source somewhere you have no choice but to take someone's word for it. There is very little accountability.

Last March I wrote about the effort it took to try to find out if a state rep was actually showing up to vote, in other words, to see if there was ghost voting going on. It should not be that difficult to see if your elected officials are doing their job or stuffing a paper clip in the voting machine.

If the state legislature can send me an email every day listing the bills introduced, shuffled off to committee, and voted on every day, why can't I get access to voting records? There is no reason why this information can't be made available. Unless, of course, they don't want us to know. The unfortunate part of this is that the honest hardworking legislators are tarred with the same brush as the pandering slackers.

"Best Blog" List

Our friends at PoliticsPA have compiled their list of "best blogs" in the state. Is there a reason why I'm touting the list? Modesty forbids me saying more. A Smoke-Filled Room and Young Philly Politics also made the list.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

A Capitol Idea Indeed

Those who have read Philly Future's "featured blogger" interview with me will no doubt have noticed I neglected to mention a premiere source of information on Pennsylvania politics. Everyone interested in the subject should read Capitol Ideas on a daily basis. Not only is it chock full of insider information, but the writer has a sense of humor. Some of my best tips come from CI. Give it a look see.

News Update

You have probably read this in other places, but here's a few news tidbits:

Seth Williams has been named Philadelphia's Inspector General (via A Smoke-Filled Room and Young Philly Politics)

There is a young boy missing in the city. Please view this photo and details and keep your eyes open.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Monday, December 05, 2005

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Monday, November 28, 2005

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Monday, November 21, 2005

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

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