November 17-18, 2007
Nov 17 19:08 Rendell Distances Himself From DeWeese Nov 17 22:11 The War Over The War Nov 18 01:41 Why Are Democrats Opposed to Winning? Nov 18 10:17 Reviewing "This Disastrous War Policy" Nov 18 11:49 Moulitsas' First Column: Let's Live In The Past Nov 18 12:35 Defending the Indefensible Nov 18 20:00 The AP's Version of Political Analysis
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Prior Years: 2006
Rendell Distances Himself From DeWeese
While Pennsylvania watchdog groups asked for Bill DeWeese's resignation , Gov. Rendell distanced himself from the growing scandal. If this continues much longer, Rep. DeWeese won't have a friend left in Harrisburg. Here's an example of the pressure that's being brought to bear on Rep. DeWeese:
"Everybody this side of reality knows that Mr. DeWeese is not cleaning house. He's rearranging the furniture so he can stay on as head of the House," said a letter sent to House members by Gene Stilp of Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, Eric Epstein of rockthecapitol.org and Dennis Baylor of the Pennsylvania Accountability Project.It's simply a matter of time before Rep. DeWeese is forced to resign, especially considering the fact that these watchdog groups are increasing the visibility on Bonusgate. Here's Gov. Rendell's reaction to Rep. DeWeese:
"If [Mr. DeWeese] doesn't resign, then you must execute swift and dispassionate judgment and remove him as majority leader."
Gov. Ed Rendell, meanwhile, distanced himself from the controversy. "I don't know enough about it," he told reporters yesterday. "I don't know the extent of [Mr. DeWeese's] involvement, if any, in all this." Mr. Rendell acknowleged that the majority leader is ultimately responsible for his members and staffers. "Bill will probably have some explaining to do to his caucus," he said.TRANSLATION: Rendell: Don't ask me about what's happening. I didn't have nothing to do with any of this. Leave me alone.
Here's how freshman Rep. Lisa Bennington attempted to spin Rep. DeWeese's predicament:
"How do I know what he did or didn't do? If he's indicted, then there's something to talk about," said Ms. Bennington, who called Mr. DeWeese a strong leader.If she's touting Mr. DeWeese's decision-making, then it's only fair to ask why DeWeese instructed Babette Joseph to gut the Transparency Act to the point that Common Cause-PA dropped their endorsement of the bill:
"In the time I've known him, he has made all the right decisions at the crucial times," she said.
Ms. Bennington credited Mr. DeWeese with making government more accountable by pushing to enact stronger lobbying laws and by enabling freshmen legislators to make meaningful contributions.
That doesn't confirm Rep. Bennington's claim that "[DeWeese] has made all the right decisions at the crucial times." In fact, it proves that Mr. DeWeese wasn't "making government more accountable."As promised, the state House of Representatives took action on a new open-records law last week, with a hearing Wednesday in front of the State Government Committee. With all due respect, the members should have stayed home.
The committee approved House Bill 443. In its original intent, this measure would have improved Pennsylvania's weak open-records law. But when the Democratically controlled committee was through with it, House Bill 443 had become a step backwards. Considering that the existing open-records law is among the weakest nationwide, that is a depressing fact.
Both the committee's process and the content of the bill are outrageous. Committee Chair Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, pushed through amendment after amendment, most of which the members were seeing for the first time. Their cumulative effect was to exempt broad categories of state records from being open. When members of the committee pleaded with Rep. Josephs to slow down by either holding more hearings or not reporting the bill to the floor for a quick vote, she refused. Alarmingly, at one point she even said she could not do so because the Democratic leadership (Majority Leader H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg) didn't want to. So much for caucus leaders sharing power. One other point about the committee chair: She had the nerve to address a pro-open records rally on Tuesday as a reform leader,and then led the way as the committee rammed through this travesty.
This article appears to offer some insight into why Gov. Rendell is distancing himself from DeWeese:
House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese has said nobody in Harrisburg who reviewed and approved the work contracts for LaGrotta's sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and his niece, Alissa Lemmon, was aware of the family ties.That's gotta hurt DeWeese's credibility at a time when his credibility is almost nonexistant.
Colafella of Center Township disputed that Thursday morning after the ex-lawmaker and his relatives appeared for a preliminary arraignment in Harrisburg. "(LaGrotta) never made a secret of his relationship to them, and the work that they would be doing," Colafella said. "I think I can safely say that it was known within the caucus that his sister and niece were on the payroll. It's an undisputed fact that their employment was sanctioned by the caucus."
How much DeWeese, a Greene County Democrat, and other leaders knew about the hirings is important because it could give investigators a foothold in a wider probe of corruption in Harrisburg.
UPDATE: It seems that Gov. Rendell has changed course :
Has anyone heard a Democratic change of course that didn't include some qualifications or without equivocation? The truth is that spinning won't work, that testimony will determine Mr. DeWeese's final outcome.With activists seeking House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese's resignation as a legislative leader, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell on Friday reaffirmed his support, saying "Bill's done a good job in leading the House." But DeWeese "will probably have some explaining to do" to his caucus, Rendell said, and a postponement of two working days for legislators prompts concern about pushing an agenda that includes health care and alternative energy issues.
Posted Saturday, November 17, 2007 7:10 PM
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The War Over The War
President Bush used his weekly radio to take Democrats to the woodshed for not passing a clean Iraq supplemental appropriation. Democrats vow not to be bullied by the Bush administration . In the end, the Democrats will fold their hand and demoralize their activists. For all their talk about changing directions, Democrats haven't mustered the votes for changing directions. Here's President Bush's shot across Pelosi and Reid's bow:
In his weekly radio address, Bush said Congress was "failing to meet its responsibilities to our troops."Democrats are sounding tough but they're about to get rolled. Again. The American people have read enough reports to know that things have dramatically changed in Iraq. Democrats like Dennis Kucinich, John Murtha, Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy insist that the America people's message was that they wanted us out of Iraq ASAP.
"For months, Congress has delayed action on supplemental war funding because some in Congress want to make a political statement about the war," he said, criticizing Democrats for leaving for their Thanksgiving break without approving the war funds.
That's a bald-faced lie. Democrats worked their tails off to even get people to vote for Sense of the House and Sense of the Senate resolutions demanding a "change in direction." They even said that they weren't trying to end the war.
Here's Harry Reid's reply to President Bush's radio address:
"He damn sure is not entitled to having this money given to him just with a blank check," Sen. Harry Reid, the Democrats' Senate leader, told reporters. "Americans need someone fighting for them taking on this bully we have in the White House."Harry Reid might be the most inept Senate Majority leader since I started voting. In fact, he makes Trent Lott look as effective and steadfast as LBJ. Here's how easily Reid got rolled:
"There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon. "This is a serious misconception."It's time that Democrats did their job for a change. They've passed a handful of bills since they regained the chairmanships a year ago. They're the most inept, spineless congress in recent history, which is saying something since the last few congresses in Republican control weren't exactly profiles in courage.
At some point, Democrats will have to decide if they're more interested in appeasing their lunatic fringe base than they care about protecting America. They can't do both.
Posted Saturday, November 17, 2007 10:12 PM
Comment 1 by Ken Larson at 18-Nov-07 10:08 AM
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
Politicians make no difference.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). If you would like to read how this happens please see:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/halliburton200711
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control. Government and industry are merging and that is very dangerous.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.
For more details see:
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/02/warped-priorities.html
Why Are Democrats Opposed to Winning?
Based on Liz Sly's article in the Chicago Tribune, conditions are improving in Iraq, including Baghdad. While more articles are popping up on news websites, House and Senate Democrats are attempting to tie President Bush's hands by codifying a 'Get out of Iraq' date into the Iraq supplemental. Here's what Ms. Sly said in her article:
Since the last soldiers of the "surge" deployed last May, Baghdad has undergone a remarkable transformation.Despite this news, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Co. have tried passing an Iraq supplemental that demands President Bush start withdrawing troops. Despite this good news, Harry Reid continues to making pessimistic statements :
No longer do the streets empty at dusk. Liquor stores and cinemas have reopened for business. Some shops stay open until late into the evening. Children play in parks, young women stay out after dark, restaurants are filled with families and old men sit at sidewalk cafes playing backgammon and smoking shisha pipes.
"Every place you go you hear about no progress being made in Iraq," said Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid. "The government is stalemated today, as it was six months ago, as it was two years ago," Reid told reporters, warning US soldiers were caught in the middle of a civil war. "It is not getting better, it is getting worse," he said.If Sen. Reid continues making statements like this, he won't have any credibility left. That's assuming his credibility hasn't already disappeared altogether. This is just more verification that Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha aren't dealing with reality. Here's what I mean:
Reid, Pelosi, et al, are operating from the mindset that we're relying on them for our information. That's an antiquated approach to the news. The defeat of the 'Grand Bargain' immigration/shamnesty plan should've told Washington politicians that we have alot more information at our fingertips than ever. Instead, people like Harry Reid make statements while we read articles like Ms. Sly's.
With information like this, is it any wonder why Congress has the lowest job approval rating in history?
But for the first time in years, Baghdad's residents are starting to remember what an ordinary life is like. "I used to close my shop at 6 p.m. but now I stay open till 9 or 9:30. Then I walk home and I feel completely safe," said Jawad al-Sufi, 64, who runs the House of Hijab head scarf shop in the much-bombed district of Karradah. He had to replace his windows five times because of bombings outside his shop, but there has hardly been an attack in Karradah since September.We know that a transformation is happening because this gentleman can pinpoint when the transformation started. This year, Eid was celebrated Dec. 20-24. According to Centcom's article , here's what Gen. Petraeus testified to at his conformation hearing:
"It happened very suddenly," he said. "There was a sharp turnaround, right after Eid," the Muslim holiday in late October. "Since then, security has improved 85 percent."
"If we are to carry out the Multinational Force Iraq mission in accordance with the new strategy, the additional forces that have been directed to move to Iraq will be essential, as will greatly increased support by our government's other agencies, additional resources for reconstruction and economic initiatives, and a number of other actions critical to what must be a broad, comprehensive, multifaceted approach to the challenges in Iraq," Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.As I recall, President Bush announced this plan after the midterm elections, then set it in motion before Democrats took control of the House or Senate. The gospel according to Harry says:
"It is not getting better, it is getting worse."Here's what Ms. Sly says from Baghdad:
The number of explosions of all kinds has fallen sharply, from 1,641 nationwide in March to 763 in October. That is still a high number but a level not seen since September 2005, according to the U.S. military. Mortar attacks also are down, from an all-time high of 224 in Baghdad in June to 53 in October. A senior U.S. general said Thursday that the number of bombings in the country had dropped by almost half since March.Ms. Sly's report include verified statistics. Sen. Reid's statements don't contain statistics. Instead, they're a desperate attempt to spin the truth. Thanks to Al Gore's invention, Sen. Reid's spin isn't working.
Reliable casualty figures have been hard to come by since the government stopped publicizing monthly tallies earlier this year, but inevitably the reduction in attacks also has reduced the number of deaths. According to an Associated Press tally, 750 people were killed in Iraq in October, down from 2,172 last December. Iraq's Interior Ministry gives an even lower figure for the month: 506 civilians killed nationwide.
Though 2007 has been the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, U.S. military casualties also have dropped recently, from a year's high of 126 in May to 38 in October, and 23 killed in the first two weeks of November.
This information begs another question, namely this: What type of politician would push this hard, this often, to cut off funding for a plan whose results are this impressive?
Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007 1:45 AM
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Reviewing "This Disastrous War Policy"
It appears as though the Las Vegas Journal-Review is reporting on Harry Reid's spat with President Bush :
"The president and his enablers in Congress are so afraid of being held accountable for this disastrous war policy that they would rather leave our men and women in uniform empty-handed than work to change course in Iraq," he said after the votes.Let's examine what's happening in Iraq:
- The Anbar Awakening has eliminated that province as a AQI sanctuary. It's eliminated Anbar from being where AQI planned their attacks.
- According to this article , attacks have dropped 90 percent in Basra.
- According to Liz Sly's article , life is returning to normal in Baghdad
No longer do the streets empty at dusk. Liquor stores and cinemas have reopened for business. Some shops stay open until late into the evening. Children play in parks, young women stay out after dark, restaurants are filled with families and old men sit at sidewalk cafes playing backgammon and smoking shisha pipes.As I mentioned here , Harry Reid keeps trying to say that the surge strategy isn't working. What isn't working are his attempts to mischaracterize what's happening in Iraq.
Ever since the 'Grand Bargain' switchboard meltdown, I've occasionally talked with friends that a new paradigm has emerged for activism. Thanks to "Al Gore's internet", activists now have a tool for holding politicians accountable. In this instance, we're using that tool to hold Harry Reid accountable for his statements. Here's another irresponsible statement by Reid:
"The president was offered the money," Reid said. "There were very minimal accountability provisions in this bill. And even then he sneered and said no."The "very minimal accountability provisions" that Reid's refering to are already being met. What Sen. Reid isn't talking about is the fact that he's holding up the war supplemental is causing an accounting nightmare at the Pentagon. John Ensign and Jon Kyl are all over Reid for not getting a clean Iraq supplemental passed. Here's what Sen. Ensign said:
"The American people would rather have General (David) Petraeus running the war than members of Congress," Ensign said. "We cannot, the 535 of us, set timelines. We cannot put strategy on the ground. That is what (Democrats) are trying to do by putting strings on the funding."Here's what Sen. Kyl said:
"It has now been over 280 days since the president asked for the emergency troop funding," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said in a Republican news conference. "They still don't have it."Harry Reid has been the most inept Senate Majority Leader in my lifetime. That's why this Senate is the most inept Senate in my lifetime. I wonder what it'd be like if Harry Reid didn't dance to the tune of his Nutroots puppeteers. I suspect it'd dramatically change this discussion.
He added, "You would think that on the verge of a Thanksgiving recess when members of Congress are going home to their constituencies, we would have some progress. Instead, it's the same broken Congress."
I didn't talk about some other things in Liz Sly's story. Now's the right time to talk about that:
"[Al] Qaeda has been defeated completely. And soon they will cease operating completely," Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said in an interview in his office. "We expect them to have some attacks, they will make huge efforts and maybe they will succeed in one or two instances. But now they're shifting their operations outside Iraq. They will not have a safe home here anymore."I suspect that Gen. Khalaf is on the verge of being right. Until the time that he's right, though, I hope they maintain the mindset that Gen. Fil is operating from.
U.S. officials are more cautious. Al Qaeda has rebounded from past setbacks, and it almost certainly is trying to regroup, they say. "Al Qaeda, though on the ropes, is not finished by any means," Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, the U.S. commander in Baghdad, said in a Nov. 6 briefing in the capital. "They could come back swinging if they're allowed to."
With Reid making these types of statements, it's a shame Nevadans have to wait until 2010 to hold Sen. Reid accountable at the ballot box. The good news is that Nevadans know Reid's time is heading to a screaching halt the next time he's up for re-election. I suspect that even Sen. Reid knos that that's inevitable.
Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:19 AM
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Moulitsas' First Column: Let's Live In The Past
Markos Moulitsas' first Newsweek column sends a simple message: Let's live in the past. Here's the opening paragraph from the column:
Times are tough for the Republican Party and its candidates. Earlier this month, according to Gallup, more people strongly disapproved of George W. Bush than any previous president since the advent?of polling-and, really, how could things be any different? Bush can boast of an unwinnable quagmire in Iraq, a decimated housing market, economic instability and a collapsing dollar, a dysfunctional health-care system, a still-devastated Gulf Coast, a wealth gap of a scope unseen since the Great Depression and a pervasive and disturbing image of America as a hapless, blundering giant, rather than a beacon of freedom and morality in the world.It's obvious that we're entering another presidential election year. It's obvious because Democrats are talking in the most hyperbolic, fact-free terms. Let's go through Moulitsas' list, starting with this line:
Bush can boast of an unwinnable quagmire in Iraq...That'd be believeable except that :
But for the first time in years, Baghdad's residents are starting to remember what an ordinary life is like. "I used to close my shop at 6 p.m. but now I stay open till 9 or 9:30. Then I walk home and I feel completely safe," said Jawad al-Sufi, 64, who runs the House of Hijab head scarf shop in the much-bombed district of Karradah. He had to replace his windows five times because of bombings outside his shop, but there has hardly been an attack in Karradah since September.There's nothing like a few verifiable facts to discredit hyperbolists' mindless rants. Then there's this statement:
"It happened very suddenly," he said. "There was a sharp turnaround, right after Eid," the Muslim holiday in late October. "Since then, security has improved 85 percent."
"a dysfunctional health-care system..."What's so dysfunctional about it? We're finding cures now that were considered miracles a decade ago. We're also finding these cures faster than ever before.
"a wealth gap of a scope unseen since the Great Depression..."Four years ago, John Kerry reminded us again and again that the Bush economic policies led to the worst job creation since the depression. People heard him say that, then pulled the lever for President Bush despite all of Kerry's rantings.
"a still-devastated Gulf Coast..."WRONG. A still-devastated New Orleans . Mississippi is recovering at a steady pace. Nawlins isn't getting rebuilt because a corrupt mayor and inept governor have been leading the recovery effort. Now that Bobby Jindal has been elected, that situation should quickly turn around. Haley Barbour has proven that it just takes leadership, and a little wisdom to set things on the right track. It also doesn't hurt to not have to deal with Nawlins' corruption.
"a pervasive and disturbing image of America as a hapless, blundering giant, rather than a beacon of freedom and morality in the world..."What a pile of BS. We aren't a "beacon of freedom and morality in the world" after we led the way to liberating 50+ million people in Iraq and Afghanistan? We aren't a "beacon of freedom and morality in the world" after lending diplomatic support to Lebanon right after Rafiz Harriri's assassination? Mr. Moulitsas' image of the United States is badly skewed by his hatred for all things Bush. It isn't because of the facts.
Mr. Moulitsas' rants are quickly destroyed with a few facts. His rants are focused on the past that he refuses to even see the progress in the present:
It's why Republicans voted to support Bush's veto of the wildly popular State Children's Health Insurance Program, denying health care to millions of needy kids. Time and again, GOP leaders have forgone sensible and popular policies in favor of catering to a shrinking and increasingly isolated base.That's what Moulitsas must rely on. He can't paint a picture of reality. Moulitsas must paint a strawman picture because reality ruins his rant. The "wildly popular SCHIP program" that Mr. Moulitsas is refering to is supported only to the extent that children of middle class parents aren't covered by the program. Once people are told that families of 4 making $63K qualify for SCHIP, support drops significantly. That isn't surprising.
Democrats have to paint this type of picture because that's the only way they can win. Their agenda isn't appealing. Their trillion dollar tax hikes, no matter how much lipstick they apply, isn't popular. Their only hope is to convince people that things are awful and hope nobody notices that there's alot of positive things happening.
Consequently, to stand any chance of winning next year, Republicans must pray for a national amnesia to erase the previous eight years from the minds of voters. But amnesia only happens in soap operas-and that's why Democrats will win in 2008. As long as Democratic candidates remind voters that the Republican platform and Bush's record are one and the same, victory will be assured.Mr. Moulitsas' rants notwithstanding, Republicans only need to return to their reform-minded ways. Democrats didn't win the last election. We lost the last election because we started voting yes on Democratic legislation. We lost because some congressmen and senators (Ted Stevens and Bud Shuster leap to mind) tried out-earmarking John Murtha and Robert Byrd. That won't happen this time.
Meanwhile, Democrats will have to defend their statements about how the war that's being won is a lost cause. (Thank you, Harry Reid and John Murtha.) Democrats will have to explain why they supported a corrupt politician like John Murtha after he tried railroading the Haditha Marines before the investigation was even finished or before he was briefed. Democrats will have to explain why why they're stridently opposed to victory in Iraq .
The nasty little truth that Moulitsas doesn't want people to notice is that they aren't opposed to letting oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Venezuela flourish. What Moulitsas doesn't want people to notice is that he favors a system of taxation that'll leave our pocketbooks empty but the government's bank accounts richer. He and Hillary don't want people to control their destinies. He wants government picking winners and losers. People might've settled for that forty years ago but they won't settle for it now.
It's time for Mr. Moulitsas to stop living in the past and to embrace a liberating agenda based on minimal government intrusion into our lives and a foreign policy based on killing jihadists while we spread demnocracy throughout the terrorists' sanctuaries. If he doesn't embrace that agenda, he'll soon be history.
Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007 11:50 AM
Comment 1 by Stephen Kruiser at 18-Nov-07 07:43 PM
Moulitsas has been blogging unchallenged idiocy for his frothing public for so long that he thinks he can get away with making things up anywhere. He fancies himself a progressive voice on the left but he ended up sounding like a generic DNC talking head.
Great point-by-point breakdown.
Defending the Indefensible
That's State Rep. Mike O'Brien's mission in this editorial. It isn't a convincing performance.
As a first-term elected member of the Pennsylvania House and former 10-year staffer of the House Democratic Caucus, I feel it is necessary to respond to your editorial "Legislative Largesse" (Nov. 15).It's odd that Rep. O'Brien mentions DeWeese's Tuesday Morning Massacre aren't "a sign of desperation." The people I've talked with in Pennsylvania laughed at DeWeese's attempt to distance himself from Bonusgate by terminating 7 of his staffers. I told one contact out there that "That's like throwing chum in the water, then expecting the shark attack to not happen." That line was met with an emphatic one word reply of "EXACTLY"!!! Here's what DeWeese said of his firing these workers:
I have known Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene) for more than 10 years, and I have always found him to be fair and equitable to both staff and members. As the caucus leader, he also has demonstrated fairness to Philadelphia and the region, when others from rural parts of the state may prefer to be Philly-bashers.
I have unshaken faith in Rep. DeWeese's judgment on behalf of the caucus. His actions in restructuring the staff are not a sign of desperation, as your editorial suggests, but a sign of leadership. He made some difficult decisions that may not be popular, but which are in the best interest of the public and the entire caucus.
I stand firm with my majority leader to continue the work of the Democratic Caucus for the truly important matters facing our commonwealth - energy independence, health care, property tax reform and open records.
In the process of complying with the subpoenas, top Democrats came upon documents that revealed conduct that made the seven staffers' "continued employment untenable," the sources said.That doesn't pass the laugh test, especially considering the fact that they didn't find it alarming that the House Democratic Office of Legislative Research was doing campaign work in its office:
Files seized from a Democratic House research office were laden with campaign and other political documents, according to a judge who reviewed them.There's a couple of statements that Rep. O'Brien made that I find particularly insulting. Here's one of them:
Contents of the 20 boxes were "overwhelmingly and patently non-legislative in nature," said Judge Barry Feudale, who allowed the documents to be considered in a grand jury investigation into whether taxpayer-funded resources were used to run elections. The grand jury also is looking into whether state employees received substantial state bonuses for work on political campaigns.
It is illegal for campaign work to be done in state offices, on state equipment or by state employees on work time.
The boxes, taken by search warrant from the House Democratic Office of Legislative Research on Aug. 23, included files with labels such as "opposition research," "incumbent protection plan" and "memo on challenger in election."
He made some difficult decisions that may not be popular, but which are in the best interest of the public and the entire caucus.That's nonsense. Thus far, his actions have focused on saving his bacon. PERIOD. Here's the other insulting statement:
I stand firm with my majority leader to continue the work of the Democratic Caucus for the truly important matters facing our commonwealth [like]...open records.If maintaining open records is so important, does that mean Rep. O'Brien will vote to eliminate the email exception to the transparency legislation. That bill's been gutted to the point that Common Cause of Pennsylvania won't endorse it anymore. In fact, Babette Joseph said that she gutted the bill at Bill DeWeese's request:
Both the committee's process and the content of the bill are outrageous. Committee Chair Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, pushed through amendment after amendment, most of which the members were seeing for the first time. Their cumulative effect was to exempt broad categories of state records from being open. When members of the committee pleaded with Rep. Josephs to slow down by either holding more hearings or not reporting the bill to the floor for a quick vote, she refused. Alarmingly, at one point she even said she could not do so because the Democratic leadership (Majority Leader H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg) didn't want to. So much for caucus leaders sharing power. One other point about the committee chair: She had the nerve to address a pro-open records rally on Tuesday as a reform leader,and then led the way as the committee rammed through this travesty.Game. Set. Match. Rep. O'Brien's credibility just took a major hit with honest people.
Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007 5:05 PM
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The AP's Version of Political Analysis
This afternoon, the AP ran a political analysis article that made me laugh. Here's what made me laugh:
While Democrats boast top-tier challengers for Republican-held seats in Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota and Oregon, they make no such claim in Kentucky.I don't disagree that the candidates in Virginia & New Hampshire are "top-tier candidates" but saying that Minnesota has a top-tier candidate is like saying Ron Paul has a shot at knocking off Hillary Next November. Here's another thing that I got a chuckle from:
"Obviously, it will be a difficult race because he is the champion of fundraising," said Gov.-elect Steve Beshear, a Democrat who won a lopsided victory this month over first-term Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher.Ernie Fletcher lost because he was a dorrupt politician. Sen. McConnell doesn't suffer from the same difficulties. All that's happening there is a bunch of liberals are yapping about how vulnerable Sen. McConnell is. They'll have to show me alot more than just yapping before I take this seriously.
Buoyed by Beshear's win, Kentucky Democrats sense an opportunity to topple McConnell, a four-term senator and the state's Republican kingpin.
"He's certainly more vulnerable now than he's been in a long, long time," said Beshear, who knows just how formidable McConnell can be, having lost a 1996 Senate race to him by more than 160,000 votes.
Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007 8:01 PM
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