October 26-30, 2007
Oct 26 02:27 DeWeese in Deep Trouble Back Home? Oct 26 11:58 The Congress That Wouldn't Govern Oct 26 14:49 Giuliani Pummels Rangel Oct 26 23:38 State Of Corruption? Oct 27 02:49 PHEAA's 'Reforms' Oct 27 11:35 The Democrats' Reward? Oct 28 01:48 110th Congress Makes History Oct 30 10:44 What Open Records? Oct 30 19:42 WSJ Whacks Murtha
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Prior Years: 2006
DeWeese in Deep Trouble Back Home?
I think it's safe to say that Bill DeWeese is in trouble back home in Greene County. I'm basing my opinion on his tough fight in last year's election and the ongoing Bonusgate scandal. It looks like he might have more trouble after this week, too. Let's first look at last year's election:
William DeWeese (D) 9,586 52.6%Bill DeWeese should've cruised to victory last year. Last year's environment was toxic for Republicans. Incumbency should've been another advantage for DeWeese. Despite all that, DeWeese barely defeated Mr. Hopkins. The tightness of this race explains why Patrick Grill made at least 10 trips from Harrisburg to Waynesburg to campaign for Rep. DeWeese:
Greg Hopkins (R) 8,633 47.4%
Brett Cott, a high-ranking policy analyst in the state House of Representatives, spent 11 weeks straight in Beaver Falls last year working on former House Democratic Whip Michael Veon's unsuccessful re-election campaign. Patrick Grill, also a policy analyst, squeezed in at least 10 trips from Harrisburg to Waynesburg to campaign for Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.Mr. DeWeese made the understatement of the week when he said this in his op-ed :
Both continued to draw their state salaries while they campaigned, according to records obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Mr. Cott's annual salary is $87,412 and Mr. Grill's is $67,552. Altogether, at least 45 House Democratic employees campaigned on weekdays last year but never left the state payroll and still received bonuses as a reward for their state work, the records show.
I have been straightforward in proclaiming that I was late to the call for reform. But after the toughest fight of my political career last year, I made a commitment to changing my ways.The truth is that he still didn't change his ways. Here's proof of that:
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.In other words, Bill DeWeese told Rep. Joseph to gut the transparency bill so that it was a Reform In Name Only, then wrote an op-ed for the newspaper talking about what a reformer he'd become.
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.
Frankly, this guy is a dead man walking politically speaking. The good news for him is that Murtha can get him a job with one of his defense contractor buddies starting in 2009.
Posted Friday, October 26, 2007 2:27 AM
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The Congress That Wouldn't Govern
That's President Bush's opinion on the Democratic leadership not getting their budget work done . In addition to them not getting the appropriations bills passed before the end of FY2007, their idea of compromise isn't compromise:
Bush returned from a tour of the wildfire destruction in California last night to find the House having passed another children's health insurance bill that he promises to veto, and he already had received another "fiscally irresponsible" bill earlier the week in which he said House and Senate negotiators haggling over $14 billion and $15 billion spending bills had driven their compromise up to $23 billion.It's time to call this bunch 'The Congress That Wouldn't Govern'. Thus far, they've had more missteps and blunders than any congress since I started voting in 1974. That's what you get when you put dimwits like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in charge. Instead of working diligently on the appropriations bills, Ms. Pelosi instead chose to pass another SCHIP bill that President Bush has promised to veto.
"In Washington, that's called splitting the difference," Bush said with some visible disgust.
Thus far, a strong case can be made that neither house of Congress is the least bit adept at prioritizing their time. They wasted 100+ days before passing the latest Iraq war supplemental. They couldn't leave on time for their August recess because they hadn't passed a bill to let the NSA do their job of intercepting terrorist communications.
That's before we're talking about how much time they wasted on several amnesty bills that went nowhere. Their only 'accomplishments' thus far are increasing the minimum wage and earmark/ethics 'reform'. The earmark reform is a RINO- Reform In Name Only. Pelosi and company couldn't even pass a clean minimum wage bill. The first bill exempted Del Monte's plant in Okinawa. Not surprisingly, Pelosi's husband owns Del Monte stock. In fact, they only got the bill passed as part of the Iraq supplemental. Even then, they had to include small business tax cuts to get it through.
"I returned to Washington late last night, and when I got back to the White House, I was disappointed by what Congress had been doing, and even more disappointed what they had not been doing," Bush said today, noting that the House had passed an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program that "costs more" than the one he already had vetoed. It "moves millions of children" with private health care into government-funded insurance, he complained, and "it fails to do what needs to be done, to put poor children first."President Bush has found a perfect line to fight the Democrats' SCHIP bill. Anytime he says that we need to "put poor children first", he nails Democrats for trying to alter our health insurance system.
It isn't so much that voters are paying close attention to the bills funding the Commerce Department or the Agriculture Department or the Interior Department. It's enough for them to know that Congress didn't even debate these bills until the new fiscal year had started.
The Democrats' ineptitude and corruption is reason enough to end their run as majority party in the House. Add into that the House and Senate pushing legislation that would undercut the war effort in Iraq right when we're getting things under control with respect to the Shiite militias and the AQI terrorists. Public opinion is shifting on Iraq as a result of Gen. Petraeus' surge.
That doesn't matter to the Nutters, though. They want out despite the positive reports coming from Iraq.
That's before I start talking about Nancy Pelosi's disastrous foreign 'diplomacy' efforts. Her 'message from Ehud Olmert' to Bashar Assad was quickly ridiculed and refuted. Prime Minister Olmert didn't give her a message to deliver to Assad. Then there's her 'promising' a vote on a resolution condemning the Turkish genocide of Armenians in the early 1900's, which almost caused Turkey to kick us out of their country while interrupting our supply lines to northern Iraq.
Simply put, Reid and Pelosi have been a destructive force in the governance of our nation. Their foreign policy mistakes, coupled with their not taking their budgetary responsibilities seriously, are proof that this bunch can't govern.
When you factor all these things, don't you ask yourself "Had enough"? I have.
Originally posted Friday, October 26, 2007, revised 27-Dec 12:29 PM
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Giuliani Pummels Rangel
Rudy Giuliani didn't waste time in blasting Charlie Rangel's tax increase proposal yesterday. Here's what Mr. Giuliani said:
In a radio interview, Giuliani said Rangel's plan would be "devastating" to the economy.It's important to recognize that this isn't Rangel's bill. This is what Mrs. Clinton's tax policy would look like if elected. It isn't a stretch to think that Rangel is just Mrs. Clinton's messenger. There's no doubt that Rangel agrees with Mrs. Clinton in raising taxes. There also isn't any doubt that this tax increase will cause the economy to falter if it became law.
"It makes no sense to be raising the rate on capital gains when we want more investment in this country," Giuliani said on WHO-AM in Des Moines, Iowa. "All we're saying to people is go find some place else to invest. The corporate tax rate in America is the second highest in the world. The President of France wants to lower the corporate tax rate in France because France is losing money, and their rate is lower than ours. So we've got a group of Democrats who want to go to the left of France in our economic policy. It doesn't make any sense."
The first Clinton tax hike didn't hurt the economy because it was just starting its recovery from a recession. That isn't the case now. Hiking taxes this much when the economy is looking like it's heading for a recession is reckless, not to mention that it'll hurt people from all economic groups. Look at this information and try convincing people that it wouldn't kill job growth and economic growth:
Rangel's bill would increase the tax rate on hedge fund managers pay on their compensation, often in the tens of millions of dollars, from the 15 percent capital gains rate to as high as 38 percent. He also wants a broader tax reform next year that would permanently repeal the minimum tax, put a surcharge on wealthy households, and lower the corporate tax rate.The old anecdote that soaking the rich usually leads to rain showers in everyone's neighborhoods applies here. When these taxes are applied, they'll certainly have an impact on profits. That means that 401(k)'s will be adversely affected. That means jobs will be lost until the companies make back the money the tax increase took from them.
Posted Friday, October 26, 2007 2:50 PM
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State Of Corruption?
This afternoon, I did some more digging into the Bunusgate corruption scandal engulfing Pennsylvania. First, I called a contact I have in Pennsylvania. My contact told me that this scandal would take "2 or 3 years to play out." I asked if that included potential trials. The matter-of-fact response was a firm "No." After talking with my contact, I found this editorial , which tells me that there's much unrest in Pennsylvania over the various scandals. Here's a portion of that editorial:
The nub of the allegations is that big bonuses, paid supposedly for meritorious service on behalf of the people of Penn's Wood, actually were paid for services rendered on behalf of re-electing legislative bosses and their lock-stepping minions. Hundreds of thousands of public dollars may be involved.It goes on:
Capitol raids have been conducted. Folks are walking around looking like dogs awaiting the consequences of having eaten chicken bones. Published reports suggest there's fire where smoke was spotted. Subpoenas have been issued. And birds apparently have been chirping to a state grand jury convened by Mr. Corbett.The bad news for Democrats is that that's the abridged version. Here's some details to one facet of this scandal :
State Auditor General Jack Wagner's interim audit on the PHEAA, the first audit done on the student-loan agency in its 44-year history, shows in sad detail how this state agency lost sight of its only mission and the reason for its existence: students, students, students.PHEAA knows that they're toast and that they won't be able to spin it. As bad as that audit finding is, this information might be more damaging:
You may recall that recently retired PHEAA Chief Executive Dick Willey and four vice presidents received more than $500,000 in bonuses this year. Wagner's auditors discovered that, since July 1, 2004, the agency awarded $7.5 million in bonuses. That's $7.5 million.
No matter how many times PHEAA apologists try to make the case that the PHEAA board was merely trying to keep compensation competitive with industry standards, this is obscene. Even if the entire student-loan business is corrupt, this is no less outrageous.
Wagner's report noted that the $6.4 million in bonuses the agency awarded its employees over the past three years could have given 1,702 students the maximum education grant, ranging from $3,300 to $4,500. Or the bonuses could have helped 2,563 borrowers with $2,500 in loan forgiveness. Wagner's staff also uncovered this gem: Another $1.1 million in bonuses was dished out to the agency's top 23 executives in September.That's almost $50,000 apiece in bonuses. This article provides the final nail in PHEAA's coffin:
According to the Harrisburg, Pa., newspaper, the board of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency , or Pheaa, voted on Friday to accept a list of recommendations to reduce its spending on financial-aid programs in the 2008-9 fiscal year by a projected 58 percent, to $44.4-million . Those cuts would mean a drop in the number of students receiving grants, and less money for nursing students and educators, as well as adults in job-training programs.Here's what we know from this information:
James Preston, Pheaa's interim president, told The Patriot-News that the reductions were needed because of recently enacted cuts in federal subsidies on student loans and financial market conditions.
- The executives got paid millions in bonuses over the years.
- The state's audit shows that the executives got paid lavish salaries. (Their president, Dick Willey, got paid $280K this year in salary, then got a hefty $180K bonus . He resigned early after announcing that he was retiring.)
- The students get hurt by having their grant budget shrunk by 60 percent .
- What's wrong with that picture? I'm confident that that information will get most taxpayers seething. I'll bet that parents are demanding to know how many times their taxes were raised to increase the grant budget only to have that money spent on directors' salaries and bonuses.
- Brett Cott, a high-ranking policy analyst in the state House of Representatives, spent 11 weeks straight in Beaver Falls last year working on former House Democratic Whip Michael Veon's unsuccessful re-election campaign.
- Patrick Grill, also a policy analyst, squeezed in at least 10 trips from Harrisburg to Waynesburg to campaign for Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.
- Mr. Cott received a $25,065 bonus and Mr. Grill received $12,685.
- 717 House Democratic staffers received taxpayer-fund bonuses worth $1.9 million in 2006.
- House Democratic staffers received $435,000 in bonuses in 2005.
- Seven employees of the state House Democratic caucus have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury investigating bonus payments to legislative staffers.
- State House records show that six of the seven workers are or were employees of the House Democrats' Office of Legislative Research.
- A search warrant was obtained to search the House Democrats' Office of Legislative Research.
- When the search was conducted, investigators found folders titled opposition research, incumbent protection plan and memo on challenger in election .
- It is illegal for campaign work to be done in state offices, on state equipment or by state employees on work time.
- House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg urged his bonus recipients not to tell anyone.
- PHEAA executives got paid salaries in excess of $100,000, then got bonuses after that.
- As a direct result of the excessive salaries and bonuses paid to these executives, the student grant budget was cut 60 percent.
- Why didn't the legislature do any oversight into PHEAA's salaries and bonuses?
- Why didn't the legislature write the law to eliminate the amount of bonus money paid to executives?
- Shouldn't the legislature, not PHEAA, set the grant and loan budgets?
UPDATE: Welcome Gateway Pundit readers. Here's the list of everything I've posted about these scandals & investigations:
State of Corruption
RINO
House Committee Guts Transparency Legislation
DeWeese The Reformer
Corruption At the Highest Levels
Three Cheers for John Eichelberger
The Investigation Continues
What Did They Know & When Did They Know It?
This is actually several scandals rolled into one. You'll want to keep track of Sen. Eichelberger. He was elected last November & immediately went to work reforming Pennsylvania government. I think of him as a rising star in the GOP. I think you will, too.
Originally posted Friday, October 26, 2007, revised 27-Oct 12:12 AM
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PHEAA's 'Reforms'
The more I dig into this corruption, the more upset I get. This article chronicles how bureaucrats at PHEAA think that they've achieved a major accomplishment. Here's what PHEAA is touting as proof of their reform agenda:
Employee appreciation events at the state's student financial aid agency have been suspended. Bonuses that were to go to mid-level managers were stopped. The executive compensation program that has about a dozen people making more than Gov. Ed Rendell's $164,396 salary is under review.It's obvious that PHEAA hopes this satisfies the public. It won't. In fact, people are already taking shots at it:
"I think it's a cleverly worded response," Wagner said of PHEAA's letter. "It leads us to believe they are not fully committed to positive change, and...I'm more concerned that the culture still is one of a private agency rather than a state agency."One thing to always remember about bureaucrats is that they're control freaks. They don't like relinquishing power. They'd much rather accumulate power. I'd bet that they're seething that Mr. Wagner is looking over their shoulders. I'll bet that they want him out of their office ASAP.
Here's a glimpse at their culture of corruption:
His audit report also found PHEAA had spent $108,000 on an employee ppreciation event at Hersheypark last spring (PHEAA contended employees actually paid for about $29,000 of that cost). Wagner's report also urged the agency's board not to simply add the bonuses into the salaries.What the hell was PHEAA thinking spending $110,000 on an "employee appreciation event"? Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and stipulate that PHEAA employees paid $30,000 of the $110,000. That's still spending $80,000 on an event. That's in addition to their spending millions on bonuses & salaries.
"It's a public agency," Wagner said. "The public agency should be making decisions sensitive to the public."
Theoretically, PHEAA works for We The People . Practically speaking, Pennsylvanians are working to support PHEAA's lavish lifestyle. It's indicative of an attitude that says "The public's needs come second to my wants." That type of corruption won't be tolerated any longer. It ends RIGHT HERE. It ends RIGHT NOW.
Posted Saturday, October 27, 2007 2:52 AM
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The Democrats' Reward?
According to this NY Times article , Steny Hoyer announced that the House will return to a 4 day work week next year:
The House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, told fellow Democrats this week that the House would not be in session next year on Fridays, except in June for work on appropriations bills.Minority Whip Roy Blunt quickly gave him a jab:
Explaining that decision to reporters, Mr. Hoyer said, "I do intend to have more time for members to work in their districts and to be close to their families."
"Is this a reward for our accomplishments in 2007?" asked Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the Republican whip.Democrats campaigned that they'd work 5 days a week and get more done for the American people. Their record doesn't indicate that they've gotten much done, though. This congress hasn't gotten much of anything done. They've earned the title of The Congress that Wouldn't Govern . President Bush hammered them on their thin list of accomplishments:
And on Friday, President Bush once again hammered Congressional Democrats, accusing them of failing to meet basic responsibilities like approving annual budget bills and confirming his nominee for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey.Congress fired back in this lame way:
"This is not what Congressional leaders promised when they took control of Congress earlier this year," Mr. Bush said. "Congress needs to keep their promise, to stop wasting time, and get essential work done on behalf of the American people."
The Democrats, by contrast, say that after 10 months of putting in longer days and weeks, they have made significant gains. They cited legislation, including an increase in the minimum wage and new ethics and lobbying rules, as well as in the nitty-gritty work of House committees, which they say has provided much-needed oversight of the Bush administration and will also set the stage for an ambitious agenda next year.The ethics reforms they passed were RINOs: Reform In Name Only. Their 'oversight hearings' didn't look into how to improve government's performance. They looked for ways to embarass the Bush administration. They talk about "laying the groundwork for an ambitious agenda" in 2008 but they still haven't passed a single appropriations bill. That's proof of their ineptitude and their lack of prioritization skills.
Posted Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:37 AM
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110th Congress Makes History
This Congress made history when Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. They also made history when Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to the House of Representatives. Not all of their firsts have been positive achievements, though. According to Minority Whip Roy Blunt's statement , I'd call the 110th Congress an embarassment of historic proportions. Here's the text of Rep. Blunt's statement:
"Not since Jim Wright was the speaker of the House has Congress failed to send even one spending bill, not even the critically important veterans' spending bill, to the president this late in the year. While a milestone in and of itself, it's hardly an accomplishment to be proud of, especially since it didn't have to be this way. The Senate has appointed conferees to every single spending measure it has passed. It's anyone's guess as to why the speaker hasn't followed suit, but it seems more than apparent that politics might have something to do with it.This afternoon, I called into the Final Word while they talked about Jim Oberstar not helping getting the emergency appropriation bill passed and signed for rebuilding the I-35 Bridge. I said that we'd all heard the Democrats "6 for '06" campaign slogan but little did we think that that's all that they'd accomplish this year.
"It's time for the majority to live up to the promise it made earlier this year and stop politicizing our troops. It can do that by finishing the veterans funding bill immediately, and then moving on to the other six that have secured the support of both chambers, but not the support, apparently, of Democratic leadership. All Republicans are asking is that Congress actually do its job. Is that too much to ask?"
NOTE: The House passed the veterans' appropriations bill on June 15, 2007 by a margin of 409-2, with the Senate passing its own version and naming conferees on September 6th. Blunt joined Mr. Boehner and other Republican leaders in August in sending a letter to the speaker urging her to agree to a conference, appoint conferees, and reconcile a final bill. She has not yet complied.
I've called them the " Congress That Wouldn't Govern ". Rep. Blunt's statement re-inforces that opinion. It's long past time to get these spending bills finished. While I'll readily admit that it isn't common to get all thirteen bills done in time, it's unheard of to see Congress not pass a single bill for the president to sign.
Mr. Blunt's statement says that Ms. Pelosi hasn't appointed conferees to reconcile the House and Senate version of the veterans' appropriation bill. I suspect that they're waiting on that so they can lard it up with special spending requests. That's despicable on the Democrats' behalf. They should be called on it. Democrats should especially be exposed when they say that they support the troops. If they supported the troops, they would've gotten this bill passed months ago.
Under Ms. Pelosi's leadership, the House hasn't gotten much of anything done. Based on a recent Field Poll , people have noticed:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's own party is turning on her, apparently because of a perception among California Democrats that she has not done enough to shake up the status quo in Washington, D.C., according to a Field Poll released Friday.The chickens are coming home to roost on Ms. Pelosi. She was stuck in a Catch-22 situation. To win the majority, Democrats had to be seen as change agents so that's the campaign strategy they adopted. Now that they've won the majority, they're being exposed as a status quo congress when people are demanding real change.
Congress overall is doing even worse with California voters, with an approval rating sagging to 30 percent or below for only the seventh time in the past 15 years, the poll of 1,201 registered voters found. Both Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who became speaker this year, and Congress as a whole have fallen short of voter expectations since taking over both houses, poll director Mark DiCamillo said.
"I think the reason for her decline and the low ratings Congress is getting is that voters here are not seeing any change," DiCamillo said.
Then-Speaker Hastert told me at a Bachmann fundraiser in July, 2006 that Democrats weren't change agents considering 25-term John Dingell would be one chairman, 22-term incumbent Charlie Rangel chairing the House Ways and Means committee, among others. I told him that he was exactly right about that. Here's additional proof that he's right:
For Pelosi, it was the first time the poll showed more people disapproving than approving of her performance, 40 percent to 35 percent, with 25 percent having no opinion.I'd be shocked if Ms. Pelosi wasn't re-elected but the fact that her approval rating is this bad tells you that she's probably having to think about becoming a one-term Speaker. The poll also found that people had a lower approval rating of Republicans than Democrats but that's to be expected in California.
Other polls since 2003 have shown larger numbers of voters with no opinion, but Pelosi always won more approval than disapproval. As recently as March, California Democrats approved of Pelosi by a 5-to-1 ratio, DiCamillo said. Now it's less than 2-to-1. Nonpartisan voters also have soured on her.
I won't predict that Republicans will reclaim the majority in the House in 2008 but I'm not ruling it out, either. What I'm willing to predict is that this will be a strong anti-incumbent, anti-corruption year in the US House. That doesn't bode well structurally for Democrats.
Posted Sunday, October 28, 2007 1:50 AM
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What Open Records?
Last week, I wrote about the hatchet job Babette Joseph did to the Pennsylvania Open Records act. In that post, I said that she essentially admitted that Bill DeWeese had told her to gut the bill and pass it. Here's what I wrote then:
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.Now the bill is the target of this editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer :
In Harrisburg today, House legislators are set to go back to work on a putrid open-records bill that has become a tribute to loopholes. Unless legislators make significant improvements to this turkey, they ought to kill it and focus on a better Senate version.According to various articles I've read, Pennsylvania already has a bad record on transparency issues. It sounds like this bill would make a bad system worse. The Inquirer takes direct aim at Bill DeWeese with this graph:
As it stands, the House measure would weaken Pennsylvania's "right-to-know" law, already one of the weakest in the nation. For example, legislators' e-mail on matters of public policy would be exempt.
Under current law, e-mail is not specifically protected from public scrutiny. "You should never make exemptions based on the delivery system," said Barry Kauffman, head of the government watchdog group Common Cause-Pennsylvania. "It should be based on content."
How did a reasonable bill turn bad so fast? Word is that House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene), anxious about an attorney general's investigation into legislative bonuses he doled out, wanted to quickly serve up a bill that he could tout as "reform."Some 50 amendments were offered to this bill. The end result was so bad that Common Cause-PA revoked its endorsement of the legislation. As a result of the House State Government Committee's gutting of the bill, I said that this was another RINO (Reform In Name Only). It's obvious that the Inquirer have figured it out and that they aren't going to take it anymore.
The hasty committee action wasn't pretty, even for a sausage factory. The House State Government Committee had members voting on amendments they'd barely had time to read. The legislation was completely rewritten in about 48 hours.
Rest assured that this bill won't be adopted by a more reform-minded Senate. This is nothing more than an attempt to shift the spotlight away from DeWeese's ethical lapses. That's what happens when you've served in a position of power for 30+ years :
After leaving the Marines, DeWeese was elected to the Pennsylvania House in a 1976 special election and has served the 50th district (all of Greene and parts of Fayette and Washington Counties) since.Here's another bit of information about DeWeese:
DeWeese's ascent through the echelons of House Democratic leadership began when he was elected by his colleagues as Majority Whip in 1988. Upon the death of Speaker of the House James J. Manderino, DeWeese was elected House Majority Leader in January 1990, serving in that position until he was elected Speaker of the House for the 1993-94 term. In 1994, he lost the Speakership when Democrat Rep. Stish switched parties, giving the GOP the majority. He went on to serve as Minority Leader from 1994 until 2006.
Following November 2006 elections, a tight race in Chester County gave a slim 102-101 majority to the Democrats, DeWeese became Democratic speaker-designate. Days before the General Assembly convened on January 2, 2007, Rep. Thomas Caltigirone (D) of Berks County announced he would not support DeWeese as speaker but would remain a Democrat. For the second time, DeWeese was denied the speakership by a member of his own party. DeWeese made a shocking move in the Hall of the House when he nominated Philadelphia County Republican Rep. Dennis O'Brien for the office of Speaker. O'Brien defeated fellow NortheastIt isn't a stretch to think that DeWeese is a bitter man, having been passed over twice by his own party for Speaker. It's time that the voters in PA-50 retired him if he won't retire on his own. He's been in office far too long, which likely contributed to his corruption.
Philadelphia Republican John M. Perzel in a 105-97 vote. Many political analysts speculate DeWeese's leadership style led to the 1994 and 2007 party defections.
Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:07 PM
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WSJ Whacks Murtha
When the WSJ hits you, you're hit. This morning, they hit John Murtha . That's the good news. The bad news for America is that it doesn't guarantee PA-12 voters retiring Murtha. Here's what the WSJ said about Mr. Murtha's 'employment record':
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- If John Murtha were a businessman, he'd be the biggest employer in this town.Then they dive into the 'sausage-making' part of his 'business':
The powerful U.S. congressman has used his clout on Capitol Hill to create thousands of jobs and steer billions of dollars in federal spending to help his hometown in western Pennsylvania recover from devastating floods and the flight of its steelmakers.This isn't a well kept secret. Everyone living in PA-12 knows this. I suspect that that's why they keep voting for him. Things are changing in Mr. Murtha's kingdom, though :
In the massive 2008 military-spending bill now before Congress, which could go to a House-Senate conference as soon as Thursday, Mr. Murtha has steered more taxpayer funds to his congressional district than any other member. The Democratic lawmaker is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, which will oversee more than $459 billion in military spending this year.
Most people outside of Western Pennsylvania may known Rep. John Murtha as the guy who first called for the troops to come home. But the Wall Street Journal presents a withering portrait of the congressman today as "old-fashioned political boss" who, as the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, has dubiously funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to his hard-luck hometown.Last year, Democrats barked about Halliburton's no-bid contracts. This year, they aren't saying a word about the no-bid contracts being given out. Here's an example of that corporate welfare, mixed with a little culture of corruption:
Johnstown's good fortune has come at the expense of taxpayers everywhere else. Defense contractors have found that if they open an office here and hire the right lobbyist, they can get lucrative, no-bid contracts. Over the past decade, Concurrent Technologies Corp ., a defense-research firm that employs 800 here, got hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to Rep. Murtha despite poor reviews by Pentagon auditors. The National Drug Intelligence Center , with 300 workers, got $509 million, though the White House has tried for years to shut it down as wasteful and unnecessary. Another beneficiary: MTS Technologies , run by a man who got his start some 40 years ago shining shoes at Mr. Murtha's Johnstown Minute Car Wash.Eventually, Johnstown's economy won't be the recipient of the corporate welfare payments that Murtha arranges. Eventually, they'll need to get into real businesses that aren't reliant on John Murtha's 'Corporate Welfare office' in Washington, DC.
Nothing would make me happier than to see William Russell defeat Murtha:
First-time candidate William T. Russell, 45, a Republican, acknowledged that taking on a popular, 18-term congressman in the 2008 election will be "an uphill battle." "But it's one that must be fought," Russell told the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown.Indeed it must, Mr. Russell. Indeed it must. It'd be Christmas come early hearing John Murtha congratulating Mr. Russell's victory in 2008.
Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007 10:50 PM
Comment 1 by Stephen R. Maloney at 31-Oct-07 08:44 PM
I've written several pieces on Lt. Col. William Russell's campaign against John Murtha. The best way America can send Murtha into retirement is by visiting William's web site and supporting him in any way you can. You can find him at: www.williamrussellforcongress.com.
Let's all show John Murtha the exit.
steve maloney
www.camp2008victorya.blogspot.com
