Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Voter ID law gets day(s) in court

Pennsylvania's new voter ID law heads to the Commonwealth Court today and the nation is watching.

There has been plenty of activity prior today's proceedings. According to a story on The Huffington Post, "state officials conceded that they had no evidence of prior in-person voter fraud, or even any reason to believe that such crimes would occur with more frequency if a voter ID law wasn't in effect."

Odd, since that's one of the core arguments for supporters of the measure. It's also interesting that in the past week or so, there's been a lot of chatter about a report on possible voting "irregularities" in Philadelphia.

And, in the end, it may not matter because the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating to see if the law complies with federal law.

Bottom line, the Commonwealth Court will likely not have the last word, so stay tuned.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Who is up for Gerber's seat?

You knew it wouldn't take long. It was just a few short days ago that Montgomery County state representative Mike Gerber announced he wouldn't be seeking re-election this fall.

Now we're on to the speculation portion of the game. PoliticsPA jumped right into the fray, listing five potential replacements.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Corbett upset with PSU officials' lack of cooperation and now they're under investigation

Seems Penn State officials believed they could ignore subpoenas for e-mails from the state's Attorney General's office.

Gov. Tom Corbett said they didn't comply with the requests until former FBI director Louis Freeh's investigation got into full swing.

Just add that to the heap of things these PSU officials will be scrutinized for as the days just get darker in Happy Valley.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Pennsylvania's financial future not so bright

Veteran Harrisburg journalist John Micek rang the warning bell today and we'd all be wise to heed the sound.

Micek took a national report about the most serious threats to a state's fiscal stability and, essentially, said Pennsylvania is, well, seriously threatened. The state's massively underfunded pension liabilities are a major source of concern.

Consider this nugget:

The six states in the study accounted for about half the shortfall. But Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s most populous states, is paying about one-third of what it should be paying into its pension funds, said Nathan Benefield, a policy analyst for the Commonwealth Foundation, a right-leaning Harrisburg think-tank.
That's one-third of what it should be paying. Put that in perspective for a moment. What if you only paid one-third of your mortgage each month? You'd certainly get the attention of your creditors, wouldn't you? Well, Pennsylvania has done that, too. Just a few days ago, Micek reported that the ratings agency Moody's had downgraded the state's credit worthiness a notch.

It will take more than the economy picking up to bridge this gap, too. The storm coulds are gathering and this one isn't pass over.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Same state, different world

You can leave our area in the morning, get to Harrisburg for a leisurely lunch and still be back home well before the afternoon traffic surge.

Yet the two cities are separated by more than miles on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Both cities are political, intensely so, but the cultures stand in start contrast to one another. Stereotypes come easily and the divisions are clear.

And one thing is certain - despite the differences, the two cities are inextricably connected. Everything that happens within the state government has direct, though sometimes subtle, impact on Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs. Likewise, Philadelphia's influence in the state government cannot be overstated, let alone denied.

We'll be looking at all of that, and much more here at Meanwhile, In Harrisburg. Like the traffic on the turnpike, the news and information flows between the two cities and we'll let you know what's coming down the road.