Pennsylvania Auditor General

Auditor General has been a steeping stone to higher office in recent years. The incumbent is Jack Wagner who term limited and ran in the Democratic primary for Governor in 2010 losing out to Dan Onorato who was defeated by Republican Tom Corbett. Wagner has received good reviews for his work as the state's fiscal watchdog so expect to hear from him again in the 2014 governor's race.

Auditor Generals that have achieved higher office include Governor Robert P. Casey and his son Senator Bob Casey. Since 196o the Democratic candidate has won the office 11 out of 13 times with Barbara Hafer being the only Republican to interrupt that run. Hafer later became a Democrat.

So far there a 2 declared candidates for the office. Democratic State Rep Eugene DePasquale from York County and Republican Chester County Treasurer Ann Duke . DePasquale was one of 36 Democrats to vote for the Congressional gerrymander in the State House. See Pennsylvania Progressive for his explanation. The attitude that legislators are in Harrisburg, or Washington, for that matter, to vote their Districts is sad. If that were the case we wouldn't need elections or legislators. As Edmund Burke said:

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

Somehow the abortion hotheads are mixed up in this race according to PoliticsPA. What the hell has abortion got to do with adding up columns of numbers?

Tuesday's winners

11th CD

KANJORSKI, PAUL E. (DEM)

83,422 45.5%

BARLETTA, LOU (REP)

100,108 54.6%

10th CD

CARNEY, CHRISTOPHER PAUL (DEM)

89,170 44.9%

MARINO, THOMAS A. (REP)

109,603 55.1%

PA Gov

ONORATO, DAN (DEM)

1,783,762 45.5%

CORBETT, TOM (REP)

2,136,901 54.5%

PA Senate

SESTAK, JOE (DEM)

1,916,471 49.0%

TOOMEY, PAT (REP)

1,993,908 51.0%

Predictions: The statewide contests

Everyone I talk to says Tom Corbett will be the next Governor and I have to agree. If that does comes to pass I hope he will be a better Governor then he has been a candidate. I'll forgive him the usual Republican claptrap about waste, taxes and regulations. There is going to be a big budget gap to be dealt with next year and we will see if he throws the rhetoric out the window and governs responsibly. There is no way he going to balance the state budget by cutting the number of cars owned by state agencies and some taxes will have to be increased. His stance on Marcellus gas drilling borders on criminal neglect. Dan Onorato would be a much better Governor and still may win, that's why we have elections.

In the Senate race I think Jose Sestak eeks it out against Pat Toomey. I really can't imagine having a Rick Santorum clone representing PA in the US Senate.

Meet the candidate

Wilkes-Barre – Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett will hold a rally in Wilkes-Barre Tuesday as supporters unite behind his campaign for Governor.
WHAT: Rally for Tom Corbett for Governor
WHEN: October 26th, 2010
TIME: 10:00am
WHERE: Luzerne County Victory Office
41 South Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701



Demonstration on Public Square W-B Tues to inform Tom Corbett
WHO: Residents concerned about the effects of natural gas on the environment, health and community.

WHAT: Demonstration

WHERE: Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square

WHEN: Tuesday morning at 9:30 AM

WHY: To show visiting Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett how concerned local residents are about natural gas drilling.

Inquirer Editorial: Onorato has the skills

Corbett: Bought and paid for

For governor, Dan Onorato

OUR ENDORSEMENT of Dan Onorato singles out his clear
set of goals for REFORMING STATE GOVERNMENT

For governor: Dan Onorato

.

SRS: Tom Corbett is owned by the natural gas industry. Who do you think he'll represent in Harrisburg if elected? ..."Now more than ever" applies once again. The future of our commonwealth is at stake, and for that very reason, on November 2nd, I'm voting for Dan Onorato for Governor.

And as a lifelong Republican American, I still have that right.


The Blogfather: I’ve compared the candidates, and I believe Dan Onorato to be the better of the two candidates. I like his track record, I like what he’s been saying, and I feel that his stated goals are more than reasonable, doable if you will. I also think he’d be more adept at creating jobs as well as creating incentives for employers to come here.

And I do not like the fact that Tom Corbett seems to be in the pocket of the energy companies lining up to drill every square foot of our area.

Congrats Tom Corbett: Republican PA Attorney General Tom Corbett achieved one of the rare feats in politics with his subpoena of the twitter account of the blog CasablancaPA. He united bloggers of all stripes in condemning the move. The reaction of Democratic bloggers was predictable but many PA Republican bloggers also thought that it was a boneheaded action. One thing about bloggers is that we close ranks when one of our own is unfairly attacked.

It's a gas,tax

The PA House of Representatives finally got around to passing a Severance tax on the Marcellus Shale drillers that are in the process of creating a slow motion environmental disaster in Pennsylvania.


TL: The Pennsylvania House on Wednesday approved a bill that would impose the state’s first-ever tax on natural gas extraction, advancing a plan to split the proceeds among the state’s general fund, environmental programs and local governments....The 104-94 vote was a major step toward collecting revenue from the drilling boom in a wide swath of the state that overlays the Marcellus Shale gas formation.

What Does Severance Tax Mean?
A tax imposed on the removal of nonrenewable resources such as crude oil, condensate and natural gas, coalbed methane and carbon dioxide.

But they came up with a convoluted formula on how to use the proceeds as this chart from the Commonwealth Foundation documents. This should be a lot simpler with money going into the general fund and the remainder being dedicated to the DEP to deal with the inspection, regulation and inevitable clean up operations from this activity. But just like the slots money that was sold as a way to reduce property taxes our salons in Harrisburg look on this as another pot of gold to be spread around.

Predictably, Republicans are objecting as their world view seems to be there should not be any taxes on businesses of any kind. Nobody likes paying taxes but as a wise man once said "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization." I think the Yonk would agree with that.

The industry has no problem spreading around campaign cash instead of paying taxes. Since 2001 they have dropped $3 million into political campaigns and spent another $5 million for lobbying.

According to the website Marcellus Money, the top recipients of driller campaign cash during the past decade include: Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett ($372,000), Lt. Gov./Senate GOP leader Joseph Scarnati ($117,000), Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell ($84,000), Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato ($74,000).

Local lawmakers receiving contributions include Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Peckville ($7,000), Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township ($1,500), Sen. John Gordner, R-Berwick ($1,300), House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township ($1,250), Rep. Ed Staback, D-Archbald ($500), Rep. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke ($250) and Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake ($250)

Boback gave back the money. Good for her.

The production of gas from the Marcellus Shale has exceeded the expectations of the industry itself so these warnings that a tax on them will drive them out of the state is nonsense. The gas is under our feet and if they want it they will pay a fair premium to the people of Pennsylvania.

What the Frack

News about gas drilling has been hot and heavy the last 2 days.

Congressman Paul Kanjorski announced that he has secured a cool million in federal funding to start an Energy Institute run by Wilkes U, King's College and the Earth Conservancy.
The institute will provide research about natural gas drilling's impact on the local community and environment, help with problem solving for issues that arise, and enhance public outreach efforts in order to promote safe and environmentally responsible drilling in the Marcellus Shale that could aid in significant local economic development, he said in a press release.

I asked Kanjo about his position on the Frac Act introduced by Senator Casey but he was noncommittal.

The argument in Harrisburg has moved from if there should be a severance tax to how much it should be. The Republicans want 1.5% and Rapid Edward wants 5 %. I think it should be a lot higher along with Tim Mullen's idea of requiring the drilling companies to post an environmental bond. Dan Onorato is beating up Tom Corbett on this issue. A new Penn State study looks at the tax issue. I know many of my friends don't trust anything coming out of PSU on this issue after the last fiasco but it is worth a read.

Kayak Dude is reporting there are tiny bubbles of methane in the Susquehanna River.

Scott Cannon of Video Innovations has produced a short film featuring Dr. Tom Juinta of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition and State Reps Eddie Day Pashinski and Phyllis Mundy. Some of it is "what if" these things blow up in our back yards but those "what if's" are serious concerns. The damage the heavy trucks will cause is indistibutable.

Turning the tables on Bonusgate

This is amusing.


Corbett campaign lit displayed on AG booth at county fair

Campaign materials for Republican Tom Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign were displayed at a booth set up by the attorney general’s government office at a recent county fair in Troy, pa2010.com has learned.

A photo provided by a Democratic operative not affiliated with Corbett’s opponent shows campaign buttons and literature on a table, and an official banner for the Office of the Attorney General hangs off the table. Though the photo lacks context, pa2010.com has confirmed that it was taken during the Bradford County Fair in Troy. At that fair, the attorney general’s office had set up a consumer protection booth.

The explanation from the AG's spokesman strains credulity. Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said the materials were placed on the table before staff from the office arrived. Well, who set up the table?

Corbett has been prosecuting Democratic politicians and staffers for doing campaign work on official time but has ignored the Republicans in Harrisburg that have been doing the same thing. He has used his office and taxpayer money to pursue a FRIVOLOUS lawsuit to block Health Care Reform that everyone knows is politically motivated and doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding.

Keystone Progress filed a Right to Know request but has been stonewalled.

Keystone Progress recently uncovered emails that revealed Corbett’s office has been working with a Republican campaign organization to plan to overturn the recently enacted federal health care reform law. KP uncovered the relationship in a series of emails released by the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice under a similar request by One Wisconsin Now.

Of course the requested information was denied and KP is going to court.

...the Right to Know Officer (Robert A. Mulle) and the Right to Know Appeals Officer are under obligation to turn this information over to the appropriate legal authorities since every correspondent in this request is a political organization or operative and would have no legitimate reason for being in correspondence with the AG or OAG staff using the time and resources of the Commonwealth.

The list of contacts that KP is requesting:

Republican State Leadership Committee
Republican Attorneys General Association
Republican Party of Pennsylvania
Republican National Committee
American Justice Partnership
Caleb Consulting
Tom Corbett for Governor
Tim Barnes, Chairman, Republican State Leadership Committee
Scott Ward, President, Republican State Leadership Committee
Ben Cannatti, Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
Erin Berry, Associate General Counsel, Republican State Leadership Committee
Casey Phillips, Regional Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
Michael Luethy, Regional Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
Adam Temple, Press Secretary, Republican State Leadership Committee
Robert Sechrist, Director of New Media, Republican State Leadership Committee

Michael Steele, Chairman, Republican National Committee

Karl Rove

Chirag Shah, Campaign Manager for JB Van Hollen WI Attorney General

Rob Gleason, Chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania

Joyce Haas, Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania

Christine J. Toretti, Republican National Committeewoman

Robert Asher, Republican National Committeeman

.

Congrats Tom Corbett

Republican PA Attorney General Tom Corbett achieved one of the rare feats in politics with his subpoena of the twitter account of the blog CasablancaPA. He united bloggers of all stripes in condemning the move. The reaction of Democratic bloggers was predictable but many PA Republican bloggers also thought that it was a boneheaded action. One thing about bloggers is that we close ranks when one of our own is unfairly attacked.

CasablancaPA should also send a thank you card to the Guv wannabee for making it the most visited sight in Pennsylvania this last week.

Democratic Governor nominee Dan Onorato pierced his thin skin with this statement:


“When I get attacked—whether on anonymous blogs, in campaign ads or in editorials—I respond on the facts, which Corbett has not done in this case,” Onorato said. “Moreover, while it is fine to note the motivations of a critic, it is not acceptable to attempt to bully them into silence—and that’s what Tom Corbett appears to be doing: petty and abusive bullying of a critic. Part of being an executive is dealing with the criticism that comes with making tough decisions.

“This is another example of Tom Corbett politicizing the Attorney General’s office to benefit his campaign,” he added, “the same Harrisburg-insider tactics that Pennsylvanians are tired of and that I will end as governor.”


Corbett withdraws Twitter subpoena


Friday Morning Coffee: The Civil Liberties Edition.