Dem Picnic Sunday

Luzerne County Democratic Committee Fall Picnic, Sunday September 29th noon till 3pm at the Catholic War Vets Grove in Ashley. This is a free event. We hope to see you there!

Who's running for Governor?

Reading the tea leaves of  PoliticsPA reporting of the Pennsylvania Society meetup in New York this past weekend it looks like about 37 people are floating the the idea of running for Governor of Pennsylvania. Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor said he was thinking of primary challenge to Tom Corbett. He is the only Republican name thrown out there so far other than the usual cranks.

Democrat John Hanger has already declared that he is the race .Bob Casey and Allyson Schwartz are not. Former Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper and  PA State Senator Mike Stack said they are looking at the race. PA Treasurer Rob McCord will will be a candidate and possibly Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy. More to come.

A couple events caught my eye.

On Saturday :

Congressman Lou Barletta’s Holiday Reception
2:00pm – 5:00pm
O’Neill’s Irish Bar
729 3rd Avenue
RSVP Required

I wasn't invited and that makes me sad. I'm the biggest non supporter of Lou in these parts who actually likes the guy. I'll buy him dinner at Dominick's Cafe.


The rumor is that the Mean Old Man  and Professor Milburn Cleaver, OPA made it to this gathering.

  5th Annual Bolshevik Dinner
7:00pm
The Russian Vodka Room
By invitation only

The best roundup of the PA Society weekend came from my 2nd favorite state legislator (Phyllis is still in the lead) Daylin Leach.

PA Society Chronicles – 2012

 

= I’m running for Governor, but not of Pennsylvania.
= I’m running for Congress.
= I’m running for the Bundestag.
= Pat Toomey has asked me to be his Vice-Senator.
= Governor Corbett calls me his ‘little minx’”.
= I once shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
= My CIA nick-name is “Danger Hunk”.

 

A Kenyan wants your vote

No, not that guy but a real one.

MC: Hanger, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Kenya, where his farmer father worked for the British Foreign Service helping develop coffee and tea farms. The family moved to Ireland in 1963, and Hanger came to the United States in 1970.

Actually he was born a subject of Queen Elizabeth, God save her. So Donald Trump doesn't have to worry about him running for President.

 I like some of his policy positions.

CC: Here's where Hanger stands on other hot button issues:
Marriage equality: for it
Medical marijuana: for it
Abortion rights: for it

I know that some of  my anti-fracking friends  don't trust him.

This is what he had to say on his blog.

John Hanger's Facts of The Day

I announce today my candidacy for Governor of Pennsylvania and will be doing press conferences in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.  Tomorrow, I will be in Pittsburgh for a press conference there.
Pennsylvania is an energy powerhouse and soon will produce the third most energy among the states.  Pennsylvania will trail only Texas and Wyoming--two states with no state income tax--in total energy production.
Despite the Marcellus gas boom and falling national unemployment, Pennsylvania's economy is struggling.  For the first time in years, Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was higher than the national unemployment rate in both September and October. Pennsylvania's rate of job creation that was among the highest in the nation in 2010 has fallen to among the lowest.
Our struggles are rooted in a mismanagement of Pennsylvania's tremendous energy resources, failed economic development policies that rely almost exclusively on the natural gas industry, and disastrous education policies.  Pennsylvania's  schools since 2011 have lost 19,000 jobs, and school taxes have increased in many communities, after a $1 billion cut in state funding in the 2011-2012 budget.
Those budget cuts to public schools, universities, and colleges were choices made and not unavoidable. For example, the 2011-12 state budget included hundreds of millions of dollars for the Rainy Day Fund, hundreds of millions of dollars for corporate tax cuts, and about $250 million to 14 cyber charter schools, even though 13 have reading and math scores below the average of a traditional public school.
Not surprisingly, with fewer teachers, higher class sizes, lost tutoring programs and courses, Pennsylvania's school test scores declined.  Those Pennsylvanians who are also paying higher school taxes, as a result of the 2011-12 budget cuts, are paying more for education and getting less value.
In the coming campaign, I look forward to listening to Pennsylvanians and proposing solutions to our problems.  I also invite you to visit www.hangerforgovernor.com and to support my campaign. 

 
I'm not backing any 2014 Guv candidate until I hear from Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy. 

 
He has a get together scheduled next weekend at the Pennsylvania Society shindig in NYC.

John Hanger for Governor Reception
2:00pm – 5:00pm
The offices of Winston & Strawn
MetLife Building
200 Park Avenue, 43rd Floor

The 43rd floor would probably give me a nose bleed.

John Hanger for Governor

Campaigns keep starting earlier. Sure you start laying the groundwork running for any office but actually making an announcement 2 years out is relatively new.

Pennlive: John Hanger, a 55-year-old Harrisburg lawyer, will make a stop in Harrisburg on Wednesday to announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2014. He will start off in Philadelphia then travel to Pittsburgh. A visit to Erie, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Allentown in the near future should be high on his list. 

He works for the law firm of Eckert Seamans:  John served from 2008 to 2011 as the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Chair of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, the Chair of the Environmental Quality Board, Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure and Investment Authority, and a Commissioner of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. He also chaired the Pennsylvania Mine Safety Board. In 2010, for the first time in Pennsylvania’s history, no miners died on the job.

As Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, John was in charge of permitting and regulation of gas drilling in Pennsylvania. He led a complete review of regulations governing gas drilling and enacted major new rules governing drilling of wells as well as the withdrawal of water for drilling and the disposal of drilling wastewater. 

And he's a Blogger!
  
John Hanger's Facts of The Day

Philly businessman Tom Knox has also said he intends to run. 

Other possible candidates include York businessman Tom Wolf; Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski; state Treasurer Rob McCord; retiring state Auditor General Jack Wagner, and former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak.

Tom Corbett can be beat.