Scott Wagner in Luzerne County

GOP Governor nominee Scott Wagner had a rally at the Woodlands Wenesday night and had a nice turnout. State Senator Lisa Baker was the MC and she kept the program rolling along limiting the under card to brief statements. Many people think she should run for Governor.

The state rep candidates warmed up the room. Sue Henry started off with her usual good humor saying :“It’s really good to be behind the microphone again.”.  I'm sure she is happy that the Red Sox are running away with the AL East. She then made her case for property tax reform.

I want to thank Sue for being so generous to me when she was on WILK, she always gave me a good time slot, :07 after the hour and entertaining us on WRKC 88.5 FM. My favorite conversation  was when we decided to nominate David Yonki for Jury Commissioner . I have always cast a write-in vote for the Yonk in every election since.

Justin Behrens and Frank Scavo also joined the bandwagon on taxes. John Chrin (R-NJ)  said something about socialism.

The red meat was thrown out by Pennsylvania  GOP Chair Valetino  DeGiorgio. He mentioned Maxine Waters and Nancy Peolsi which got of few boos in the audience.  He repeated the ALLEGATION that immigrants get welfare. And Socialism! He forgot George Soros.

Scott Wagner started his speech talking about his humble upbringing and some flashes of humor admitting he didn't have the best smile and can sometimes be abrasive. He talked about touring areas hit by the recent flooding recent and accused Tom Wolf of using it as a photo op. He backed teachers in his education plan but panned union bosses. Wagner wants to sell the liquor stores to fund education. He also made fun of Wolf's "honky jeep." He denied wanting to tax retirement income claiming his opponent is using 7 seconds of a long speech out of context.

 He talked about his plan to combat Pennsylvania's opioid epidemic. Emphasizing treatment, education  and surprisingly suing pharmaceutical companies. Then he attack Wolf for vetoing a bill he sponsored claiming he did it because he has taken money from the PAC Fairness PA saying Governor Wolf is just as bad as the drug dealers. He also said "If you want a guy who enables those who makes money killing our kids, taking contributions of $1.2 million please reelect Tom Wolf. Because I'm not your guy."

He then said he could get things done because he has relationships with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and told us what a great guy John Yudichak is. 

Wagner unveils 'first real plan' to tackle opioid epidemic

Tom Wolf rallied the Luzerne County Democrats

Governor Tom Wolf was the headliner for the Luzerne County Democratic Party event tonight and he didn't disappoint. The place was so packed that I couldn't get a count. More than 300 people , maybe more packed the ballroom. He listed his accomplishments like getting more people health insurance, balancing the budget with enough money to make a deposit to the rainy day fund. Wolf pointed out that he was able to restore funding for education working with a Republican Legislature.  He didn't mention his opponent once.  The local Democratic candidates also attended. State Senator John Yudichak was the MC with some good jokes. Congressman Matt Cartwright fired up the crowd and I was lucky not to get between Eddie Day and the microphone, a dangerous place. Jerry Mullery also spoke.

A special treat was seeing Cassandra Coleman. She convinced   me to vote for Wolf last time.

Republicans are touting a questionable poll

Many of my Trumplican friends are all excited abut an "independent poll" from Commonwealth Leaders Fund that shows Wagner  and Barletta within the margin of error. 
 
The poll reports Gov. Tom Wolf leading Scott Wagner 46% to 43%. Sen. Bob Casey leads Rep. Lou Barletta 47% to 45%.  
The polling, conducted via IVR interviews from Aug. 13-15, included 2,012 likely voters. 

I have never heard of the Commonwealth Leaders Fund and a google search came up empty. A link to the poll Topline View.

I have been reading polls for years and this one is ridiculous. The cross tabs show that Trump has positive favorable rating.  53% of those polled identified as either very conservative or somewhat conservative. Only20% polled considered themselves very liberal or somewhat liberal. 

They used the  dubious method  of IVR. 
To give you an example I told the last IVR poll that I got that I'm a 30 something Female Asian American who is a life long Republican but will vote for all the Democrats this fall. 

The real polls:

RCP Average	4/4 - 6/25	--	--	48.0	32.0	Wolf +16.0
Suffolk	6/21 - 6/25	500 LV	4.4	49	36	Wolf +13
Franklin & Marshall	6/4 - 6/10	472 RV	6.5	48	29	Wolf +19
Morning Call	4/4 - 4/12	414 RV	5.5	47	31	Wolf +16

RCP Average	4/4 - 6/25	--	--	46.3	30.3	Casey +16.0
Suffolk	6/21 - 6/25	500 LV	4.4	47	32	Casey +15
Franklin & Marshall	6/4 - 6/10	472 RV	6.5	44	27	Casey +17
Morning Call	4/4 - 4/12	414 RV	5.5	48	32	Ca

The Blue Wave is being led by women

Yes, the party that holds the White House historically loses seats in the mid term elections. We all know that a record number of women are running for office and winning primaries for Governor, Congress and State offices in record numbers. But the thing I'm seeing is the intensity of their supporters beginning with the Women's March in January of 2017 that has not abated.

All the evidence points to a big year for the Dems with bigger than normal  turnouts in primary and special elections but very few Democrats have actually won special elections for Congress unless the GOP candidate is just ridiculous like Roy Moore or Rick Saccone. On the state level they have done much better. 

I'm always cautious about expectations because the Republicans have some advantages. First is almost unlimited money. Millionaires and Billionaires can write checks to dark money groups because of Citizens United that go to so called social welfare groups. They then can spend that money painting Democrats as the equivilant of  devil worshipers who want to take you guns, murder babies and give people health insurance.

The second is gerrymandering.  Things have improved in PA but many states have carved up the districts to give the GOP a big advantage. Just look at Ohio 12. In a fairly drawn district the Democrat would have won easily.

So that leads us to our little corner of the world. The Democrats are playing defense with Governor Wolf, Senator Bob Casey, Congressman Matt Cartwright and State Rep Eddie Day Pashinski on the ballot. Their opponents have gone all in with Trump. Although we don't have  women  running for office the Democratic women are leading the charge to keep these men in office.


After many years of being dormant the Luzerne County Democratic Party is coming roaring back. We are being led by Polly Delaney and Wendy Cominsky. This dynamic duo have organized many events past and future and are looking for ideas from the rest of us to just get people to vote.

Pashinski Brunch

Eddie Day and the Guv

 Thom Shubilla and Eddie

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski is having his annual September Brunch at Genetti's in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday at 11AM.

This event always draws a big crowd and in 2013 our future Governor scored some major points with the locals by greeting everyone at the door.

It's curious that there is nothing on the intertubes about this gathering. Pashinski doesn't have a Facebook campaign page and his campaign website hasn't been updated in a few years.

Kaufer wants to tax the drillers

120th HD GOP nominee Aaron Kaufer sent out a press release calling for a severance tax on the frackers. I guess he is different kind of Republican so Grover Norquist will not be sending him a Christmas card. Even Tom Corbett won't rule it out as long as he can screw over state employees on their pensions.

Corbett administration won’t ‘rule out’ gas tax this year

Speaking with reporters after the press conference, Corbett’s Budget Secretary, Charles Zogby, was clear that raising taxes on drillers is still on the table.
“There’s multiple options we can look at,” he said. “I’m not ruling out a severance tax.”

Kaufer Calls for Bold Leadership to Pass On-Time, Balanced State Budget

State House candidate Aaron Kaufer urges Governor Tom Corbett to pass a severance

tax to balance the state budget and provide additional funding for public education.

KINGSTON, PA – State House candidate Aaron Kaufer today issued a statement calling on Governor Tom Corbett to provide bold leadership and pass a reasonable severance tax on the natural gas industry to help balance the state budget and provide more funding for public education.

“In order to secure a prosperous future for Pennsylvania and our children, I believe it is critical to enact a reasonable severance tax, like is already done in neighboring states, on natural gas drilling to help address the budget shortfall,” Kaufer said. “In addition, this revenue will enable the state to meet its obligation to fully fund the educational needs of our children and should keep school property taxes in check before legislation can be passed to eliminate them.”

Although Kaufer does not think raising taxes should ever be the first option to meet a budget shortfall, he knows from going door-to-door to thousands of local residents that middle class families and seniors cannot afford to pay more. He also believes our state must remain competitive in attracting good paying energy jobs to Pennsylvania so this severance tax can’t be higher compared to surrounding states.

“In doing so, it is important to consider a few key principles,” Kaufer said. “Pennsylvania must continue to cut wasteful government spending to protect taxpayers. In addition, our state already has the highest taxes on established businesses because of both the corporate net income tax and the capital stock and franchise tax that these companies are required to pay in our state. A reasonable tax on Marcellus Shale drilling can ensure drillers are paying a fair share for the natural resources they are extracting from the Commonwealth while enabling the industry to continue to thrive within our borders.”

He is a little late on this as his opponent Democrat Eileen Cipriani  and Dem Guv candidate Tom Wolf have long favored an extration tax. 

From Cipriani's website:

 
Marcellus Shale

Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that does not tax natural gas, yet it is home to one of the largest natural gas formations in the world, the Marcellus Shale. Pennsylvanians are essentially giving away our natural resource.

While Governor Corbett instituted a local impact fee, the fees collected are only a fraction of what the citizens of Pennsylvania would receive if we enacted a severance tax like other gas producing states have done.

Experts say a 5% severance tax will yield $720 million in its first year, which can be used to fund education and protecting our environment.  It is time we made the gas drilling companies pay their fair share and put Pennsylvanians first!

Play by play from the State Democratic Committee meeting.

PoliticsPA has rundown of what Governor candidates are doing to woo the faithful at this weekends get together.

 David Diano  tells you what really is going on:


At the dessert event, candidates for the 13th and for Lt Gov were trying to give speeches, but the acoustics were terrible and everyone was milling around and talking. It was a waste of time for the candidates, as no one but their own staffers paid the slightest attention. They did better just working the room one on one.

I finally got to meet Tom Wolf. Seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t even bother with the Schwartz staffers who were wearing candidate t-shirts over regular shirts, while mostly everyone else was dressed for success, and just had a few buttons or stickers. Except for the head fundraiser, the staff just seems like amateur hour and like they showed up at the wrong event by accident.

McGinty seems very nice. If she is able to raise enough money, I think she will do well in first-person commercials explaining why she is running. When Kane ran, she explained herself and did well. Murphy had surrogates (the usual suspects) in his commercials. We know how that turned out. McGinty has a similar quality to Kane in the direct way she speaks.

I didn’t even waste my time with Pawlowski and his tiny entourage. No one I talked to could figure out why he was wasting his time running. The two leading theories were
1) that the illusion of a Gov run would give him leverage in backroom deals in Allentown
2) that this was a way to filter money to his cronies by having them pretend they were running a Gov campaign.

If anyone has a better theory, I’d like to hear it, because we are all pretty stumped about what he is really up to. Of course, it’s possible he’s actually dumb enough to think he has a chance, but I doubt it because he does have opposable thumbs and can walk upright. So, it must be something else.
I saw Rob McCord. He was laughing and enjoying himself. I’m guessing the Teamsters endorsement was part of it. People were commenting how Rob timed it just right for his announcement. I think those “McCord for Gov” stickers had been gathering dust for months. 

Rob is pretty popular with Delco and Montco crowd, so he was in his element.
Oh, yeah, and it seems like a lot of people are following Politics PA, because they recognized my name from here. 

Eddie Day in 2014

Eddie Day

State Representative Eddie Day Pashinski (D) wants to go back to Harrisburg for another term and over 100 of his friends gathered at Genetti's in Wilkes-Barre to support him on Sunday for brunch.

Tom Wolf

Exeter Mayor Cassandra Coleman-Corcoran organized the event and PA Governor hopeful Tom Wolf greeted people at the door.

W-B council member Maureen Lavelle showed her support and West Wyoming's Eileen Cipriani represented Phyllis Mundy who is plunging in the rankings. Only two  2013 candidates were in the crowd.  County Council Democratic  nominee Eileen Sorokas and Republican Controller replacement candidate Carolee Medico- Olenginski.

Carmen Ambrosino and Mrs. A

A real treat for me was I had breakfast with my committeeman and Young Dem Prez Thom Shubilla and local legend Carmen Ambrosino who has spent his career helping people with abuse
problems. Luzerne County Democratic chair Bob Boyer was late to the party.


Eddie Day gave what can only be described as a populist speech. He ripped into Governor Tom Corbett for his attempts to privatize all sorts of government function including education, liquor stores and the lottery. He described the voter ID law as cheating as it would disenfranchise 700,000 people.He reminded the audience that all elections are big elections as the school director and city councilor affect you life as much as a President. He reminded us that the common man can stand up to the billionaires just by casting a vote.

Eddie Day and family

So far I haven't heard of anyone planning to run against him. I hope a Republican candidate emerges soon. We should always have a choice in an election.

More photos at this link.

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!

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.