Posted on 07/25/2004 10:20:48 AM PDT by Willie Green
Over the past eight months, the Republican-controlled General Assembly has approved bills legalizing slot machines and raising the state income tax. Plus, it enacted a $1 billion-plus economic development initiative fueled by state borrowing.
And I bet you thought the Republican Party stands for less spending, lower debt and cutting taxes.
Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell "has gotten everything he's asked for," said Matthew Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation, a think tank based in Harrisburg.
And then some. Rendell submitted a $22.7 billion budget to the Legislature. When they were through, lawmakers had added $160 million.
And there are promises from the Legislature to deal with Rendell's $800 million "Growing Greener" initiative when members return from summer recess this fall.
This entire package is not the agenda supported by the majority of House Republicans, said Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County.
In fact, it looks at times like the agenda of the minority party led by House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene County.
It's been a bad eight months to be a conservative Republican.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
ping
This sounds all too familiar.....
Good post and true.
ping
There is no appeasing democrats or terrorists.
Not a chance. I live in CA.
You are right. It has been a disappointing time in Pa. for conservatives!
>>John Perzel, R-Philadelphia....was quoted saying in reference to [Gov.] Rendell [D] : "The people of Pennsylvania elected us both. We have an obligation to help the governor succeed, so yes, we are helping him succeed. That's our job."
Whoa!! Find me one Democrat who says that.
Welcome back!
Due to apathy, Republicans are going to lose all over the country, then will stand around with their thumbs up their butts, wondering why.
Doncha know that it's the game played in this "Two-Party Cartel". Because most are bought & paid for by the elites & their agenda is never a conservative one I repeat for the 40,000,000th time, The people will never get their issues addressed by voting in this cartel. ( Watch the legislation for liberalism if the commie faction control all branches)
Thanks.
First the U.S Congress, now this. The GOP has proven that all those years we have worked for Republican control of this nation so that we could turn the tide on socialism were a waste of time. I think I'll go have a beer and drop out of politics.
I disagree, but Bush is in a dogfight in PA. Lots of conservatives are still smoldering over the Toomey loss.
What about the PA Senate, Willie? I know that PA don't have a unicameral legislature. The state Senate must be all Dems then.
What a twisted article title, the real damage is to the demoRAT governor. Give them the rope and let them hang theirselves.
And I bet you thought the Republican Party stands for less spending, lower debt and cutting taxes.
Not a chance. I live in CA.
Dittos, I'm in Ohio.
(At least PA gets video poker and slots)
RINOs have majority control of the Pa. Senate as well.
It's pretty sickening what's going on in the state of PA, I can tell you as a PA resident. Higher taxes, the prospect of organized crime coming in with the slot machines....I feel that it's all too big for me. Nothin' I can do about it.
Pennsylvania has been a Democratic
state in terms of voter registration for many years. The Philadelphia suburbs---where I live---are GOP, but liberal. They
voted for Clinton twice and for Gore.
Santorum is an exception, but he slipped in by running against an old fart liberal who bored everyone (Harris Wofford) and a non-entity (Ron Klink) who got the nomination because Rendell
didn't want it.
So conservatives are minority within the GOP. I have fought the liberal Republicans and always have lost within the party.
I think the red bits of PA ought to secede along with the red bits of NYS and form a new state.
So in those districts, vote for the Constitution candidate. If they win a couple of seats outright or cost the GOP a couple, it might make the GOP wake up and start trying to begin moving the ball in our direction.
Its smart to help the Governor a bit because it makes Republicans look reasonable and moderate while appeasing the Governor and giving him cover to give the Republicans what they want in many cases. We've continued to have a lot of success using the Assembly to strip Mayor Street of power in Philadelphia.
I still fail to understand the objections to gambling by the so-called Conservatives. Its not like its sinful or bad like prostitution. And I'd much rather have gambling money go to reduce my taxes than going to New Jersey or Delaware or West Virginia.
Uh hello! Organized crime has been here for years. One of its mainstays was the Numbers Racket and Bookmaking. Slot Parlors and Racinos are hardly going to attract it though, any more than organized crime controls Las Vegas or Atlantic City. The Casino's in those places are controlled by large corporations and men like Donald Trump, not the Genovese Crime Family.
And the slot machines mean lower taxes, not higher taxes. We're getting a 10% cut in the wage tax in Philadelphia.
The Assembly is currently working on a complete overhaul of the School Property tax system, with a proposal to abolish (1) school property taxes, (2) the local earned income taxes, and (3) the state Sales tax, and replace it all with a 4.5% gross receipts tax on business. Sounds great to me - that would save me about $2000 in taxes per year if enacted. I don't see how you can say they aren't working on things that are good for us regular folks.
The Liberal Republicans (the Hillman's, Heinz's, Scranton's, and Coughlin's and the like) have all they money and they produce the victories. Change that equation.
Like you said, Santorum was an exception.
You should be happy we have Republicans and not Democrats in the Legislature and Congress. Things could be much worse.
Maybe, maybe not; but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. And if it does, you can bet that the RINO/neocon wing will blame the conservatives for the result.
Like you said, Santorum was an exception.
You should be happy we have Republicans and not Democrats in the Legislature and Congress. Things could be much worse.
__I am happy. But some people here seem to be whining about the
lack of conservatism of PA Republicans and I have to set them
straight: we're a minority within the PA GOP.
For example, our local party organization has been dominated by
converted Democrats who changed
parties in the past when the suburbs were solid GOP. This still happens. If you want something done locally, it's still better to be a Republican in the
burbs.
TThat doesn't mean they become conservative. Nope. I had a conversation with a couple who moved from NY and were attending
a Bush rally during the campaign.
They did so out of curiosity. They told me they became Republicans for the sake of getting things done with the local governing bodies, but they were reaming solid liberal Democrats
and were not voting for Bush.
Corrupt legislation passed for the benefit of influential special interests.
If gambling had been honestly legalized, significantly more licenses would be authorized to facilitate competition.
Aren't the Republican margins in the legislature very small?
I am torn about the casino issue. People like James Dobson and Michael Gear (pafamily.org) must be losing a lot of sleep over this. Haven't they heard of "Bet with your head not over it?" Nobody's forcing the poor to risk *every* penny on slots.
ff
The City of Chester (Chester!) has a Republican registration majority. That says volumes.
The Republican majority in my Philadelphia ward (Ward 63 - Fox Chase/Pine Valley) is for real and is real Republicans - mostly middle class married families.
I'd support total legalization of all gambling, but I think you have to take what you can get as we rid ourselves of these stupid laws.
Baloney.
Or rather, politics. Politics is akin to sausage making, and baloney is a type of sausage.
What would be your "pure" solution?
Which alienates more conservatives away from the PA GOP, while liberals are still going to vote for the Democrat.
Appeasement gets you NOTHING.
The Republican majorities in the Assmebly and Senate keep growing. That's nothing? Sounds like voter approval to me.
Any Pennsylvania establishment with a valid liquor license should also be eligible for a gaming license.
See there's where we part company. I don't believe there should be liquor licenses. At the very least, they shouldn't cost hundreds of thousands to obtain.
My analysis is that some of these state races are uncontested, and the RINOs are winning in small percentages. How many people, most likely conservatives, are staying home in disgust, thereby lowering voter turnout?
In presidential election years, most of the people who turnout to vote for president vote down the ticket. Many of those who don't both to vote down the ticket are Democrats. More of the people who don't vote at all are in Democrat areas (the inner cities). My semi-suburban Republican ward in Philadelphia usually has a 65-75% turnout and we go conservative.
Only the RINOiest of RINO's in suburban swing districts are winning by small percentages. Most of these local elections are quite lopsided.
Yet you have the audacity to chide me for objecting to corrupt legislation that only authorizes a handful of gambling licenses for the benefit of perhaps a dozen, politically influential special interests.
You're inconsistant, Hermann.
Flippin' and floppin' like John Flippin Kerry.
The Republican majority in my Philadelphia ward (Ward 63 - Fox Chase/Pine Valley) is for real and is real Republicans - mostly middle class married families.
___I know your Ward well and what you say is true, but right next door you have a suburban area which voted for Gore.
Yeah, damned suburbanites in Abington. There is no love lost between us and them, esepcially since the Eddie Polec murder at my Church. They've given us Joe Hoeffel too, who we did not want in the City. I think some of this is the growing flood of black Democrats from Philadelphia moving to Willow Grove, the rest is the rich effete snobs there, like in Lower Merion on the Main Line. Abington is rapidly going the way of Cheltenham into liberal irrelevancy (the only redeemable part of Cheltenham is Cheltenham Village directly south of my neighborhood - everywhere else in the Township votes Democrat). The next congressional redistricting will see Abington put in Chaka Fattah's district too. Its already part of Schwartz's State Senate seat, and went enthusiastically for her. Good riddance to it!
Maybe we could arrange a trade. Abington and Cheltenham (minus the Village) could be given to Philadelphia, while Philadelphia would give Lawndale, Fox Chase, Rhawnhurst, Bustleton, Somerton, Parkwood, Torresdale, and Mayfair to Montgomery County - say like everything north of around Levick St. except for Ward 54, Tacony, Holmesburg and the prisons.
I know your Ward well and what you say is true, but right next door you have a suburban area which voted for Gore.
Yeah, damned suburbanites in Abington. There is no love lost between us and them, esepcially since the Eddie Polec murder at my Church. They've given us Joe Hoeffel too, who we did not want in the City.
____I've lived in Abington for over 40 years. Conservatives have always been a minority, but the Twp. was always reliably Republican except for 1964.
Vyt it went for Clinton twice and then Gore.
(Would you believe that in our
mock election in high school we
were taught--yes, taught--to split our ticket to vote for the GOP Senator Hugh Scott and for LBJ, not Goldwater.)
I think some of this is the growing flood of black Democrats from Philadelphia moving to Willow Grove, the rest is the rich effete snobs there, like in Lower Merion on the Main Line.
_____Yes, true. The wealthier
areas are now actually turning D. Ward 1 (Rydal) elected a Democrat.
We might lose the State Rep seat, too, with former Congressman Jon Fox trying to regain his old seat, but having trouble
raising money.
Abington is rapidly going the way of Cheltenham into liberal irrelevancy (the only redeemable part of Cheltenham is Cheltenham Village directly south of my neighborhood - everywhere else in the Township votes Democrat). The next congressional redistricting will see Abington put in Chaka Fattah's district too. Its already part of Schwartz's State Senate seat, and went enthusiastically for her.
-____Yes..Stew Greenleaf allowed himself to be redistricted out of Abington because he was fed up with how it went for Hoeffel after begging him to run for Congress.
Good riddance to it!
Maybe we could arrange a trade. Abington and Cheltenham (minus the Village) could be given to Philadelphia, while Philadelphia would give Lawndale, Fox Chase, Rhawnhurst, Bustleton, Somerton, Parkwood, Torresdale, and Mayfair to Montgomery County - say like everything north of around Levick St. except for Ward 54, Tacony, Holmesburg and the prisons
___fine by me.
--\
That's a nice thought!
Right-Wing Librarian
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