Free Republic

Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak stands on the precipice of not only taking on U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in a Democratic primary, but beating him. Numerous polls back up that scenario; the only thing that stands in the way is his "official" announcement. Without the announcment, Markos Moulitsas, editor of the left-leaning DailyKos.com political blog, said he can't raise money for Sestak. The Daily Kos was instrumental in the insurgent candidacy of Connecticut businessman Ned Lamont in the 2006 Democratic primary election against incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman. The blog began a netroots phenomenon that gave Lamont a legitimate resume, daily message...

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced at a press conference that an increase in the state personal income tax was the only way to deal with a $3.2 billion state budget deficit. At the Westinghouse complex in Cranberry, Rendell said he is going to have to increase state personal income tax to 3.57 percent. After three years, he said the tax rate will return to its current 3.07 percent. Channel 11 News looked up the latest census data on Pennsylvania and found that the median household income was $49,145. A household with this income would pay an additional $245.73 a year...

Possible Tax Plan Slogan: Nothing Works Like For RendellGovernor Edward "G. I Ain't Got No Money" Rendell (D-Philly Cheesesteak) expects that a raise in both the personal and impersonal income tax will be needed to pay for the state's budget and his last re-election campaign. Democrats say the personal tax shouldl be raised 30 percent to 3.37 percent, but that leaves nearly 97 percent of the income untouched by state government hands. The impersonal income tax is assessed on that money people never really get a chance to know and money the state gets to know even less. It is...

A Republican-penned spending plan that allows no tax increases and slashes 5 percent from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal could pass the state Senate by mid-May, a top state senator said Monday. Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, said the Republican plan seeks to stop spending growth at a time when the bottom has fallen out of Pennsylvania's tax collections. He criticized Rendell's plan as an economic disaster in the making, saying it would use rosy revenue projections, reserves and temporary federal aid to accelerate spending beyond the ability of current tax collections to ever catch up.

Anti-gunners are pushing one gun a month limits here in PA now after the Pittsburgh shootings. Don't think they will get far but who knows in this crazy world? Please vote at the link.

Taking his campaign for stronger gun control measures to the national stage, Gov. Rendell squared off with a top National Rifle Association official on national television today over the federal ban on assault weapons. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Rendell said there was no “rational reason” to allow the sale of assault weapons. “They are used for only one reason…to kill and maim people,” he said. Rendell, who has fought unsuccessfully for years in the state Legislature for tougher gun control, revived his efforts following the slayings this month of three Pittsburgh police officers, killed by a man armed...

As with anything involving Pennsylvania politics, it’s complicated. Much of Pennsylvania’s 2010 U.S. Senate race will depend on turnout in the primary and general elections. Sounds obvious, right? Yet in an odd turn of political and geographical shifts, the Senate candidates will have little control over the outcome. That is largely because of fiercely competitive primary races on both sides – for Republicans, incumbent Arlen Specter versus former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey; for Democrats, state Rep. Josh Shapiro versus former Philadelphia deputy mayor Joe Torsella. In the middle, all of the traditional party organizations will concentrate more of their money...

In Harrisburg tomorrow, Rendell is expected to call for the reinstatement of the federal ban on the sale of AK-47s and other automatic firearms. "Assault weapons were not made to hunt," Rendell added. "No one goes out and shoots a deer with an AK-47 or an M-16. No one does. No one."

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s recent decision to criticize the Sunoco oil company for laying off 750 workers raises a number of intriguing questions. While the governor held a press conference last week solely to excoriate Sunoco, calling the company’s decision “unconscionable,” he has been notably silent concerning the 3,000 layoffs — four times the number at Sunoco — that Comcast has executed in the past year. Since the governor’s election in 2002, SUN PAC, Sunoco’s political action committee, has contributed $55,000 to Mr. Rendell, with Sunoco employees donating an additional $2,650. During that same time period, Comcast’s PAC, its employees,...

Because I am known to have a certain fondness for casino blackjack, and because it was my Kentucky mother who taught me to play poker (and other games of chance), perhaps I’m the appropriate one to say a few words about Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposal to legalize video poker in the middle of a howling recession. It’s the worst idea out of Harrisburg in a long time. The first time I was in a casino, my parents took me. One fine July night in 1969, we walked into Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. And then walked right back out, with...

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell predicted on Thursday that Michael Steele's "days are numbered" as chairman of the Republican National Committee. "He's in trouble because I just think that those who control the Republican Party don't want a big tent," Rendell told reporters during a lunch hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. Rendell, a past chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said he believes the approaching special election in New York's 20th Congressional District — to replace Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed senator — is not likely a make-or-break event for Steele, whom Rendell said also faces more fundamental problems.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell had some choice words for Republican governors who have refused, or threatened to refuse, portions of the $787 economic stimulus bill directed to their states. Republican Govs. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Bob Riley of Alabama, and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have all made moves in that direction. They are “not turning away a lot of the stimulus money. Don’t give them credit for being that courageous,” Rendell told reporters at a lunch Thursday hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “They turned a way a little bit of the stimulus money. There...

To those hurt by the recession but too proud to seek government help, Gov. Ed Rendell says: If not for yourself, do it for your country. He urged people to view food stamps not as welfare, but as economic stimulus. "Think of it this way: If you avail yourself of these sources of government relief, you'll have money to spend in the economy, and that's exactly what we need to reboot the economy," Rendell said Wednesday at Brashear High School in Beechview. His 45-minute address was televised live to gatherings in six other cities. Property owners should take advantage of...

HARRISBURG -- Efforts to legalize thousands of video poker machines to generate tuition relief funds for certain college students are on the fast track. Rep. Katie True, R-Lancaster, said today she's been getting a lot of calls from students and parents inquiring when the tuition relief funds would be available. "Many students expect tuition relief for this fall," she told state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak at a budget hearing. Gov. Ed Rendell, who came up with the idea, has talked about having some tuition relief money available by fall. To have money available that soon, she said, "We would have...

No stimulus checks for this bunch! Join HonestConservative for NiteCap's live interview with Lt. Col. William Russell running for the US House against Jerk Murtha. Such and important race it must be a focus of the Republican Party. Also, the great Chris Freind of the Philadelphia Bulletin who is like a dog with a bone, all over the antics of the Rendell administration of PA. PA is a mirror of the country, so what Rendell is getting away with, the mafioso in your state are getting away with, too. Learn where to look for such thievery in your state! Sunday...

A new Web site popped up over the weekend, called DeanForHHS.com. It is a grassroots campaign that wants to urge President Barack Obama to appoint Gov. Howard Dean as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. There is a corresponding Facebook page to go along with the Web site. Since the departure of Sen. Tom Daschle several names have risen up in consideration, from the ridiculous (Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, really as if he would leave the governorship to his Republican side-kick) to the serious, former N.J. Sen. Bill Bradley (well liked, smart, could work with both sides).

The Rendell administration is scoffing at rumors in Washington, D.C. that Gov. Ed is on the short list to become secretary of Health and Human Services. The White House declined to comment at this time. University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato says he'd be surprised if President Obama picked Rendell. “That would turn the governorship over to a Republican,” he said. Late last year, Republican Sen. Joseph Scarnati became Rendell's lieutenant governor upon the death of Catherine Baker Knoll. “Democrats over in Arizona were very unhappy when Gov. Janet Napolitano was chosen to run the Department of Homeland...

Well, What The Heck Do You Know About That? Before last week, the chances are pretty good that you'd never heard of Leo J. Hindery, the big-shot business-guy whose relationship with former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle has caused Daschle some serious headaches on his way to becoming the Obama administration's Health & Human Services secretary. According to news reports, Hindery's company, InterMedia Partners LP., provided Daschle with the car and driver that squired the former Senate Democratic leader around Washington since he rejoined the private sector, thus prompting more "Driving Mr. Daschle" headlines than you can shake a stick at.

Gov. Ed Rendell will appear in federal court next Monday as a defense witness in the corruption trial of former Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Philadelphia. Chuck Ardo, Rendell's press secretary, said that Rendell had been served with a subpoena earlier today at his Philadelphia office. "The governor isn't sure what relevant information he may have, but he will honor the subpoena and answer any questions that are asked," Ardo said. Fumo is charged with misusing more than $1 million in state resources and another $1 million from the Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a south Philadelphia charity he allegedly controlled, for...

Five hundred one people have been added to the state payroll at a cost of $12.35 million since Gov. Ed Rendell imposed a hiring freeze, according to a report prepared for Republican lawmakers and obtained by The Morning Call. Asked about the report, the Democratic Rendell administration said four of every five of those employees hold public safety positions that were exempted from the statewide freeze. About 100 state workers outside of public safety positions have been hired since Rendell's Sept. 16 announcement, spokesman Chuck Ardo said Friday. There are 78,000 state employees. ''Remember that the public safety agencies were...