Author: Bradley Vasoli

Connecticut House Passes Legislation Barring Work Meetings Discussing Unions

Bradley Vasoli

On Friday, Connecticut’s House of Representatives passed a bill prohibiting companies’ management from requiring workers to listen to discussions regarding labor organization, politics or religion.

The AFL-CIO, to which more than 200,000 Connecticut workers belong, lauded the move in favor of the policy — known as a “captive audience” restriction — which no other state except Oregon has enacted. Union leaders have denounced the kind of meetings banned by the legislation, complaining that such events are unfairly used to inveigh against union-organization efforts.

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Boyle Proposes Public Financing of Pennsylvania Legislative Campaigns

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania State Rep. Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia) this week announced to colleagues his proposal for public funding of some state-legislative campaigns.

The measure would require a candidate to have raised at least $10,000 from “small-dollar donors,” meaning those who have contributed between $1 and $200. State Rep. Boyle would allocate payments to hopefuls amounting to six times the total small-dollar contributions they’ve amassed.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Proposes ‘Office of Election Crimes and Security’

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) announced on Thursday he intends to draft legislation creating an Office of Election Crimes and Security.

The new division within the Pennsylvania Department of State would be charged with probing all alleged violations of voting laws. The proposed bill also targets “ballot harvesting,” the illegal practice of hand-delivering absentee ballots — usually by depositing them in election drop boxes — on behalf of voters other than oneself. Currently, state law treats ballot harvesting as a misdemeanor; Mastriano’s measure would make it a third-degree felony.

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Hernandez-Mendez Sentenced for Hit-and-Run; Victim’s Family Suspects Political Influence

Bradley Vasoli

Gabriel Hernandez-Mendez, an ex-son-in-law of former Pennsylvania congressman and current Republican gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta, received a 1-2 year sentence on Tuesday for a hit-and-run.

The incident, which occurred in June, left 15-year-old bicyclist Hector Padilla dead. Padilla’s father Pedro has said that he recognizes that what happened was an accident but that he also believes a much more severe sentence was warranted insofar as the 45-year-old Hernandez-Mendez drove away from the scene and kept quiet about it for 45 days.

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Bill to Let State Attorneys Prosecute Philadelphia Gun Crimes Passes Pennsylvania House

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives voted 151-49 Wednesday for legislation allowing state prosecutors to handle some of Philadelphia’s gun-related cases.

The bill would renew the state attorney general’s “concurrent jurisdiction” with the Philadelphia district attorney, letting the commonwealth shoulder part of the effort to prosecute firearm-related offenses in a city where many feel the job isn’t getting done.

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Cambria County Prosecutor: Difficulty Recruiting Police Is Fueling Pennsylvania Crime

Bradley Vasoli

FBI data currently indicate that Pennsylvania’s violent crime rate exceeds any other northeastern state’s, and a county prosecutor told state senators this week he attributes much of that reality to difficulty recruiting and retaining police officers.

Cambria County District Attorney Gregory Neugebauer testified before the Senate Republican Policy Committee alongside other law-enforcement professionals to illuminate what is driving up crime in the Keystone State and what can be done about it. The hearing, held at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensberg, was the first of several the panel is hosting this week to address crime prevention in conjunction with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

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Committee Passes Bill to Adopt California Emissions Standards for Connecticut Trucks

Bradley Vasoli

Legislation to align Connecticut’s emissions standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks with California’s stringent regulations passed the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee on Monday and awaits consideration by the state House and Senate.

The regulations chiefly concern the discharge of nitrogen-oxide which is associated with worsening acid rain and smog as well as respiratory and cardiac ailments.

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Longtime Conservative Campaign Strategist Gerow Persists in Bid for Pennsylvania Governorship

Bradley Vasoli

Charlie Gerow has worked with Republican public officials for over four decades. He hasn’t been among them, though he contends that augurs well for how he would perform if elected governor. 

“I’m an outsider who knows what’s going on inside,” he told The Pennsylvania Daily Star. “And that’s what voters are looking for — somebody who’s not an officeholder, who’s not part of what’s going on right now but who knows what needs to be done and knows how to do it.”

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Connecticut State Employee Contracts Ratified

Bradley Vasoli

By a 22-13 vote, Connecticut’s state Senate on Friday ratified contracts with state workers estimated to cost taxpayers roughly $1.9 billion.

The Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives approved the agreements with the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) 96-52 the prior day. All House Democrats and only one House Republican, Thomas Delnicki (R-South Windsor), voted for the deals. The Senate vote came down along party lines.

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Sources: Internal Polling Shows Oz 10 Points Ahead of McCormick in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Internal polling shows Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz surging past rival David McCormick by 10 points, according to sources close to the candidate’s campaign not authorized to talk to the press.

McCormick, a former hedge-fund executive and former undersecretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush, spent several weeks as the frontrunner in the Republican primary that will be decided on May 17, but recent public polls showed Oz quickly closing that gap.

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Corman to Bannon: Election Integrity Will Be Paramount in Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Administration

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore and gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room Thursday to discuss his proposed reforms to make elections more secure in his state.

Corman promised to call for a special legislative session on election-related legislation the day he takes office. Items he said he intends to address foremost are requiring identification of all voters, rescinding a state policy allowing people to vote by mail without submitting an excuse, banning absentee-ballot drop boxes and banning the use of private grants for election administration.

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Nearly 3,000 State Workers in Connecticut Had Salaries Exceeding the Governor’s in 2021

Bradley Vasoli

A review of Connecticut’s salary records published by the center-right Yankee Institute (YI) Thursday indicated that 2,927 state employees received higher salaries than the governor in 2021.

State statute confers a $150,000 yearly salary on Gov. Ned Lamont (D). Approximately 2,000 state employees earned higher pay than him through 2017. Over the next three years, that number rose by nearly 1,000.

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On ‘420 Day,’ Republican and Democratic Senators Push for Marijuana Legalization

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Senate sponsors touted their proposal to permit its recreational use by adults on Wednesday, April 20, i.e. 4-20, the day marijuana users celebrate their indulgence and clamor for its legalization.

“Legalization must be done the right way, and my bill ensures a legalized Pennsylvania market is implemented safely and responsibly, with a thoughtful approach that provides opportunities to medical and recreational consumers, farmers and small, medium and minority-owned businesses,” State Senator Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) said in a statement.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Wants Education Department to Explain ‘Gender Unicorn’ Material

Bradley Vasoli

A Republican lawmaker is pressing the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to explain the use of material featuring characters called “Genderbread Person” and “the Gender Unicorn.” 

A week ago, State Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Ellwood City) sent a letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of Education (PDE) Noe Ortega asking about a diagram apparently distributed by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that depicts the two figures.

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Gov. Lamont Vows to Keep Abortion Legal in Connecticut If Roe v. Wade Goes

Bradley Vasoli

Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut) gathered at the Lyceum Center in Hartford with abortion advocates on Tuesday to promise abortion rights will continue in the state regardless of any forthcoming decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The right to choose is under attack in numerous states across America,” Lamont declared, flanked by representatives of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund. “We won’t let that happen in Connecticut.”

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O’Neal Proposes Tax Credit to Offset RGGI Compliance Costs in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Rep. Timothy O’Neal (R-Washington) has indicated he’s drafting legislation to bestow tax credits on power plants to cover costs of complying with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Pennsylvania is among eleven northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to have joined RGGI, a compact to levy de facto taxes on electricity-generation facilities for emitting greenhouse gases — chiefly carbon dioxide and methane — which are associated with global warming. Because Keystone State legislators have balked at the program, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced in 2019 that he would enter the state into it using his own regulatory authority. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Commonwealth Court blocked the state’s entry into RGGI, insisting that Wolf breached the limits on his executive power, but the ruling is not ironclad as the Democrat-run state Supreme Court could reverse it.

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Connecticut Fiscal Conservatives Warn Against SEBAC Contracts

Bradley Vasoli

The Yankee Institute (YI), Connecticut’s premier economically conservative think tank, is exhorting state lawmakers to reject contracts that the Lamont administration negotiated with the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC).

YI began warning against the eventual fiscal consequences of the agreements after the public-employee labor coalition started publicizing their major features in mid-March. Later that month, the SEBAC’s 15 unions approved the agreements and, on April 1, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) requested that the Democrat-controlled General Assembly ratify the deals, characterizing them as “responsible and fair.”

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Latest Polling Shows Oz Slightly Ahead of McCormick for Pennsylvania GOP Senate Nomination

Bradley Vasoli

New polling shows Mehmet Oz pulling slightly ahead of David McCormick in the Republican Pennsylvania Senate primary for the first time since the latter announced his run in January.

The latest Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) Poll, conducted from March 30 to April 10, showed Oz with 16 percent of support among 317 registered Republicans compared with McCormick’s 15 percent, a statistical tie. Yet another survey by the Republican-aligned Trafalgar Group conducted between April 10 and 13 found Oz leading 22.7 percent to 19.7 percent among 1,074 polled Republicans, just slightly outside the 2.99-percent margin of error. The latter polling took place after former President Donald Trump endorsed the celebrity surgeon two Saturdays ago.

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Progressives Ask Connecticut Lawmakers to Expand Medicaid to Illegal Immigrant Minors

Bradley Vasoli

Progressives this week are pushing for Connecticut lawmakers to extend HUSKY Health, the state’s Medicaid program, to illegal-immigrant minors at an estimated cost of $1.9 million.

Last year, reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Constitution State enacted a measure to make illegal-alien children under the age of eight eligible for HUSKY, a policy that will take effect at the beginning of next year. But some say those between the ages of nine and 18 should not be left out of the program.

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Pennsylvania Senate Passes Election Integrity Measures

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Republican Senators this week celebrated their chamber’s passage of two pieces of election-security legislation.

One bill, sponsored by state Sen. Cris Dush (R-Wellsboro), would prohibit the use of drop boxes to collect mail-in and absentee ballots. The other, sponsored by Sens. Lisa Baker (R-Dallas) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-Jacobus), would bar state or county employees from approving the use of private donations to fund election administration.

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Pennsylvania House Passes Bill to Create Natural Gas Task Force

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week passed legislation empaneling a task force to study ways to position Philadelphia as a leading exporter of natural gas to markets around the globe.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia), received the support of all Republicans in attendance but only 13 of the chamber’s Democrats. Among those Democrats were several representing areas above the Keystone State’s vast Marcellus Shale natural-gas deposit but also some legislators from the state’s southeast, including Reps. Tina Davis (D-Levittown), John Galloway (D-Fairless Hills), Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) and Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia).

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Touts SAFE Act in Light of Court Ruling on Illegal Voting

Bradley Vasoli

Citing a recent federal court ruling, a Pennsylvania lawmaker is touting legislation to require those registering to vote in the Keystone State to demonstrate U.S. citizenship.

In late March, District Court Judge Christopher Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that the commonwealth must disclose documentation regarding problems in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) record-keeping system. Conner’s opinion recalled that, in 2017, the state acknowledged that PennDOT errors “permitted non-United States citizens applying for or renewing a driver’s license to register to vote in the Commonwealth.”

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Assisted Suicide Bill Defeated in Connecticut Judiciary Committee

Bradley Vasoli

Senators on the Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee defeated legislation this week that would have permitted terminally ill adults to obtain substances to hasten their deaths. 

Typically, members of both chambers vote in Connecticut’s legislative committees. Regarding the assisted-suicide bill, Rep. Craig Fishbein (R-Wallingford) moved to split the committee to take a vote from delegations from each chamber. When the committee’s nine senators voted, one Democrat, Mae Flexer (D-Windham) sided with the panel’s four Republicans, killing the bill, which had previously passed the Public Health Committee. 

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Pennsylvania House Committee Passes Prosecutorial Measures, Rebuking Krasner

Bradley Vasoli

On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee approved term limits for the Philadelphia District Attorney as well as a bill allowing state prosecutors to pursue Philadelphia gun violations.

Both measures have the secondary effect of rebuking the performance of the city’s top prosecutor, Larry Krasner (D), under whose watch violence and crime have skyrocketed. In 2017, 315 murders occurred in Philadelphia and the number rose to an all-time high of 562 last year. Many attribute the increase in crime to Krasner’s tendency to release many defendants charged with illegal gun possession and violent offenses.

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Amistad Project Has Yet to Receive USPS Report on Ballots Allegedly Driven from New York to Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli
Shot of USPS vehicles

According to the director of the nonprofit Amistad Project, the U.S. Postal Service has yet to release a report on thousands of ballots allegedly driven from New York to Pennsylvania in 2020.

The allegations originated from York, PA resident Jesse Morgan, a driver who said he made out-of-state deliveries for a USPS contractor. In an affidavit signed on November 26, 2020 and in a press conference on December 1, 2020, Morgan described delivering 24 large cardboard boxes filled with trays containing “completed ballots” from Bethpage, NY to Lancaster, PA on October 21, 2020. 

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Pennsylvania Phyllis Schlafly Eagles Honor Flynn and Mastriano

Bradley Vasoli

LAFAYETTE HILL, Pennsylvania— Pennsylvania Phyllis Schlafly Eagles held their 2022 Awards Ceremony at the Green Valley Country Club just north of Philadelphia on Friday, honoring Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg).

“I am absolutely honored to be here,” Flynn told the crowd. “It’s really amazing for me to be up at this dais with this great group of people here.”

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Many Pro-Trump Voices Blast Dr. Oz Endorsement for Pennsylvania Seat in U.S. Senate

Bradley Vasoli

In the day since Donald Trump endorsed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz for Senate in Pennsylvania Saturday evening, many supporters of the former president criticized the move.

Even Sean Parnell, the Pittsburgh-area Army veteran who had Trump’s endorsement in the Republican primary until dropping out last November, expressed disappointment with the erstwhile chief executive via Twitter on Sunday.

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Volvo Says Connecticut Following California Emissions Standards Would ‘Pose Problems’

Bradley Vasoli

In a podcast discussion with Motor Transport Association of Connecticut President Joe Sculley on Friday, Volvo Group North America spokesperson Dawn Fenton objected to the Constitution State following California’s carbon-emission regulations for trucks.

California is the only state possessing a waiver allowing it to establish its own emission controls which are stronger than those required by the federal Clean Air Act. Environmental progressives have backed the waiver, which former President Donald Trump rescinded and which President Joe Biden reactivated last month.

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Connecticut No Longer First in Personal Income Per Capita

Bradley Vasoli

New data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reveals that Connecticut is no longer first place among states in terms of per-capita personal income.

The Constitution State’s per-capita individual income exceeded every other states’ since 1987. Last year, however, Massachusetts outranked Connecticut regarding individuals’ mean income. The latter state’s residents averaged a yearly income of $82,475 each, whereas the former’s average earner got $82,082 annually. (The national average was $63,444.)

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Arizona Attorney General’s Report Recommends Election Reforms Similar to Those Sought in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) released a report this week on elections in his state—focusing especially on Maricopa County—advocating similar election reforms to those Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers currently seek.

While the report did not make criminal allegations regarding recent elections, it did declare that Arizona’s election system suffers from major procedural vulnerabilities including insufficient time to confirm signatures on ballots submitted during early voting and problems with the chain of custody for ballots placed in drop boxes. Altogether, the attorney general estimates that between 100,000 and 200,000 early ballots were transported without proper protocol being followed.

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Commonwealth Court Blocks Pennsylvania’s Entry into Carbon Taxation Initiative

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court this week blocked the state’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an 11-state compact requiring de facto taxation of power plants’ carbon emissions.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tried to effect Pennsylvania’s participation in the initiative by issuing an executive order in 2019, thus neglecting to seek approval of the Republican-led General Assembly. The court’s new opinion comes one day after the state Senate failed to override the governor’s veto of legislation letting the General Assembly end the state’s membership in the compact. Legislative leaders have argued that the governor’s unilateral action violated the state Constitution and were heartened upon hearing of the judges’ decision.

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GOP Philadelphia City Commissioner Opposes Restricting Third-Party Election Grants

Bradley Vasoli
Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill and Lisa Baker

At a Pennsylvania Senate hearing Tuesday, Republican Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein joined his two Democratic colleagues in supporting continued allowance of private grants for election administration.

Left-wing nonprofits, particularly the Chicago-based Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), awarded many such grants to election offices in Pennsylvania and across America in 2020. The organization received $350 million that year from Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.

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Connecticut GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Stefanowski Picks Devlin as Running Mate

Bradley Vasoli
Bob Stefanowski and Laura Devlin

Connecticut Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski announced Tuesday at Fairfield Town Hall that he has picked Deputy House Minority Leader Laura Devlin (R-Fairfield) as his running mate.

Stefanowski is challenging Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D) bid for reelection. A former chief executive officer of the Dollar Financial Group who previously worked for General Electric, the Republican candidate touted Devlin’s background as an entrepreneur before she became a legislator in 2015.

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Pennsylvania Senate Falls Short of Two-Thirds Needed to Kill Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Bradley Vasoli
White smoke emitting from a couple of buildings

Most state senators voted to end Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on Monday but fell short of the two-thirds needed to succeed.

In 2019, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) initiated Pennsylvania’s entry into the 11-state compact to reduce carbon emissions by charging power plants for their discharge in hope of counteracting global warming. Unlike most of the other northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that participate in RGGI, the Keystone State’s governor could not get sufficient backing from state legislators for Pennsylvania’s membership and thus acted via executive order. Republicans and some Democrats have argued Wolf exceeded his constitutional authority in rebuffing the legislature.

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Lawmakers Call for Challenge to ARPA Rules Limiting Connecticut Tax Reduction

Bradley Vasoli
Ned Lamont

Connecticut Republican legislators said on Saturday they want the state to challenge a part of the American Rescue Plan Act which limits states’ ability to cut taxes.

GOP senators and representatives are calling for tax reduction beyond the targeted relief backed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D). A major roadblock to greater decreases will be the COVID-relief bill President Joe Biden signed into law last year. The act included $195.3 billion in recovery funds for states and barred states accepting allocations from using them to “directly or indirectly offset a reduction in net tax revenue… or delay the imposition of any tax or tax increase.”

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Mastriano and McSwain Tie for First in Pennsylvania Leadership Conference Gubernatorial Straw Poll; Barnette Wins Senate Poll and Schillinger Takes First for Lieutenant Governor

Bradley Vasoli
William McSwain and Doug Mastriano

  HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania— In a straw poll of conservative activists from across Pennsylvania last weekend, Kathy Barnette, Doug Mastriano, Bill McSwain and Clarice Schillinger finished ahead for the statewide offices they’re seeking. About half of the nearly 800 attendees from all around the Keystone State (and a few from nearby states) participated in the annual survey at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) in Camp Hill, just across the river from Harrisburg. Information-technology expert Scott R. Davis oversaw the survey and discussed the results with attendees Saturday afternoon. Barnette, a veteran and political commentator, earned 35 percent of votes cast for that office at the gathering throughout Friday and Saturday. Her fellow Montgomery Countian, real-estate developer Jeff Bartos, came in second with 17.8 percent. Former Ambassador Carla Sands and former hedge-fund executive David McCormick both received roughly 14 percent and celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz got 12 percent.  “I did have the opportunity to listen to the majority of the [GOP] Senate candidates,” Davis said, “and I will echo what I heard before I stepped on the stage. And each and every one of these candidates is going to be better than the candidate the other side puts up.”  Pennsylvania will hold…

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Congressional Primary Contest in Southeastern Pennsylvania Begins Between Endorsed, In-District Candidate and Outsider

Bradley Vasoli

A Republican congressional primary contest is underway in southeastern Pennsylvania between party-endorsed candidate Christian Nascimento and outsider Dan Burton.

Pennsylvania’s Fourth Congressional District, in which the two are competing for the nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean, comprises most of Montgomery County and parts of southern Berks County. The Montgomery County-born Nascimento lives in Lower Providence Township which is within the district, while Burton lives in Adamstown, Lancaster County, slightly outside the district.

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Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Keller Retiring

Bradley Vasoli

Connecticut Supreme Court Associate Justice Christine E. Keller announced this week her intention to retire and accept “senior status” with the court.

Her retirement takes effect on April 1, 2022. Gov. Ned Lamont (D), who appointed the justice two years ago, thanked the justice for her service on Thursday and announced he will nominate her successor during this session of the General Assembly.

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State Senator Yaw Proposes Legal Framework for Carbon Capture in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Williamsport) indicated Wednesday he will soon introduce legislation to create a regulatory framework for “carbon capture” in the commonwealth.

Carbon capture is the process of catching carbon-dioxide discharge from fossil-fuel-fired power plants and manufacturing facilities for either reuse or storage so that the emissions don’t make it into the atmosphere and exacerbate global warming.

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Zoning Legislation Stirs Controversy in Connecticut

Bradley Vasoli

Democrats in Connecticut’s state House of Representatives are offering legislation they say will facilitate affordable housing and “racial justice,” though opponents of the measures say they will merely hamper local control of development.

One bill would mandate that municipalities permit housing containing a minimum of 15 dwelling units per acre within half-mile radiuses of rail stations. At least 10 percent of the units in such areas would be required to meet the state’s definition of affordable housing, i.e. that it costs an occupant no more than one third of his or her annual income. 

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Industry and Unions Warn Pennsylvania Senate RGGI Will Kill Jobs, Hurt Consumers

Bradley Vasoli
Blue Collar Worker

In a rare moment of concord between industry and unions, representatives of both interests exhorted Pennsylvania state Senators on Tuesday to resist Pennsylvania’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Eleven states in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions have joined the pact to impose prices on carbon emissions for power plants. Unlike most member states, however, Pennsylvania entered into the agreement without legislative approval though an executive order by Gov. Tom Wolf (D) in 2019. The emissions pricing has not yet gone into effect; the governor wants to implement it in the next fiscal year.

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Committee Votes to End Pipeline Bans, Check Pennsylvania Governor’s Power on Carbon Tax

Bradley Vasoli

A bipartisan majority of a Pennsylvania House of Representatives panel Monday passed several measures to increase fossil-fuel development in and exportation from the Keystone State.

One resolution, sponsored by state Rep. Stan Saylor (R-Red Lion) would call upon Govs. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and Phil Murphy (D-NJ) to terminate their states’ bans on the building of new conduits that could carry natural gas extracted in Pennsylvania. Other legislation offered by state Sen. Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) would ensure that legislators must approve Pennsylvania’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state pact to which Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has committed the state by executive order. Implementation of RGGI entails effectively imposing a tax on carbon emissions.

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Montgomery County, Pennsylvania GOP Says County Democratic Officials Ignoring Election Rules to Protect Their Own

Bradley Vasoli
Person putting mail-in ballot in ballot return box

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled administration has defended a woman who dropped off numerous voters’ absentee ballots last year—and Republicans are saying political favoritism is the reason.

As The Pennsylvania Daily Star reported last week, Montgomery County Chief Operating Officer   Lee Soltysiak wrote a letter to Montgomery County Republican Committee (MCRC) Chair Liz Preate Havey insisting that MCRC was “irresponsible” to allege the woman acted illegally. 

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Bill Would Give Legislators Access to Connecticut Residents’ Tax Returns

Bradley Vasoli
Kate Farrar, Michael Winkler rand Josh Elliot

Connecticut leftists are promoting legislation that would let lawmakers request and receive copies of any residents’ tax return.

Advocates for the bill are basing their case on “fairness and equality,” insisting that access to individuals’ financial information will help them improve tax policy from a progressive standpoint, i.e. claim more revenue from higher-income earners.

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Connecticut Senate Votes to Expand Absentee Voting

Bradley Vasoli

Connecticut’s Democrat-controlled Senate this week sent sent legislation to expand absentee voting to Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D) desk.

The bill stops short of total no-excuse absentee voting—which the Connecticut Constitution prohibits—but significantly broadens the categories of those permitted to mail in their ballots. Not only will eligibility apply to those who are ill, disabled or serving actively in the Armed Forces, but it will also include those who are absent “from the town of such elector’s or person’s voting residence; [during all of the hours of voting].” (This component largely pertains to the many state residents who work in New York City.)

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Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Denies That Ballot Harvesting Occurred

Bradley Vasoli

A Montgomery County, Pennsylvania administrator this week responded to the local Republican Party’s allegations of “ballot harvesting,” insisting that video surveillance does not show that it occurred.

As The Pennsylvania Daily Star reported, Montgomery County Republican Committee (MCRC) Chair Liz Preate Havey addressed the county Board of Commissioners last Thursday regarding numerous election-integrity concerns. She mentioned video footage of a woman depositing handfuls of ballots into a drop box in Upper Dublin Township in the run-up to the 2021 general election. Such drop boxes have been in use in Pennsylvania for absentee-ballot delivery since 2020. 

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