Author: Bradley Vasoli

Legislation Would Let Pennsylvania Voters Reject Tax Increases

Bradley Vasoli

A bill that was referred to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Finance Committee last week would amend the state Constitution to allow voters to reject any state-level revenue hike. 

The legislation, introduced by State Rep. David Rowe (R-Mifflinburg), would place a question on the primary ballot regarding any new tax or fee or any new increase in such levies. Should Pennsylvanians reject a revenue increase, the legislature could attempt to override the voters but would need support from two thirds of its members to succeed.

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Pennsylvania Bill Would Restrict Employers’ Examination of Applicants’ Criminal Records

Bradley Vasoli
Pennsylvania Rep. Darisha Parker

Pennsylvania State Rep. Darisha Parker (D-Philadelphia) this week introduced a measure to restrict employers’ consideration of job applicants’ criminal records.

In a statement on her bill, Parker cited data from the U.S. Department of Justice indicating that nearly a third of Americans have a criminal record, almost as many as have earned college degrees. She said that incurring such a record has proved a major burden for many Pennsylvanians seeking jobs as well as housing and public benefits.

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Connecticut Attorney General Joins Brief Against ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

Bradley Vasoli
William Tong and Kwame Raoul

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) joined 17other state attorneys general in signing onto an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to end the federal “remain in Mexico” immigration policy.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) has spearheaded the effort among liberal state prosecutors to persuade the high court to reverse the Trump-era policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The policy stipulates that asylum seekers generally must await their U.S. asylum hearings in Mexico. The Biden White House has criticized the protocols but the courts have prevented him from reversing it.

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Review Board Approves Pennsylvania Charter School Regulations

Bradley Vasoli
Girl standing up in the middle of classroom

A regulatory review panel on Monday approved numerous new administrative rules imposed by Pennsylvania’s executive branch on charter schools, a move the institutions did not welcome.

Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) Chair George Bedwick, Commissioner Murray Ufberg and Commissioner Dennis Watson, all appointed to the board by Democratic state officials, voted in favor of the new regulations. Vice Chair John Mizner and Commissioner John Soroko, both Republican appointees, voted in opposition.

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Federal Court Considers Whether to Count Undated Ballots in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Election

Bradley Vasoli
Pennsylvania Judicial Center

A federal appeals court this week blocked certification of the election results for the contest between Republican David Ritter and Democrat Zachary Cohen for Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judge.

Currently, Ritter is 74 votes ahead of Cohen, but the win would flip to the Democrat should the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decide to count 257 absentee ballots that lack handwritten dates on their return envelopes. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania is litigating on behalf of five of the voters who cast those ballots.

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Senator Proposes Changes to Pennsylvania’s Redistricting Commission

Bradley Vasoli
Senator David G. Argall

State Sen. David Argall (R-Mahanoy City) last week proposed two constitutional amendments that would affect state-legislative redistricting in Pennsylvania. 

The first reform the senator wants to make would change the process for choosing the chair of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC), which oversees remapping of the General Assembly’s districts every 10 years. Current law directs the state Supreme Court to pick a chairperson, effectively deciding which party controls the five-member commission on which the Republican and Democratic leaders of the state House and state Senate sit.

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Connecticut Public-Sector Unions to Get Costly Raises and Bonuses If Contracts Approved

Bradley Vasoli
Worker in restaurant kitchen

According to a brochure distributed by Connecticut’s public-sector-labor coalition, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) and the state’s unionized employees have negotiated contracts that will cost taxpayers plenty if ratified. 

Wins for each unionized worker would include $3,500 in bonuses and and three yearly wage hikes of 2.5 percent, which would be made retroactive to summer of 2021. About two-thirds of union-affiliated employees would also get “step” raises; i.e., elevation to the next pay rate. These bonuses and salary gains would also factor into future pension payments.

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Leaves New Democrat-Favored State House Map in Place

Bradley Vasoli
Kerry Benninghoff

Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were dealt an expected blow this week as the state Supreme Court unanimously declined to overturn a new state-House-district map.

Every ten years, Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) must redraw the state’s 203 state legislative districts and 50 state senatorial districts to cohere with new population data reported by the U.S. Census. The five-member LRC is composed of the respective Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate as well as a chair appointment by the state Supreme Court. In the latest round of redistricting, Democrats effectively controlled the LRC, as the majority of justices on the court selected fellow Democrat Mark A. Nordenberg. 

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Montgomery County, Pennsylvania GOP Asks Commissioners to Consider Election Reforms

Bradley Vasoli

NORRISTOWN, PA—Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s Republican Party yesterday asked the county’s Democrat-controlled Board of Elections to consider several election-security measures, mainly regarding absentee voting.

At a County Commissioners’ meeting, Montgomery County Republican Committee (MCRC) Chair Liz Preate Havey said the reforms her organization proposes will curb alleged breaches of law and foulups in administration that have already taken place in the county during recent elections.

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Dozens of State GOP Lawmakers Endorse Former Connecticut House Minority Leader Klarides for Senate

Bradley Vasoli
Themis Klarides

Former Connecticut House Republican Leader Themis Klarides received the endorsement of 47 current state lawmakers this week for her U.S. Senate bid.

This compounds an already strong showing of support Klarides has boasted among party leaders and committee members across the state. Should she secure her party’s nomination in the August 9 primary, she will face 10-year incumbent Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) in November. 

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Oz Denies Report of Insiders Saying Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Eyeing Return to TV

Bradley Vasoli
Dr. Mehmet Oz

Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor who’s running for Senate from Pennsylvania, is denying reports that he is in discussions to return to television and suggested opponent David McCormick is behind the rumor.

The entertainment site Radar Online reported Tuesday that inside sources said that while Oz aims to win the May 17 Republican primary and the November 8 election for retiring Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R) seat, he’s working on reviving his broadcast career in case he doesn’t prevail. 

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Pennsylvania House Education Committee Issues Letter Opposing Wolf’s New Charter School Regulations

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives Education Committee Tuesday issued a letter opposing new regulations Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has imposed on the state’s charter schools.

All 15 Republicans on the committee voted to authorize the letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) while all 10 Democrats voted against it. Majority Chairman Curt Sonney (R-Erie) said the panel is not voicing opposition to every new rule on the list published last month but merely those that frustrate reputable charter schools’ ability to operate.

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Lamont Proposes Connecticut Gas Tax Suspension; Republicans Press for Vote

Bradley Vasoli

Gov. Ned Lamont (D) this week proposed a holiday from the state’s 25-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax to last through the month of June.

He said he does not believe the gas-tax break can be extended beyond July 1 insofar as Connecticut’s acceptance of federal funds under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) restricts the state as to how much it can reduce taxes. The governor also voiced concern that a longer tax holiday would compromise the state’s ability to fund transportation. The gas tax’s suspension will cost the state over $90 million.

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State Rep. Gleim Proposes Anti-Indoctrination Measure for Pennsylvania Schools

Bradley Vasoli
Barbara Gleim

State Rep. Barbara Gleim (R-PA-Carlisle) announced to fellow lawmakers on Monday that she will soon introduce a measure to bar Pennsylvania teachers from championing their personal political convictions in the classroom.

Gleim stated that her proposal is an important step toward reaffirming anti-discrimination principles as outlined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, religion or sex in education.

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Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane Arrested for DUI

Bradley Vasoli
Kathleen Kane

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after crashing her car in Scranton around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday evening.

City police reported Monday that no injuries resulted from the two-car collision at the intersection of Moosic Street and Meadow Avenue and that Kane will incur official charges this week. 

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Connecticut Bill Would Have Employers Pay Unemployment to Strikers

Bradley Vasoli
Ned Lamont

If Connecticut’s Democrat-run General Assembly and Governor Ned Lamont (D) approve a bill now before the Joint Committee on Labor and Public Employees, striking workers will gain the right to collect unemployment.

Current state law does not permit union strikers to collect jobless benefits, as eligibility requires having come into “unemployment through no fault of your own.” The legislation under consideration, sponsored by State Representatives Michael Winkler (D-Vernon), David Michel (D-Stamford) and Robyn Porter (D-Hamden) would, starting this October, allow strikers to get unemployment checks two weeks into a labor walkout.

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Pennsylvania Senators Introduce Tax Breaks and Regulatory Reform for Energy Producers

Bradley Vasoli
Doug Mastriano and Scott Hutchinson

Pennsylvania State Senators Doug Mastriano (R-Chambersburg) and Scott Hutchinson (R-Oil City) last week proposed a measure to lighten the tax and regulatory burden for fossil-fuel producers.

Their legislation, entitled the PA Energy Independence Act, would immediately pause income taxation for natural-gas developers, reduce state gas-extraction fees by 200 percent and end Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) moratorium on new state-land leases for fossil-fuel drilling. It would also suspend the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which would amount to a tax on carbon emissions.

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Programming at Hillsdale’s Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut to Begin This Spring

Bradley Vasoli

Programming at Hillsdale College’s new Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut is scheduled to start this spring. 

In 2019, the late Friendly’s Ice Cream co-founder S. Prestley “Pres” Blake and his wife Helen offered their property at 732 Hall Hill Rd., along with $25 million, to the Michigan-based Christian college to establish an educational center consistent with the values of the school. Their now-repurposed home is modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and sits on about 100 verdant acres.

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Pennsylvania Budget Secretary Defends Governor’s Budget That Lawmakers Say Overspends

Bradley Vasoli
Gregory Thall

Pennsylvania’s House Appropriations Committee ended hearings on next fiscal year’s budget on Thursday, with the governor’s budget chief defending a plan that many lawmakers fear significantly overspends.

Governor Tom Wolf (D) has asked the Republican-controlled General Assembly to consider a Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget that spends $43.7 billion, an increase of 16.6 percent over current expenditures. His proposal assumes the state will enjoy a revenue intake that surpasses that predicted by the nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) by $762 million.

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Bill Would Lift Gov. Wolf’s Moratorium on New Leases for Drilling in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Republicans in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week introduced several measures to boost fossil-fuel production in the Keystone State, including a resumption of new state-land drilling leases.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) imposed a moratorium on new leases for oil and gas development on state-owned areas in January 2015. A bill authored by State Rep. Clint Owlett (R-Wellsboro) would rescind that order and stipulate that all energy exploration performed under any resulting leases be subsurface. That means that the well site must be built off of commonwealth property and that underground channels would reach horizontally into the public lands, allowing for better environmental preservation than older drilling methods.

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Tea Party Patriots Action Tours Pennsylvania to Champion Election Integrity

Bradley Vasoli

Tea Party Patriots Action (TPPA), a national conservative nonprofit, began a tour of Pennsylvania Monday to emphasize the importance of election integrity.

TPPA kicked off the trek in Grove City and has since visited Du Bois, State College and Altoona. The organization plans to push eastward, penultimately visiting Philadelphia on March 29 and finally the state capital of Harrisburg on March 30. At each stop, organizers will impress upon audiences the need for both legislative reforms and for citizen involvement to improve voting and vote-count processes. Toward that end, TPPA is recruiting citizens for local election integrity task forces to aid area elections.

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Connecticut Senate Republicans Bringing Up Anti-Crime Proposals

Bradley Vasoli

This week, Connecticut Senate Republicans are seeking consideration of proposals they made last autumn to mitigate the Constitution State’s crime problem.

On Wednesday, the CT General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee will convene virtually to consider GOP legislation to aid police recruitment, modernize law-enforcement data gathering and promote “explorer” programs to foster relationships between juveniles and law-enforcement officers.

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Proposal Would Let Connecticut Agencies Sue Employers and Bestow Proceeds on Unions

Bradley Vasoli
Michael Winkler

A bill in the Connecticut House of Representatives would allow the state to effectively nullify worker-employer agreements designed to prevent lawsuits and let state officials bestow some monetary awards on unions.

The legislation, sponsored by State Representative Michael Winkler (D-Vernon), would evade what it refers to as “forced arbitration agreements” and “allow employees to sue employers on behalf of the state after having waived their personal rights to sue.” 

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Philly Weekly Apologizes for Allowing Conservatives a Voice

Bradley Vasoli
newspapers

Philly Weekly’s brief, modest shift to the political center has ended and its new editor apologized on Friday for giving non-leftists a voice in its pages.

Josh Kruger, who also wrote for PW in its earlier days as a reflexively progressive tabloid, issued a note to readers lamenting that the Philadelphia, PA-based paper ever strayed from its longstanding party line. He blasted PW’s deviation from that line as “really offensive and, frankly, hurtful.” He recalled he “was sort of devastated” when, in autumn of 2020, the publication announced it would embrace “alt journalism that’s conservative” and sought financial support via Kickstarter.com so it could realize that vision.

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Pennsylvania Senator Toomey Pushes for Accounting of COVID Spending

Bradley Vasoli

While President Joe Biden proposed $22.5 billion in coronavirus-related spending this week, Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey (R) urged clarification of how the government has spent almost $6 trillion in earlier COVID relief.

Toomey joined 35 Senate colleagues in writing to Biden asking for a detailed explication of the disbursements made over the last two years which, the authors noted, amounted to the largest allotment of taxpayer money for one concern in American history.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Clash on Tax Policy at Hearing

Bradley Vasoli

At a Connecticut General Assembly hearing Thursday, state lawmakers clashed on visions of tax policy, with Republicans pressing for sales-tax reduction and Democrats advocating a mix of tax increases and targeted relief.

According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, 12.8 percent of Connecticut residents’ income goes to government coffers, making the combined state and local tax take the second-highest in the U.S., just behind New York’s 14.1 percent overall burden.

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Puskaric to Ask Pennsylvania Agencies to Ditch Social Media Platforms That Censor

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Puskaric (R-Jefferson Hills) indicated Wednesday he will urge state agencies to ditch social-media platforms he says engage in censorship.

In a memorandum asking fellow representatives to cosponsor his upcoming resolution, the Pittsburgh-area legislator argued that especially large information-technology companies violate the state and federal constitutions when they make politicized publishing decisions. He insisted government institutions and officials should respond by cancelling their accounts on such sites and signing onto more permissive online venues instead.

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Lawmakers Consider Requested 40 Percent Funding Hike for Pennsylvania State Police

Bradley Vasoli

At a Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday, representatives discussed the governor’s requested 40-percent state-police funding increase with department officials.

The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) received $629,342,000 this fiscal year. In a budget proposal unveiled last month, Governor Tom Wolf (D) asked the Republican-run General Assembly to fund the agency at $925,599,000 (in combined state and federal dollars). The governor, however, anticipates that PSP funding can be kept flat over the four fiscal years after next year.

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Despite Connecticut Governor Lamont Ending Statewide School Masking, Hamden Keeps Mandate

Bradley Vasoli

Although Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) allowed the statewide school-mask mandate to end on Monday, the Hamden Board of Education (BOE) voted that evening to indefinitely extend its requirement.

The vote came down along party lines, with Republican BOE members Austin Cesare, Kevin Shea and Gary Walsh supporting the mandate’s cancellation; Board Chair Melissa A. Kaplan as well as fellow Democrats David Asbery, Siobhan Carter-David, Mariam Khan and Réuel Parks voted to keep it.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Urges New Jersey and New York to End Pipeline-Construction Bans

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania State Representative Stan Saylor (R-Red Lion) announced Monday he’ll introduce a resolution exhorting New Jersey and New York’s respective governors to allow construction of natural-gas conduits.

In 2014, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s predecessor Andrew Cuomo (D) banned hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) for natural-gas extraction and thenceforth barred the creation of new natural-gas pipelines. Last month, Hochul endorsed a statewide prohibition of gas power for new buildings, the first such state-level interdiction in the U.S. 

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Pennsylvania House Democrat Urges Biden to Restart Keystone XL Pipeline

Bradley Vasoli

An Altoona-area Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives filed a memorandum on Friday asking colleagues to cosponsor a resolution backing reopening of the Keystone XL pipeline.

In his message to the House, Representative Frank Burns (D-Portage) noted that the U.S. imports more than 800,000 barrels of oil daily from Russia and that oil prices reached more than $100 per barrel last week. The representative anticipated that Russian fossil fuels will only get more expensive—perhaps even unavailable—as the Russia-Ukraine military conflict continues.

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Ruling Prompts Pennsylvania Senate Legislation to Limit Court’s Redistricting Power

Bradley Vasoli
Senator David G. Argall

One day after Wednesday’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision imposing a Democrat-favored congressional map, state Senator David Argall (R-Mahanoy City) is legislating to limit similar future rulings.

Argall, who chairs the Senate State Government Committee, has asked colleagues to cosponsor a measure disallowing any congressional-district plan ordered by a court to remain in effect after the election cycle for which it was enacted.

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Picks Democrat-Favored Congressional Map

Bradley Vasoli

Democrats celebrated and Republicans demurred Wednesday after the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court selected the state’s new congressional map.

In so doing, the court overturned a decision earlier this month by Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia A. McCullough (R) to allow implementation of a redistricting plan passed by the GOP-led General Assembly but vetoed by Governor Tom Wolf (D). The initial version of the legislature-approved map was drawn by a private citizen, Amanda Holt of Lehigh County, though legislators modified her plan somewhat.

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Fiscal Office Chief: Pennsylvanians Leaving for Low-Tax Southern States

Bradley Vasoli

On Tuesday, at the first Pennsylvania Senate hearing on next fiscal year’s budget, lawmakers considered the state’s slow economic recovery—and the state’s failure to attract new residents.

Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) Director Matthew Knittel testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding the state’s fiscal, economic and demographic outlook. Particularly in that last category, the Keystone State doesn’t boast an envious position.

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Inflation Prompts Pennsylvania Legislators to Suggest Tax Holidays

Bradley Vasoli

Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are proposing that the commonwealth offset some of the inflationary burden on residents by pausing certain taxes.

One bill State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) is currently drafting would stop sales taxation in June and July 2022 at a time the senator says the state can afford to do so. In a memorandum seeking co-sponsors for her bill, she cited Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) recent declaration that Pennsylvania will amass a budget surplus for Fiscal Year 2021-22 of over $2 billion and a similarly large surplus for the following year. Since budget years end on June 30, the legislation is thus timed to spread the financial loss to the state over both budget cycles. 

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Considers Congressional Maps, Asked to Consider State-House Districts as Well

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, deliberating over oral arguments made last Friday, will soon decide the congressional-district boundaries that apply in next year’s elections.

State House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Bellefonte) has meanwhile asked the court to strike down a newly enacted map containing districts for his own legislative chamber.

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Economic Development Chief Testifies to Consequences of Pennsylvania’s Lockdown, Refuses to Apologize

Bradley Vasoli

At a Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, the panel’s GOP majority grilled the state’s chief economic-development official on the damage inflicted by COVID-related business restrictions.

In March 17, 2020, Governor Tom Wolf (D) responded to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus by ordering the shuttering of all businesses he deemed “nonessential.” The commonwealth phased out most of the closures that summer, though capacity restrictions on restaurants and other gathering places continued into 2021. Republicans in the General Assembly attempted to end the shutdowns but did not have the two-thirds supermajority needed to override the governor.

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Governor Wolf Wants Less Money for Pennsylvania Corrections Than Department Requested

Bradley Vasoli

Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) is recommending that lawmakers fund state prisons at a lower level in future years than the state’s Department of Corrections has requested.

At a budget hearing Wednesday, members of the state House Appropriations Committee questioned Acting Secretary of Corrections George Little about the contrast between the governor’s projections and the department’s own outlook.

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Pennsylvania Fiscal Office Expects Lower Revenues Than Governor

Bradley Vasoli

On Tuesday, at the first legislative hearing on Pennsylvania’s next budget, the Wolf administration and the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) offered divergent near-term revenue projections.

Governor Tom Wolf (D) proposed a Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget last week that would total $43.7 billion, 16.6 percent greater than the current fiscal year’s spending allotment. The plan’s feasibility (without a tax increase) will partly depend on whether the general-fund revenues anticipated by the governor’s Revenue Secretary, C. Daniel Hassell, come to fruition. 

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COVID Restrictions’ Impact on Pennsylvania Still Felt, Forecasted to Persist

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) on Monday issued a report on the state’s economy indicating COVID-era restrictions continue to make a negative impact.

The IFO composed the report to inform lawmakers as they begin a series of state budget hearings this week. The agency observes that the Keystone State’s labor-force-participation rate is at its lowest in 37 years and forecasts that jobs numbers won’t return to their December-2019 apex for at least another three years.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Opposing Greenhouse Gas Initiative Offer Alternative Policy

Bradley Vasoli

Lawmakers who have attempted to stop Pennsylvania’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) are proposing alternative measures to mitigate carbon emissions in the Keystone State.

Representative Jim Struzzi has amended the anti-RGGI legislation he introduced last year to authorize spending $250 million from Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 Response Restricted Account on carbon-dioxide-reduction technologies and related items. Funded projects would include methane abatement, hydrogen-based infrastructure and stormwater mitigation as well as assistance to communities weathering electric-generation plant closures.

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Lawmakers Propose Enhanced Enforcement of E-Verify in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers indicated this week they’re authoring legislation to enhance the effectiveness of a web-based system used to confirm workers’ legal U.S. residency.

In 1996, the federal government established the E-Verify system as a voluntary five-state pilot program to ease employers’ ability to check the immigration statuses of their new hires. It was expanded for use in all 50 states in 2003 and is administered by the Department of Homeland Security.

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Gov. Wolf Unveils His Final Pennsylvania Budget Proposal, Urging Massive Spending Hike

Bradley Vasoli

Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) unveiled his final state budget proposal to the General Assembly yesterday, asking members to approve a 10.9 percent spending increase.

Major items he proposed include $1.75 billion more for public schools and $200 million more for college scholarships. The governor insisted his aims could be realized without resorting to tax rises, though his $43.7 billion plan hinges on the use of about $2 billion in one-time federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

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Biden Tars Political Dissenters with ‘Terrorism,’ Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Candidate Barletta Fires Back

Bradley Vasoli

Former Pennsylvania Republican congressman and current gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta blasted President Joe Biden’s administration Tuesday for issuing a “Terrorism Advisory Bulletin” equating political dissenters with terrorists.

The document, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the day before, lamented the presence of “an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories” that “sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions.” The administration warned about opposition to “COVID-19 mitigation measures—particularly COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates” which allegedly “have been used by domestic violent extremists to justify violence since 2020.” 

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Pennsylvania Senate Committee Passes Federal Constitutional Convention Legislation

Bradley Vasoli

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee approved a resolution calling for a “Convention of States” to amend the U.S. Constitution to check congressional power and federal spending.

Senators Cris Dush (R-Wellsboro) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) authored the measure, which all of the committee’s seven Republicans voted to support and all of the panel’s four Democrats opposed.

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Commonwealth Court Judge Chooses Citizen-Drawn Congressional Map Favored by GOP Legislature

Bradley Vasoli
Pennsylvania Capitol Building

Because Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor and GOP-controlled legislature couldn’t agree on a congressional redistricting plan, a Commonwealth Court judge has stepped in and chosen one favored by the latter.

Judge Patricia A. McCullough (R), who was charged individually with selecting a new congressional map from among several proposed by state officials and nongovernmental actors, issued a 228-page report explaining her decision.

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Seth Bluestein Confirmed as Philadelphia City Commissioner

Bradley Vasoli

Philadelphia City Council on Thursday confirmed Seth Bluestein, a longtime aide to retired City Commissioner Al Schmidt, to replace his former boss.

Like Schmidt, Bluestein is a Republican who will serve in the minority-party seat on the three-member board which oversees elections in Philadelphia. After the former was first elected in 2011, Bluestein joined his staff and eventually rose to the position of chief deputy. Last autumn, Schmidt announced he would leave his position to head the Committee of Seventy, an advocacy group working on governance issues.

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