Author: Bradley Vasoli

Mastriano to State-Related Universities: Ditch Tuition Hikes

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) this week wrote to Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities to urge them to abandon their planned tuition increases and freeze in-state tuition in light of skyrocketing inflation.

The senator noted that the Keystone State’s Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget allots $600 million in total to Lincoln University, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University. Those institutions are also getting $40 million in new discretionary funding from Gov. Tom Wolf (D). With such generous state subsidies, Mastriano reasoned, partially public universities should make every effort to avoid putting new pressures on students and their families.

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Bill to Mandate Human Trafficking Awareness Training in Lodging Introduced in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. Judy Schwank (D-PA-Reading) announced on Monday she will introduce a bill mandating that Pennsylvania hotel and motel businesses train their workers in human-trafficking awareness. 

Human trafficking, an industry the International Labour Office believes to generate $150 billion each year, is a form of slavery whereby human beings are defrauded or coerced into servitude that is often sexual in nature. The U.S. Department of State estimates that about 25 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. Of those, nearly a third are children or teenagers and roughly half are women. 

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Fetterman’s Anti-Fracking History a Vulnerability in Pennsylvania Senate Race

Bradley Vasoli

John Fetterman handily won campaigns for mayor of heavily Democratic Braddock, PA in the 2000s and 2010s and won two statewide Pennsylvania primaries, one for lieutenant governor in 2018 and another for U.S. senator this year. His history of opposing hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking” to extract natural gas didn’t burden him in those races. 

But now the Democratic lieutenant governor faces a general election for U.S. Senate against Republican celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz. And although Fetterman now says he does not support prohibiting fracking, his past support for a fracking ban promises to complicate his appeal to working Keystone Staters on whose livelihoods fossil-fuel development depends. 

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Ohio Awards Grants to Toledo, Cortland to Combat Trafficking, Other Crimes

Bradley Vasoli
Governor Mike DeWine

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) announced Friday that numerous local law-enforcement departments will receive a total of $3.5 million for anti-trafficking efforts and other anti-crime initiatives, with the cities of Toledo and Cortland receiving significant grants. 

The money comes in the fifth round of allocations from the Crime Reduction Grant Program, a project created last year that has disbursed $23 million to 83 agencies across the Buckeye State so far. 

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Grassroots Ohio GOP Group Responds to Committeeman and Treasurer Johnson’s Injunction Against Opponent

Bradley Vasoli

As he runs for reelection in the August 2 special primary, Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Committeeman David Johnson is suing Rick Barron who is challenging his bid to continue representing the ORP’s 33rd District (Columbiana, Carroll and Mahoning counties). 

Also in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Johnson sued political action committees that support Barron, including the Mahoning, Carroll and Columbiana Ohio Republican Political Action Committees (PACs). These three grassroots organizations are affiliates of the Ohio Republican PAC which exists outside the ORP, also known as the Ohio Republican State Central Committee. 

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Proposal Would Bar Pennsylvania Counties That Ban Gas Drilling from Getting Gas Revenues

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Sen. Gen Yaw (R-Williamsport) this week announced he is authoring a bill to bar any county that bans natural-gas development on county-owned lands from getting certain natural-gas revenues. 

Specifically, Yaw’s proposal would prevent those jurisdictions from receiving allocations from the commonwealth’s gas-drilling impact fee, including any grants from the Marcellus Legacy Fund that finances regional environmental improvement projects. Revenues collected from the levy on companies extracting gas from the sedimentary rock known as Marcellus Shale totaled $234.4 million last year. The fee has brought nearly $2.3 billion into the state Treasury over the last decade.

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Ohio GOP State Committeeman and Treasurer Johnson Denounced by Cousin in Re-Election Bid

Bradley Vasoli

Video footage of a rally in North Lima, Ohio, on Sunday shows Frederick “Sam” Johnson standing with Ohio Republican State Central Committee candidate Rick Barron and denouncing Barron’s opponent, Sam’s own cousin David Johnson.

David Johnson is the incumbent State Central Committeeman in the 33rd district (Columbiana and Mahoning counties) and also serves as Ohio Republican Party (ORP) treasurer. He and Barron will compete for the August 2 special primary committee seat. 

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New Report: Pennsylvania Suffers from ‘Myriad of Election Issues’

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania House State Government Committee Chairman Seth Grove (R-York) released a report Tuesday detailing “a myriad of election issues” in the Keystone State. 

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol Building, Grove reviewed his findings, including inconsistent vote-counting rules, ballot harvesting, fraud and administrative errors. The new report is the third he has issued concerning election problems since November 2020. 

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Fetterman Condition Prompts Pennsylvania State Senators to Consider State Disability Procedures

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Senate State Government Committee on Monday heard expert testimony on possible changes to the state’s rules for handling instances when the governor or lieutenant governor cannot perform his or her duties.

The issue has become especially salient ever since Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) suffered a stroke on May 13. He recovered but only gradually returned to his job and to his U.S. Senate campaign. He missed 18 session days as presiding officer of the Pennsylvania Senate, leaving him out of the conclusion of budget deliberations.

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Akron, Ohio Mayor Ends Downtown Curfew

Bradley Vasoli

Akron, OH Mayor Dan Horrigan (D) Sunday lifted the curfew he imposed on his city’s downtown area on the Fourth of July. 

The restriction applied between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and affected Akron residents encircled by Route 59, Interstate 76 and Route 8. The mayor gave his initial emergency order two Mondays ago after anti-police protests turned violent and severely damaged Main Street businesses. 

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Pennsylvania Toughens DUI Sentences

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Reps. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford) and Chris Quinn (R-Media) on Friday lauded area lawmakers and activists for their work toward enactment of “Deana’s Law” which toughens drunk-driving sentences.

The new act is named after Deana DeRosa Eckman, a 45-year-old Delaware County resident who died in a February 2019 car collision caused by six-time Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) offender David Strowhouer in Upper Chichester Township. Strowhouer had a blood-alcohol content of 0.199, more than twice the level the commonwealth permits, and was driving 80 miles per hour before striking Eckman’s vehicle head-on. 

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Ohio Secretary of State Announces Board of Education Districts; Democrats Object

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) announced this week that the state Board of Education district boundaries will conform to the plan Gov. Mike DeWine (R) issued in January, spurring objections from Democratic lawmakers.

Nineteen individuals sit on the state Board of Education, with 11 of them standing for election. Five of the elected seats are up in this fall’s general election and those wishing to run must file by August 10.

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Pennsylvania Department of State Sues Counties to Count Undated Ballots

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Department of State this week filed a lawsuit against three counties, all controlled by Republicans, to count undated absentee ballots.

Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman (D) wants Berks, Fayette and Lancaster counties to follow the rest of the state in counting votes delivered in undated envelopes toward the official tallies for candidates nominated in May 17’s primaries. A Pennsylvania law requiring absentee and mail-in voters to date their ballot envelope has underwent significant court scrutiny over the last two years.

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Pennsylvania IFO Study: Labor Force Down by 120,000 Since Year Before COVID

Bradley Vasoli

A report released this week by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) indicates that 120,000 fewer residents are working or actively seeking work than in the year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The study showed the state’s labor force participate rate (LFPR) for those aged 16 and older to be 63 percent in May 2019 and to have declined to 61.9 percent one year later. That percentage has continued gradually decreasing — to 61.8 percent in May 2021 and to 61.7 percent two months ago.

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Pennsylvania Governor Signs Compromise Bill Banning Outside Election Funding

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) this week signed legislation banning nongovernmental entities from issuing grants for election administration and also creating a state-run grant program to meet such administrative needs.

State Senators Lisa Baker (R-Dallas) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-Jacobus) sponsored the measure in response to revelations that left-leaning nonprofits like the Chicago-based Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) bestowed large sums of money on localities across the nation in 2020. (Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, contributed $350 million to the organization that year.) Most CTCL grants going to Pennsylvania counties subsidized election administration in Democrat-heavy areas.

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‘Personhood Act’ to Prohibit Abortion Introduced in Ohio

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio state Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery) this week introduced a bill to protect pre-born human life from abortion.

Titled “The Personhood Act,” Click’s legislation stipulates that the state “shall recognize the personhood, and protect the constitutional rights, of all unborn human individuals from the moment of conception.” The measure would not prohibit abortion in any case where doing so would “endanger the life of a mother.” 

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Ohio Democrats Seek Preservation of Records in Connection with FirstEnergy

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) Chairwoman Elizabeth Walters last week filed a preliminary injunction seeking assurance that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) will preserve all records pertaining to House Bill 6 as an ODP lawsuit goes forward.

The legislation, which DeWine signed into law in July 2019, created a $1.3 billion bailout for the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear-power plants operated by FirstEnergy Corp. Federal prosecutors have alleged that GOP former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and numerous other individuals, including erstwhile Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, participated in a $61 million bribery scheme to effect the subsidies.

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Akron Council Resists Prejudgement in Walker Shooting; Ohio House Democrats Still Blame Police

Bradley Vasoli

Akron, OH’s Democrat-controlled City Council issued a statement this week lamenting the death of 25-year-old Jayland Walker while resisting prejudgement of the police officers’ who shot him.

Some Ohio Democrats, like their party’s state House caucus, continue to react differently, deciding the shooting lacked justification even before an external investigation concludes. 

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Pennsylvania Legislature Sends Bill Banning Towns’ Anti-Natural Gas Measures to Governor

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week passed a bill barring municipalities from adopting measures that restrict the use of natural gas or other energy sources.

The House approved the legislation by a vote of 117 to 83, with the Republican majority almost entirely supportive. The bill originated in the state Senate, having passed that chamber last October by a vote of 35 to 15. It awaits Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature or veto.

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Pennsylvania Bill Would Raise Firearm Purchasing Age to 21

Bradley Vasoli

State Rep. Darisha Parker (D-PA-Philadelphia) this week began asking fellow lawmakers to cosponsor a bill to raise the minimum firearm purchase and possession age in Pennsylvania from 18 to 21. 

The freshman representative cited data from the San Francisco-based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence indicating that U.S. residents ages 18 to 20 account for 17 percent of confirmed murderers despite being only four percent of the population. She also noted that those ages 14 to 21 have the highest propensity toward suicide or attempted suicide among all Americans. 

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Akron Maintains Curfew in Wake of Walker Shooting

Bradley Vasoli

A curfew imposed in downtown Akron, OH on Monday, July 4, continues in the aftermath of the death of Jayland Walker by police gunfire.

The curfew applies during the hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. It resulted in the cancellation of fireworks to celebrate July Fourth at several sites in the city. Municipal officials noted that although protests in response to the shooting were peaceful early on Monday, evening demonstrations turned violent and resulted in serious damage to businesses on Main Street.

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Pro-Abortion Legislation Introduced in Pennsylvania House

Bradley Vasoli

Democrats in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives recently proposed two bills to guarantee abortion rights in the Keystone State in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s overturning. 

The first measure, sponsored by Reps. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Exton) and Liz Hanbidge (D-Blue Bell) is an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution guaranteeing the right to obtain an abortion, acquire contraceptives or refuse fertility care. 

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Ohio Governor Postpones Two Executions, Citing Problems with Pharmaceutical Suppliers

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) issued reprieves of execution on Friday to Antonio Sanchez Franklin and Stanley Fitzpatrick, citing “ongoing problems” with obtaining needed substances from pharmaceutical companies.

The now-43-year-old Franklin was scheduled to receive a lethal injection next January 12; his execution is now scheduled to take place next February 11. The convict murdered his grandparents, 71-year-old Ophelia and 76-year-old Ivory as well as his 38-year-old uncle Anthony in Dayton in 1997 and then set their house on fire when Antonio was 18.

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Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Rules Against Tolling Plan

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court on Thursday ruled to stop a tolling plan that would have affected nine bridges throughout the state.

In November 2020, the state Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) Public-Private Transportation Partnership Board voted to open the door to tolling bridges on Interstate 78, Interstate 79, Interstate 80, Interstate 81, and Interstate 83 to fund their repair or replacement. Cumberland County, Bridgeville Borough, South Fayette Township and Collier Township eventually sued Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) administration to prevent the state from establishing the collection booths.

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Cincinnati-Area School District Sued for Dropping Racialist Instruction

Bradley Vasoli

Parents in the Forest Hills Local School District filed a lawsuit this week in response to school directors’ move on June 22 to ban the use of critical race theory and other identity-based teachings from curricula and hiring decisions.

In what school leaders titled a “Resolution to Create a Culture of Kindness and Equal Opportunity for All Students and Staff,” the majority of the School Board enacted a policy against the use of ethic, socioeconomic, gender or cultural identity in hiring or academic administration. The new rule also forbids requiring a student to take on assignments that prompt consideration of that child’s social or cultural identities as a “deficiency or a label to stereotype the student as having certain biases, prejudices or other
unsavory moral characteristics….”

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Wolf to Veto Pennsylvania Poll Watcher Legislation

Bradley Vasoli

A Pennsylvania Senate bill to allow a voter to act as a poll watcher outside of his or her own county passed the state House of Representatives this week, though Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said he will veto it.

Sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg), the “Poll Watcher Empowerment Act” received the support of every Republican and no Democratic representative. When it passed the Senate earlier this month, every Republican voted for it and every Democrat voted against it except for Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem).

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Pennsylvania House Democrat Sponsors Constitutional Amendment for Abortion and Gay Marriage

Bradley Vasoli

Days after several Pennsylvania Senate Democrats proposed legislation to codify the recently overturned Roe v. Wade decision, one senator is spearheading a more expansive measure to enshrine abortion and various sexual rights in the Pennsylvania Constitution.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Doylestown) issued a memorandum to colleagues on Tuesday asking them to cosponsor his amendment. It would codify not only the 1973 Roe ruling that forbade states from prohibiting abortion but also the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision disallowing bans on gay marriage. Other “privacy”-related rights Santarsiero wishes to write into the state Constitution include those identified in the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut ruling, which disallowed contraception bans, and in the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision, which barred sodomy laws. 

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Ohio Prosecutors in Columbus and Cuyahoga County Will Not Prosecute Illegal Abortions

Bradley Vasoli

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced this week they will not prosecute abortionists who violate Ohio’s “heartbeat law.”

Signed three years ago by Gov. Mike DeWine (R), the act disallows abortions to be performed once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which becomes the case about six weeks into a pregnancy. With last week’s overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, the heartbeat law is now in effect.

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Tyler Shanafelter’s Mother Urges Law to Strengthen Fentanyl Dealer Sentencing

Bradley Vasoli

On Monday, Laura Shanafelter joined lawmakers at the Harrisburg Capitol’s East Wing Rotunda to urge passage of legislation named after her late son to strengthen sentences for fentanyl dealers.

Called “Tyler’s Law,” the measure sponsored by state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years on any fentanyl pusher who facilitated a sale resulting in someone’s death. The senator has lamented that these dealers often get sentences of only a few years in cases when investigation even occurs.

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Pennsylvania Senate Democrats Propose Codifying Roe

Bradley Vasoli

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on Friday, Pennsylvania Senate Democrats proposed codifying abortion rights by state statute.

Sen. Katie Muth (D-Royersford) circulated a memorandum asking Senate colleagues to cosponsor the legislation that would keep the practice legal in Pennsylvania. So far, Sens. Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown), Lindsey Williams (D-Pittsburgh), Maria Collett (D-North Wales), Judith Schwank (D-Reading), Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) and Carolyn Comitta (D-West Chester) have signed onto the measure.

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Abortion Issue Moves to the Forefront of the Ohio Governor’s Race

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley is highlighting her opposition to unborn children’s right to life, castigating Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) anti-abortion record and promising more permissive policy if she gets elected.

Her reprehensions of her opponent come days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion across America irrespective of the wishes of each state’s residents. The original decision rested on Justice Harry Blackmun’s insistence that a right to privacy implicitly contained in the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed a woman’s right to abort her pre-born child. Blackmun’s reasoning has since elicited disapproval from legal scholars of various political stripes insofar as the Constitution never actually refers to abortion.

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Pennsylvania Senate Committee Passes Mastriano Bill to Strengthen Overdose Data Gathering

Bradley Vasoli

A Pennsylvania Senate panel this week passed a measure sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) to strengthen the commonwealth’s tracking of overdoses.

All Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee supported the bill. It awaits consideration of the state House of Representatives.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Opposes Biden’s Call to Suspend Gas Taxes

Bradley Vasoli

While President Joe Biden this week began urging Congress to suspend the national gas tax for three months and asking states to do the same with their gas levies, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) came out against the idea. 

The federal government charges gasoline buyers $0.18 per gallon and diesel motorists $0.24 per gallon. The Buckeye State meanwhile imposes a $0.385-per-gallon tax on gasoline as well as a $0.47-per-gallon tax on diesel and other fuel types. Both levels of government use the revenues from these sources to fund transportation projects. Biden maintains that dollars flowing to the U.S. Treasury are sufficient to prevent compromising federal highway repairs in the event of a three-month tax holiday.

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Pennsylvania House Committee Passes Bills to Move Presidential Primary, Allow Out-of-County Poll Watchers

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s House State Government Committee on Wednesday passed a Senate bill to move the state’s presidential primary date and another measure to allow out-of-county poll watchers. 

The first of the two bills was sponsored by Sen. John Gordner (R-Bloomsburg) and passed his chamber unanimously last December. And yet only two of the House panel’s 10 Democrats, Kristine Howard (D-Malvern) and Ben Sanchez (D-Abington), backed the legislation during Wednesday’s vote. 

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Crime Victims’ Loved Ones Condemn Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner

Bradley Vasoli

John Toomey, flanked by other relatives of slain Philadelphians as well as state lawmakers at the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg on Tuesday, tearfully discussed the fate that befell his 15-year-old son Sean. Many who gathered near him showed similar anguish as they listened.

Toomey and dozens of his fellow bereaved Philadelphians convened at the legislative building’s front lobby to condemn the performance of District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) since he became the city’s top prosecutor in 2018.

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Ohio Republican Primary Was Dominated by Non-Republican Voters

Bradley Vasoli

Figures from the Republican Party’s voter database indicate many voters who traditionally have aligned with the Democrats voted in Ohio’s Republican primary on May 3 in which Gov. Mike DeWine handily won nomination for another term.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) database rates voters on a scale of one to five in terms of their allegiance to either the Republican or the Democratic Party. Mainly, the GOP takes into account which party’s primaries Ohioans have voted in historically, though other data are weighed as well.

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Pennsylvania State House Committee Passes Performance-Based Incentives for University Funding

Bradley Vasoli

A bill to create a performance-based funding incentive for three public universities passed the Pennsylvania House Education Committee on Monday, with all 15 Republicans supportive and all 10 Democrats opposed.

Beginning in Fiscal Year 2023-24, the bill would apply to Pennsylvania State University, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh, three of Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities. (The fourth, Lincoln University, is a historically black institution that relies primarily on commonwealth funding.)

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Alluding to Fetterman, Senator Proposes Requiring Officials to Notify Pennsylvania Executive and Legislature of Health Emergencies

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. David Argall (R-PA-Mahanoy City) last week proposed a rule that Pennsylvania’s statewide elected officials must disclose urgent medical conditions to the governor and legislative leaders.

He indirectly mentioned the most recent example of a statewide elected official who apparently neglected to disclose a life-threatening condition: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D). Now a candidate for the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Republican Pat Toomey, Fetterman suffered a stroke four days before the May 17 primary.

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DeWine to Ohio Superintendents: $100 Million Budgeted for School Safety Grants

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio schools will receive $100 million in total to purchase security equipment as part of the next round of K-12 School Safety Grants, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) wrote to superintendents on Friday.

The allocations, which come as a part of the state’s capital budget bill that DeWine signed into law last week, will go toward purchases such as outdoor lighting, facility-mapping software, school-radio systems, door-locking technology and visitor-badge systems. The Ohio School Safety Center in Columbus is now drafting the application for schools to access this money and expects to soon start the application process.

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Mastriano Announces Measure Toughening Penalties for Fentanyl Pushers in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) on Thursday announced he will soon introduce legislation to strengthen penalties for fentanyl pushers whose sales result in deadly overdoses. 

The senator is naming his measure “Tyler’s Law” after Tyler Shanafelter, an 18-year-old constituent who bought what he believed was Percocet but turned out to have acquired a fentanyl-laced product. The young man fatally overdosed. 

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Ryan Now Blasts Ohio Senate Rival Vance on Law Enforcement, But Once Called Criminal Justice System ‘Racist’

Bradley Vasoli

Advertising from Democratic Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan, which alleges that his Republican opponent J.D. Vance has disparaged law-enforcement officers, prompted Vance this week to recall Ryan’s own severe criticisms of law enforcers.

A video ad that appears on the Ryan campaign’s YouTube channel features a monologue by Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier.

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Veteran Dave Galluch, in Pennsylvania 5th Congressional District Run, Seeks Restoration of ‘Time-Honored Traditions in American Leadership’

Bradley Vasoli

Republicans very recently used to dominate the locale composing much of Pennsylvania’s Fifth Congressional District. Geographically overlapping with much of the erstwhile Seventh District (nixed four years ago by the state Supreme Court), the Delaware-County-based territory had Republican Pat Meehan as its U.S. representative from 2011 to 2018. Before Meehan’s predecessor Joe Sestak (D) won the seat for two two-year terms, GOP Congressman Curt Weldon held it for two decades.

The district today is, well, different: Republicans’ old stronghold of Delaware County has flipped Democratic (though the GOP still fares well in some municipalities). And anyone waging a general-election campaign against Democratic Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon must also make inroads in south Philadelphia, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Narberth, Bridgeport and Norristown — all places where “blue” voters have long outnumbered “red” ones. 

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Mastriano Proposes Allowing Permitted Teachers to Be Armed at Pennsylvania Schools

Bradley Vasoli

State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) asked colleagues Tuesday to co-sponsor a bill he plans to introduce to let teachers carry guns in Pennsylvania schools. 

Under the proposal, teachers who hold concealed carry permits may be armed on school property provided they complete “a rigorous firearms course from a certified instructor.” Similar measures are now in effect in 28 states.

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State Representatives Seek to Impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner

Bradley Vasoli

Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday circulated a memorandum seeking cosponsors for articles of impeachment for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D).

Reps. Josh Kail (R-Monaca), Torren Ecker (R-Abbottstown) and Tim O’Neal (R-Washington) wrote in their message to House colleagues that impeachment is a severe option that they would only initiate in the face of a prosecutor’s clear “dereliction of duty.” They charged Krasner with a “willful refusal to enforce Pennsylvania’s criminal laws” in Philadelphia.

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Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee Member Calls on Chair and Treasurer to Resign over Party Finances

Bradley Vasoli

An Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Central Committeeman sent an email to party associates on Monday calling on ORP Chairman Bob Paduchik and Treasurer David Johnson to resign.

Mark Bainbridge, an accountant who represents ORP’s State Central Committee District 16 and who has led the committee’s reform caucus, wrote that the state party has suffered a decline in net worth that is “shrouded in secrecy.” Specifically, he stated, ORP reported a net gain of $147,259 through 2021 when it allegedly should have reported a loss of $162,088. He concluded that $309,347 in net expenses are absent from the organization’s profit and loss statement and that ORP had equity totaling $2,568,530 at the end of 2021 compared with $2,730,618 at the end of 2020.

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