POLS ON THE STREET: Governor’s Race Chatter Already!

REV. AL SHARPTON came to town to rally support for a bus trip to Washington Jan. 14 to protest President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The event was hosted by labor leader Henry Nicholas at his headquarters, together with State Sen. Vincent Hughes. Photo by Wendell Douglas

Republicans believe Gov. Tom Wolf is vulnerable, and as expected, their efforts to generate support for one or more of their candidates is already reaching the ears of both party leaderships, if not the average voter.

Making an early, and hopefully strong enough, presence to chase away others with the same inclination, is State Sen. Scott Wagner (R-York). He kicked off his campaign to become the GOP challenger to Wolf with press conferences yesterday and today.

An article in a recent Governing magazine suggests Gov. Tom Wolf isn’t yet on solid ground to win a second term and listed him as vulnerable should he seek a second term in 2018 because his approval ratings are too lukewarm. It also cites Hillary Clinton’s presidential loss in Pennsylvania, a state legislature that is solidly Republican and what it assumes will be several potential GOP challengers hoping to draw attention to why they would be better at governing than Wolf.

Tom Wolf…The Gov.

Undaunted, Wolf continues to press for cutting expenditures without racing broad-based taxes to balance his budgets. The latest is closing two and possibly five Dept. of Corrections facilities. Overcrowding, as a result, in other facilities is a concern.

But Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel said, “These cost-saving measures are exactly the kind of action we must take to ensure we can continue to invest in middle-class families and Pennsylvania’s future. DOC believes we are able to close prisons without security risk because of the historic reduction in the inmate population and crime is down. By investing in the things that make Pennsylvania a better place – like reducing recidivism and improving our schools – we can ensure the long-term prosperity and safety of our Commonwealth.”

As expected, Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association President Jason Bloom blasted the decision, saying, “It’s disappointing the Wolf administration has already made a decision to close two prisons without any public input whatsoever and is now strangely leaving five communities twisting in the wind for several weeks. Closing these prisons will uproot families and damage the local economies in these communities.

Scott Wagner…Governor Wannabe

“This administration continues to have extremely optimistic projections about the state prison population,” Bloom continued. “The fact remains, our system remains over-capacity at 103.8%, according to the Dept. of Corrections’ own population figures. That number would be even higher (104.9%) if the state wasn’t paying counties to house hundreds of additional inmates. It’s mystifying why this administration would be closing prisons if we can’t even house the inmates we currently have. With fewer prisons, a smaller system could literally burst at the seams, creating a public-safety risk. The PSCOA is calling on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to immediately hold hearings and seek ways to keep these prisons open.”

Pressing Wolf to seek even more ways to make cuts, some of which will be unpopular, is the fact the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board last week reported the amount of slots revenue generated from gambling during 2016 was a bit more than $2.36 billion, or 0.23% less (about $5.5 million) than in 2015. In 2013, revenues were $2.38 billion, which was the first revenue drop reported since slots gambling was legalized (2012’s reported revenues were $2.47 billion). The 2016 revenue figure means taxes collected from slots gambling was likewise down from last year: $1,259,648,414 compared to 2015’s $1,263,320,954. And, if anyone was wondering, back in 2012, tax revenues topped $1.3 billion.

Gov. Wolf has already said he will not seek to raise broad-based taxes. He also does not want to make indiscriminate cuts like budgets did five years ago to schools and services for the most vulnerable.

Instead, the governor’s 2017-2018 budget will challenge the status quo and look for ways to cut costs and streamline government. Together, these four steps are estimated to save hundreds of millions of dollars.

JUDGE Jimmy DeLeon, L, performed swearing in at Temple’s Mitten Hall for State Sen. Sharif Street as Street’s wife, April, looks on, for supporters who were unable to attending his swearing-in ceremony in Harrisburg. Photo by Wendell Douglas

Wolf will look good if he can get his message across to voters that he is eliminating thousands of unfilled state jobs. He made this known to department heads in mid-December, advising them to look at their current workforce, which would now be the number of positions that could be filled by the agency, to determine how best to serve the people of Pennsylvania.

He also sent a memo last week to department heads outlining his plan to eliminate duplicative and unnecessary bureaucracy by consolidating administrative functions of human resources and information technology.

Also, landlords are being notified no leases may be renewed without the Dept. of General Services’ review and approval of whether opportunities exist to reduce “our current footprint to drive costs down.”

All well and good; but to make hay from his efforts, Wolf needs to check his campaign staff’s ability to get these efforts out to the general public in a way they will remember him favorably when voting two years down the line.

Other GOP stalwarts indicating an interest and maybe announcing shortly, rather than leaving the field wide open for Wagner are Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, House Speaker Mike Turzai, House Majority Leader David Reed, former Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley and Congressman Mike Kelly.

WARD Leader Elaine Tomlin, 2nd from L, welcomes State Rep. Jason Dawkins, and Councilwomen Cindy Bass and Maria Quiñones Sánchez, who participated in her Community Meeting. Photo by Wendell Douglas

DA’s Race Getting More Interesting

Realtor, developer and lawyer Michael Untermeyer is putting his money where it’s needed most for him now. It’s the race for District Attorney. He’s raised the limit allowed for contributions to $6,000 from individuals and $23,800 from PACS, doing this by contributing $250,000 to his own campaign for DA. That creates a problem for the other challengers seeking to win the Democratic primary for District May 16. They now know they’ll need more money to wage an effective campaign. And it could change the mind of one or more of them. Making that assessment now are Judge Teresa Carr Deni, Rich Negrin, Joe Khan and a couple others who have indicated their interest but have yet to formally enter the race.

Now the smart ones, such as Judge Deni, know how to get the biggest bang for their dollar. Commit a small portion of their campaign budget to advertising in the Public Record, long the trade publication for the city’s elected committee people and ward leaders.

This brings us to note State Rep. Angel Cruz (D-Kensington) is now the longest-serving Latino legislator, celebrating his ninth term. He was and remains the legislator with the longest continuous ad in this paper. Felicitaciones!

STATE REP. Vanessa Brown, standing, hosted constituents to a bus trip to the annual Penna. Farm Show in Harrisburg. Photo by Wendell Douglas

A Bubbling Headache for Kenney’s K-Initiative

The voting public once again has suffered sticker shock with the prices now being asked for Philadelphia’s new beverage tax. Opposition is clamoring the city’s 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax is substantially increasing costs on Philadelphia families. It is also threatening many small businesses, from movie theaters to restaurants, corner stores to supermarkets.

Philadelphians Against the Grocery Tax, the organization that lost the fight to kill the sugary beverage tax, is urging its members to keep the pot boiling, saying in a release, “Even as we continue to pursue a legal challenge to the beverage tax, our elected leaders must continue to hear from the public that this tax is bad for Philadelphia families and businesses.”

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