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What the hell is up with Harrisburg?
At-Large Republican Councilman Dennis O'Brien might know better than anyone else on Philadelphia's City Council — and he offered his own opinion on Tuesday.
During hearings Tuesday on a request by the School Reform Commission for more than $90 million in support from the city to help plug a $300 million budget gap, O'Brien — former Speaker of the House — veritably erupted, delivering to the three-person panel before him (which included SRC chairman Pedro Ramos) the following Jeremiad, in which he roasted Mayor Nutter and Governor Corbett for asking City Council to come up with the extra money while delivering a five-year plan for the District that shows no increased revenue from the state.
On Monday, busloads of people from Philadelphia and from towns and cities throughout the Commonwealth descended on Harrisburg to take part in two separate protests against the policies of Gov. Tom Corbett and Republican legislators: for immigrant rights and against the complete elimination of cash welfare assistance.
Corbett is not a big fan of protests: police once again took the (previously) unprecedented step of closing off access to the Capitol Rotunda to some demonstrators. Earlier this year, they allegedly singled out people in wheelchairs protesting cuts to disability services and barred them taking the elevator to the governor's office.
Protest one: Juntos and other immigrant rights groups demonstrated against anti-immigrant legislation, much of it introduced by the very, very right-wing state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), who City Paper described in a July 2011 profile as the “the gun-toting, gay-bashing, tea-partying state rep who's taking over Harrisburg.”
Proposals include denying undocumented immigrants public benefits, and, in a copycat of Arizona's controversial law, requiring local police to enforce federal immigration laws. One Metcalfe bill would require employers to use the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify database to check workers' Social Security numbers―an interesting call for the expansion of federal power coming from a politician with long-standing associations with the paranoid Obama-is-planning-on-rounding-up-dissidents-into-FEMA camps militiaman fringe right-wing.
In a long, contentious Council committee hearing last week, Council President Darrell Clarke looked somewhat baffled by the fact — and fact it was — that no small number of his constituents from the 5th Councilmanic District had showed up to stage a rebellion against him.
Clarke has been working for months on a bill that would create a Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) in the Temple area. It would impose an assessment (like a tax) on non-homeowner-occupied residential buildings, aimed at investors and owners who cater to the growing local student population.
What seemed to surprise Clarke was how many home-owning residents seemed to oppose it. After all, they wouldn't pay the tax. Instead, it would be paid by the very developers whom residents accused of irresponsible development and disrespectful practices — to the benefit, in theory, of longtime residents.
Clarke has characterized much of the opposition as a matter of a lack of "education" on the law. But it's more complicated than that.
Say you wanted to find out information about a scheduled sheriff's sale — say, the one held Wednesday.Where would you look?
Not, we hope, on the "Internet."
Should you attempt it, you might be fooled into clicking a link titled "Sheriff's Sale Schedule" on www.phillysheriff.com — on which the most recent sheriff's sale listed is five months old, and which contains exactly zilch (0) when it comes to information on upcoming sales, including Wednesday's.
It's no surprise that providing “material support” to a terrorist group is against the law. But a 2010 Supreme Court decision, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, concluded it’s not just illegal to ship grenades or suitcases of cash. “Advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization” is also a felony.
Why, then, nearly two months after it was revealed that the Treasury Department is investigating former Gov. Ed Rendell for receiving money from a terrorist group to undertake just that sort of advocacy, has he not been indicted by the Department of Justice?
In recent years, Rendell had delivered speeches in support of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian Marxist-Islamist group that resides in an Iraqi desert base and that the U.S. designated a terrorist organization for killing Americans during the 1970s.
One 10-minute speech earned Rendell $20,000, and he frequently flew to Europe to call for MEK’s removal from the terror list. That would appear to fall within the extraordinarily broad definition of “material support” used by the Obama administration.
When the mayor announced that the feeding of (homeless) folks in city parks would be forbidden by an administrative rule, he did so in what looked like a hurry: a press conference was called on 30 minutes' notice, just weeks after a different rule requiring permits to serve free food was proposed by the city's Board of Health.
Groups currently serving meals on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — the obvious targets of the new rule — would be allowed to continue serving meals on the apron of City Hall, the mayor said. The ban on park food giveaways was to take effect, the mayor said, 30 days from his announcement.
That was about 45 days ago.
Turns out things seem to be moving a little more slowly than they appeared to be at the time. The Mayor's spokesman, Mark McDonald, said late last week that port-o-potties and hand-washing stations will be available starting tomorrow, May 1, but that he was not aware of any groups who had secured the required permits to serve food (though McDonald said he believed one group had started the process).
Tuesday’s primary wasn’t just a school-voucher showdown or a biennial chance to crack open the local political machine and peer inside. It was also the dry run for Pennsylvania’s brand-new voter-ID law, touted by Pennsylvania Republicans as a voter-fraud deterrent. The legislation, signed in March, drew outrage from Democrats and civil-rights groups who say there’s paltry evidence that voter fraud exists in significant amounts and call the law a naked attempt to suppress the votes of Democratic-leaning poor people, minorities and students.
This primary was supposed to be a practice run for November, when a state driver’s license, passport or other specified ID will be required to vote in Pennsylvania. Poll workers were supposed to ask for photo ID and inform those without it that they’ll need it next time, but confusion was abundant across the state. The Committee of Seventy reported poll workers “in many locations” in Philly weren’t asking at all, while some in other areas were overzealous. According to the ACLU, some poll workers in Pittsburgh erroneously told voters ID was required, a sign at one Harrisburg polling place read “Be prepared to show photo identification” and another in Cumberland County erroneously declared, “ID required to vote."
In Philadelphia, some Democrats took the opportunity to show their distaste for the measure.
“As you know, the Republicans in Harrisburg recently passed a new voter ID law,” began a letter distributed at polling places in the 5th Ward, which stretches from Society Hill through Midtown Village, Chinatown and Northern Liberties. “The law is scheduled for a test run in the primary. We advise you to decline to present a photo ID for this election if requested. ... The new law is being challenged in state and federal court. We think there is a good chance that it will be struck down.”
Naked City's live Philly 2012 primary election reporting extravaganza post
Welcome to our 2012 primary super-bloggo-extravaganza! Below, you'll find live coverage from Naked City's entrepid reporting team.
Rick Santorum may have dropped out, but this year's primary is plenty interesting. First, here's how and where to vote, and who you'll be voting for.
In the 182nd state house district, longtime incumbent progressive Babette Josephs faces a serious challenge from former treasurer Brian Sims, a former football player who would be the first openly gay state legislator in Pennsylvania history.
In the 197th, Jewell Williams, who left his job as state rep to become Philly's sheriff, will be replaced by Jamil Ali, JP Miranda, Kenneth Walker Jr. or Jewel — that's one 'l' — Williams, his daughter. To make it all more confusing, there's a simultaneous special election being held to fill that seat until November. More on that race from Philly Clout.
In West Philly's 188th district, incumbent James Roebuck, ranking member of the House Education Committee, is facing a serious challenge from Penn grad Fatimah Loren Muhammad — one of several candidates this year backed by a massive influx of money from a shadowy PAC supporting private school vouchers as my colleague Daniel Denvir has reported.
Philadelphia public schools are on the operating table, reeling from a knockout blow of heavy state budget cuts. It was too much to bear after decades of underfunding and mismanagement at the hands of shortsighted Philadelphians and mean-spirited politicians in Harrisburg.
So the District is today announcing that it's going to call it quits. Its organs will be harvested, in search of a relatively vital host.
“Philadelphia public schools is not the School District,” Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen told a handful of reporters at yesterday's press conference laying out the five-year plan proposed to the School Reform Commission. “There's a redefinition, and we'll get to that later.”
He got to it: talk about “modernization,” “right-sizing,” “entrepreneurialism” and “competition.”
Today we're posting sample ballots, endorsements and cheat sheets for tomorrow's primary. Each, of course, reprsents the opinion of the individual or group who sent it to us (because we don't have opinions).
Here are the picks by former City Controller candidate, tax reform activist, and general political gadfly Brett Mandel.
District 182 – Center City Philadelphia including Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square, Grays Ferry, Bella Vista, and Logan Circle -- Brian Sims (D) is an attorney and civil rights advocate who is the former Staff Counsel for Policy and Planning at the Philadelphia Bar Association. Brian has the smarts and the energy to change the divisive and corrupting Harrisburg political culture. http://www.sims4pa.com/
District 188 – West Philadelphia including University City, Walnut Hill, Spruce Hill, Cedar Park, and Squirrel Hill -- Fatima Muhammad (D) is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and former associate director of Penn’s Greenfield Intercultural Center. Fatima is intelligent, principled, and capable. Fatima would be an exciting new voice in a state legislature that is often reluctant to change. http://www.electfatimah.com/
District 195 – North and West Philadelphia including Mantua, Powelton Village, Fairmount, and North Philadelphia -- Andrew Kleeman (D) is an experienced businessman and engaged community member. He has created jobs and fought for neighborhood change. Andrew is someone who could make a difference in Harrisburg in areas from green energy to governmental reform. http://www.kleeman2012.com/
District 202 – North and Northeast Philadelphia including Olney, Oxford Circle, and Lawncrest -- Numa St. Louis (D) is an attorney and community advocate and recently served as the Director of the Student Enrichment Academy of TAFS, the largest family shelter in Philadelphia. Numa is energetic and bright and is passionate about making real change. http://www.vote4numa.com/
District 172 – Northeast Philadelphia including Fox Chase, Bustleton, and Mayfair -- Kevin Boyle (D) is seeking re-election after his first term as State Representative. Kevin is a Philly guy (Cardinal Dougherty/La Salle University) who earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University and has been a thoughtful voice for education issues. http://voteboyle.com/kevin/
District 156 – East Bradford Township, East Goshen Township, West Chester, West Goshen -- Bret binder (D) is a super bright lawyer who has grown local businesses and created jobs. He is innovative and energetic (and a heck of a pitcher) and will be a strong proponent for support for public education and other progressive issues. http://www.bretbinderforpa.com
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