DAILY GRINDER: As 2011 Approaches, Arlen Specter And Christine O’Donnell Are Down; Tucker Carlson Finally Gets Some Attention
Public Policy Polling: Arlen Specter is leaving office a hated man. The second worst “net approval” rating in the entire senate, with -31. Twenty-nine percent approval, 60 percent disapproval. Your Bob Casey is at 36 percent approval, 40 percent disapproval, which goes to show what we’ve been saying all along: An entire 24 percent of Pennsylvanians have...
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DAILY GRINDER: Ed Rendell’s Football And Other Related Woes
First up: Quick reminders. As of 9 p.m. last night, the city’s snow emergency is deemed over. If you were supposed to put your trash out yesterday, you have to wait until January 3. If you’re going to the Eagles game tonight, SEPTA’s got a “Sports Express” in which trains will be leaving from Fern Rock every 10 minutes between 6:08 p.m. and 7:38 p.m....
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Wine Kiosks Closed: The First Shot?
So, the Liquor Control Board has “temporarily” closed its grocery store wine kiosks, which exist as something of a loophole in Pennsylvania weird commonwealth Quaker laws. And they’ve done so in the shadow of Tom Corbett’s administration quickly eclipsing what hope they had left of keeping liquor stores closed on Sundays, not past a certain time, and...
Continue ReadingThe Long Goodbye: Rendell’s Pardons, Future Plans, Legacy
Governor Ed Rendell is rounding the lower funnel of his time in Harrisburg, and we doubt he’s coming out the bottom unscathed. He’s leaving the state in a deep debt, has just made State Treasurer Rob McCord to begrudgingly sign off on a $650 million infrastructure bond issue (he wanted $1 billion) for six months of projects and made history for the number...
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DAILY GRINDER: Dwight Evans Ain’t Happy
The state of the union is sad. The economy is sad. It’s sad how states have no money (and aren’t getting any, any time soon). But mostly, State Rep. Dwight Evans is so, so sad. And not just because he’s been demoted in Harrisburg. “The problem with the budget is that the people want (what) they’re not willing to pay for. It’s as simple...
Continue ReadingShale Deadline Looms
We know you know. If a Marcellus Shale severance tax compromise isn’t passed by the state legislature before January – possibly before November – we’re all fracked, ha ha. Cause if Tom Corbett becomes governor and his “No New Taxes Pledge” isn’t bullshit, then the Shale won’t be taxed, it’s possible there’ll be no regulations and before you...
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Marcellus Shale Severance Tax: Will It Get Done?
Governor Ed Rendell, or as he’s known in some anonymous, screen name-driven, all-capped social circles, “Fast Eddy,” is trying to ram lots of legislation through before he leaves office in shame. He was …this…sure… there would be some sort of compromise on a Marcellus Shale extraction tax, telling the Inky this week that in spite of their differences,...
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AP/Constitution Center Poll Makes Us Sad
Considering how wacky politics has gotten over the past, say, three years, most polls don’t really surprise us anymore. But we found it pretty ironic that the National Constitution Center released a poll showing government confidence at all time lows around the same time it was revealed the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security paid either $103,000 or...
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Greene Saga: After Lawsuit, It. Is. So. On.
Former Mayor John Street feels betrayed. At least that’s what he said outside city hall late yesterday. He told reporters: “I feel betrayed by Carl Greene because we gave him every support any executive director would want or need” – and he added – “I’m not the only one. Governor [Ed] Rendell feels that way.” Where the hell did we put that...
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