Well, here's a sign that conservatives are afraid that Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D. PA-13) can beat incumbent Governor Tom Corbett (R. PA). Tie Schwartz to Dr. Kermit Gosnell:
http://blogs.phillymag.com/...
Exhibit A that conservatives will try to use Allyson Schwartz’s past against her during her gubernatorial run. Today’s headline in the Weekly Standard: “Did Pennsylvania Democrat Allyson Schwartz Send Women to Gosnell’s House of Horrors?” (From ’75-’88, Schwartz was director a reproductive rights clinic in Philadelphia affiliated with Planned Parenthood.) The Standard‘s answer? We have absolutely no idea, but we thought we’d go ahead and assume the worst.
A Planned Parenthood official denies that Blackwell ever referred mothers seeking abortions to take the 10-minute drive across town to Gosnell’s clinic, though she did not explain how she knew this. “We have never referred to Gosnell,” said the official in an email to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Could she confirm that going all the way back to 1972, the year Gosnell first opened his clinic? The official did not immediately respond. - The Philly Post, 5/3/13
Here's what the conservative Weekly Standard says:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/...
Allyson Schwartz, the Democratic suburban Philadelphia congresswoman running for governor, was the director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, from 1975 to 1988. Her time there coincided with the formative years of abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s infamous career.
Located in downtown Philadelphia, the Blackwell Center is on Chestnut Street, a stone’s throw away from Reading Terminal Market and Philly’s iconic city hall. It’s also less than three miles over the Schuylkill River from what was once the Women’s Medical Society, the “house of horrors” clinic in West Philadelphia run by Gosnell.
Gosnell, of course, is currently on trial in federal court on five counts of murder—one mother and four born-alive infants whom he allegedly killed outside the womb. Investigators believe Gosnell and his staff killed many more infants who were born alive. (Prosecution recently dropped charges against him for the murder of three more infants.) In January 2011, he was arrested following a federal raid on his clinic in February 2010. The investigation into Gosnell’s clinic has revealed the gruesome conditions under which he and his staff worked.
With the case getting national attention, and with the congresswoman’s political profile rapidly rising, some in Philadelphia’s pro-life community have begun to wonder about Schwartz’s own relationship with Gosnell’s longtime Philly practice. Did the Blackwell Center refer late-term patients to Gosnell while Schwartz was its director? Both Schwartz’s congressional office and her gubernatorial campaign have so far failed to answer requests for on-the-record answers to these questions. - The Weekly Standard, 5/3/13
It's not surprising that the Weekly Standard and other right-wing, pro-life groups are trying to tie Schwartz to Gosnell this early. Especially since Schwartz is crushing Corbett in the polls:
http://www.esquire.com/...
If you want to see a politician with the gallows in his eyes, take a look at Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, whose re-election prospects at the moment look like an offer for a free introductory case of cholera.
Pennsylvania voters disapprove of the first-term Republican's job performance 47-38 percent (which follows a four-month trend of bad numbers for the incumbent). From the pollsters: Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak tops Corbett 48 -- 34 percent, including 45 -- 29 percent among independent voters: U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz is ahead 47 -- 34 percent, including 45 -- 27 percent among independent voters: State Treasurer Rob McCord is up 44 -- 35 percent, including 40 -- 30 percent among independent voters.
Tom's got a ready reply, however, for the news that his approval rating has sunk to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. The incredibly unpopular policies he's put in place just haven't really kicked in yet.
Mr. Corbett said he isn't bothered by the poll numbers because budget cuts have been painful and the economic turnaround they were meant to achieve hasn't fully happened yet. "We've been feeling the pain and the economy is only starting to come back," he said in an interview in Washington Monday afternoon after he spoke at a small-business summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. - Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 5/2/13
Corbett's highest disapprovals come from female voters, especially since the Pennsylvania GOP tried to push through a bill making it mandatory for women who are considering getting an abortion to have an ultrasound. Corbett of course said this:
Corbett and the GOP think abortion can be the go to issue to defeat Schwartz but that could royally backfire:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Corbett, whose poll numbers are shaky for an incumbent, has a major problem with women voters by most measures. Monday's Quinnipiac University poll found women opposed to his reelection by a 2-1 margin - 54 percent to 27 percent. (He's considerably stronger among men, but still in negative territory.)
Democratic opponents are bound to try to widen the gender gap in the coming campaign - a tactic that worked wonders in the 2012 presidential race - perhaps by reminding voters of Corbett's "close your eyes" comment. He was referring to a bill requiring women to get an ultrasound in the 24 hours before an abortion.
Now, in context, Corbett was saying he didn't think anyone could be forced to look at a fetal image, and that in any case he opposed the type of ultrasound that involves an internal probe. Plus, the bill didn't pass.
But don't look for those distinctions to be honored in the heat of a campaign.
Another possible inflection point for the abortion issue: U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, considered the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, was executive director three decades ago of a women's health center that provided abortions and other services.
To be sure, it was a reputable clinic, and all the major Democratic candidates have the same position on abortion as Schwartz, i.e. supporting a woman's right to choose.
Yet, most analysts looking to 2014 figure somebody will make an issue of that early entry on Schwartz's resumé. "It would be the biggest grassroots motivator in a generation," said GOP consultant Jeff Coleman, who is wired into the social-issues conservative movement.
In other words, economy or no economy, look for both sides to use abortion to rally the base.
"Could social issues become a real vote-decider next year?" said veteran pollster G. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College. "It's a possibility." - Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/30/13
Now Schwartz has stated that she wants to make this race about Pennsylvania's economy and Corbett's failed leadership but she is willing to hit Corbett's role in the GOP's War On Women. She should have no problems with going after Corbett on the economy though, especially since Corbett's revenue plan is coming up short:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
State revenue streams for the month of April, one of the fiscal year’s biggest collection months, raised $3.6 billion, according to the Department of Revenue.
That is nearly $32 million more than was anticipated when the budget was enacted last June.
It brings the fiscal year-to-date collections to $23.9 billion, or $67 million above estimate, to support the $27.7 billion state general fund budget.
But based on revenue projections released today by the state's Independent Fiscal Office, that $67 million is likely to disappear by the time the fiscal year ends on June 30. That is mostly because of slumping sales tax collections.
In April, sales tax receipts totaled $752.4 million, or nearly $65 million below estimate. That brings the year-to-date sales tax receipts to $309 million below estimate, which the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center noted erases almost all of the surpluses the state has seen from its year-to-date corporation and personal income tax collections .
Personal income tax collections in April came in at $1.9 billion, or $86 million above estimate. Corporation taxes produced nearly $525 million, or about $12 million below estimate.
The Independent Fiscal Office projects the state will end this fiscal year with its revenue streams raising $28.6 billion.
For the 2013-14 fiscal year, that office’s initial estimate anticipates revenues growing by 1.2 percent, for a total of $28.9 billion. It will release its official estimate of the revenue forecast on June 17 although its executive director Matthew Knittel said he didn’t anticipate much changing.
Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget anticipated starting the next fiscal year with a $230 million surplus from this year, plus anticipated revenue growth of 1.3 percent, for a total of $29.2 billion. - The Patriot-news, 5/1/13
According to Matthew Knittel, executive director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Corbett's budget is short $520 million in revenue to fund next year's budget. Also Corbett's been getting hammered for his insensitive remarks about Pennsylania's unemployed:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
In a discussion about Pennsylvania's unemployment, Gov. Tom Corbett cited a number of factors at play, including a lack of people in certain skills and some people just now entering the job market again.
But the Republican governor's remark about the role of drug users adding to unemployment is drawing criticism from Democrats and gaining nationwide attention.
In an interview with PAMatters.com on Monday, Corbett said, "There are many employers that say we're looking for people but can't find anyone who has passed a drug test. That's a concern for me because we're having a serious problem with that."
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate remained higher than the national average in March, the most recent month figures are available.
The Keystone State's unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in March, down from 8.1 percent in February. Conversely, the nationwide unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in March. - The Patriot-News, 5/1/13
You can watch the video of Corbett saying his stupid statement here:
Here's some insight on Corbett's claim:
http://articles.mcall.com/...
The numbers do not even support his claim about phantom employers with drug-crazed job applicants. One report said only 1.8 percent of workers in federally regulated industries failed drug tests.
As for his promise to create an "economic environment that will allow business to grow," there instead is only one state with worse job growth numbers than Pennsylvania — Wyoming. (I guess there are too many lazy or drug-addled cowboys out there.)
Among large states, the best job growth was in Texas, which had an increase of 322,600 jobs from March 2012 to March 2013, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over that same period, says the BLS, Pennsylvania lost a total of 1,800 jobs.
So it seems Corbett was right about creating jobs by boosting business interests, although the main beneficiaries may have been the Texas gas drilling robber barons. Also, the Texas job situation is surely helped by the fact that the state is full of people who'd never think of taking drugs, exemplified by Texas icon Willie Nelson and the many wade-the-Rio-Grand immigrants.
The Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, however, is still in Corbett's camp, and I'm sure his campaign will once again be backed by the robber barons of Texas, where there has been job growth galore.
It would be unfair to attribute all that economic bliss in Texas to Corbett, but nobody can say he didn't help.
The robber barons gave him more than $2 million in "campaign contributions" in return for his actions to make Pennsylvania the only gas-producing state in America that does not impose a severance tax on the gas extracted from thousands of new gas wells. (Even Texas has such a tax.)
Corbett also made sure his oddly named Department of Environmental Protection turned a blind eye to gas drillers as they rampaged through Pennsylvania with wells that use millions of gallons of intensely toxic solutions to force subterranean rock formations to release gas, contaminating drinking water resources in the process.
The gas boom promised by Corbett, alas, did not do much to produce jobs for Pennsylvanians. (I can picture Corbett's new campaign slogan: "I did better than Wyoming when it comes to jobs." Or maybe: "I helped create 322,600 new jobs and it's not my fault if they're all in Texas.") - Morning Call, 5/2/13
Democrats have been hitting Corbett hard on this remark:
"Governor Corbett's response to his own failed leadership on the economy shifts between making excuses and blaming and insulting the people of Pennsylvania," Schwartz said. "Either way, Pennsylvanians know it's obviously time for a new governor." - The Patriot-News, 5/1/13
http://www.delcotimes.com/...
The state Democratic Party chairman, Jim Burn, said Wednesday that the governor's latest comment recalled his 2010 campaign gaffe questioning the work ethic of people receiving unemployment checks when the unemployed vastly outnumbered the available jobs, which generated a broadside of editorial criticism. Both incidents call Corbett's sensitivity into question, he said.
"I've never seen an elected official who comes across as simply not caring more than this governor," Burn said in a teleconference with reporters.
Democratic state Treasurer Rob McCord charged that Corbett does not understand the economy or the nature of unemployment.
"It's not rocket science, but it seems to elude this administration," said McCord, who is considered a likely candidate for his party's gubernatorial nomination.
John Hanger, a former state environmental protection secretary and former utility regulator who has declared his candidacy for the Democratic nod, said Corbett "insults Pennsylvanians looking for a job, full-time work or simply a better job by saying they can't pass drug tests." - Delco Times, 5/2/13
State Treasurer Rob McCord (D. PA), who is also considered a potential candidate for Governor, has also been making Corbett's life a living Hell:
http://blog.pennlive.com/...
He's not running for governor -- yet -- but Democratic state Treasurer Rob McCord is starting to look like someone who wants to spend the next 12 or 13 months annoying the bejesus out of GOP Gov. Tom Corbett.
McCord is putting the brakes on $2.6 million in payments to NIC USA, the company that won a single-source contract to manage executive branch websites in late 2012, the PAIndependent reports this morning.
As part of the deal, NIC provides all website design, hardware, implementation and management and the state pays nothing up front, the Indy reports. McCord's office is reviewing the legality of the terms.
NIC has agreements with 28 other states and it makes money based on the fees that are paid by website users, such as license renewals and records requests. But the administration wants to pay NIC before that money starts coming in, the Indy reports. An administration spokesman said the state is trying to beat a 2015 deadline to get off its old server and it takes 18 to 24 months for the changeover.
Treasury Department spokesman Gary Tuma says McCord is still waiting to receive answers from the administration about the payments before it decides whether they'll be issued
“Some of our questions revolve around some of the amounts contained in the contract, and the approval process for the contract,” Tuma told the Independent. - The Patriot-News, 5/2/13
There is a long list of issues to hit Corbett on. Education cuts, mandatory ultrasounds, the way he slow walked the Penn State sex abuse scandal as Attorney General for political gain, voter ID laws, letting Jerry Sandusky lose and of course his generous corporate tax breaks. It's no wonder he's probably the most vulnerable governor in the country. But this particular issue could lead to the demise of his political career:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
A GOP proposal to split up Pennsylvania’s electoral votes proportionally, effectively ending its status as a prize swing state, could spill over into the governor’s race next year.
State Senate President Dominic Pileggi (R) introduced the electoral vote legislation in February after an unsuccessful attempt, backed by Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and state Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R), to pass similar legislation in 2011. Pileggi’s office has said the bill is a low legislative priority and Corbett has kept quiet about his position on the latest version, but Democrats have been warning for months that the Republican legislature might suddenly bring it to the floor before the next election cycle order to boost the Republican presidential candidate in 2016. GOP lawmakers would likely have to push the bill through before the 2014 election to ensure Democrats don’t recapture either chamber or the governorship and block it.
Former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), considered one of the leading potential Democratic candidates to run against Corbett for governor in 2014, decried the legislation at a press conference Monday organized by the progressive People For The American Way.
“This is one more step toward harming one man, one vote,” he said. “If you side with the party over the citizen, if you side with the party over the principle of one man, one vote, then side with Dominic Pileggi and his cohort, that Tammany Hall boss who said over a century ago that it doesn’t matter what a citizen does with his vote — if I can count it.”
In an email, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), who has already launched her campaign against Corbett, also condemned the plan on Wednesday.
“The Republicans want to change the way Pennsylvania awards its Electoral College votes to help their candidates because they could not win on the issues in 2012,” she said. “Now they are trying to change the rules to tilt the vote in their favor. This proposal will disenfranchise millions of Pennsylvania voters and diminish our state’s power in presidential elections.” - TPM, 5/1/13
Pennsylvania is already one of the most gerrymandered states that works in the GOP's favor:
http://mainlinemedianews.com/...
Delaware County Democratic Party Chairman David Landau said Republicans can’t win presidential elections under the current rules so they want to change the game.
He said there are similar efforts happening in other states where voters have leaned toward Democratic presidents.
There are about 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans in Pennsylvania, but the Republican-dominated Legislature in Harrisburg has gerrymandered the congressional districts to their advantage, according to Landau.
Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak discussed how the 7th Congressional District is one of the most gerrymandered congressional districts in the state. He said the political party in power in Harrisburg — whether it is Republican or Democratic — can manipulate congressional district lines to their advantage. - Main Line Media News, 5/1/13
Sestak and McCord have yet to announce their candidacies but Schwartz has been gearing up for both the primary and the general election:
http://www.politicspa.com/...
Allyson Schwartz continues to build her gubernatorial campaign team. Obama Pennsylvania campaign alum Pat Millham started with the Congresswoman today. Bill Hyers will join in the fall, two Democratic operatives told PoliticsPA.
Hyers was Obama’s State Director, the highest campaign official in the Pa. Millham was the President’s Political Director in the state where he coordinated elected officials, labor organizations, and and other elements of the Obama coalition.
Millham will be a senior adviser to Schwartz and will run the operation for the next several months.
The two Democratic sources say Hyers will assume the duties of campaign manager in November at the latest; he presently manages the campaign of New York City mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio, one of the Democrats competing in the Sept. 10 primary.
Schwartz’s team currently comprises Communications Director Reesa Kossoff, who ran press for Obama in Ohio, and Finance Director Aubrey Montgomery, formerly of the Pa. Democratic Party – as well as longtime Schwartz aide Neil Deegan. - Politics, PA, 5/1/13
Schwartz would be making history next year by becoming Pennsylvania's first female governor if she wins both the primary and the general election. If you'd like to get involved with Schwartz's campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.allysonschwartz.com/...