UPDATE: Well the joke is on me! Weigel updated his article to state that his piece was meant to be satirical stating that it is unconstitutional to run any election using anything but a one person one vote system. Apologies about this. But I stand by my warning about any new voter suppression tricks the PA GOP might try to push through.
IF there is one Republican Governor Democrats have the best shot at unseating next it's Tom Corbett (R. PA). I have written a number of journal that have showcased how awful and corrupt Corbett has been and even the GOP's own secret polling shows him trailing Democrats like Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D. PA-13) by double digits. Even Larry Sabato has put the Pennsylvania Governors Race in the "Leans Democrat" category. There's a long list of reasons why Corbett is unpopular and doomed to become a one termer. But David Weigel at Slate gives a sobering reminder of just how Corbett may be able to pull off a re-election victory:
http://www.slate.com/...
This year, as in 2011, Pennsylvania Republicans are contemplating a plan that would split up the state's electoral votes by congressional district. Doing so, minimizing the vote totals in southeastern PA, would be a massive boon for Republican presidential candidates. So, well, why not force Pennsylvanians to elect their governors on a similar basis? Instead of the popular vote, count the number of counties won.
Here, look at the 2012 electoral map.
Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney fairly easily but won only 12 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. He came within 21 votes of picking up Centre County, home of Penn State, and within a thousand votes of holding Chester County in the Philly 'burbs, but the swathes of "Pennsyltucky" broke hard against him. Actually, even better example—look at how Sen. Bob Casey did when he locked up an 8-point re-election that day.
That's only 18 of 67 counties. A rollicking campaign against Corbett probably wouldn't do better than an 8-point, 9-point popular vote win, so this is probably the best way to shore him up. It's consistent with the "make rural voters count" theory behind EV-splitting, too. Why should the 650,000-odd stoop-sitting voters of Philadelphia County count more than the nearly 2,000 hard-working, hand-calloused voters of Cameron County? - Slate, 7/8/13
So Corbett's shot at winning a 2nd term could hinge on how successful Pennsylvania Republicans are at pushing their plan to rig the electoral votes. Pennsylvania Republicans having been pushing to rig elections in their favor for a while now:
http://www.dailylocal.com/...
In 2011 alone, legislators in 34 states introduced bills requiring voters show photo identification. Because of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Department of Justice would not allow Texas and South Carolina’s strict voter ID laws to be enforced on the premise that they could suppress minority voters.
Last year, just in time for the presidential election, the Republican-dominated Pennsylvania Legislature passed a law requiring voters to produce state-approved photo identification at the polls. Lawmakers insisted it was designed to prevent voter fraud although state officials could produce no evidence of it. In fact, a study of all 50 states funded by the Knight Foundation and Carnegie Corp. showed that voter fraud in the United States was “infinitesimal,” occurring with about one in every 15 million registered voters. Opponents of the law maintained it was designed to disenfranchise the poor, the elderly, young adults, minorities and others who may have difficulty obtaining photo identification and who typically vote Democrat.
Obama carried both Delaware County and Pennsylvania in 2008. The motivation for the otherwise pointless law was proven last June when House Majority Leader Michael Turzai, R-Allegheny County, boasted at a GOP dinner that the Voter ID law “is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.”
A lawsuit brought by eight Democrats, the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Homeless Advocacy Project to block implementation of the law for the Nov. 6 election was first heard last August by Republican Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, who determined that the inconvenience of the law would be minimal. But volunteers for the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center found a lack of accurate information on obtaining photo identification for voters during their 47 visits to 43 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation licensing centers and in three out of 10 visits, they were incorrectly told they would have to pay $13.50 each for voter identification cards that are free.
Simpson issued an injunction against the law’s enforcement for the Nov. 6 election after his initial decision was appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which directed him to assess the availability of alternative forms of voter identification.
Efforts to thwart voters still exist as seen in redistricting here in Pennsylvania where state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9th of Chester, has also proposed altering the way Electoral College votes are tallied. The constitutionality of the Pennsylvania Voter ID law also must still be determined. With Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, the prospect that it will be upheld is daunting. - Chester County Daily Local News, 6/27/13
Corbett's proven to be a polarizing and ineffective Governor. He was able to get his budget passed but due to his low approval numbers, even his GOP colleagues in the state House and Senate don't want to be closely associated with him. Hence why Corbett couldn't get his pensions reform, transportation and liquor privatization plans passed before the Pennsylvania legislature went on break. Another unpopular initiative of Corbett's has been privatizing the lottery which he keeps on pushing for:
http://www.ydr.com/...
The Corbett Administration has reached a new extension with Camelot Global Services, giving the governor and his team a few more weeks to take the next step in its quest to privatize administration of the Pennsylvania Lottery.
The new agreement keeps the troubled deal alive through July 31, giving both sides the relative peace of a summer month to see if there are strong grounds to resubmit the proposed contract to Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
In February, Kane rejected the proposed contract with Camelot, saying that Corbett overstepped his executive authority in trying to privatize the lottery's management without legislative approval, among other reasons.
Corbett and his staff disagree with that conclusion.
They have been working ever since to try to rewrite the contract with Camelot to overcome Kane's objections, without violating state procurement rules that require a project to be rebid if the terms of a deal are altered substantially. - The Patriot-News, 7/5/13
Not to mention Corbett's personal life isn't getting good press either:
http://articles.philly.com/...
A fired Philadelphia police officer who is a son-in-law of Gov. Corbett was charged Wednesday with theft and related offenses stemming from a sting operation set up to catch him stealing while on duty.
Gerald Gibson, 43, was released on his own recognizance following a preliminary court appearance early Wednesday evening.
A spokesman for Corbett did not respond to a request for comment.
In a January statement, Corbett said: "I was surprised and concerned to learn about the allegations regarding my son-in-law Gerald Gibson. Susan and I continue to give our family our love and support." - Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/5/13
So it makes sense that Corbett's best shot of winning re-election is by rigging the system. He's already working on raising $30 million for his re-election campaign is trying to appeal to swing voters:
http://www.observer-reporter.com/...
Campaign adviser John Brabender thinks the governor can sell his story to key swing groups – moderate Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs, conservative Democrats in Johnstown, Erie and Scranton, and independents who may have voted for Corbett in 2010 and President Barack Obama last year.
Expect to hear a lot from him about jobs, taxes, government reform and, perhaps surprisingly, education, where he has been hammered over layoffs, property tax increases and larger class sizes but just signed a funding increase. He can also talk about enacting Marcellus shale regulations and an impact fee on gas drilling, changes in laws governing civil lawsuits, on-time budgets, a fix to the broken unemployment compensation system and abortion regulations.
“We are going to aggressively start sharing the Tom Corbett story in Pennsylvania,” Brabender said. “And we are not going to be shy about pointing out legitimate contrasts that he has with the many Democrats that are trying to raise a lot of money and run.”
One of them is Allyson Schwartz, a Democratic congresswoman from the Philly suburbs who was quick to capitalize on the collapse of Corbett’s nonbudget agenda last week.
“We need better leadership in Pennsylvania, and Gov. Corbett’s failure in this budget cycle demonstrates his lack of leadership,” Schwartz said, blaming him for cuts to education and disputing his new mantra about historically high levels of state support for K-12 schools.
“Being an incumbent governor, he has to stand up for what he has been and what he has accomplished – or not,” she said. - Observer Report, 7/7/13
Not sure if there's support in the Senate or House to pass any bill to rig the electoral system but the fact that Corbett has to raise $30 million just to win re-election shows that he's scared and he should be. But we are not going to let an expensive campaign dupe voters into reelecting Corbett and Pennsylvania Democrats have been fighting hard to make cure Corbett doesn't rig the system to guarantee him a second term. If you would like to get involved with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, you can do so here:
http://www.padems.com/
And if you would like to get involved with Allyson Schwartz's (D) campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.allysonschwartz.com/...