Dead Man Walking
Same but still good news:
http://www.philly.com/...
Democrat Tom Wolf holds a commanding 22-point lead over Republican incumbent Tom Corbett, according to a new poll in the Pennsylvainia governor's race.
The Franklin & Marshall College poll showed Wolf leading Corbett 47 percent to 25 percent with 27 percent of voters undecided.
"The situation [Corbett] faces is pretty simple to explain," poll director G. Terry Madonna told PennLive. "He needs to find some successes to take to the voters this fall. Typically governors seeking re-election have a panoply of successes on which to go back to the voters. You don't want to go back to the voters and say, 'I didn't do A, B or C, but let me try again.'"
The issue for Corbett has been is inability to bring disparate factions of Republicans together in the legislature to advance his agenda - an issue playing out right now with a budget completed by the June 30 deadline, but not signed by Corbett because he is demanding pension reform legislation.
"He needs big victories to take to his voters — and his own party isn't helping him," Madonna told PennLive. - Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/2/14
Here's some more info:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
Only 30 percent of 502 respondents polled June 23-29 felt the state was "headed in the right direction," while 59 percent said it was "on the wrong track," according to the poll from the Lancaster college.
More voters in the poll found Corbett "strongly unfavorable" at 34 percent than the combined number of those who found him "strongly favorable" at 8 percent and "somewhat favorable," 19 percent.
That compares with 35 percent of voters who found Wolf either somewhat or strongly favorable and 12 percent who found him strongly or somewhat unfavorable.
Voters still seem to be wrapping their heads around Wolf, as 52 percent of respondents said they were undecided or didn't know how they felt about the Democrat. Only 14 percent hadn't decided or didn't know what to say about Corbett.
"Wolf right now is the beneficiary of hugely positive voter reaction to his primary campaign, and he comes out of it with advantages," Madonna said. "He doesn't face the downside of being a politician now."
But Madonna said the poll numbers are "mostly about Corbett."
"If Corbett had a 50 percent positive job performance, he wouldn't be behind by 22 points," Madonna said, noting Corbett posted the lowest job performance for any incumbent governor in modern history.
Madonna said the June poll was also the first time voters chose education to overtake jobs and economy-related issues for the title of biggest problem facing the state. - The Patriot-News, 7/2/14
The poll claims Corbett has really failed to connect with voters:
http://lancasteronline.com/...
Wolf’s sizable lead underscores a pair of critical problems for Corbett — his inability to connect with voters or paint a clear picture of how he has handled state problems, F&M political analyst G. Terry Madonna said.
“This says more about Corbett than it does about Wolf,” the pollster said. “Governors seek reelection based on one fundamental argument — I had a successful four years and here is what I want to do in my next term. It’s about what you got done, not about what you need four more years to do.”
Amid a challenging budget debate, Corbett faces the hurdles of not only of wooing undecided voters, but peeling away the supporters of a rival who has attracted the attention of residents on both sides of the aisle.
Madonna said at this point it will be challenge for incumbent to make up the ground needed to clinch a second term.
“It’s pretty rare for an incumbent to be where he is, after everything we now know about him, and somehow make a some huge inroad,” Madonna said.
The poll of registered voters — 249 Democrats, 185 Republicans and 67 independents — was conducted June 23 through Sunday by F&M’s Center for Opinion Research. Its margin of error is 4.4 percentage points.
A majority of survey respondents said Corbett is doing a “fair” or “poor” job as governor. And only one in four believe he deserves four more years.
Madonna said the survey reflects a clear disparity between what the governor has been able to deliver to voters and what regular folks say they want.
Most respondents said improving public education is the issue that matters most when considering which candidate they will support.
Devising an economic plan to bring new jobs to the state will be another important issue they will need to address. Personality and their position on taxes will also be factors. - Lancaster Online, 7/2/14
And of course PA's economy is what's really dragging Corbett down:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/...
More than one in five voters (22 percent) named education as the issue that will be most important to them when deciding on a governor. About one in eight voters (13 percent) named the economy and job market.
Of the voters who believe the governor has done only a fair or poor job, more than a quarter (27 percent) thought so because of Mr. Corbett’s education cuts and other education issues.
“Not only is it an issue for them to vote, but when we ask them what’s the most important issue, they cite it,” Dr. Madonna said. “And he lost the narrative (on education) because hundreds of the 500 school districts have had property tax hikes, teachers and staff layoffs and program curtailments.”
About another one in eight (13 percent) named economic issues, saying he has only done a fair or good job.
“The economy is getting better, but there are too many voters who have dropped out of the workforce and too many voters who are not optimistic about the future, who don’t think their personal finances are going to get that much better,” Dr. Madonna said. “There’s a big perception, 59 percent, that the state’s off on the wrong track.”
Only three in 10 voters (30 percent) believe the state is headed in the right direction, according to the poll.
On the plus side for Mr. Corbett, about a quarter of voters (23 percent) who think he has done an excellent or good job named the improved economy, lowering taxes and creating jobs as their reasons.
Also, about a quarter of voters (24 percent) remain uncertain about who they will back for governor. Mr. Corbett picked up more of these (20 percent) than Mr. Wolf (16 percent) when they were asked which candidate they were leaning toward.
Despite the improved economy, Mr. Corbett isn’t benefiting, Dr. Madonna said.
“He needs victories,” he said. “He’s got to change the narrative from, ‘This is what I want’ to ‘This is what I’ve done.’” - Scranton Times-Tribune, 7/2/14
Corbett is so toxic that neither Republicans or Democrats want anything to do with him or his extreme agenda:
http://articles.mcall.com/...
The House tossed Gov. Tom Corbett's pension gauntlet back in his lap Tuesday, a day after he vowed not to sign a new budget until lawmakers vote to reform the state's two debt-laden retirement systems.
Fifteen Republicans in the GOP-controlled House joined 92 Democrats in voting to ship the leading pension bill to a committee chaired by Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bucks, who has disagreed with several pieces of the Republican governor's agenda in the last three years.
DiGirolamo made the motion to move the bill, which would change future benefits for new hires, from the House floor to his Human Services Committee.
Under House rules, only a committee chairman can advance a bill for a hearing debate and vote.
"With pension reform in Gene's committee, I highly doubt it will ever see the light of day," said Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh.
That's DiGirolamo's plan.
Moving the proposal to the committee was a delaying tactic so lawmakers could find a better solution to the pension deficit, DiGirolamo said. He added that the bill will not go back to the full House.
"It didn't seem we were on the right track to accomplish what we were trying to accomplish," he said.
Rep. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe, who is running for the new 40th District Senate seat in Monroe and Northampton counties, was the only local Republican to vote with the Democrats.
The shelved bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuylkill, and endorsed by Corbett, would mandate new employees put the first $50,000 of their paychecks into the traditional pension systems. Any pay over that amount would go into a 401(k). The bill is estimated to save taxpayers $11 billion to $14.2 billion over three decades. - The Morning Call, 7/2/14
And of course he's tried to bully legislators into passing his budget:
http://www.phillymag.com/...
The city of Philadelphia was the victim of an attempted mugging last night.
I don’t resort to that sort of language lightly. But I’m not sure how else to describe the staggering gall and grotesque irresponsibility now being showcased by the nation’s least popular governor and a radical Republican state House.
If you’re not familiar with the backstory, here’s a summary.
The state and the feds eviscerate school funding, particularly for Philadelphia schools.
The state largely ignores desperate pleas from the city and School District for more state funding for the state-run school district, even as City Council and the mayor raise local taxes, borrow money and antagonize their own voters in order to keep the schools functioning (and just barely, at that).
School kids and parents, meanwhile, face the prospect of a district that very well may be too underfunded even to open in the fall.
Until Sunday night, that’s where things stood. And then the attempted robbery.
Corbett and House Republicans summoned reporters, and demanded that city Democrats vote for pension reforms they deeply oppose, if they would see the school district funded this fall.
That would be hardball even if Corbett and the GOP were offering state funds in exchange for fulfilling their constitutional duty to fund education. But there is no new state money in play here.
All Corbett and House Republicans are offering in exchange for Democratic buckling on pensions is state authorization for the city to tax its own citizens more for cigarettes.
“If there is a positive pension reform vote there will be a cigarette tax for Philadelphia,” Corbett told reporters yesterday.
And then he actually said this, referring to the city’s delegation. “It’s in their hands.”
Really. He said that. Corbett. The same governor who presided over the fiscal meltdown of the city’s schools, the governor who appoints three out of five School Reform Commission members, the governor whose dismal approval ratings are inextricably tied to the financial struggles of districts across the state … - Philadelphia Magazine, 6/30/14
So yeah, it's not hard to understand why Corbett is looking doomed. This is all very encouraging but with Corbett's war chest, he's going to spend every penny duping voters so we need to get ready. Click here to donate and get involved with Wolf's campaign, State Senator Mike Stack's (D. PA) Lt. Governor Campaign and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party so we can also take back the State Senate:
http://www.wolfforpa.com/
http://www.stackforpa.com/
http://www.padems.com/