Boy Scouts Take Step in Right Direction

The Boy Scouts of America has approved a change to their national policy.  Boys and young men who are openly gay will now be allowed to formally be scouts.  To be sure, gays have always been scouts but if they openly declared their orientation they could be kicked out.

BSA maintains a ban on openly gay or lesbian scout leaders.  Given time I think this policy will be revisited and changed.

New Charter School Reform Proposal

from the inbox:

State Rep. Steve McCarter, D-Montgomery/Phila., today was joined by the Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee, Rep. James Roebuck, D-Phila., to announce a new charter school reform proposal, the Charter Learning Accountability School Sustainability Act, or CLASS. The CLASS Act is aimed at achieving greater academic accountability, funding equalization and transparency within the charter and cyber charter school system.

 McCarter’s legislation would offer several key revisions to the current charter school law to provide much needed relief to local taxpayers by creating one statewide cyber charter school district to be administered by the state Department of Education. It is estimated that this component of the CLASS Act couldeventually save school districts approximately $230 million to $250 million annually statewide.

A second component of McCarter’s plan would stipulate that students enrolled in charter schools and cyber charter schools with special needs receive the services they require by assigning responsibility to the local intermediate unit.

"By requiring that special education services be assigned to the local intermediate unit, we can assure that there are no overpayments of services to charter schools or cyber charter schools for special needs services," McCarter said.

As an individual who cares deeply about the quality of public education in Pennsylvania, I believe these reforms aimed at the governance, academic accountability, funding equalization and financing of charter and cyber charter schools are essential to ensure our children are getting the best education possible," McCarter said. "This legislation, along with Rep. Roebuck’s HB 934, would go beyond other charter and cyber charter school reform proposals and I urge my fellow legislator’s support." 

"I commend Rep. McCarter for his efforts to hold these publicly funded schools accountable and protect students and taxpayers," Roebuck said. "The recent report by the Democratic staff of the Education Committee shows the need for reforms of charter and cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, and I believe support for reform is growing."

McCarter’s bill would also eliminate overpayments currently allowed under existing law commonly referred to as the "double dip." Under current Pennsylvania law, the formula for calculating how much school districts pay charter schools for each student includes funding for employee pensions, even though the state reimburses charter schools for these costs. Charter schools are paid twice, once from the school district and once from the state.

"This bill would also benefit the taxpayers of Pennsylvania as it aims to create more transparency in the governance and business operation of charter schools by limiting charter school’s ability to amass large surplus accounts and ensure that precious taxpayer dollars are used for the delivery of education, not for profit-sharing investors," McCarter said. "By ensuring that money allocated to charter schools is used to benefit students and not spent on advertising or lobbying, we ensure that our tax dollars are spent properly."

The total savings from these reforms would make an estimated $500 million available for public school funding. 

Unofficial Suburban Voter Turnout

The county election results websites offer some unofficial turnout statistics. 

Montgomery County 

Republican Registration & Turnout

208,545 Voters

	Vote Count	Percent
Cartridge Turnout	23,591	11.31%
Absentee Turnout	347	0.17%
Total	23,938	11.48%

Democratic Registration & Turnout

248,996 Voters

	Vote Count	Percent
Cartridge Turnout	25,258	10.14%
Absentee Turnout	271	0.11%
Total	25,529	10.25%

So while there are more registered Democrats than Republicans and more Democrats turned out to vote numberwise, Republicans came out in a slightly larger percentage.


Bucks County

Registration:

As of May 8, 2013:
Republican - 175,105
Democrat - 186,222
Others - 66,911

Total - 428,238

Bucks does not (that I could find) provide an overall vote total by party, but looking at election results and taking the largest number of votes for any county-wide candidate, here is an estimate of the number of voters by party

Republican: 25,605 (number of total R votes for prothonotary) (14.6% of registered voters)

Democrat:  16,621 (number of total R votes for Superior Court judge) (8.9% of registered voters)

If my numbers are correct (never a sure thing), the R's came out in much greater numbers than the D's.

Delaware County

The Delaware County Daily Times reported on October 26, ("Democrats close gap with GOP among registered voters in Delaware County " by Danielle Lynch):

As of Monday, there were 397,773 registered voters in Delaware County, according to figures released by the county and Pennsylvania Department of State. Of that total, 176,252 are Republicans and 174,890 are Democrats, which leaves 46,631 registered with other parties or without affiliation.

Looking at the unofficial election results and, again taking the largest number of votes for any county-wide candidate, here is an estimate of the number of voters by party:

Republican:  23,243 (for Mary McFall Hopper for Sheriff) (13.2%)

Democrat:  14,482 (for Superior Court judge candidates) (8.2%)

Again, a notably larger group of Republicans came out to vote than did Democrats.

It looks like Dems need to shift manpower from registration to turnout.

National Constitution Center Event

Two interesting events coming up at the National Constitution Center:

There is a party in honor of the new 1968 exhibit -- no word on whether or not Austin Powers will make an appearance:

Dig deep into the closet for those bell bottom jeans, suede vests, and psychedelic tie-dye t-shirts as the National Constitution Center kicks off its summer feature exhibition The 1968 Exhibit, with a groovy, ’60s-inspired shindig celebrating all things peace, love, and freedom.  Aptly dubbed Retro-Rama, the party will take place in the Center’s Grand Hall Lobby on Thursday, June 13, 2013 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The Center will also be displaying an original copy of the Bill of Rights:

As part of a landmark, 100-year agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and The New York Public Library, the National Constitution Center will display one of the 12 surviving copies of the Bill of Rights starting in fall of 2014. The museum of “We the People” will be the first institution in the Pennsylvania to exhibit this historic document to the general public.
After being approved by Congress, this rare original copy of the Bill of Rights was signed by Vice President John Adams (president of the Senate) and dispatched by President George Washington to consider for ratification in 1789. The New York Public Library acquired the document in 1896, when John S. Kennedy – a trustee of The New York Public Library – donated it along with other items he purchased from Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, a noted surgeon and collector of Americana. The Emmet Collection has been accessible to researchers ever since, currently in the Manuscripts and Archives Division. The Library last displayed the document several decades ago, and has never displayed it for an extended period of time for preservation reasons. As part of the historic agreement, the Center announced today it will display the document to the general public for three years starting in the fall of 2014.

PA Lawmakers: Don't Obey Federal Laws

A group of Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced a bill, HB 357, that states:

Providing that any Federal law which attempts to register, restrict or ban a firearm or to limit the size of a magazine of a firearm in this Commonwealth shall be unenforceable in this Commonwealth; and imposing penalties.

It was introduced in January, was referred to the Judiciary Committee and is still sitting there.  These are the loons who sponsored or co-sponsored this bill:


METCALFE, BAKER, BLOOM, BROOKS, CAUSER, CLYMER, EVERETT, GABLER, GROVE, HAHN, C. HARRIS, HESS, HICKERNELL, KAUFFMAN, F. KELLER, M. K. KELLER, KNOWLES, KRIEGER, MAJOR, MILLARD, MILLER, MOUL, MULLERY, PYLE, SACCONE, SANKEY, STEVENSON, TALLMAN, CUTLER, ROAE, ROCK, MALONEY, ELLIS,
MUSTIO, REESE, BENNINGHOFF, EMRICK, METZGAR, JAMES, EVANKOVICH, PAYNE, SWANGER, READSHAW, RAPP, DENLINGER, OBERLANDER, S. H. SMITH, DUNBAR, SAYLOR, MARSHALL, REED, SCAVELLO, MCGINNIS AND LUCAS

Think of all the things our state legislature could be doing if they weren't taking up time with bills like this.

(h/t CeaseFirePA.org)

Jeanne Sorg is Democratic Candidate for Ambler Mayor

Montco election results are filtering in.  The official county website lists 100% of the Ambler votes are in and Jeanne Sorg has won the Democratic mayoral primary with 67% of the votes.  Congrats, Jeanne!

Karma and Disaster Funding

Remember the brouhaha over disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy?  When some Congressmen wouldn't vote for money for NJ?  Some of those guys were from ..... Oklahoma.  So, now, shoe's on the other foot and it isn't a comfortable fit.

Chris Cillizza of the WaPo's Fix blog, puts it in political and economic perspective, read "Jim Inhofe and the reverse "NIMBY" phenomenon"  Interesting stuff.

Election Day

It's now election day.  Please vote while the polls are open (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.).  There aren't many contested races but the voter turnout is taken as an indication of support for candidates going into the general election.  There are some primary races, for example the Mayor of Ambler (shout out for Jeanne Sorg whose path I have crossed in passed years).  There are a lot of local commissioner and school board races.

For some races, especially the judicial races, candidates can cross register so if you vote by party it's important to check party websites for endorsed candidates.  For Montgomery County, check mcdems.org for Democratic candidates, delcodems.com for Delaware County, and bucksdems.org for Bucks County (although, inexplicably they don't list any candidates for 2013).   In Montco the endorsed Democratic candidates for Court of Common Pleas are Gail Weilheimer and Steve Tolliver.

There is a contested primary for Democratic candidate for Superior Court.  Joe Waters is from the Philly area, Jack McVay is the Pittsburgh area candidate.

Phillyburbs has a great interactive election site.  I'm not sure the exact geographic area it covers but if you put in an address it will show all the races for that address, including local elections.  Check it out at:  http://c3.thevoterguide.org/v/phillyburbs13/build.do .  The Delaware County Daily Times also has a voters guide but it is not as snazzy:  http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/05/20/news/doc519a0312c7938121855608.txt


Philadelphia voters have a number of races, include a primary for city controller (I favor Brett Mandel, though I question his judgement in posting photos to twitter) and judicial races.  Please consider Giovanni Campbell, Stephanie Sawyer and Inja Coates for court of common pleas.

Above, all, VOTE!!!!

Note from Jeanne Sorg

an election eve email from the Jeanne Sorg for (Ambler) Mayor campaign:

Wow!  This the final update before the election. 
The doors have all been knocked.  Our get out the vote efforts are winding down.  Now it’s time to vote.  
Voting starts on Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. and goes through 8:00 p.m. in Ambler.   Make your plan now on when you will vote.  Find your voting location here.This campaign has been a rewarding opportunity to meet and get to better know my neighbors in Ambler as I went around more than three times.  I shared with them my positive vision for Ambler’s future and they told me the issues important to them.  This time spent with the citizens of Ambler has made me a better candidate and will help me to effectively lead Ambler.

Montco Natural GasVehicle Conversion Initiative

from the inbox, amended press release:

State Reps. Mary Jo Daley, Madeleine Dean, Mark Painter, Pam DeLissio and Brendan Boyle praised an Act 13 grant of $492,216 by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to the Montgomery County Natural Gas Vehicle Conversion Initiative.

The award, which was applied for through Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities, will go towards helping some of Pennsylvania’s largest companies utilize compressed natural gas as a fuel for their vehicle fleets.

The use of Pennsylvania’s supply of natural gas would create an alternative to imported petroleum. The successful implementation of this project will convert an estimated 35 vehicles to CNG and aims to facilitate further CNG utilization throughout the region.

Act 13 of 2012, through the Marcellus Shale impact fee, created a new three-year Natural Gas Energy Development Program administered by the Department of Environmental Protection. The program will make $20 million in grant funds available on a competitive basis to purchase or convert eligible vehicles to natural gas.

To learn more about the Act 13 grant program, visit www.dep.state.pa.us and click on the “Natural Gas Vehicle Grant Program” button.

Legislative Infobits

A few notes from the state senate and house for the past few days.

HB 1399 was introduced in the state house on May 15.  It amends the Pennsylvania Election Code by adding in fees to filing election petitions; the fees will go to the state's general fund.  I can't tell from the language if it is a fee for each individual petition (which could be pricey) or for the campaign generally.  The fees are graduated with, for example, a $200 fee for president and $100 for state house and senate.

HB 1403, also introduced on May 15, changes the Pennsylvania Election Code, in the section regarding recounts.  The bill changes this phrase:

A candidate for a public office which appears on the ballot in every election district in this Commonwealth was defeated by one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast for the office. This subclause includes a candidate for retention to a Statewide judicial office.

to this phrase

A candidate for a public office which appears on the ballot in a countywide election or in an election in a State legislative district was defeated by one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast for the office.

I have no idea what effect this would have on elections.

Being Biden and North Philly

The latest episode of "Being Biden" is the Vice President's response to letters from North Philadelphia students on reducing gun violence.  Take a listen.

Understanding Campaign Finance

The Sunlight Foundation has produced a very informative graphic on campaign finance and how and to whom fundraising is reported.  Some types of committees report to the FEC and some to the IRS.  Check it out:

http://sunlightfoundation.com/feature/why-does-the-irs-regulate-political-groups-a-look-at-the-complex-world-of-campaign-finance/

(h/t Chris Cillizza's The Fix blog)

Showdown in Hatboro

Back in January, 2011, I wrote a post on non-discrimination ordinances and mentioned that the mayor of Hatboro had vetoed such an ordinance when the town council passed it.

Well, the mayor is up for re-election and the chickens have come home to roost.

Andrea Myers, Army veteran and community volunteer, is one of four Democrats running for four open town council seats.  (Four Republicans are also running.)  Myers is an out lesbian and supported the non-discrimination ordinance in 2010.  You can read more about her at www.hatborodems and also at Philadelphia Gay News, "Out Hatboro activist runs for council," by Angela Thomas, May 2.

Mayor Norm Hawkes is facing a primary challenge from Bill Godshall.  Like Myers, Godshall is a veteran and active in community activities, including being a Boy Scout troop leader.  He and his wife moved to Hatboro five years ago and he relocated his small business there.  Godshall supports the non-discrimination ordinance.  You can read Theresa Katalinas's interview with Godshall on the Horsham patch site (4/01).  Interesting trivia -- Godshall's website is paid for by the Hatboro Democrats, who aresupporting the challenger, not the incumbent.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Hatboro.  I hope there is a reasonable turnout in the primary there.

Boyle Brothers Send Out Their Troops

The local elections this year don't get a lot of press.  County judicial races, township / municipal offices, school boards and the like are low key and don't attract a lot of attention from donors or voters either.  The voter turnout for the May 21st primary will probably be embarrassingly slim (you, dear Reader, will be voting, won't you?).

The political eye is already focusing on 2014 congressional elections, if not looking ahead to the 2016 presidential.  Local candidates have to work hard to raise money, and retail politics is essential in local races.  Candidates have to go door to door in township and municipal races because television ads are too expensive and impossible to focus that narrowly.  Even online ads can be tricky at this election level.

Local officials are already being tapped for support in the 2014 races, as if they don't have their own races to win this year.  It is unusual for politicians to look down the ladder and ask what they can do to help.  So it was refreshing to find out that State Reps. Brendan and Kevin Boyle have enlisted their supporters and volunteers to go out to knock on doors and distribute campaign literature for local candidates.

Kudos to the Boyle brothers for asking "what can I do for you" as opposed to saying "here's what you can do for me."  They're paying it forward and that will most surely help them in the future.

WSJ: Deficit Falling Faster Than Expected

The Wall Street Journal has an article today stating that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal budget deficit is shrinking faster than expected.  Read "CBO sees deficit narrowing quickly" by Damian Paletta.  Here's the first two paragraphs:

A rapidly shrinking federal budget deficit is upending bipartisan talks to reach a federal budget deal, illustrating the conundrum Washington faces with an improving near-term fiscal outlook but continued longer-term pressures tied to aging baby boomers. 

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday the federal deficit is expected to shrink to $642 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, narrowing from the agency's estimate of $845 billion three months ago and sharply lower than last year's $1.087 trillion shortfall.

The article has a cool graphic.

(h/t Mike Allen's Politico Playbook)

New Bill on Falsifying Petition Signatures

HB 1371, introduced in the state house today, makes falsifying election petition signatures a third class felony with a fine of $15,000.

Here is the text of the bill:

Section 1813.1. False Signatures; Offenses by Circulators.--
If any person who is a circulator of nomination petitions or papers shall knowingly make a false statement in any affidavit required by the provisions of this act, to be appended to or to accompany a nomination petition or a nomination paper in which multiple signatures are determined to be in the same handwriting as one signer of the same petition or paper, he shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree, and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding fifteen thousand ($15,000) dollars, or to undergo imprisonment of not more than seven (7) years, or both, in the discretion of the court.

The bill was sponsored and co-sponsored by State Reps CLAY, O'BRIEN, V. BROWN, CRUZ, FLYNN, SCHLOSSBERG, MILLARD, YOUNGBLOOD, KIRKLAND, DeLUCA, SWANGER, DAVIS, HELM, COX, PETRI AND ROEBUCK