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INSIDER INFO -- MAY 2009
All but declared
Misfire by AG?
‘Mayor for Life’ loses
Fall judicial slate set
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All but declared
U.S. Rep. Sestak confirms for CNN what insiders suspected for weeks
OK, so it’s not yet official but it might as well be.
Former Navy admiral and current Delaware County congressman, Joe Sestak, plans to take on veteran U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in next May’s statewide Democratic primary.
But Sestak is not letting that deter him. Appearing on CNN’s Situation Room on May 27, Sestak said he will make the final decision pending “just a little time with my family to make sure we’re all together” on a bruising, statewide campaign.
Sestak has also been trying to jump-start his fund-raising with additional hand-written appeals to past supporters to help him have a big showing by the June 30 deadline for candidates to disclose their quarterly fund-raising. Sestak has a substantial $3 million war chest but a contest with Specter would likely cost upward of $10 million.
“I am writing to you as especially dear supporters to let you know I intend to run for the U.S. Senate,” Sestak wrote in one such note that was posted by the liberal blog, Talking Pints Memo.
“ . . . my candidacy’s credibility will have much to do with my find-raising successes by the 30 June FEC (Federal Elections Commission) filing deadline at the end of this quarter. Would you help me bring the change for the future we Pennsylvanians need.”
Sestak has been defiantly hinting he will challenge Specter for weeks. He was considering entering the Democratic primary and perhaps become its front-runner before Specter switched sides.
As this editor noted in a recent issue, Sestak’s candidacy needs to be looked at from his perspective. At 58 years old, a retired Navy admiral, Sestak could sit on his seat in Congress for a decade or longer but what would be achieved. He started his elective career too late in life to have a chance at important chairmanships which are handed out based on seniority or years in Congress.
With U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who is a decade younger, holding the state’s other Senate seat, Sestak’s only opportunity to advance politically is to win Specter’s Senate seat. If he should be unsuccessful, his knowledge of the nation’s defense systems could give him a lucrative career as a lobbyist for military suppliers. So from a career perspective, he has nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
There has been rumors that Sestak was being urged to run instead for governor since there is no strong southeastern Pennsylvania Democrat now considering that race where the front-runner is Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County executive. But Sestak seems to have no appetite for switching to a race where he could not use his federal and military credentials.
Interestingly, Sestak’s military background gives him wonderful cover for a voting record in which he has been courting liberal Democratic voters who are suspicious of Sen. Specter’s Democratic bona fides and seeking a candidate they can embrace.
The lawyer for former House Minority Whip Mike Veon said the charges were “amateurish” and “clearly politically motivated.”
You might think those remarks came in victory after a district judge in Harrisburg recently dismissed charges against the former Beaver County lawmaker stemming from his handling of the Beaver Initiative for Growth, a non-profit he founded that benefited greatly from state taxpayer-financed grants.
But those comments actually date back to March when the charges by Attorney General Tom Corbett were first filed. They are attributed to Joel Sansone, a Pittsburgh attorney, on Veon’s defense team who further tweaked the Republican prosecutor’s nose by saying, “instead of Bonusgate…tomorrow’s headlines should read ‘Partisangate.’”
Corbett remains steadfast that he is investigating both parties and for sure some tantalizing tidbits have appeared in print, especially pertaining to former House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, who is now reduced to a rank-and-file member after his party lost control of the House.
To be clear, Veon has not been cleared of the more serious charges against him of being the mastermind behind Bonusgate – which Corbett contends is a multi-million dollar scam to use taxpayer money to reward House Democratic staffers for volunteer campaign work both on and off state time.
Veon is expected to go to trial on those charges this fall and if convicted faces the possibility of decades behind bars.
“This was a good day. I’ll leave the rest to my lawyers,” Veon told TV cameras on May 21 as he was leaving Solomon’s courtroom. He showed no emotion in the courtroom but his wife, Stephanie, pumped her fist in the air and blurted out, “Whoa, yeah!”
But on May 27, without much fanfare, Corbett’s office refilled most of the same charges against Veon and his former district office chief of staff, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, this time asking that the preliminary hearing be conducted before a Dauphin County judge, bypassing Solomon.
The attorney general’s motion disputed Solomon’s ruling last week where he held that the evidence presented by prosecutors would not be sufficient for a criminal jury hearing the case. It contends that Solomon applied the higher standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is what a criminal trial would determine.
In going after Democratic Villain No. 1 for a second time, Corbett is clearly going for a “kill,” a stake in the heart if you will, of turning public perception completely against the man who was once the go-to guy for Gov. Rendell is successful passage of his first-term initiatives. If Veon isn’t bound over for trial on the re-filed charges, Corbett’s reputation – and gubernatorial prospects -- will clearly suffer.
The side skirmish over BIG also revealed the defense’s strategy for the larger case against Veon in Bonusgate, where he is far more legal jeopardy.
It will argue that what Veon and the others are accused of doing is a widespread practice by both political parties and that the ratcheting up of that practice by the Democratic caucus in the 2005-06 campaign cycle was excessive but not criminal in attempt. The defense will try to cite any campaign tricks by the GOP it can find to bolster that defense.
‘Mayor for Life’ loses Harrisburg’s indefatigable Steve Reed suffers a stunning loss to rival Linda Thompson, ending era in state capital city
He was called Pennsylvania’s “Mayor for Life” because he seemed to own the elected office he’s held for nearly three decades.
But a funny thing happened on Reed’s way to his eighth term as chief executive of the capital city. Democratic voters repossessed the office.
With a below-the-radar but effective GOTV (Get Out the Vote) effort in the city’s black neighborhoods City Council President Linda Thompson, a Reed critic of some renown, scored 3,500 votes compared to about 2,500 for Reed for a landslide win in the May 19 Democratic primary.
Reed seemed at peace with his loss on Election Night and gave what most considered a concession speech with a pledge to complete as many projects in the works as possible before his current term ends in January. He reportedly has gotten some job offers in the interim, although Reed has turned away all requests from local media for interviews since the primary.
But on Thursday, there were new developments, with Reed’s campaign manager fanning the mayor’s electoral flame with two potential options but another supporter cautioning everyone to chill until Reed speaks for himself.
Randy King, Reed’s campaign manager, said Reed has been inundated with phone calls since his loss with many urging him to stage a write-in campaign. Another option would be for Reed to run on the Republican ticket but that would require the current nominee, Nevin Mindlin, to relinquish it. Mindlin was on the GOP ballot and received 423 votes in the primary. Reed had more than 300 Republican write-in votes but it was not enough to overtake Mindlin.
Reed is not eligible to run as an independent because he ran in a party primary. State law requires all independents and third-party candidates to file their paperwork prior to the primary election date.
But King said noted that 25 percent of the city’s registered 28,000 registered voters participated in the primary and that a general election result could be different. “That silent electorate has been awakened since the results last Tuesday,” King said, adding there are too many important city projects in the planning stage now for Reed to depart.
But according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News, another campaign supporter, Fred Clark, said he spoke to the mayor but left with the impression Reed respects the voters’ wishes and just wants what is best for the city. “The only person who can speak for the mayor (now) is the mayor himself,” Clark cautioned.
Four hundred votes went to a third Democrat in the primary, Les Ford, a Pennsylvania Turnpike official. Reed supporters had hoped, Ford, also an African-American, would split the black vote with Thompson but that did not happen.
Thompson said she never spent any resources on Ford but concentrated only on Reed as if there was only one other person on the ballot.
Reed’s contributions to Harrisburg have been immense. Most of what people like and appreciate about Harrisburg, whether it be Restaurant Row, City Island, the upgrading of the running path along the Susquehanna River or the various festivals, were all Reed creations.
But those were mostly Reed creations from eight to 10 years ago. Like anyone who has been in office a long, long time, Reed has built up a lot of feuds, and became convinced his new ideas were as good or publicly accepted as his old ones.
But one decade-old idea, a Civil War Museum that was supposed to attract Gettysburg visitors, is cash-strapped. And Reed spent millions collecting Western artifacts for a never-built Wild West Museum. Many of the artifacts were auctioned off at a loss and others are fallow in a city warehouse.
Sometimes money was spent because it was there for the taking, such as a federal grants used to undertake an expensive reconstruction of State Street, the city’s premier two-block-long Lobbyist Row leading to the state Capitol. The project uprooted dozens of beautiful old trees down the middle of the street so there could be diagonal parking on both sides rather than the middle. Many saw it as a waste.
Another catastrophe was the city’s $300 million investment in a black hole that is the city’s incinerator. Reed has spent public dollars to change things, but not necessarily for the better, critics charged. Ultimately, enough Harrisburg Democrats agreed that in the era of Obama it was time for a change.
Philadelphia District Attorney
The second surprise was the overwhelming win of Seth Williams as Philadelphia’s district attorney. He is the first African-American to be elected to the position; a win Jerry Mondeshire, the president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the NAACP called “historic.”
Williams led with 41.8 percent; Daniel McCaffery, a former assistant district attorney, ran second with 30.1 percent. No other candidate had higher than 15 percent.
The field of former prosecutors vying to succeed District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham included Brian Grady, Michael L. Turner, and Daniel McElhatton. Abraham, who has served more than 18 years as D.A., decided not to run again.
At the end of March, Williams had been thrown off the ballot by the courts for failure to disclose all sources of his income as required by law.
McCaffery filed the suit against Williams, alleging that Williams failed to disclose reimbursements in excess of $10,000 from his campaign as income.
But the state Commonwealth Court allowed Williams to make an amended filing and reinstated him on the ballot in April.
Williams was one of only two African-Americans among the five candidates and was always considered the front-runner because he challenged Abraham in her 2005 re-election and became known to citywide voters.
Officially, Williams will face Republican lawyer and real estate developer Michael Untermeyer, who ran unopposed on the GOP ticket, but with the city’s huge Democratic registration edge he will be the city’s next DA.
Pittsburgh Mayor
Challengers Councilman Patrick Dowd received 28 percent, and attorney Carmen Robinson received 13 percent.
Ravenstahl, 29, received 59 percent of the vote, according to unofficial election returns. The Democratic incumbent faces at least two independent candidates Nov. 3.
Ravenstahl did well in all the city’s neighborhoods except for two very liberal wards in the city’s East End. He will now have his own full four-year term, having become mayor in Sept. 2006 when the popular Bob O’Connor died nine months into his first and only mayoral term.
Franco "Dok" Harris Jr., 29, son of famed Steelers running back Franco Harris, is running as an independent candidate in November. A political neophyte, Harris works for his father's company, Super Bakery Inc.
Harris graduated from Sewickley Academy in 1997 and Princeton University in 2001 with a degree in politics. After working in banking in Washington, D.C., he returned to Pittsburgh to enter the joint law-business degree program at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.
Pittsburgh attorney Kevin Acklin, 32, will also run in the general election as an independent. He graduated from the city’s Central Catholic High School, and has deep family roots in Pittsburgh.
He went to Harvard University on scholarship, playing defensive end for its football team, and then received his law degree from Georgetown University. He worked for Republican Gov. Tom Ridge and for a Boston law firm before resettling in Pittsburgh in 2003.
Two months ago, Acklin dropped his Republican registration, a legal requirement for anyone running as an independent. He said he did so to prove that he is nonpartisan. More pragmatically, he also knew that running as a Republican was a sure loser.
An incumbent mayor hasn't lost a general election to a challenger since the early 1930s when the Democratic Party took hold of the office. And registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 5-to-1 in Pittsburgh.
Scranton Mayor
Chris Doherty was declared the victor on the primary ballot shortly after 10 p.m. for the Democratic nod. But the Democratic contest was closer than many expected.
According to Lackawanna County’s Web site, Doherty scored 7,257 votes, or about 52 percent of the total votes. Democratic challenger Gary DiBileo gathered 6,693 votes, or 48 percent.
Democratic challenger DiBileo was backed by the city’s fire and police unions but it did not bring in enough support to unseat the mayor.
Bolus, who is a convicted felon and cannot serve if he wins in November, questioned the legality of the Democratic mayor getting write-in votes and said he might contest the results.
While Doherty is confident about his record of accomplishments and expects to get even more done during the next four years, there will be a continuation of some ongoing battles and some dissension within the city government ranks.
One change that will play a key role in city administration comes from the defeat of two incumbent council members, Judy Gatelli and Sherry Nealon Fanucci, who were recognized allies to the mayor.
Their replacements will be chosen in the fall from a group of five candidates who have all openly expressed opposition to the city’s management strategies during the past few years. The five candidates are Democrat incumbent Janet Evans, a vocal critic; Frank Joyce and Pat Rogan, who ran alongside Evans; and Republicans Lee Morgan and Doug Miller, who have expressed alternate agendas.
And the lingering battle with the firefighters’ and police unions over contract negotiations, however, is expected to continue.
Fall judicial slate set Melvin wins high court nomination over two rivals in GOP contest
One surprise in a primary filled with a sprinkle of surprise results, was the relatively low turnout among Philadelphia voters, resulting in a western-heavy judicial slate.
Eight of the 12 statewide judicial candidates on the fall ballot call Allegheny County home.
The Republicans nominated Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin of Allegheny County for the Supreme Court over fellow judge Cheryl Lynne Allen and Philadelphia Judge Paul Panepinto. She was considered the front-runner because she ran for the high court and lost in the general election in 2003 to Democrat Max Baer.
Melvin will face a Democratic colleague, Superior Court Judge Jack Panella of the Lehigh Valley, in the Nov. 3 election. Melvin and Panella are vying to fill the seat that had been held by the late Chief Justice Ralph Cappy who died earlier this year shortly after his retirement.
After Cappy’s retirement, Gov. Rendell nominated and the Senate confirmed Jane Cutler Greenspan who will sit for the remainder of this year until her successor is elected in November.
Panella and Philadelphia Judge Anne E. Lazarus, running for Superior Court, are the only members of the six-candidate Democratic statewide judicial slate who are not from Allegheny County.
Superior Court candidates Robert J. Colville Jr., Kevin Francis McCarthy, both from the Pittsburgh area, and Anne E. Lazarus of Philadelphia took the Democratic nominations for that appellate court. Three seats are open on the court.
Also on the November ballot are three Republican candidates -- Judy Olson and Temp Smith, also from Western Pennsylvania, and Sallie Mundy of Tioga County.
On the GOP side, Kevin Brobson, a Dauphin County attorney, was the only endorsed candidate nominated for one of two Commonwealth Court nominations. The other went to Allegheny County attorney Patricia A. McCullough, who was unendorsed.
In addition to the endorsement, Brobson actively worked his campaign. Meanwhile Frioni relied on his party endorsement and McCullough bet that western voters would pick a western woman over a western man, a pattern in previous elections.
McCullough won her gamble. She led with 38 percent of the vote, Brobson at 34 percent and Frioni at 28 percent.
Frioni finished almost 80,000 votes behind McCullough, who essentially filed nominating papers and waited to see what happened. Frioni finished 62,000 votes behind Brobson.
Brobson and his wife, Lauren Cotter Brobson, have been long-time party insiders both in the midstate and in the state party, for whom Lauren used to be the spokeswoman. She also was former Gov. Tom Ridge’s speechwriter.
Six Democrats competed for the two spots on Commonwealth Court which was won by Linda S. Judson and Barbara Joan Ernsberger, both from Allegheny County.
What could prove a point of campaign attack by her Republican rivals is that Ernsberger was only candidate among all 20-plus on the ballot who received a “not recommended” rating from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, which cited a lack of pertinent legal experience in Commonwealth Court matters.
Ernsberger has disputed the bar association findings about herself and while voters have rarely relied on those rankings in electing judges, it could provide campaign fodder for the GOP.
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