UNDONE (temporarily)

Though some got today's PA Voter ID law ruling wrong initially (Post-Gazette and Think Progress) causing real confusion (at least by me and some others on Twitter), most (including Pittsburgh City Paper) got it right the first time. The bottom line is that House Majority Leader Mike Turzai and Governor Tom Corbett and their Republican buddies have been temporarily undone.

The bottom line is this:

The election in November will function just as the primary election did. You do not need to have an ID to vote in Pennsylvania on November 6th. Poll workers can ask you for an ID, but you will not be prevented from voting normally (on a machine without a provisional ballot) if you do not show them an ID.

All Ye Rogues, Strumpets and Pestilent Hordes: State Supreme Court Hearing on PA Voter ID Law is Today!

PCN will be live televising and live streaming today's 9:30 AM Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's oral argument session, which includes hearings on the state’s second legislative redistricting plan and the Voter ID (suppression) law (Channel 48 on Comcast Cable).

This was the law that a PA judge upheld largely based on a bigoted 1869 case called Patterson v. Barlow. Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Amazingly, in Patterson the Supreme Court went out of its way to clarify -- and endorse -- the law's biased approach. The opinion justifies a tougher process for Philadelphia voters because "rogues and strumpets do not nightly traverse the deserted highways of the farmer. Low inns, restaurants, sailors' boarding-houses and houses of ill fame do not abound in rural precincts, ready to pour out on election day their pestilent hordes."  

For good measure, the court explained that to overturn the tighter procedures for Philadelphia voters "would be to place the vicious vagrant, the wandering Arabs, the Tartar hordes of our large cities, on a level with the virtuous and good man."

These days, we simply call them Obama voters:


Even if the Court were to overturn the law -- which they won't -- we have this to worry about:

True the Vote and other Tea Party-affiliated groups are reportedly recruiting 1 million volunteers to object to the qualifications of voters in targeted communities on and before Election Day, according to the study. These volunteers are being rallied to block, in their own words, the “illegal alien vote” and “the food stamp army.” Their stated goal is to make the experience of voting “like driving and seeing the police behind you.”

If you need information on the new Voter Suppression Law, or if you need help in getting ID, please check out the following:

http://www.866ourvote.org/  

http://www.seventy.org/Elections_Voter_ID.aspx  

http://www.aclupa.org/issues/votingissues/voterid/

Or if all else fails, better hope your kid is a celebrity!

Pennsylvania: State of Embarrassment

Greetings from the Great State of Pennsyltucky!

Time was when Pennsyltucky used to only refer to the more rural "T" section of our Commonwealth, the place where guys like this reside. But, after the last couple of weeks, I think that we can agree that we're all Pennsyltucky now:

A Pittsburgh jury refuses to find fault with three police officers in a civil trial for doing this:

to honor student, Jordan Miles, who was simply walking down the block from his mom's house to his grandmother's house (no criminal charges were ever filed against the officers).

Allegheny County's GOP chair and former county executive Jim Roddey makes a joke that anyone who would vote for President Obama is "mentally retarded."

And, The Daily Show mercilessly (and rightfully) mocks our new Voter ID law. Jon Stewart shows the clip of House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) admitting that the new law was created to elect Mitt Romney. He also mentioned that the state's attorneys stipulated that there was no known cases of voter ID fraud in PA. However, he didn't mention that both our Governor and Secretary of State admitted they didn't actually know what's in the new law -- I guess they'd need to rename it Tragedy Central for that...

If you missed it last night, here's the clips:

PA Gov. Corbett Doesn't Know New Voter ID Requirements That He Signed Into Law

While Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett (R) doesn't seem to know what actually qualifies as proper ID under the new Voter Suppression ID law he signed,

I bet he knows why he signed it:

FUN FACTS!

1 in 3 PA voters don't even know about the new voter ID law!  

Between 11 and 13% of PA's eligible voters, registered voters, and people who voted in 2008 believe they have the photo ID they need to vote in November, but actually don't!  

A whopping 43% of Philadelphia voters may not possess a valid PennDOT ID!

Had the new law been in effect in 2008, Barack Obama would have lost the state’s contest to John McCain by 200,000 votes! (The only fact that Republicans care about.)

In Case You Missed It...

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

More than 758,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania do not have photo identification cards from the state Transportation Department, putting their voting rights at risk in the November election, according to data released Tuesday by state election officials.

And, as the OPJ has already noted, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai admits that the recently passed Voter ID law has one important purpose:

Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania...

How? Back to the Inky:

Philadelphia's top election official, City Commission Chair Stephanie Singer, said the figures reinforced her view that the state's new law was designed to suppress voter turnout in the predominantly Democratic city.

That's how.

And yet, with straight face and stern spine, our GOP overlords declare that the law is supposed to "protect the integrity" of the election process.

Yea, right.

Turzai Admits PA Voter ID Law Passed to Give Win to Romney

Oh lookie here! An honest Republican in the State Assembly. Via PoliticsPA:

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) suggested that the House’s end game in passing the Voter ID law was to benefit the GOP politically.  

“We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years,” said Turzai in a speech to committee members Saturday. He mentioned the law among a laundry list of accomplishments made by the GOP-run legislature.  

“Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

I guess that means all those Voter ID laws passed around the same time by Republican-controlled states weren't about some mythical massive voter fraud -- they were about voter suppression of folks most likely to vote for a Democrat. Either that, or Turzai is saying the vast majority of voter fraud is done by Democrats -- you know, Republicans only need a fighting chance to win. It couldn't possibly be about their extremist policies or candidates...

John of The Pennsylvania Progressive calls a liar a liar. And, he points out that the lies weren't just about voting, they extend to the real reason behind SB 732:

Isn't lying on the House floor an ethics violation? If not it should be and should be cause for censure or expulsion. When Representatives and Senators willfully lie and fabricate arguments while passing legislation they should be expelled from office. It is a stain on all of us when the likes of Mike Turzai get up to speak in OUR hallowed hall and lie to us about what they're doing.  

He also revealed they lied about Senate Bill 732 the ambulatory surgical center abortion bill. We've said all along this was back door legislation to outlaw abortion. His quote " First pro-life legislation - abortion facility regulations - in 22 years" reveals it for what it was: pro life, anti-abortion legislation. By making onerous regulations impossible or financially impossible to meet they are banning abortions in Pennsylvania for most women. Even if clinics could retrofit the cost would make abortions unaffordable for anyone but the wealthy.

I guess it's a good thing that at least one Republican is finally being honest about their lies.

ALEC and The Castle Doctrine

Media Matters has an interesting post up regarding the recent killing of Trayvon Martin:

Legal experts have noted that Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law may prevent George Zimmerman from ever being successfully prosecuted for the killing of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman has claimed that he acted in self-defense, and court precedent indicates that the State has the heavy burden of disproving this in order to win a conviction.

Florida's statute on the use of force in self-defense is virtually identical to Section 1 of ALEC's Castle Doctrine Act model legislation as posted on the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). According to CMD, the model bill was adopted by ALEC's Civil Justice Task in August 2005 -- just a few short months after it passed the Florida legislature -- and approved by its board of directors the following month.

Since the 2005 passage of Florida's law, similar statutes have been passed in 16 other states. [links and emphasis in original] 

You can probably guess where this is headed.  Here's a hint: Which of those "16 other states" do you think I care about right now?

FIXED (Or At Least Explained)

Remember this?

It's about the PADems google ad that seems to point no where.

Late this morning I was contacted by a representative of PADems with an explanation of the google ad. Google, I was told, requires a URL to be listed in its ads but they give next to no space for that URL. The space alotted was waaaay to small for what was needed here.

The ad itself is address specific and links to an online petition demanding that they do the right thing and that the money reimbursed for those ALEC events be re-reimbursed to the tax payers. The ad never not worked if you were able to click it.

So if you lived in Mike Turzai's district and you clicked on the ad, you'd be taken to this petition.

So if you lived in Daryl Metcalfe's district and you clicked on the ad, you'd be taken to this petition.

I checked both links - they both work. Nice that things worked out.

Can Someone Fix This PLEASE?

This isn't helping, guys. You have to know that.

A few days ago, on August 9, John Micek over at Morning Call reported that the State Democratic Party:

... has launched a series on online advertisements attacking House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R- Allegheny, and other GOP lawmakers for billing the taxpayers for their membership in right-leaning legislative think-tank called The American Legislative Exchange Counci

Good. Glad to hear it. Important story - transparency is all-important when the crafting of legislation is involved.

So what's the problem?

The ad itself, which looks like this:
Now try going to the site mentioned in the ad. As of 7:30 this morning 3 days after Micek's report, it's still showing a "page not found" message at padems.com.

Surely someone can slap together a press release to post there.

Hey, how about something like this?

GOP Used Taxpayer Dollars for Membership Dues, over $30,000 on Chicken Breasts and Lollipops

Harrisburg, PA - Today, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn called on Republicans in the state legislature to reimburse taxpayers for the money they gave to an extreme right wing organization, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). As reported by Salon, many Republican lawmakers, including House Leader Mike Turzai, use taxpayer dollars to pay their membership dues and the Republican caucus spent $50,000 to cater a conference for ALEC in Philadelphia.

I didn't write that, by the way, I found it at padems.com. Easy enough to link to that page. Why hasn't someone done it yet?

Will Rogers was right.

ALEC In The News!

From today's Post-Gazette:

An analysis released Tuesday from Keystone Progress points to four Pennsylvania measures that they say are nearly identical to model legislation peddled by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council.

The right-leaning association of state legislators has drawn national attention recently for reports that its model bills are being duplicated in statehouses across the country, and it has been criticized for the influence industry representatives are said to have in the drafting of that model legislation. It has also taken flack for its annual conferences, which lawmakers can attend free of charge and learn about model policies.

While several state lawmakers -- including Cranberry Republican Rep. Daryl Metcalfe -- have attended those conferences and reported the expense-paid trip on their ethics forms, it was the mirror-image legislation that drew much of the criticism from liberal detractors.

You can download the report and read it for yourself from here.

In the report, they've identified some ALEC legislators from PA:

• GOP House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (whose participation in ALEC is paid by state taxpayers)
• GOP House Majority Caucus Chair Sandra Major
• GOP House Caucus Administrator Dick Stevenson
• GOP House Judiciary Chair Ronald Marsico
• GOP House State Government Chair Daryl Metcalfe
• GOP Senate Majority Caucus Secretary Robert Robbins
• GOP Senate Judiciary Chair Stewart Greenleaf
• And GOP Chairs of numerous committees, including Representatives Matthew Baker (Health), Stephen Barrar (Veterans Affairs), Paul Clymer (Educational), John Evans (Game & Fisheries), Robert Godshall (Consumer Affairs), Kate Harper (Ethics), Dick Hess (Commerce), Ronald Miller (Labor & Industry) and Senators Charles McIlhinney (State Government), Jeffrey Piccola (Education), John Pippy (Law & Justice)
• The only identified Democratic PA member of ALEC is Rep. Harry Readshaw, Minority Chair of Professional Licensure.
• Rep. John Evans (R- Crawford, Erie) currently serves as ALEC’s PA chair

Good to see our boy Daryl Metcalfe isn't alone.

There's some pushback in the piece:

"There's some who are trying to portray it as corporations trying to take over legislation -- that's not it," [Rep. Seth Grove, a York County Republican] said. He added that he also looks for policy ideas from the moderate National Conference of State Legislatures.

And:

However, it's unclear whether all of those lawmakers have maintained their involvement with the organization. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, said the lawmaker is no longer involved with ALEC.

However from Salon.com we learn:

Republican Majority Leader Michael Turzai has also had membership dues paid for by the state, something that Turzai's spokesman, Steve Mishkin, defended.

"It’s always good to hear from the experience of other legislatures," he said. "That’s how you exchange ideas, best practices, and try to bring those to Pennsylvania’s problem."

Mishkin likened ALEC to the [National Conference of State Legislatures.], but the NCSL doesn't develop and promote model legislation with corporate input and is open to legislators regardless of their ideology. ALEC, by contrast, boasts that its conference "has been described as the 'largest gathering of conservatives held each year.'"

So Turzai's spokesman defended having his ALEC membership dues paid for by the state?

I think someone's trying to pull a fast one, Mr. Mishkin.

Let's assume both statements are correct - that Turzai had been a member of ALEC (with dues paid for by the PA taxpayers) but he's no longer a member. If that's the case, then I have some questions:

• When did the taxpayer support end?
• How long was he a member of ALEC?
• Why did he join?
• Why did he quit?

Maybe next time Turzai's on Night Talk, someone will call in and ask him.

But somehow I don't think this story will end up on the pages of the Tribune-Review. Why not? From the report:

Some of the major ALEC funding sources include Richard Mellon Scaife’s Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Foundation, the Scaife Family Foundation, Exxon Mobil and Koch brothers-related funding sources. [

Something we touched upon in mid-June.

Good to know the P-G is catching up.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys (Local Edition)

Just in time to get a lump of coal from Santa:

CasablancaPA has the goods on PA Rep. and Majority Leader Mike Turzai's double dipping when it comes to per diems here.

Father Duquesne (formerly The Parkway Left) has a post up on Allegheny County Councilman Matt Drozd titled "Portrait of an ignorant bigot."

Infinonymous blogs on LeRoy S. Zimmerman (longtime friend and close political ally of PA Gov.-elect Tom Corbett) who oversees the Hershey Trust and who is under investigation by Corbett's office for using $12 million in "funds intended to educate impoverished children" to purchase a money-losing golf course and then spending another $5 million to bling the course out. (Full story in the P-G here.)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a story on Michael Jasper. Jasper is a PNC vice president and finance manager who was a Pittsburgh Parking Authority board member. "Was" as in he was the only board member who voted to study a pension bailout plan opposed by Lil Mayor Luke and "was" as in he's no longer a board member because his employer asked him to resign from that body. You figure out who the bad boy is in this case (Hint: it ain't Jasper.)

More On Mike Turzai

I just wanted to fill out some background on the comments from this blog post.

From Roll Call:

By most accounts, Turzai’s 1998 bid for the seat against then-Rep. Ron Klink (D) was a less-than-stellar campaign. He lost to Klink, 36 percent to 64 percent, in a district that two years later gave 50 percent of the vote to Bush.

During that first campaign for the 4th district seat, Turzai was derailed by two major publicity mishaps. Two of his supporters got into an altercation with Klink on the sidewalks of Pittsburgh while trying to videotape him for a negative campaign advertisement. Klink also blasted Turzai for sending a helicopter to take aerial footage of his home as an invasion of his privacy.

Here's the P-G story from 1998. First the helicopter story:

In the past few days, campaign workers for Republican Mike Turzai have flown over U.S. Rep. Ron Klink's Westmoreland County home in a helicopter and have twice attempted to videotape him.

But the bigger story was the stalking:

The second videotaping incident Downtown on Wednesday prompted calls to Pittsburgh police, with each political camp saying its supporters had been accosted by people from the other side.

Turzai said yesterday that his supporters were only trying to force Klink to give them some straight answers to a "series of questions" on legitimate campaign issues when they approached him with a video camera and microphone outside the Duquesne Club, Downtown.

But Klink's chief of staff, Joseph Brimmeier, said sex was the only subject of the only questions asked by the two men from the Turzai camp who came after him and Klink.

"'Ron, tell us about your sexual affairs, Ron, tell us who you're having sex with on your staff ...' that's all they were asking," Brimmeier said.

TO BE COMPLETELY FAIR, Turzai apologized for the conduct of his campaign workers a few days later:

Saying "we were wrong to do what we did," Republican congressional candidate Mike Turzai apologized to his opponent, U.S. Rep. Ron Klink, for allowing his campaign workers to accost Klink at public appearances and attempt to videotape Klink and his home.

In a news conference last night at his Cranberry campaign headquarters, a somber, husky-voiced Turzai read a brief statement in which he apologized to Klink and Klink's family for the conduct of his campaign workers over the past week. He also said he regretted not apologizing sooner.

"In all earnestness, I've wanted to do this since last week, but I didn't. I have no excuses. We were wrong to do what we did," Turzai said, reading from handwritten notes scrawled on a yellow legal pad. "I am fully responsible for the actions of this campaign, and I regret what happened. While I assumed responsibility last week, I didn't apologize and I should have."

This was ten years ago, by the way.