Have We Lost All Desire To Vote?

Editor’s note:  Apparently yes!

While other row offices were eliminated, Luzerne County’s home rule charter kept the controller to independently scrutinize its $260 million in spending, 1,400-plus workers and more than 50 departments providing services from tax assessment to 911 dispatch.

The public — not county employees or officials — pick the person who fills this $64,999 elected post for the next four years to be the fiscal watchdog.

Although an estimated 256,800 residents are eligible to vote on this decision, the number who narrowed down the controller finalists from four to two in Tuesday’s primaries was 31,000 — only 12 percent of the over-18 population.

“When you break it down and see the percentage of the population making the decision, that’s pretty troublesome,” said Barry Kauffman, executive director of the nonprofit citizen advocate group Common Cause Pennsylvania.

Read more: 
http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/539857/Have-we-lost-all-desire-to-vote

Vandals Strike Gravesite Of Former Pennsylvania Governor

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Crawford County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Is there something in the water?  People are just going off the rails lately!

Something puzzling has happened in Meadville, a community 90 miles north of Pittsburgh.

The gravesite of former Gov. Raymond Shafer was desecrated last month, its monument defaced, the grave dug down to the vault and messages written in spray paint on the exterior of a nearby church, cursing the late governor in French.

State police in Meadville have no suspects and no leads.  And the family of the late governor, who led Pennsylvania from 1967 to 1971 and who died in 2006, has no idea what prompted the vandalism.

“We do know that it’s probably not somebody who did it on the spur of the moment,” said the late governor’s daughter Diane Shafer Domnick, who lives in Meadville and teaches at the University of Pittsburgh in Titusville.  ”People had to be ready to do the damage that they did.”

Read more: 
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/vandals-strike-gravesite-of-former-pa-governor-666864/#ixzz2FSwTZStA

GOP Gobbling Up Berks Political Map

The lone Democrat representing Berks County in Congress would be pushed outside Berks borders, allowing three Republican congressmen to take larger chunks of Berks and a fourth to extend his district into the county.

That picture became clear Wednesday when maps and district descriptions began circulating in advance of an expected vote on them by the state Senate.

Dr. G. Terry Madonna, a political analyst and professor of politics and public affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, described the plan as artful and skillfully drawn to protect incumbents. 

Read more: 
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=352919

Pennsylvania Governor Race Gets Crowded With Third Party Candidates

Tom Corbett (R) and Dan Onorato (D) will have some company as they each try to become the next governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Three third-party candidates have entered the race:

1.  Libertarian Party Candidate Marakay Rogers of York.

2. Tea Party Candidate John Krupa of Lock Haven.

3. Write-In Candidate state Rep. Sam Rohrer.

Corbett and Onorato both stated they are not concerned these fringe candidates will take away votes or pose a serious threat to their two-way race.

At this point, it won’t take much to be an improvement over Ed Rendell.

Big Jon Runyan Considers Run For Congress

Former Philadelphia Eagle Big Jon Runyan is being wooed by the Burlington County NJ Republican Party to run for a seat in New Jersey’s 3rd US Congressional District.  The district includes most of Ocean County and Burlington County, NJ. 

Jon would be taking on Democratic incumbent John Adler.  Runyan is not affiliated with either major party.  The 3rd District hasn’t had a Democratic Congressman in over 100 years until Adler defeated Republican Chris Meyers last November.

If Arnold can be the govenator, we can have a former Philadelphia Eagle in the US Congress.