Friday, June 1, 2012

GE Transportation's news release
Erie Times-News
Thursday, May 31, 2012

GE Transportation announced today that it has chosen Chicago as its global headquarters. The move will be effective in the coming months once the location for office space has been finalized. Erie, Pennsylvania will remain the headquarters for GE Transportation's locomotive business and key manufacturing site.  Lorenzo Simonelli, President and CEO of GE Transportation said: "We have transformed GE Transportation from a North American rail company to a truly global transportation business. Chicago allows us to more efficiently reach and serve customers around the world in the rail, mining and marine industries."  GE Transportation will relocate about 50 people from Erie to Chicago by 2014. These employees are primarily associated with the company's global support functions and its services operations. The company anticipates having a headquarters staff of approximately 150 in Chicago by 2014 as the business continues to grow. GE Transportation is currently evaluating several suitable office locations.  Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of the City of Chicago said: "GE Transportation is a top-level, worldwide company that will be using its Chicago headquarters as a central location from which to do business around the globe. We are looking forward to welcoming GE Transportation to our business community and helping the company to grow."  Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois said: "Illinois is one of the most important rail and transportation hubs in the nation. By choosing Chicago for its global headquarters, GE Transportation will be positioned to compete fiercely in the U.S. and all over the world to grow in the rail, mining and marine industries. We are pleased to welcome members of GE Transportation's leadership team to Illinois and Chicago." [More]

Corbett faces budget attack
Timothy McNutty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, June 1, 2012

The Democratic consultant behind an attack ad running statewide on Gov. Tom Corbett's spending policies will not disclose who is funding his effort, while criticizing conservative ad-makers taking advantage of the same no-holds-barred advertising rules.  The 30-second ad from the American Working Families Action Fund in Alexandria, Va., repeats Democratic criticisms of Corbett administration education and health care cuts, while assailing him for raising salaries of top personnel and resisting high taxes on energy firms.  "Tom Corbett isn't spending less. He's just making things harder for the middle class," says the ad, which is running in every television market statewide.  Those criticisms alone are not remarkable, as they have been raised elsewhere, but the timing of the attack is -- coming more than two years before the governor will face re-election. The fund's founder, Democratic consultant Bud Jackson, said the assault was partially timed to coincide with state budget deliberations this month.   "Why hasn't it happened sooner?" he said in regard to the timing. "Our purpose is twofold: to alert Pennsylvania people who are too busy working jobs to follow day to day what the governor's been doing ... and the second purpose is to say to the governor [that] we're watching you from now on and you will not get away without consequences."  The fund is not a super-PAC, but rather a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which allows it to run ads on political issues and avoid federal campaign contributor disclosure laws.  In a video posted on his anti-Corbett website, Mr. Jackson criticizes right-wing advertisers such as Crossroads GPS for having "the audacity" to spend millions "to protect and promote a partisan and greedy agenda" but he would not identify who is funding his own ads.  He said his ad funding (of "several hundred thousand dollars") was coming from within Pennsylvania and he needed to protect donors "fearful of a vengeful governor." [More]

Orie attorney says restitution demands unwarranted
Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, June 1, 2012

The defense attorney for former state Sen. Jane Orie accused prosecutors of trying to ruin his client by seeking more than $2 million in restitution, as well as forfeiture of her personal pension contributions and campaign fund when she is sentenced Monday on 14 criminal counts.  "The district attorney's office appears to be engaging in a 'scorched earth' approach, intending to leave Senator Orie with nothing, and no chance of personal recovery after completion of the sentence to be imposed by this court," wrote William Costopoulos. "Such all-encompassing punishments are unwarranted here."  Instead, he lays out in detail why he believes Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus is wrong in the penalties he is seeking.  Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey A. Manning will hear arguments from both sides during Monday's sentencing hearing and plans to rule on the restitution issue within 30 days. In the meantime, Ms. Orie's campaign and pension funds will remain frozen under an order signed by the judge on Thursday.  The $2 million sought in restitution is money mostly spent by the Senate Republican Caucus to defend itself, Mr. Costopoulos wrote. In addition, he accuses Mr. Claus of relying on "a tortured interpretation of the election law," to recover more than $100,000 in her campaign account.  Under the election code, he wrote, the funds can only be used for legitimate expenditures included in the campaign law, or be returned to the contributors. They cannot be used for restitution, Mr. Costopoulos said.  "After extensive research, this office has been unable to locate any evidence that the personal contributions of public officials to their pensions have been requested or forfeited in any of the recent comparable cases," he wrote. [More]

Judge freezes Orie campaign and pension accounts
Bobby Kerlik, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, May 31, 2012

An Allegheny County judge today froze the campaign account and pension account of former state Sen. Jane Orie until he decides how much restitution she will pay.  Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning said he will hear arguments during Orie's sentencing hearing on Monday about how much restitution she should pay. The judge wrote in his ruling this afternoon that he would rule within 30 days but until then he froze Orie's accounts.  Orie, 50, a McCandless Republican, is awaiting sentencing on 14 convictions related to using her senate staff for campaign work and for introducing forged documents during her first trial, which ended in a mistrial.

Candidates use lawyers for early battles
Bobby Kerlik, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, May 31, 2012

Pennsylvania candidates are increasingly turning to the courts to settle election disputes -- and vanquish opponents.   State court administrators reported on Thursday that Commonwealth Court, which deals with election disputes involving candidates for a state office or higher, has handled a record 131 election cases this year.  That tops the previous high of 117 in 2006.  Lawyers and judges named various reasons for the increase, including better access to voter registration databases and a shift to have more lawyers involved in the process.  "What I've seen over the last 12 years is that campaigns are using it as an offensive tool -- the courts and existing law -- to strike their opponent off the ballot," said attorney and county councilwoman Heather Heidelbaugh, who works in election law and is the co-chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association.  "Twelve years ago, before Bush v. Gore, lawyers had a role in elections but it was campaign finance-related. Now what I've seen is that campaigns are seeking out lawyers to prohibit their opponent from going forward."  Most of the election challenges in Commonwealth Court center on the validity of signatures on candidates' petitions. Many people sign petitions who aren't registered in the candidate's party, and if challenged those signatures are invalidated, making it tougher for candidates to meet the minimum signature requirements. Using ditto marks in the address line can get a signature struck.  In March, Commonwealth Court booted East End state House candidate William Anderson, 39, of Homewood, off the ballot after confirming problems with his nominating petitions. Anderson had challenged state Rep. Joe Preston, 65, of East Liberty. Preston survived a challenge of his petitions but lost in the election to Ed Gainey, 42, of Lincoln-Lemington. [More]

Pa. governor signs 3 more death warrants
The Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, May 31, 2012

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Tom Corbett has signed execution warrants for three men on death row.  Darien Houser was convicted of the 2004 killing of a Philadelphia warrant officer attempting to serve a warrant on Houser for failing to appear at his rape trial.   John Koehler Jr. is on death row for persuading a teenager to kill Koehler's girlfriend and her 9-year-old son in Bradford County in 1995.  Willie Clayton was found guilty in 1986 of killing two Philadelphia men during separate robberies, two months apart.  Pennsylvania has executed only three people , all of whom chose to end their appeals , since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976. The last was in 1999.  Corbett's office said Wednesday that he has signed 14 death warrants since taking office.

John Edwards acquitted on one count as jury deadlocks on five others and judge declares mistrial
Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington-Post

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Johnny Reid Edwards, a honey-voiced North Carolina lawyer who parlayed his boyish good looks and inspiring personal history as the son of a mill-worker into a meteoric political rise, was acquitted of one count Thursday in a corruption case, as the judge declared a mistrial on five other charges on which the jury was deadlocked.  Edwards emerged from the courthouse with his daughter and parents by his side to deliver remarks that sounded more like repentance than triumph. He lamented his “sins” and said he would not have to go far to find who is responsible. “I don’t have to go any further than the mirror,” he said. “It’s me and me alone.”  Edwards made no mention of Rielle Hunter, the videographer he had carried on a torrid affair with during his 2008 presidential campaign. But his voice cracked with emotion when he spoke of the child she bore him, “my precious Quinn, who I love more than any of you could ever imagine.”  And he suggested there might be a future for him in public life, citing his concerns about poverty, the signature issue of his failed campaign. “I don’t think God is through with me.”  The mixed result in a trial that laid bare Edwards’s sexual indiscretions and serial deceptions came after nine days of jury deliberations.  In four weeks of testimony, Edwards was portrayed by a parade of witnesses as a scheming and manipulative politician, but at least some jurors remained unconvinced that he orchestrated an elaborate conspiracy to secretly funnel nearly $1 million that should have been declared as campaign contributions to his mistress and the aides who helped him hide an extramarital affair during the 2008 presidential campaign.  When the decision was read by the clerk, Edwards’s face betrayed no emotion, but he slumped back in his chair. Moments later, he turned to his parents, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, and they smiled at him broadly. [More]

 

Thursday, May 31, 2012

GOP legislative leaders mull state budget
Michael Macagnone, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 31, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Republican legislative leaders want to have a budget deal to take to the governor by next week, well in advance of the June 30 deadline.  Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said the plan he continued negotiating on Wednesday with House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, would keep them on the road to a finished budget by the middle of the month.  "It is an optimistic time frame but an achievable one," Mr. Pileggi said of the mid-June goal.  Mr. Turzai said the eventual legislative budget deal would use the $27.6 billion plan approved earlier this month by the Senate as a ceiling.  The Senate plan restored some $500 million in spending that Gov. Tom Corbett cut in his February budget proposal.  Mr. Turzai described the Senate budget as "fiscally responsible while still balancing the needs of Pennsylvania citizens."  Mr. Pileggi said the two Republican caucuses were "not apart in concept, and we are working through the details" on K-12 education funding and other issues.  Neither House nor Senate Democratic leaders were invited to Wednesday's negotiations.  On higher-education funding, Mr. Turzai said he would like to go further than the agreement brokered by Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, with state universities limiting tuition increases to the rate of inflation in exchange for seeing their state aid restored.  "I'd like [universities] not to be increasing tuition," he said, telling reporters that tuition increases are a "crucial part" of funding discussions.  Both chambers have blocked amendments that would restore funding for a $150 million cash assistance program for disabled adults who can't work. Mr. Pileggi said the legislators did not see the program as the highest priority.  "There is competition for limited resources," he said, and the senators felt its plan was "the right allocation for the limited funds we have." [More]

Corbett rankles senator in nominating William Ward, former chief of staff, to Allegheny Court of Common Pleas
Jan Murphy, Harrisburgh Patriot-News
Thursday, May 31, 2012

Lacking the money to fully cover the state courts’ needs, Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille last year asked Gov. Tom Corbett to hold off on filling judicial vacancies as a cost-saving move.  Corbett agreed to that request, but for only one year, said Kevin Harley, the governor’s spokesman.  So when William Ward resigned as Corbett’s chief of staff last week, the governor felt he was free to nominate Ward, a longtime friend, to his dream job of being a judge.  It is Corbett’s first judicial appointment since taking office in January 2011.  Corbett nominated the 60-year-old Ward, of the Pittsburgh suburb of Mount Lebanon, to fill an opening on the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas for a term that expires at the end of 2013.  “For as long as I’ve known Bill, it’s been his dream to be a judge,” Corbett said in announcing Ward’s nomination. “I’m happy to help make that dream happen, both for Bill and for the citizens who will benefit from his knowledge and integrity.”  That remark rubbed the ranking Democrat on the state Senate Judiciary Committee the wrong way.  “If he wants to send Mr. Ward to Disneyland or wants to get him to meet Beyonce, I would have no problem with that as long as it didn’t involve state money,” said Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery County.  “To me, the whole concept of justice is a very sacred concept and the process has to be above reproach,” Leach said. “This is not about rewarding cronies.”  Harley said the governor believes Ward has the legal intellect and judicial temperament to serve on the bench.  Some Republicans felt Ward wasn’t up to the task of being the governor’s chief of staff. [More]

Jane Orie resigns from state Senate
Laura Olson and Tim McNutty, Pittsburghh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Facing sentencing on 14 criminal counts, Republican state Sen. Jane Orie resigned Monday from the seat she has held for more than a decade.  Her departure sets up a soon-to-be-scheduled special election in the North Hills district, which is proposed to be relocated across the state in 2014.  Ms. Orie, 50, of McCandless, was found guilty in March of misusing her legislative staff to do campaign work. She has been suspended from practicing law and stands to lose her pension.  Her sentencing initially was scheduled for Monday, but Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning allowed her two additional weeks to repay defense costs paid by the state Senate.  "It has been an honor and a privilege for me to have served in the Senate of Pennsylvania," Ms. Orie wrote in a brief resignation letter dated Friday.  Staffers will continue to respond to constituent requests in her former Harrisburg and district offices.  Republican Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, who presides over the Senate, has 10 days to schedule a special election.  While balloting could be held as early as late July -- or delayed to the general election Nov. 6 -- local Republicans are eyeing Aug. 21 as their preferred date. By that time, schools hosting polling places would be open again and the election would not interfere with the national political conventions, which kick off Aug. 27 with the Republican gathering in Tampa, Fla.  Local officials from both parties will pick their nominees for the special election. The Republican nominee will be picked by 55 committee members and party activists from Allegheny County and 29 from Butler County in a meeting tentatively set for early to mid-June in Gibsonia.  About 10 Republicans currently are interested in the seat, said Allegheny County GOP chairman Jim Roddey. [More]

Orie seeks to shield pension, campaign cash
Bobby Kerlick, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Allegheny County prosecutors should not be allowed to touch the pension contributions or campaign account of former state Sen. Jane Orie in their bid to collect restitution from her theft convictions, her attorney said Wednesday.  William Costopoulos filed a six-page motion in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court and attached more than 80 pages of exhibits detailing Orie's rejection of cost-of-living increases for herself as well as her vote against the 2006 controversial pay raise for lawmakers.  Costopoulos also wrote that her theft convictions "are in the $25,000 range" with a guideline sentence that ranges from probation to nine to 18 months in jail. That's a sharp contrast to prosecutors' requests for restitution that could total more than $2 million and a jail sentence that could range from probation up to 94 months, or almost eight years, in the standard range.  Costopoulos argued that the bulk of the prosecution's $2 million restitution request was money spent by the Senate Republican Caucus for its own representation and that Orie should not be liable for that.  Orie, 50, of McCandless, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday on her 14 convictions, including five felonies, for using her staff to do campaign work on state time and using forged documents as evidence in her first trial, which ended in a mistrial.  Prosecutors have said in court filings that Orie's state pension fund contributions total about $90,000, and that her campaign fund contains more than $100,000.  A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. declined to comment.

 

Union boss: 401(k)s insufficient for state government employees
Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, May 30, 2012

HARRISBURG -- A top union leader said on Wednesday that defined contribution plans like 401(k)s are the "modern-day equivalent of the gold watch" for retiring workers, and they should not be forced on public employees in lieu of guaranteed pension plans.  With 401(k)s, employers are saying, "thanks for your service and don't let the door hit you on the way out," said Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, an umbrella group that includes unions representing public employees.  Bloomingdale responded to an announcement by Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday that they soon will move forward with legislation to drop guaranteed pension plans to new state workers.  "Over the past few decades, virtually all of the private sector has shifted to defined contribution retirement plans," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, a key sponsor. "It's time for Pennsylvania government to do the same."  State government's cost of paying for existing pensions will increase from $1.7 billion in the proposed 2012-13 budget to $4 billion in 2016, the governor's office said.  "A switch to a defined contribution plan will benefit Pennsylvania taxpayers by forcing fiscal discipline," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre County.  Richard Dreyfuss, a pension expert with the Commonwealth Foundation, said there is no single figure for the percentage of companies in the private sector with 401(k)s. He referred to a 2010 report from Hewitt Financial Service, which found that about one-third of 33 companies headquartered in Pennsylvania still offered defined benefit plans like pensions while two-thirds offered defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s.  He also cited a national survey in 2011 by Towers Watson, a benefits specialist, which reported about 70 percent of Fortune 100 companies offer 401(k)-type plans. [More]

Technology lets drillers get more with less
Erich Schwartzel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 31, 2012

Drilling companies operating in Pennsylvania appear to be doing more with less.  Even as the amount of natural gas produced in the Keystone State quadrupled between 2009 and 2011, the number of actual wells fell as drillers used new technology to extract more gas from a single rig, according to a new study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  The development of more efficient horizontal drilling technology severely slowed the number of vertical wells drilled between 2009 and 2011, a period that represents a time when the drilling boom became visible above the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation. At the same time, falling commodity prices have forced companies to slow activity so far this year.  For decades, vertical wells were drilled straight through the ground across Pennsylvania to extract oil and natural gas. The more recent use of horizontal drilling technology, which allows a drill to turn and run parallel to the shale rock, has allowed companies to more effectively drill in regions that once weren't economically viable.  Vertical wells produced little output compared to horizontal wells because the latter can pull gas from a larger part of the shale rock, said John Staub, an exploration and production analyst at EIA.  Prior to 2009, thousands of vertical -- or "conventional" -- wells across Pennsylvania produced about 400 million to 500 million cubic feet of gas per day, according to the study.  Two years later, with the boom in full swing and horizontal drilling the common technique, the state produced about 3.5 billion cubic feet per day.  The preference for horizontal drills was starkly seen in 2011: almost 2,000 new horizontal wells were drilled, whereas only about 500 vertical wells were started.  The study also offered some insight into drilling trends for 2012. Low natural gas prices -- and the lure of more lucrative gas in Ohio -- have already prompted a year-over-year slowdown in the number of Pennsylvania rigs. [More]

 

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Romney clinches GOP nomination with Texas win
Stephen Ohlemacher, The Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a win in the Texas primary, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.  According to The Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 97 delegates in the Texas primary.  The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.  Romney would be the first Mormon nominated by a major party. His religion has been less of an issue than it was during his failed bid four years ago.  "We did it!" Romney proclaimed in a message to supporters, noting that "it's only the beginning."  "An honor and a privilege and a great responsibility," Romney told supporters at a fundraiser in Las Vegas. "And I know the road to 1,144 was long and hard, but I also know that the road to 11-06 , Nov. 6th , is also going to be long and it's going to be hard and it's going to be worth it because we're going to take back the White House and get America right again."  Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation's struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy. [More]

Pa. Supreme Court rejects asbestos theory
Chris Mondics and Inquirer Staff Writer, Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, May 27, 2012

In a decision with potentially broad implications, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has disallowed scientific testimony in asbestos lawsuits asserting that even the tiniest exposure could cause cancer.  The unanimous opinion, written by Justice Thomas G. Saylor, said plaintiffs alleging asbestos-related disease could no longer argue that the mere exposure to even one fiber of the cancer-causing substance could be the basis for a claim. The court said plaintiffs would have to show some relationship between the amount of asbestos exposure and development of the disease.  "Simply put," the court said in its 53-page opinion, "one cannot simultaneously maintain that a single fiber among millions is substantially causative, while also conceding that a disease is dose-responsive."  The decision was hailed by the National Federation of Independent Business, which asserted that thousands of businesses around the country had been sued on the basis of the theory.  "This is a significant decision because it prevents the use of tenuous theories that have no basis in science," said the group’s Pennsylvania director, Kevin Shivers. "We are grateful to the court for this decision because it makes the system objectively fairer."  The decision came in a 2005 lawsuit by a Western Pennsylvania auto mechanic against Ford Motor Co., Allied Signal Inc., and others alleging that, over 44 years, his exposure to asbestos through the repair of brake linings had caused mesothelioma, a cancer that in the overwhelming majority of cases is attributable to asbestos exposure. The Pittsburgh-area law firm that represented the mechanic, Charles Simikian, did not return a telephone call requesting comment. [More]

Pa. Pension changes proposed
Clara Ritger, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

HARRISBURG - New state employees would get a retirement plan like a 401(k) instead of a guaranteed state pension under legislation Senate Republicans are crafting.  Three members of the Senate Republican leadership said the change they'll propose is intended to reduce the system's cost to taxpayers. The switch from the current defined benefit plan would affect all state and public school employees hired on or after Dec. 1, 2012.  "Over the past few decades, virtually all of the private sector has shifted to defined contribution retirement plans," Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, said. "It's time for Pennsylvania government to do the same."  Soaring pension costs prompted Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and key GOP leaders to look at pension reform. Their options are limited because they cannot change benefits for existing employees.  Pileggi will sponsor the legislation with Senate Majority Whip Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County; Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre County, and Sen. Mike Brubaker, R-Lancaster County.  Erik Arneson, spokesman for Pileggi, said they plan to introduce the legislation in early June.  Corbett has identified changing the system as a top priority.  "The governor looks forward to working with Sen. Pileggi, along with members of the House working on similar legislation, in crafting a common-sense pension reform plan that will address short- and long-term debt," Corbett's spokesman Eric Shirk said.  "The taxpayers simply can't afford the current system. This year, the state is paying $1.8 billion for pension obligations, and if we don't act, that number jumps to $4.2 billion in 2016-17, leaving little room for growth in any other areas of the budget."  Representatives of state employee unions could not immediately be reached for comment.  In 2010, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell signed legislation designed to fix the retirement system. The law decreased future employees' benefits and raised the retirement age to 65 for both state and school employees. It also increased the vesting period to 10 years from five. [More]

Corbett supports corrections changes that could save of $263 million over five years
Karen Langley, Pittsburgh Post- Gazette
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

HARRISBURG -- The corrections overhaul plan endorsed by Gov. Tom Corbett aims to curb future spending in part by more precisely defining which inmates are sent to halfway houses and which are sent to prisons.  State spending on corrections has grown dramatically in recent decades, and state officials have spent recent months working with the Council of State Governments, a national nonprofit research organization, to identify ways to improve the system's efficiency and effectiveness.  In a presentation last week, analysts from the council said the programs required of state prison inmates are often too lengthy for people with short minimum sentences to be considered for parole in a timely manner. This prolongs the expense of housing them and cuts into the time they can be supervised by a parole officer after their release.  Under the plan, people convicted of low-level misdemeanors, such as drunken driving and receiving stolen property, would be eligible only for sanctions other than state prison, such as incarceration at the county level or probation. Counties would be encouraged through state funding to expand the capacity in their jails for inmates with minimum sentences shorter than one year.  Currently, one-third of inmates arrive in prison with less than a year remaining in their minimum sentence, and they stay an average of 200 days beyond that date, according to the Council of State Governments report.  "The prisons just aren't typically designed for offenders with longer sentences," said Marshall Clement, the division director of state initiatives at the Council of State Governments Justice Center.  Together, the analysts project the changes for low-level misdemeanor convictions and other inmates with short minimum sentences could reduce future spending by more than $168 million over the next five years. [More]

W.Pa. jobless rate holds steady at 6.8 percent
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The unemployment rate in Western Pennsylvania was unchanged last month, the state Department of Labor and Industry reported today.  The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh region was 6.8 percent in April, the same as in March, and down from 7.3 percent in April 2011, according to the state's survey of households.  Meanwhile, the region added 10,800 jobs in April, according to a separate survey of employers. The region had 1,157,100 nonfarm jobs last month, up from 1,146,300 in March.  The region covers Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Welfare fraud feared worse
Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

HARRISBURG - Auditor General Jack Wagner on Tuesday commended the Department of Public Welfare for uncovering almost $1 million in fraud by out-of-state residents using state-issued welfare debit cards, but he said the problem could be much worse than that.  Wagner said his audit of one month of 2011 found more than $5 million in out-of-state charges paid by Pennsylvania taxpayers.  A key reason for the difference: Wagner found most of the fraud in states surrounding Pennsylvania. The welfare report released yesterday covers only non-border states; neighboring states are slated for the next phase of review, a department spokeswoman said.  "The department's review of out-of-state welfare spending will soon expand to neighboring states, and we will conduct reviews anywhere we see an inconsistency," Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander said.  Wagner's audit covered 50 states and Puerto Rico, and dealt with more than 100,000 transactions.  The Department of Public Welfare said it began a residency review in February and found 653 people fraudulently collected benefits while living out of state. The department stopped providing benefits to those people. Some of the cases will be referred to the state Inspector General's Office, said Carey Miller, a department spokeswoman.  Melissa Yerges, spokeswoman for the inspector general, said investigators would review any "overpayments," and they would refer them to district attorneys if necessary.  Eva Stevenson of Brentwood said the department's findings are upsetting.  "I have worked for 30 years and am now starting to get painful arthritis, but I still crawl up a hill to get a bus to go to work, and hearing that 600 people were getting free money and food really angers me," she said.  Alexander pledged to solve the problem, saying he "will leave no stone unturned when it comes to rooting out fraud, waste and abuse."  The state issued 1.8 million debit cards for food benefits and 212,347 for cash benefits in April 2012, the department said.

Harrisburg's eye-popping debt total is just one piece of city's bleak financial puzzle
Nick Malawskey, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

It’s almost impossible to say exactly how much money the elected and appointed officials of Harrisburg have borrowed. Missing financial audits, complicated transactions and intertwining finances create a labyrinth of money that stretches decades into Harrisburg’s history. At best estimates, based upon reviews of independent reports and audited financial statements, the amount of debt owed by the city and its affiliated entities — with interest — stands somewhere north of $1.5 billion. That’s roughly $30,285 for each of the 49,528 men, women and children living in the city and almost twice the income of the average city resident. By comparison, in suburban Lower Paxton Township, which has roughly the same population as Harrisburg, the debt per resident — including their portion of Central Dauphin School District — is about $5,000 per person. The bill won’t come due tomorrow, or even next year. But it represents a slow drain on the city’s coffers that stretches out for another 20 years or more. Some of the outstanding debts — for parking garages, sewage systems and building projects — are designed to pay for themselves through fees, leases or public-use costs. In other cases, the bills cannot be paid. While the amount of debt is eye-popping, it is only one piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the city’s bleak financial background. It does not account for past-due debt payments or unfunded pension and healthcare obligations. Nor does it include the estimated annual deficits in the city’s and school district’s budgets, which this year are so far estimated at $6.8 million for the city and at least $7 million for the school district, even with drastic cuts such as eliminating kindergarten. The schools are facing unprecedented cuts as the district tries to close a massive budget deficit, while the city is running out of cash and could do so before the end of the year. [More]

 

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Pennsylvania lowers one voter-ID hurdle, but for many, others remain

Bob Warner, Philadelphia Inquirer
Monday, May 28, 2012

Amid the complexities of Pennsylvania's new voter identification law, the news release sent out from Harrisburg on Wednesday promised to make things simpler.  The Corbett administration was announcing it had worked out a way for PennDot to check with the state Health Department to verify state birth records - a "simplified method to obtain photo ID for Pennsylvania-born voters," said the headline on the Department of State release.  It may be simplified, but it still isn't simple.  The new wrinkle will lower one of the multiple hurdles the law has created for some of the people who don't have driver's licenses and need other forms of photo ID to vote in November's general election.  Instead of having to locate their original birth certificates or pay $10 to apply for an official copy, would-be voters who were born in Pennsylvania will now be able to ask PennDot to verify their birth from state health records, without paying a fee to buy a new birth certificate.  But the procedure helps only people born in Pennsylvania, not citizens born in other states or in other countries.  Plus, it will require an extra trip to one of PennDOT's driver's license centers to pick up a nondriver identification card, once the voter's birth is authenticated.  To put the process in motion, the individual will have to make a preliminary visit to the same driver's license center, armed with other pieces of identification - a Social Security card (absolutely required for all applicants) and at least two proofs of residency, such as utility bills, lease agreements, mortgage documents, or tax records showing a current address. [More]

Justice Joan Orie Melvin's suspension could lead to 3-3 deadlock, and an ineffective top court
Zack Needles and Ben Present, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, May 28, 2012

The suspension of Justice Joan Orie Melvin has left behind a state Supreme Court with limited effectiveness and few remedies, attorneys and legal watchers said.  Justice Melvin was suspended by her fellow justices May 18 after being charged in Allegheny County with nine criminal counts, alleging she used legislative and judicial staff to perform campaign work. In a letter written by her attorney to Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, Justice Melvin said she would voluntarily recuse herself from her duties, but not resign.  The court is left with six justices split evenly along party lines, a circumstance some in the legal community worry will hinder its ability.  "Where before you had a 4-3 majority, now you have a 3-3 logjam," trial lawyer Robert T. Szostak said last week. "The Supreme Court doesn't decide cases, it decides law, and [Justice Melvin's suspension] could hold law up."  Robert B. Hoffman, a litigator at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott in Harrisburg, questioned whether cases in which Justice Melvin heard arguments would be decided with the six-justice panel or held until she either returns or is replaced.  If those cases are held until a new justice is assigned, they would have to be "resubmitted" -- a process by which the new justice would be given the parties' briefs to review before weighing in -- since justices are barred from participating in cases in which they were not present for oral argument, Mr. Hoffman said. He noted that, to the extent that there are cases in which Justice Melvin was in the process of penning an opinion, those cases likely would be reassigned to new authors. [More]

Hopefuls lining up to run for seat vacated by Jane Orie
Mike Wereschagain and Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Friday, May 25, 2012

Candidates are lining up support for an Aug. 7 special election to decide who will serve the final two years of convicted ex-state Sen. Jane Orie's term.  Former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, who represented the North Hills senate district before Orie, said she'll seek the Republican nomination. Ross Commissioner Dan DeMarco, who lost to Orie in 2010, said he's considering seeking the Democratic nomination. Because it's a special election, the party committees in Allegheny and Butler counties will choose their nominees rather than voters picking them in a primary.  The district, which includes northern Allegheny and southern Butler counties, might only exist for the two years remaining in Orie's term. The latest redistricting proposal carves up the 40th senatorial district into surrounding districts. The 40th would be moved to Monroe and Northampton counties. The General Assembly could vote on the plan within weeks.  "I think I could most effectively utilize those two years," said Hart, 50, of Bradford Woods, a lawyer with Keevican Weiss Bauerle & Hirsch, Downtown. "I see this as an opportunity to get something done. ... Anybody who's ever served in public life, there's a piece of them that really enjoys helping to get things done, helping get that project to completion."  DeMarco, 47, said the possibility that the office might not exist after 2014 "obviously has to be taken into consideration" when deciding whether to spend considerable time raising money and campaigning.  "I'm seriously considering running for this seat, but I have not made a decision," DeMarco said.  Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley on Friday announced the Aug. 7 election date. At least six other Republicans expressed interest in the job, said Butler County Republican Committee Chairman Jeff Smith.  They are: Shaler lawyer Christopher Abernathy; Valencia businessman Doug Austin; former Allegheny County Controller candidate Robert Howard; North Hills school director Jeff Meyers; Butler County Republican Committee vice chairwoman Robin Redding; and Allegheny County GOP treasurer Karen Shaheen.[More]

Cawley sets Aug. 7 date for special election for Orie's seat
Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Friday, May 25, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Lt. Gov. James Cawley today will call a special election on Aug. 7 to fill the seat of convicted former state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, who resigned on Monday.  Political parties will choose their candidates to compete in the election for the seat in parts of Allegheny and Butler counties. There is no primary election. The winner becomes the senator to fill Orie's term through 2014.  "After consultations with the governor and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, I decided to set an early date so that the citizens of that Senate district could have representation as soon as possible. They are entitled to their voice in the Senate," Cawley said.  Scarnati said that he was "fully supportive" of Cawley's decision to call a special election on Aug. 7. Orie's replacement would have the "opportunity to cast votes on several important fall issues including pension reform and infrastructure investmen, he said.  Orie, 50, represented the North Hills district since she won a special election in 2001. She was re-elected in 2010 while under indictment.  Orie, 50, was convicted by an Allegheny County jury in March for using public resources for her campaigns and for forging documents. She will be sentenced on June 4 by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning.  Prosecutors also charged two of her sisters, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin and Janine Orie, who worked as an aide to Melvin when she served on Superior Court. Melvin was elected to the Supreme Court in November 2009. Jane Orie used her staff and state resources for Melvin's campaign.  Janine Orie still faces trial. [More]

Lawmaker's plan to hasten Pa. DEP permits raises eyebrows
Laura Olson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, May 28, 2012

HARRISBURG -- A House Republican who says he wants a money-back guarantee for businesses stymied for years awaiting environmental permits is facing opposition from state regulators.  That measure, from state Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Ford City, would standardize review periods for permits issued by the Department of Environmental Protection.  If deadlines aren't met or if an alternative timetable isn't agreed to by regulators and the applicant, the permit would automatically be granted.  Mr. Pyle says companies need to be able to plan around predictable permitting schedules, giving the example of a coal company operator whose $300,000 permit application allegedly sat unanswered for several years.  Automatically granting stagnant permits creates an incentive for regulators to be efficient, the lawmaker said.  "It puts their feet to the fire," Mr. Pyle said. "The clock's ticking."  But opponents -- which include some Democratic lawmakers and now the DEP -- disagree with Mr. Pyle's solution for faster permits.  DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said in an email that the agency strongly opposes the bill, citing the automatic-approval section as its chief objection.  During a committee meeting on the measure last week, Democratic Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, argued that more resources, instead of stricter rules, would be more effective in improving the agency's response times.  "We complain about slow turnaround in permits, but we continue to cut DEP's budget," he said.  The bill's sponsor, Mr. Pyle, pointed to another section -- which also has raised eyebrows -- as providing the agency with help on that front. That provision would authorize DEP to license third-party contractors to assist in evaluating permits.  The outside permit-reviewers would have to meet certain qualifications and go through an agency training program. While they would not be granting any permits, DEP officials would have to accept their recommendations unless they are "clearly erroneous." [More]

Is Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's administration due for a big shakeup?
Robert J. Vickers, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Sunday, May 27, 2012

Republican lobbyists, legislators and power brokers welcomed Gov. Tom Corbett’s decision to change his top aide.  But they’re also hoping he doesn’t stop there.  Corbett announced Thursday that he was replacing Bill Ward, his chief of staff since becoming governor. He nominated Ward to a post on the Allegheny County bench.  Corbett named Stephen Aichele, previously his chief counsel, as his new chief of staff.  Though close advisers say the governor decided to make the change about two weeks ago, the switch comes days before he is scheduled to meet with a handful of his most influential party patrons.  And the timing has caused many party figures — who mostly spoke on condition of anonymity — to speculate that further shakeups are imminent.  “I hope it’s not the end of the reshuffle,” said one ubiquitous Harrisburg GOP operative who did not want to be identified. “The governor really needs some outsiders in his circle, and some people who have worked in the Legislature before.”  Corbett has a new chief of staff just a little more than a month before the governor and lawmakers must finish the state budget. The 2012-13 fiscal year begins July 1.  Since the first day Corbett took office in 2011, the pervasive critique of his tenure has been his failure to move the party’s big-ticket agenda items aggressively despite having an ideologically like-minded GOP-controlled Legislature.  Critics in the governor’s own party say that by now he should have privatized state liquor stores, instituted vouchers for school choice, enacted prevailing wage laws and found a way to get a transportation bill passed to repair the state’s crumbling roads and bridges. [More]

 

Friday, May 25, 2012

Corbett replaces his chief of staff
Angela Couloumbis, Philadelphia Inquirer
Friday, May 25, 2012

HARRISBURG - The top staff aide to Gov. Corbett is leaving the administration for a new job.  Corbett said Thursday he would nominate his chief of staff, William F. Ward, to fill a vacancy on Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Ward will be replaced by Stephen Aichele, a lawyer from Chester County who currently works as Corbett's chief counsel.   The governor made his announcement in a prepared statement that gave no hint of the political turmoil that was said to have preceded the moves. He said a judgeship had been a lifelong goal for Ward, 60, a former state and federal prosecutor and longtime Corbett friend and confidant who, like the governor, hails from Allegheny County.  "For as long as I've known Bill, it's been his dream to be a judge," Corbett's statement said. "I'm happy to help make that dream happen, both for Bill and for the citizens who will benefit from his knowledge and integrity."  Ward's departure from his $154,000 post comes as Corbett has faced increasing pressure to address what some in top state Republican circles believe is the governor's growing image problem. The Inquirer reported Thursday that Corbett's top political advisers, supporters, and fund-raisers had been agitating for him to make changes to his senior staff.  Next week, a small group of Republican Party heavyweights, known as the governor's "kitchen cabinet," is to meet with Corbett in Harrisburg. Speaking on condition of anonymity, four people familiar with plans for the meeting said the "kitchen" group wants to air concerns - such as a feeling that the administration had not effectively sold Corbett's agenda to the public, and that the governor had paid a price in popularity. [More]

Controller tells Corbett: Fix funding for Pa. courts
Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, May 25, 2012

Allegheny County residents face "double-taxation" to pay for some law enforcement and court services under next year's proposed state budget, Controller Chelsa Wagner warned Thursday.  She called on Gov. Tom Corbett and the Legislature to provide more than $9 million for those areas in his proposed 2012-13 spending plan. The state's new budget will take effect July 1.  "It's time for him to take care of his own," Ms. Wagner said of the governor. She slammed what she said was Mr. Corbett's proposal to continue to provide $5.5 million in state aid for Philadelphia municipal courts while cutting $2 million for similar courts in Pittsburgh.  She also decried his recommendation to eliminate a $7.5 million law enforcement grant that helps to fund the county's crime lab, medical examiner's office and county police.  State police provide services such as DNA testing and fingerprinting in other areas of the state that are paid for with state dollars, she said, including collections from Allegheny County. Without the $7.5 million law enforcement grant that partially reimburses the county, residents here will be paying twice for those services.  "County residents should be outraged about Gov. Corbett's budget," she said.  Ms. Wagner, a Democrat, has written the governor, a Republican, asking for a meeting.  At a news conference in the courtyard of the courthouse, she was joined by about a dozen residents. Kevin Harley, a spokesman for Gov. Corbett, disputed Ms. Wagner's statistics.   Funds for the crime lab and other law enforcement programs were trimmed in the 2007-08 budget proposed by former Gov. Ed Rendell and already eliminated last year. The governor's proposed 2012-13 budget, on the other hand, provides "level funding" for all courts, he said.  Philadelphia municipal courts had not gotten $5.5 million from the state since 2001, he said.

Superior Court upholds denial of bail for DeWeese
Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, May 24, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Superior Court late Wednesday denied an effort by former House Speaker Bill DeWeese's lawyer to free him from prison again while he appeals his convictions.  The political establishment expressed shock Friday when DeWeese's attorney, William C. Costopoulos, got him freed from Camp Hill State Correctional Institution on an emergency petition just four days after he was jailed May 14. A jury convicted DeWeese, 62, a Waynesburg Democrat, in February on political corruption charges.  The release order gave Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover 10 days to rule on DeWeese's bail. Hoover ruled earlier this week to deny bail and the Superior Court yesterday affirmed that decision.  But DeWeese had a brief break from prison, where he is serving 2 ½ to 5 years on conviction in Dauphin County court of five felonies for using his district office and Harrisburg staff to conduct his campaigns. He was seen Saturday night at a Harrisburg Senators baseball game. He spent the time riding his bike, seeing his girlfriend and eating Chinese food, DeWeese told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Orie objects to repaying Pa. Senate caucus
Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, May 25, 2012

The attorney representing former state Sen. Jane Orie said in a court filing Thursday that the commonwealth's request that she repay about $1.3 million used by the Senate Republican Caucus to defend itself during the investigation was "unprecedented."  William Costopoulos told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning in a brief that in none of the other recent prosecutions for public corruption among sitting state legislators has any prosecutor made a similar request.  He listed the cases against former representatives Mike Veon, Bill DeWeese and John Perzel.  "After extensive research, there is no authority in favor of this commonwealth's unprecedented effort to obtain this money," he told the court. "This effort under this act was not pursued in any other case with any other agency."  In a May 9 filing, Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus asked that the court require Ms. Orie to repay money spent by the caucus to pay the Philadelphia law firm of Conrad O'Brien.  But Mr. Costopoulos argued that nearly all of that $1.3 million was spent by the caucus to defend itself and defend against the DA's efforts to subpoena extensive records in the Senate that were believed to be protected by legislative privilege.  The district attorney's office had no comment on the filing.  Under Senate rules, the caucus is responsible to pay for a sitting member's legal defense during the course of an investigation. Once charges are filed, however, all payments must stop.  Ms. Orie was charged in April 2010 and convicted in March of 14 criminal counts, including five felonies. She will be sentenced by Judge Manning on June 4. The court is expected to conduct a hearing on the requests by the prosecution at that time.[More]

State fines of gas drilling firms plunge, revised data show
Timothy Puko, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, May 24, 2012

State officials on Thursday corrected data they provide about gas drilling fines, saying fines dropped by $300,000 from 2010 to 2011, a fraction of the difference reflected on a state website that was the basis for reports a day earlier.  Department of Environmental Protection compliance reports online show more than $8 million in fines for 2010, but many of the entries in that database are duplicated, said Kevin Sunday, department spokesman in Harrisburg. The state fined shale gas drilling companies $2.9 million for violations in 2010. It fined them $2.6 million in 2011, Sunday said.  "In terms of the data, that's a huge issue," said Steve Hvozdovich, a Pittsburgh-based policy associate who compiled the numbers from the database for a report by the environmental group Clean Water Action.  "The purpose of this (DEP) website, one, should be transparency, which it clearly is doing," Hvozdovich said. "But, two, it should also be done in such a way that the general public can understand it. If they can't, then transparency is essentially useless."  Department officials clarified the numbers a day after separate reports in the Tribune-Review and from Clean Water Action -- both using numbers from a state database -- showed a dramatic decline in fines despite a much smaller decrease in violations.  It took time for agency officials to spot the discrepancy, Sunday said. On Wednesday, he said he would "stand behind the information contained in our compliance report."  "We're trying to operate as transparently as possible," Sunday said, stressing the agency's effort to put more information online. "In general, a lot of what we do is of a highly technical nature, and some of that requires interpretation. We're willing to provide that when needed."  DEP has come under fire for the accuracy of its online well counts and how it communicates with landowners and public officials about spills and accidents.

Pennsylvania school districts find 'a perfect storm' of financial challenges
M. Diane McCormick, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Friday, May 25, 2012

Pennsylvania school districts find themselves in “a perfect storm” of fiscal challenges, Central Dauphin School Board President Ford Thompson said.   “At a time when major costs are rising that we have little control over, all our revenue sources are down,” Thompson said.  Students have felt the impact of budget squeezes differently at the four districts clustered on the East Shore — Central Dauphin, Harrisburg, Steelton-Highspire and Susquehanna Twp. — but administrators agree on one thing: There’s little left to cut.   In recent years, Harrisburg cut deeply into teaching staff and sports and closed five buildings. Steel-High furloughed teachers, moved special education oversight to an assistant superintendent and eliminated programs and a high school librarian position. Central Dauphin has left unfilled dozens of administrative posts, won a pay freeze from the teachers union and endured contention over bus drivers’ contracts. Susquehanna Twp. has let teaching positions lapse. School districts have until the end of May to finalize and release their 2012-13 budgets, including possible tax increases and staff furloughs, but the budget picture is becoming clear. For the 2012-13 school year, projected revenue shortfalls are $15.8 million in Harrisburg, $3.8 million in Central Dauphin and $1.8 million in Susquehanna Twp. Steel-High’s total projected budget is $19 million — a drop from the 2011-12 school year’s $20.85 million budget that requires no tax increase. School officials say that budget constraints have pushed them to find savings. Harrisburg and CD switched to self-insurance, which allows districts to pay actual costs of catastrophic health claims instead of monthly premiums. [More]

 

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Corbett backs changes to state prisons
Karen Langley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 24, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Gov. Tom Corbett on Wednesday endorsed a set of recommendations for overhauling the state corrections system and asked for legislation to reach his desk by the end of June.  The proposal includes reserving state prison sentences for serious offenders, reducing inefficiencies in the parole process and increasing funding for programs serving victims of crime. Analysts with the national, non-partisan Council of State Governments, who developed the plan after reviewing data from the state criminal justice system with Pennsylvania officials, projected that over the next five years the changes would trim $350.7 million from corrections spending and reinvest $87.5 million of that on system improvements.  Mr. Corbett told the state working group he believes the recommendations constitute a "wonderful document" that would cut corrections costs while helping to improve public safety, and he called on legislators to send him a bill.  "This is a very smart way of looking at how we stretch the taxpayers' dollars without reducing public safety, in fact enhancing public safety, as far as I'm concerned," Mr. Corbett said. "I would hope that we could get the new legislation that we recommended coming out of this introduced and passed before the end of June because it does have an impact on the budget."  The state corrections system has grown dramatically in recent decades. In 1980, the state housed 8,200 inmates at an average annual cost of $11,400 each. Thirty years later, it housed 51,270 inmates with an average cost of $34,200.  A spokeswoman, Janet Kelley, said the governor is "working diligently" to have the recommendations adopted by lawmakers before the budget is passed.  At the meeting, Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, told fellow members of the working group that he expects the proposals will have little trouble passing the Senate. [More]

Pa. considers leasing university, prison land for drilling
Laura Olson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 24, 2012

HARRISBURG -- A state House panel on Wednesday tweaked a measure that could expand gas drilling on state-owned lands, including on the campuses of the State System of Higher Education colleges.  The proposal from Republican Sen. Don White, which passed the state Senate overwhelmingly last fall, would authorize state officials to lease rights to the oil, gas and coal beneath certain state lands.  The state already has about 600,000 acres of forestland available for gas drilling, but has considered leasing other property, such as land surrounding state prisons.  Under the measure, a state-owned college that hosts a gas well would be allowed to keep 40 percent of royalty payments received from gas drilling, with the remainder to be distributed among the other State System colleges. Any royalties from drilling on those campuses currently would be deposited in state coffers.  At least one state-owned college already has campus land leased for drilling: California University of Pennsylvania's Student Association Inc., a student nonprofit separate from the university, entered into an agreement with Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. in January 2011.  The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee did not alter what funds colleges could receive under the bill, but did adjust how royalties from leases on other state-owned land would be distributed.  Rep. Scott Hutchinson, R-Venango and the committee's chairman, noted that the new Marcellus Shale drilling law already included funding for several of the programs that the leasing bill targeted, including the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund and PennVest, which pays for water and sewer projects.  After the committee's revisions, 20 percent of drilling royalties would remain with the state agency whose land is being leased, and the remainder would be deposited in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund. That account is for recreation and conservation projects, but also has been used in recent years to help bridge gaps in general state spending. [More]

PA cities: Closer to bankruptcy?
Joseph N. DiStefano, Philadelphia Inquirer
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Cash-strapped Harrisburg's former court-appointed financial receiver, lawyer David Unkovic, was expected in Commonwealth Court Thursday for a hearing on the future of the reorganization plan he once led.  It was unclear if the would-be financial czar will be telling details of the political interference he claimed led to his departure to Judge Bonnie Leadbetter, who's asked only for testimony that directly impacts the state's plan to sell city assets.  Before resigning, Unkovic had called for a federal investigation into the bond deals that drove the city to default on its debt.  Meanwhile Bryn Mawr lawyer Mark Schwartz, who has represented Harrisburg City Council and its treasurer and controller, questioned Gov. Corbett's choice of former Air Force Gen. William B. Lynch to replace Unkovic.  Schwartz noted that an audit by former state Auditor General Bob Casey found an abortive training-zone deal signed by the state in 1999 (after Lynch took command of the state's military business as Adjutant General, though his predecessors had scouted the site) to acquire property from Clearfield County mine owner C. Alan Walker contained terms that were "markedly different" from other state land deals and ended up costing taxpayer more than $300,000 before the arrangement was abandoned as unworkable. State officials "mishandled" the sale, Casey concluded.  Walker is now Corbett's head of the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), which oversees the receiver's office Lynch is supposed to head.  Schwartz questioned whether Lynch, given his history with Walker and his later role as a senior military overseer of  U.S. construction projects in Iraq, is the man who the state should "entrust Harrisburg's citizens to." [More]

Education protests dot Pa.
Margaret Harding, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Police arrested more than two dozen people across the state, including 11 in Pittsburgh, during demonstrations on Wednesday against public education budget cuts.  Protesters walked into the street and sat down in the Golden Triangle during the morning commute, blocking traffic on Fifth Avenue at Wood Street near the Gov. Tom Corbett's Downtown office. Police said they arrested them and cited them for obstructing traffic upon several warnings to move. In Philadelphia, police arrested 14 people for doing the same. There also were protests in Harrisburg, Doylestown, Hollidaysburg, Bethlehem, Hazleton and Greensburg.  The protesters blame Corbett for cuts in school funding this year and next, but the governor's office says his administration added state money when federal stimulus money disappeared.  "If they're going to cut funding for education, that's going to affect us as a country as a whole," said Hermaine Delaney, 62, of Shadyside, the Western Pennsylvania District Leader of 32BJ Service Employees International Union. "If we don't have a way to educate our children, how are they going to find decent jobs?" Delaney was among those cited for blocking traffic.  Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley defended the governor's support for public education and noted that 40.3 percent of the state's general budget goes there.  "Claims that the governor cut $1 billion from basic education are simply untrue. The missing $1 billion was one-time-only federal stimulus funds that districts were warned against using for operating budgets," Harley said.  The Pittsburgh protesters were among a crowd of 200 demonstrators who marched from the U.S. Steelworkers Building on the Boulevard of the Allies to Corbett's office to voice their concern.  Hundreds of protesters marched from Philadelphia City Hall to school district headquarters. They rallied against proposed cuts and a planned overhaul of the local district that would close 40 schools. [More]

Melvin's exit may spur ties on court
Jeremy Boren, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Joan Orie Melvin's suspension from the state Supreme Court occurs at a bad time for Republicans.  Lawyers expect justices on the high court to scrutinize the GOP-controlled Legislative Reapportionment Committee's second attempt to redraw state Senate and House district boundaries in Pennsylvania.  Melvin's absence while she faces criminal charges in Allegheny County leaves three Democrats and three Republicans on the court, raising the possibility of a split decision on the revised reapportionment and negating the 4-3 advantage Republicans have had since Melvin joined the court in 2010.  "It could make all the difference," said Sam Stretton, a Chester County attorney who plans to challenge the reapportionment. "Presumably there wouldn't be any other votes on party lines."  Melvin, 56, of Marshall declined interview requests. She acknowledged the advantage of a GOP majority in an email dated Oct. 15, 2009. The Allegheny County grand jury that recommended charges against her included the email from her 2009 campaign in its presentment.  "This is about majority court & future," she wrote to her sister and aide, Janine Orie, while instructing her to seek a $100,000 donation from conservative John Templeton, president of the John Templeton Foundation in Montgomery County. "I NEED to talk to him."  Templeton gave $42,500 to Melvin's campaign in two donations dated Oct. 28, 2009, and a total of $65,500 in 2009, records show. He declined to comment.  Melvin voluntarily stepped away from her judicial duties on Friday, and then her fellow justices suspended her with pay when District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. filed nine charges, including four felonies, accusing her of using state staff for political work during two campaigns.  She denies the charges and faces a June 8 preliminary hearing in Pittsburgh. She faces a June 12 hearing before the Court of Judicial Discipline on whether she will continue to collect her $195,309 annual salary while suspended. [More]

Orie penalties may be $2.15 million
Bobby Kerlik, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Allegheny County prosecutors added $780,000 this week to the growing amount they say former state Sen. Jane Orie could be forced to repay the state and said they likely will go after her state pension contributions and campaign funds.  The figure does not include the $1.37 million of taxpayer-funded legal costs related to the investigation and representation of the Senate Republican Caucus and Orie, 50. Prosecutors said in previous filings that they may ask the judge to impose that amount as well, which could put the total restitution at $2.15 million.  Legal experts said that while Orie's bill likely will be high, prosecutors probably won't get everything they're asking for.  "The value of the services is really a debatable sort of thing. It's hard to know exactly what the state was deprived of," said University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris. "The other side will also come up with a number, and it can't be zero because she's been convicted. It's a question of where the judge strikes the balance."  Orie, R-McCandless, faces sentencing June 4 on her 14 convictions for using her staff to do campaign work on state time and introducing forged documents during her first trial.  Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus laid out possible financial penalties for Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning to consider in the 68-page memorandum prosecutors filed on Tuesday. Claus also wrote that prosecutors are eyeing Orie's state pension fund contributions -- about $90,000 -- and her campaign fund, which contains more than $100,000.  Claus contends that the $112,000 Orie used from her campaign account to help pay for her defense, including $100,000 to defense attorney William Costopoulos, is against the law and the remaining money should be seized as part of restitution. [More]

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. seeks to protect veterans from job discrimination
Robert J. Vickers, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is introducing a bill that would expand veterans’ protection from job discrimination when they return home from active duty.  On the cusp of the Memorial Day holiday, Casey, D-Pa., introduced the Servicemembers Access to Justice Act on Wednesday. He hoped it would address the 7.3 percent unemployment among Pennsylvania veterans.  “The men and women of our armed forces have given their all for our country, and it’s essential that we protect them in the workplace when they come home,” he said. “No veteran should face job discrimination when they return from war, and passing this bill will ensure our servicemembers are protected.” His legislation would augment laws meant to protect reservists from losing the jobs they left to serve and protect veterans when they attempt to find new employment as civilians.  “We still need to close some loopholes in the original law so that we can address, if not completely remove, this stain from what the federal government is not doing,” Casey said.  Full-time military veterans often face job discrimination when they return to civilian life. Casey noted that reservists and National Guard veterans also have a difficult time reclaiming the jobs they held before being activated.  “In many ways, it’s a question of whether we’re going to keep our promise to our veterans and whether we’re going to hold the federal government accountable,” Casey said during a conference call.  The bill would bar employers from forcing a service member to automatically give up a job when he or she is called into service and add punitive damages to companies willfully violating the law.  It also would require federal agencies to notify contractors about service members’ employment rights. [More]

 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Pa. corrections system spends $49 million keeping non-violent inmates beyond minimum
Andrew Conte and Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania's corrections system spends millions of taxpayer dollars sending nonviolent offenders to prison and does not do enough to help them meet conditions for early release, consultants found.  State taxpayers spent $49 million housing inmates beyond the minimum release dates of sentences for misdemeanors and minor felonies committed in 2010, said the review by The Council of State Government's Justice Center. The researchers are scheduled to present policy recommendations today to a state committee considering changes to the prison system.  "The whole package will include a substantial amount of money that can be saved, and at the same time, we can improve the system," said Tony Fabelo, the center's research director.  Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed $27.14 billion budget counts on Department of Corrections savings achieved through legislation and agency changes, Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said. Corbett proposed flat funding of slightly less than $2 billion for the department.  The state's prison population climbed from 7,000 to 51,645 since 1980, in part because of mandatory-minimum sentences, longer prison terms and incarceration of less violent offenders, said Katrina Currie, a policy analyst for the Commonwealth Foundation.  Corrections statistics show 55.6 percent of the 51,645 inmates are violent offenders.  Corbett and other state leaders appointed the 32-member Pennsylvania Justice Reinvestment Workgroup last year to study how to save money on corrections. Based on the Justice Center's recommendations, the group could suggest legislative and regulatory changes.  The Justice Center is expected to suggest keeping some low-risk inmates in county jails or treatment programs, increasing money for drug and alcohol treatment and violence-prevention programs, and expanding the use of technology such as electronic monitoring. [More]

Pennsylvania’s unemployment fund owes feds $3.87 billion
Jane M. Von Bergen, Philadelphia Inquirer
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The fund that pays Pennsylvania’s unemployment benefits is running in the red, and lawmakers are grappling with how to remedy that. Compounding matters is that the state owes the federal government $3.87 billion it has borrowed to pay jobless claims because of the recession.  There seems to be little disagreement about how to pay back the money: Legislators are likely to pass a bill that will allow the state to float a bond.  “This is akin to refinancing your house,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor Julia Hearthway. “It’s the lowest interest rate we’re going to have for years to come.”  But there is considerable debate about how to solve the underlying problem: that the fund is paying out more than it takes in. Pennsylvania’s fund “is structurally insolvent,” according to the department’s analysis. In 2011, it paid out $3 billion but collected only $2.7 billion.  To fix things, legislators are considering a measure that would reduce the state’s payout by denying benefits to an estimated 48,000 unemployed people a year.  The current version of the bill, bound for a vote in the State Senate any day now, would affect nearly 10 percent of the 500,000 people who receive benefits, saving the state $276 million a year, starting in January.  “It looks like we’re going to solve the problem by taking it out of the pockets of the unemployed,” said John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, an advocacy group.  Dodds said that low-wage workers and the newly reemployed would be among the most vulnerable. If the recovery wavered, they might be the first to lose their jobs. [More]

The PA state budget: GOP lawmakers put a date on it
Angela Couloumbis, Philadelphia Inquirer
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

And that would be June 13.  At least, that's what two high-level Republican legislators seem to think.  Earlier today, Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he believes the budget will be put to bed by then, breaking a multi-year tradition of pushing it right up to -- and well beyond -- the July 1 start of a new fiscal year.  "It's always good to have goals in life," he quipped at the monthly press club luncheon in Harrisburg.  Not more than an hour later, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) made the same prediction to reporters.  Getting the budget done early? That would be a first for this last decade. The budget never - not even once - passed by the July 1 deadline when Ed Rendell was governor. And last year, despite the governor's office and both legislative chambers being controlled by Republicans, the budget was signed into law with only 13 minutes to spare.  To those who haven't been following, here's where the budget stands now: Gov. Corbett proposed his $27.1 billion blueprint in February, containing steep cuts to higher education and some programs for the poor, elderly and disabled.  The Senate made changes to it - restoring about $500 million in cuts - and has passed it to the House, which could begin considering it as early as this week.

DeWeese's freedom ends; he's back in jail
Associated Press, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Former Pennsylvania House speaker Bill DeWeese returned to state prison on Tuesday after nearly four days of court-ordered freedom, but his lawyers immediately asked a state appeals court to release him again.  A Camp Hill State Prison spokeswoman said DeWeese, convicted of corruption charges involving the use of public resources for campaigning, returned to the institution around 1:30 p.m.  DeWeese had served four days of a 2 1/2- to 5-year sentence when the state Superior Court freed him on Friday because the county trial judge had not ruled on his motion to grant bail while he appealed his conviction.  Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover ruled yesterday morning that DeWeese should remain jailed while he pursues appeals.  Hoover's six-page order said "the legitimate interest in incarceration following conviction prevails," and the former Greene County lawmaker was no longer entitled to the presumption of innocence. He said there were 52 witnesses and 81 exhibits at trial, and noted that DeWeese himself took the stand.  "The jury considered overwhelming evidence that (the) defendant used his legislative offices and equipment, in Harrisburg and Greene County, for political fundraising tasks on legislative time," Hoover wrote. "Approximately nine witnesses, many of (whom) considered themselves as friends of the defendant, testified regarding their political activity on legislative time."  Hoover said DeWeese "tainted" the trust of his staff, directed them to break the law and in some cases threatened to fire them if they did not perform campaign work.  Defense lawyers Bill Costopoulos and Richard A. Sprague immediately filed an emergency petition with Superior Court that said Hoover incorrectly relied upon what he considered strong evidence of guilt. [More]

Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter is a key player in efforts to resolve Harrisburg's crushing debt crisis
Matt Miller, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

In many respects, Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter is the pivot point for Harrisburg’s debt crisis.   She made the decision in March to approve the controversial debt-recovery plan of David Unkovic, the city’s former state-appointed receiver.   It will be her call on whether to appoint retired Air Force Gen. William Lynch, Gov. Tom Corbett’s choice, to fill the receiver job Unkovic quit on March 30.   Leadbetter could make that decision after a court hearing Thursday.   So who is this 65-year-old judge, this Montgomery County woman who wields such power over the capitol city’s fate?   Current and former associates and lawyers who’ve practiced before her say she’s professional, thoughtful and human.   “She is an outgoing, gregarious, friendly, make-you-feel-comfortable kind of person,” said Ronald Darlington of Upper Allen Township, who retired several years ago as Commonwealth Court’s executive administrator.   “As a lawyer and a judge, she’s among the best I’ve seen,” Darlington said. “She’s extremely bright, extremely hard-working. She’s as prepared as you can be.”   Leadbetter was Commonwealth Court’s president judge when Darlington retired.   Her stint ended in January and she was succeeded by Judge Dan Pellegrini of Pittsburgh. The court elects its president judges, who can’t succeed themselves when their five-year terms expire. Pellegrini tapped Leadbetter to oversee Harrisburg’s receivership after Senior Judge James R. Kelley of Greensburg retired at the end of 2011. Kelley approved Unkovic as city receiver in December.  Kristen Brown, Commonwealth Court prothonotary, said Pellegrini’s choice of Leadbetter for the receiver case “could be as simple as that she was next in line for a big case.  “There are thousands of possible reasons for judge assignments,” Brown said.   Court spokesman Jim Koval said that due to the demands of her schedule, Leadbetter wasn’t immediately available for an interview for this story.  [More]

Obama loses 40 percent of the primary vote in Arkansas, Kentucky
Aaron Blake, The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

President Obama lost more than 40 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s Arkansas and Kentucky Democratic primaries, despite little-to-no opposition.  Obama lost 42 percent of the vote to the “uncommitted” option in Kentucky and more than 40 percent to little-known attorney John Wolfe in Arkansas — the latest example of the incumbent president failing to win significant shares of votes in uncompetitive contests.  But it’s not the first time the president has taken less than 60 percent of the vote in a primary this year.  He ceded 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia to an incarcerated man in Texas named Keith Judd, and in Oklahoma, Obama lost several counties and won just 57 percent of the vote.  Kentucky’s vote was notable, though, for the fact that there weren’t even any other candidates on the ballot. The most the “uncommitted” option won so far this primary season was previously 21 percent in the North Carolina primary earlier this month. Kentucky looks as though it will double that number.  In addition, Obama looked as though he may lose more than half of the state’s 120 counties.  In Arkansas, Wolfe was rivaling the vote share taken in West Virginia by Judd. Obama led him 59 percent to 41 percent with 87 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning.  Obama has struggled the most this primary season in states in the South and Appalachia — which he was unlikely to win anyway in November — but he has also ceded big chunks of votes in swing states like North Carolina and New Hampshire.

Obama leads Pa. by 8 points, new poll finds
James O’Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

While recent polls suggest that Mitt Romney has strengthened his relative position nationally in recent weeks, a new survey found President Barack Obama maintaining a solid lead among Pennsylvania voters.  Results released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling found the president leading his challenger, 50 percent to 42 percent, in the race for the state's 20 electoral votes. Mr. Obama's lead was based on a unified Democratic base and an advantage among independents of more than 2-to-1.  A new survey from NBC released Tuesday evening found Mr. Obama leading Mr. Romney 47 percent to 43 percent. The most recent ABC/Washington Post survey saw a similar lead of 49 percent to 46 percent for the president.  The PPP Pennsylvania results also found a gaping gender gap in the president's support in the state. Women supported the president by the landslide margin of 56 percent to 36 percent while men favored the Republican, 48 percent to 43 percent.   The poll also found a slide in Gov. Tom Corbett's job approval numbers, with 50 percent saying that they did not approve of his performance and just 37 percent approve. In another PPP survey in November, the governor's job approval ratio was 37 percent positive and 43 percent negative. Mr. Corbett's job numbers were 61 percent positive and 24 percent negative among his fellow Republicans, but Democrats, by a margin of 73 percent to 17 percent, disapproved of his performance, as did independents, 49 percent to 33 percent.  Weeks after he left the Republican presidential race, former Sen. Rick Santorum is viewed unfavorably by a majority of his former constituents, 53 percent, with just 36 percent offering a favorable assessment. His former rival for the GOP nomination is viewed favorably by 66 percent of the state Republican voters with 20 percent offering an unfavorable assessment. Mr. Santorum's GOP favorable ratio was 58 percent positive and 31 percent negative. [More]

 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Pennsylvania must consider reducing future pension benefits of state employees, lawmaker says
Associated Press, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Monday, May 21, 2012

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A top state senator says the government needs to consider reducing the future benefits of employees to help soften a massive pension cost spike, even if it means challenging state constitutional law.  Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman said Monday that he hopes a major pension reform plan will be in place with the annual state budget that is to be assembled one year from now.  Long-established legal interpretations dictate that pension benefits promised the day of hire to school employees and government workers may not be reduced.  The $1.1 billion the state's paying for pensions this year is scheduled to rise to $4.3 billion in five years. The obligation will triple for school districts.  Analysts say options to smooth out the cost spike are extremely limited.

Spend budget reserves before layoffs, tax hikes, Pa. House Republicans tell schools
Karen Langley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

HARRISBURG -- A pair of House Republicans are calling on school districts to spend down budget reserves before raising taxes or laying off teachers.  Speaking at the Capitol on Monday, Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, and Rep. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe, said they are frustrated that districts across the state held more than $3.2 billion in reserves in June 2011, despite proposals now to lay off teachers and raise tax rates. And they pointed to the Pittsburgh Public Schools as a prime offender, a finding the district says ignores the rhythms of its off-cycle fiscal year.  "To be holding onto this type of revenue, still proposing additional tax increases and blaming us for not giving them enough money is ludicrous," Mr. Vereb said of the state's school districts. "The people on these school boards that are holding onto these pots of money need to come clean with the taxpayers that they are about to jump into their pockets and raid one more time."  Mr. Vereb said later he is working on legislation to bar districts from raising tax rates if their reserve funds exceed 5 percent of their operating budgets.  The legislators stood beside a poster highlighting Pittsburgh as the Pennsylvania school district with the largest fund balance -- $148 million -- as reported to the Department of Education at the close of the 2010-11 fiscal year. The display notes that Pittsburgh Public Schools plans to lay off about 500 workers, including 350 teachers. [More]

Orie officially resigns seat in Pennsylvania Senate
Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Monday, May 21, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Jane Orie, once the highest-ranking woman in state government, on Monday resigned her $82,026-a-year Senate seat in advance of sentencing on 14 criminal charges.  The resignation for the McCandless Republican, who represented her North Hills district for 11 years, occurred three days after Allegheny County's district attorney charged her sister, Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, with similar crimes of using public resources for campaigns.  The court suspended Melvin, 56, a Marshall Republican, who maintains her innocence. She faces a preliminary hearing Friday.  "She had a great career in the Senate. She was passionate on all the issues she fought for. I know Jane and respect her," said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County. "Blurring political activity and Senate work has been an issue. Keeping campaigning out of these offices has been a goal of ours."  Lt. Gov. James Cawley has 10 days to call a special election for Orie's seat. The election can occur 60 days after his announcement, or as late as the Nov. 6 general election, said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Republicans. A reapportionment plan would move Orie's district to eastern Pennsylvania. Chad Saylor, a spokesman for Cawley, declined comment.  Orie, 50, a former sex crimes prosecutor in the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office and ex-deputy attorney general, crafted an image as a reformer, especially targeting the state Gaming Control Board.   "I feel for her and her family and certainly wish her the best," said Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery County, who worked with Orie on gambling issues. "I feel horrible for what she's gone through. She was a pillar of reform up here."  As a former majority whip, Orie was in the top rung of Senate leadership. A House member from 1996-2000, she became a senator after a March 2001 special election. [More]

Trial judge will decide if former Rep. Bill DeWeese remains on bail
Associated Press, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Monday, May 21, 2012

HARRISBURG, Pa. — After a weekend of unexpected freedom, the fate of a convicted ex-legislator is back in the hands of the judge who presided over his trial.  Former Rep. Bill DeWeese was freed on bail Friday, four days after he began serving a 2½- to five-year sentence for illegally using taxpayer resource for political purposes.  The state Superior Court freed him — at least temporarily — after DeWeese' lawyers filed an emergency petition. The appellate court gave Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover seven days to decide whether he should remain free on bail while appealing his conviction.  The defense says it's unfair to send DeWeese to prison if ultimately he wins a new trial. State prosecutors say allowing him to remain free on bail is unfair to the jury that convicted him.

Penn Virginia Resource plans $380M in new Marcellus Shale pipelines
Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer
Monday, May 21, 2012

Radnor energy company Penn Virginia Resource Partners L.P. on Monday announced $380 million in new pipelines serving Marcellus Shale natural gas drillers, continuing its expansion in Pennsylvania’s booming shale-gas region.  PVR, which has rapidly transformed itself from a coal company to a natural-gas pipeline company, said it has entered into long-term agreements to extend its Lycoming County system to collect and process gas from the wells of four gas drillers, including some of the biggest producers in northern Pennsylvania.  The company’s announcement comes only a few days after it closed on the $1 billion acquisition of Chief Gathering L.L.C.’s pipeline system, which it financed with private-equity funding and a new debt issuance.  The Chief acquisition will catapult PVR into the “midstream” business of gathering and processing natural gas, said William H. Shea Jr., chief executive officer of the company’s general partner, Penn Virginia Resource G.P. The acquisition doubled the value of the company.  “There’s an awful lot going on around here,” said Stephen R. Milbourne, its director of investor relations. “We think this is very exciting.”  Under the agreements announced Monday with Royal Dutch Shell, Range Resources Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co., PVR will build 54 miles of new trunk line, extend its existing 30-inch pipeline north through Lycoming County and into Tioga County. In addition, the company will build many more miles of lateral connections to groups of wells.  The company is also building a separate system of pipelines and compression stations in Lycoming County east of Williamsport to connect wells being developed by privately-held Inflection Energy L.L.C. [More]

Pay for university leaders drives 'academic arms race'
Debra Erdley, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Monday, May 21, 2012

A survey of top-paid public university executives, which lists former Penn State University President Graham Spanier as No. 3 nationwide last year, shows competition for leaders is driving an "academic arms race," one university economist said on Monday.  Spanier, whom trustees forced to resign in November in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal, collected $1,068,763 in total compensation, including a $200,000 bonus and $208,761 in deferred compensation in the year ending June 30, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education survey.   Ohio University economist Richard Vedder, founder of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, said colleges are upping the ante, and suffering as a result, as they compete for executive talent to bolster fundraising and boost graduation rates.  "There's no question there is an athletic arms race with colleges paying millions for football and basketball coaches, but there is very much of an academic arms race, too. And I think students increasingly are funding the academic arms race through higher tuition and fees," Vedder said.  According to the Chronicle survey, only two other public university presidents out of 199 surveyed broke the $1 million mark in 2011. E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University, collected $1,992,221, and Michael D. McKinney collected $1,966,347 at the helm of Texas A&M University.  University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg was 40th on the list at $561,500. Ann Weaver Hart, president at Temple University, made $655,000.  Gov. Tom Corbett and others have criticized university spending and tuition increases, especially at state-related schools such as Penn State, Pitt and Temple. The state cut subsidies this year by 20 percent, and lawmakers struck a deal with university leaders to maintain funding next year if the schools limit tuition hikes. [More]

Pittsburgh diocese files suit over birth control
Bill Zlatos and Brian Bowling, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Monday, May 21, 2012

The Diocese of Pittsburgh on Monday joined more than 40 Catholic groups across the country in suing the Obama administration for requiring them to offer birth control services to employees as part of a federal health care mandate.  "This is a level of interference in religious freedom that no administration -- Democrat or Republican -- has ever done before in the history of the United States," Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik said at a news conference in its Downtown headquarters.  He wouldn't say whether the lawsuits -- filed in federal courthouses across the country -- could influence the outcome of the presidential election in November.  "This is not a political issue at all," Zubik said. "It's a constitutional issue."  The local affiliates of Catholic Charities and The Catholic Cemeteries Association joined the diocese in filing the lawsuit in federal court in the Western District of Pennsylvania. It is one of 12 lawsuits filed yesterday by 43 Catholic groups, including Franciscan University of Steubenville, the archdioceses of Washington and New York, and the University of Notre Dame and Catholic University.  "We have tried negotiation with the administration and legislation with the Congress, and we'll keep at it, but there's still no fix," said New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now."  The groups contend that the administration, in its mandate, is violating their religious freedom by ordering them to facilitate and, in some cases, pay for abortion-inducing drugs, birth control and other services to which they object.  The diocese is suing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and their respective agencies. Zubik said the law firm Jones Day is handling the lawsuits pro bono nationally. [More]

 

Monday, May 21, 2012

Gov. Corbett adds pension reform to budget agenda
Laura Olson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, May 21, 2012

HARRISBURG -- It's an iceberg on the horizon. A vicious Pac-Man chomping larger and larger chunks out of the state's upcoming spending plans. A massive gorilla lurking the hallways of the Pennsylvania Capitol.  The commonwealth's pension liability for public employees is about to make state budgeting even more of a nightmare, and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has put pension reform next on his to-do list.  "It cannot wait," Mr. Corbett told a recent crowd of local officials in Hershey. "If we [wait], this budget battle that we go through is going to be totally driven not by increasing jobs, not by reducing taxes, not by giving money to education or to welfare recipients who may need it. It's going to be driven by how much we have to contribute to pensions."  That's a precarious position for a politician determined not to break his pledge against hiking taxes. At the end of the last fiscal year, Pennsylvania's pension funds for state employees and for school employees were underfunded by at least $37 billion -- a massive financial gap to bridge without new revenues.  That figure represents the difference between the value of pension benefits earned by state employees and teachers, and the amount of assets that the state has to cover those costs.  Even with the revised payment plan approved in 2010, the state's obligation will increase dramatically in the coming years. The current budget accounts for $1.1 billion in pension payments, a cost that spikes to more than $4 billion annually by 2016.  "Does anybody here see the economy growing fast enough just to cover the pension increase?" Mr. Corbett asked during his Hershey appearance earlier this month. "So we have a problem. We have an iceberg right in front of us." [More]

Judge rejects calls to resign
Angela Couloumbis, Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, May 20, 2012

HARRISBURG — The document prosecutors filed Friday is 75 pages long. But it boils down to a striking accusation:  That a sitting judge effectively stole her way onto Pennsylvania’s highest court.  So reads the presentment filed by the Allegheny County district attorney, charging state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin with directing and condoning the use of taxpayer-funded staff to fuel her 2009 campaign for a seat on the court.  No sooner were the charges announced than the court moved to strip Melvin of her judicial duties. That means she is effectively suspended, but will still receive her $195,309 annual salary as well as benefits.Melvin, 56, says she is innocent and won’t resign.  That raises uneasy questions for the state’s most powerful bench.  Legal experts say Melvin’s suspension could render the seven-member court deadlocked and unable to rule on critical legal questions. And that, in turn, is already fueling calls for her resignation.  After entering a not-guilty plea Friday, Melvin, a Republican, called the charges “politically motivated.” Her supporters contend Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. — a Democrat and son of a former state Supreme Court justice — has it in for her.  “The voters overwhelmingly sent me to the Supreme Court,” Melvin said, “and I will not resign because of these politically motivated charges.”  This much is clear: The charges have etched another deep, disturbing mark on the high court’s reputation, which has periodically been tarnished by controversy and scandal in recent decades.  The case has also renewed calls for changing how appellate judges are picked in Pennsylvania — from a system that has them campaign and raise money to one where they are recommended, based on merit, for appointment by a governor. [More]

Judge's lack of action leads to DeWeese prison release
Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Saturday, May 19, 2012

HARRISBURG -- A panel of Superior Court judges gave former House Speaker Bill DeWeese a reprieve from his prison sentence when a Dauphin County judge did not act on DeWeese's petition for bail.  DeWeese, convicted last month of using public resources for political campaigns, was released on his own recognizance on Friday evening from the Camp Hill State Correctional Institution, where he had begun serving his 2 1/2 to 5 year prison term on Monday.  DeWeese's attorney, William C. Costopoulos of Camp Hill, asked for bail on April 26 while DeWeese appeals his jury conviction for five felonies.  Dauphin County President Judge Todd Hoover had not acted on a bail petition. So on Friday morning, Costopoulos filed an emergency petition for bail with the Superior Court, and the court ruled that afternoon.  Hoover has seven days to act on the bail petition, the Superior Court said. The court panel decided DeWeese should be released while Hoover makes that ruling.  "I have no comment at this time until there is final adjudication of the bail issue," Costopoulos said on Saturday.  DeWeese, 62, a Waynesburg Democrat, could not be reached for comment.  The circumstances of DeWeese's release are unusual, a legal expert said. [More]

Shale-gas ventures lead to piggyback investments
Bill Vidonic, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Saturday, May 19, 2012

A Colorado energy company will spend more than $500 million to expand its presence in Western Pennsylvania, in part because of anticipated business opportunities from a proposed multibillion-dollar chemical plant in Beaver County, a company vice president said.  MarkWest Energy Partners will invest most of that money to expand and upgrade two gas-processing plants in Lancaster, Butler County, owned by Keystone Midstream Services, which Denver-based MarkWest bought this month.  The investment signifies regionalized growth that the shale-gas industry is bringing, business and government officials say.  Randy Nickerson, senior vice president and chief commercial officer at MarkWest, said the proximity of Shell Oil Co.'s proposed ethane cracking plant could help MarkWest, beyond the opportunity to sell its ethane, a natural gas liquid commonly found in the area's shale formations.  "We could have the opportunity to do things together," Nickerson said, declining to specify.  Shell is evaluating a site in Beaver County's Potter Township near Monaca for its plant, which would take advantage of Marcellus shale natural gas excavation by turning drilling byproducts into useful chemicals. The plant could cost up to $4 billion to build and create thousands of jobs.  Drillers tapping the deep shale purchased hundreds of leases covering thousands of acres in Butler County. Since 2004, companies have drilled 124 wells in Butler County, far outpacing the five in Beaver County and seven in Lawrence County, which borders Beaver to the north. [More]

Capitol rallies not persuasive, Pennsylvania lawmakers say
Kari Andren, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Sunday, May 20, 2012

HARRISBURG -- Nancy Richey stepped to the podium with a microphone at the Capitol rotunda with the hope that the right people would hear her message.  She rallied a crowd of more than 100 sign-toting people with disabilities and their advocates and service providers. They lined the white marble steps, chanting "Keep your promise!" in protest of $168 million in proposed cuts to community mental and behavioral health services and assistance to the homeless.  "The rallies are our only voice in a public way. It's important legislators realize the volume of people we're talking about," said Richey, a York County resident and vice president of The Arc of Pennsylvania, an advocacy group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Moments later, a procession of 100 municipal employees and mental health providers in matching purple and gold T-shirts -- members of Service Employees International Union Local 668 -- streamed through the rotunda on their way to Gov. Tom Corbett's office from a rally against proposed budget cuts elsewhere in the Capitol.  It's peak season for rallies in and around the Capitol as lawmakers begin budget deliberations.  Many legislators say these boisterous, colorful events do little to shape their opinions or alter votes. They say personal, informative conversations or letters are more persuasive.  "Of the forms of communication, rallies are probably the least effective. ... We don't spend our time in the rotunda listening to rallies," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County. "I don't personally -- and I would hope most legislators would not -- do an about-face on an issue because of a noisy rally or a stack of petitions. Positions are developed over time, based on a lot of information." [More]

Conservative interest groups spend freely to alter Congress
The Washington Post
Saturday, May 19, 2012

Conservative interest groups have dumped well over $20 million into congressional races so far this year, outspending their liberal opponents by 4 to 1 and setting off a growing panic among Democrats struggling to regain the House and hold on to their slim majority in the Senate.  The surge suggests that big-spending super PACs and nonprofit groups, which have become dominant players in the presidential race, will also play a pivotal role in House and Senate contests that will determine the balance of power in Washington in 2013.  The money could be particularly crucial in races below the national radar that can be easily influenced by infusions of outside spending. One example came this week in Nebraska, where a dark-horse Republican Senate candidate upset two better-funded rivals in the GOP primary thanks in part to a last-minute, $250,000 ad buy by a billionaire-backed super PAC.  And in Indiana this month, veteran Sen. Richard Lugar was ousted in the GOP primary by challenger Richard Mourdock with the help of millions of dollars in spending by conservative groups. The Club for Growth, which backed a losing candidate in Nebraska, spent more than $2 million to help Mourdock in Indiana.  "We're just getting started," said Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller, who said the group will soon begin training its fire on Democrats. "Our group has already had an impact on what the composition of Congress is going to look like next year. That's our whole goal is to have an impact, to improve the gene pool in Congress." [More]

As NASA scales back, commercial adventurers look to new horizons
Tom Fontaine, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Saturday, May 19, 2012

The first launch of a privately owned rocket to the International Space Station as early as Tuesday would punctuate a shift in American space travel: The longtime government domain increasingly is becoming commercial.  Astronauts, space experts and other observers say the shift likely won't kill NASA, the pioneering space agency that last summer canned its landmark space shuttle program and watched its share of federal money dwindle to the lowest point in more than a half-century.  The ramifications of public-private partnerships or wholly private investments in space exploration could be huge if Congress does not balk, experts say: Space projects could boost companies, including some in Pittsburgh, with millions of dollars and talented recruits. NASA would not have to rely on Russia to reach the space station. Through commercial involvement, prospecting in space could lead to greater discoveries.  "If done right, this will open up a whole new industry and allow NASA to focus on the fun places to go, like the moon and Mars," said Mike Fincke, 45, an Emsworth native who has logged more space time than any American astronaut with almost 382 days.  If he's right, NASA must learn to do more with less.  Less than one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget goes to NASA this year, according to the Office of Budget and Management. That is the lowest percentage since 1959, the agency's second year of existence. NASA's share of the budget peaked at 4.4 percent in 1966, midway through the Apollo program that would send two dozen Americans to the moon by 1972. [More]

Friday, May 18, 2012

Ridge to campaign for Romney
Debra Erdley, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, the nation's first secretary of Homeland Security, said on Thursday he will campaign for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.  Ridge said Romney's experience as a leader in business, running the Olympics and as governor of Massachusetts gives him a solid base for governing.  "He's had to be a decisive leader, a bold decision maker," Ridge said.  Ridge, who consults on various issues with his firm, Ridge Global, was in town last night along with Gov. Tom Corbett and former Gov. Dick Thornburgh to honor former Republican National Committeewoman Elsie Hillman.  The University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics unveiled a study of her life in politics and honored her with its inaugural lifetime achievement award at a ceremony at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.  The three governors, who hailed Hillman as an influential consensus builder, all said they will back Romney.  Corbett said he'll attempt to keep the focus in Pennsylvania on fiscal issues and hopes that will boost the GOP campaign.  Thornburgh, who practices law in Washington, agreed the party needs to focus "like a laser" on fiscal issues.  But the onetime U.S. Attorney General said he takes issue with negative campaign ads such as the proposed five-minute super PAC ad attacking President Obama's character.  "I think there's plenty of room for negative ads that focus on issues, but generally I think you should emphasize your positive message," Thornburgh said.  "Pennsylvania is going to be in play for sure, and if the party and the candidates run the kind of campaigns we were talking about tonight, I think there's a good chance we could take Pennsylvania," he said.

Bush says he backs Romney
Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, May 17, 2012

WASHINGTON - George W. Bush said Tuesday that he's backing presumptive Republican White House nominee Mitt Romney.  The former president offered a four-word endorsement of Romney as the doors of his elevator were closing after a speech in Washington.  Bush said: "I'm for Mitt Romney."  ABC News caught Bush after the speech, prompting his unscripted - but not surprising - endorsement.  Bush's parents, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, endorsed Romney in March during an appearance in Texas. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also publicly backed Romney.  In his speech Tuesday, Bush praised the Arab Spring movement and said the United States shouldn't fear the spread of freedom, even if it doesn't know what policies the countries will pursue.

State Supreme Court Justice Melvin expected to be charged today
Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, May 18, 2012

State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin is expected to be charged today as a result of a grand jury investigation looking into improper campaign activity, according to a source familiar with the investigation.  The grand jury, which expires at the end of this month, met for more than five hours Thursday. It identified Justice Melvin, a Republican elected to Pennsylvania's highest court in 2009, as the target of an investigation in December, the same month a sister, Janine Orie, was charged with additional criminal counts, including theft of services, criminal solicitation and tampering with evidence, related to doing campaign work for Justice Melvin.  Justice Melvin's attorney, J. Alan Johnson, did not return a message seeking comment late Thursday.  A spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office had no comment.  According to Jim Koval, a spokesman for the state Supreme Court, Justice Melvin continues to hear cases. Under the rules, a sitting justice must inform the chief justice in writing within five days of receiving notice that criminal charges have been filed.  There is no requirement to step down or take a leave of absence, Mr. Koval said. Justice Melvin stopped hearing cases involving the Allegheny County district attorney's office several months ago.  Janine Orie, who worked as an administrative assistant with the justice's office, is on leave from her position.  She was initially charged in April 2010, along with another sister, state Sen. Jane Orie, of using the senator's legislative resources and staff to campaign for both the senator and the justice. [More]

Panel discusses future direction of the state's higher-education system
Jan Murphy, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Thursday, May, 17, 2012

The panel examining the state’s higher education system faces the big challenge of figuring out how to attract students to the jobs employers can’t find qualified people to fill.  Meanwhile, the state’s colleges and universities annually churn out five and six times the number of teachers than its public and private schools need.  “It just never seems like there’s ever anything positive that happens about that,” Scott Sheely, executive of the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board, told the panel on Thursday. “We just keep going on and on and nothing changes.”  Harrisburg Area Community College President John “Ski” Sygielski said he frequently encounters businesses complaining about that disconnect.  He spoke of a company executive who told him he was going to bring in machinists from Israel because he can’t find enough in this area.  “In Franklin County, when you talk to Volvo and some of the other businesses there, they are in dire need of a lot of skills that we’re not seeming to be able to produce,” Sygielski said.  Closing that gap between supply and demand is a focus of the panel’s work, said Rob Wonderling, who chairs the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Postsecondary Education.  Attacking that issue in the free society in which we live is like solving a riddle that can’t be solved, said Steve Hicks, head of the faculty union at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.  “You can’t make 18-year-olds under the current system give up their dreams for things that go against their grain,” he said after the meeting. [More]

April brought better Pa. employment news
Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, May 18, 2012

The state's employment picture seems to be brightening: The unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent in April, just a small decrease from 7.5 percent in March but even better because 21,000 people who were not in the labor force in March went back to work.  The unemployment rate has been slowly ticking down since its post-recession bump up to 8.1 percent in July and August 2011.  The rate is now at its lowest point since March 2009 when the economy was still shedding jobs after the recession. Back then, however, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reported there were 22,000 more workers in the state's labor force.  Also, the last time the unemployment rate hit this level, online job advertisements boasted average wages that were $6,159 more per year (or almost 14 percent higher) than jobs advertised last month.  Wages listed in online job ads for April were $44,651, which is about equal to what they were in the summer of 2007. In late 2008 and early 2009, the average wages in online posts were between $50,000 and $55,000 even as the number of jobs advertised was about one-third fewer.  Another survey, this one of employers, was not as positive -- showing a net loss of 600 jobs across the state. The number was affected by a huge hit to the construction sector, which reported losses of 5,400 jobs, or 2.4 percent of all of the construction jobs. That was more than twice the number of net construction jobs lost across the country during the month. [More]

West Penn Allegheny's 17 million dollar payout to 12 former execs criticized
Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, May 18, 2012

The West Penn Allegheny Health System, which lost $75 million over the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, paid out $17.35 million two years ago to 12 administrators who have left the organization, including nearly $9 million in retirement and other deferred compensation, according to its recent tax filing.  The turnover of executives not only affects the bottom line but also speaks to ongoing disruption within the leadership team at West Penn Allegheny, which likely will see further changes if insurer Highmark wins approval to acquire the region's second-largest health system later this year.  "From an organizational standpoint, that's really tough on morale and productivity," said James McTiernan, principal and co-founder of Triad USA, a Downtown employee benefits consulting firm. "I don't care who you are, it's got to affect your performance."  Steve Foreman, an associate professor of health administration and economics at Robert Morris University, agreed: "When you have that kind of instability, you have a lot of things going on in terms of the overall direction of the entity. You really don't know what the long-term strategy is."  Highmark has been clear that it intends to develop a regional health care network, with the West Penn Allegheny Health System serving as its flagship provider.  But what that means within WPAHS is unclear, particularly given the high turnover of key executives. [More]

Two nominees named to fill federal district court vacancies covering the Harrisburg area
John Beauge, Harrisburg Patriot-News
Thursday, May 17, 2012

A magistrate judge and a Bradford County attorney were nominated by President Barack Obama on Thursday to fill two judicial vacancies in the U.S. Middle District that includes Harrisburg.   Judge Malachy E. Mannion, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Scranton, and Matthew W. Brann, a partner in the law firm of Brann, Williams, Caldwell & Sheetz that has offices in Troy and Canton, must be confirmed by the Senate before they can be sworn in.  Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey issued a joint statement announcing their support for the two.  Mannion, a Democrat who was federal prosecutor for 15 years, is expected to sit in Scranton where he has been a magistrate judge in Scranton since 2001.  Brann, a Republican and a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law 1990, has concentrated on the tort, contract, commercial and real property litigation. He is expected to give Williamsport its first full-time federal judge since Senior Judge Malcolm Muir died last year.  Earlier this year, Robert David Mariani, a Scranton lawyer who specialized in labor and employment law, was sworn in and sits in Scranton.

 

Facebook’s market debut draws criticism from lawmakers
Hayley Tsukayama, The Washington Post
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Facebook, the social network that began eight years ago in a Harvard dorm room, will debut Friday on the stock markets having raised $16 billion, making it the third largest initial public offering in U.S. history.  With massive press coverage and financial pundits sharply divided over whether the stock is a good buy, Facebook will initially trade at $38 per share under the symbol “FB.” At that price, the company’s value is $104 billion, larger than corporate stalwarts such as Walt Disney or McDonald’s.  With that much money at stake, Facebook’s market debut has been the buzz not only of Wall Street bankers and Silicon Valley investors, but also Washington policymakers concerned about what the firm is paying in taxes.  On Thursday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) used the anticipation surrounding Facebook’s big day to talk again about why Congress needs to close loopholes in corporate tax law. Levin objected to Facebook’s decision to issue its employees options to buy company stock in the future at its original issuing price. If the stock goes up in value by the time employees use the option, the company can deduct the difference. In Facebook’s case, that deduction is estimated to be around $16 billion. [More]