Pennsylvanian Reform Organization

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Maitre'D Scorned

2008-05-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

We wrote about John Perzel and his maverick way a couple of days ago in republican Perzel is a backstabber and now we have received more news on the Party of Perzel as Tony Phyrillas calls it.

More than a number of people have written to tell us their story of an out of touch and out of control Perzel attempting to retaliate against real and perceived political insults.

It is no secret that Perzel hates Speaker Dennis O'Brien and has for years as Perzel got seniority because O'Brien made a run for congress, O'Brien had the touch and the personality to easily gain friends and allies in and out of the PA House of Reps. Perzel has friends that act like beaten and scared dogs or friends that share his delicate interaction style with other pols in Harrisburg. The latter are known as the Old Bulls and the former are known as the rest of the House.

Not O'Brien, he fits in neither category. O'Brien gained friends in the House because he gets things done, is a genuinely nice guy and he can be trusted to keep his word and not stab people in the back. Agree with O'Brien or not, he is his own man. Personally we here at PROPenn would like O'Brien to quit being friends with big budgets, but anyone that stands up to the Old Bulls is a friend of ours.

He is not a friend of Perzel and the fact that the Maitre 'D lost the Speaker position galled him enough, but to lose it to O'Brien has spittle flying from the foam around Perzel's mouth. He's reportedly so mad he would take his personal Dante and Luigi bar towel and go back to work if it wasn't more important to get even. And Perzel is trying to get even.

Now we're told that O'Brien's looking into Perzel personal patronage dump and cash cow, the Philadelphia Parking Authority, has little "r" Perzel in a school girl hissy-fit that had him directing money to every corner of O'Brien's district in the primary a few weeks back to support Perzel's bought and paid for write-in candidate in hopes of defeating O'Brien or at the very least to embarrass him so Perzel and the boys could have a chuckle.

He's used money that has no source, union funds, gaming money and funds from "special accounts" that he has been building for years. Rumor had Perzel's favorite pet, union Glaziers' boss, Joe Ashdale supplying boots-on-the-ground and walking around money aplenty leading up to the primary. Joe also supposedly had Perzel's other union buddies chipping in as well.

Didn't work.

According to a person near the campaigns, Perzel's backstabbing write-in became known to the O'Brien campaign so they decided to have some fun of their own and started a write-in campaign for O'Brien to also become the Democrat nominee.

The once most powerful Maitre 'D in PA got stomped. O'Brien won both nominations, Democrat & Republican, stomping Perzel's primary puppet by 5 - 1.

Sometimes an old bull becomes so pathetic people just turn their head and look away.

Pennsylvania's Big Ed Keeps Bringing Us Joy

2008-05-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

36th out of 50, not including DC.

Ever wonder why the Twinkies, gasoline and insurance costs so damned much? Lawyers.

Q: What do you call a fifty foot deep hole half filled with lawyers?
A: A good start

I was reading (yes, I can) Tony the Greek and was a little ticked off by some stats he dug up concerning lawyers, limos and litigation.

Another failing grade for Ed Rendell's Pennsylvania

My momma always wanted me to be a lawyer, but I knew I was right not to during the last divorce. Whew, talk about cold fish, but he was driving a nice car and lived in a nice house. I helped pay for it. I shoulda known I was cooked when my lawyer pulled up in a Volkswagon Van-o-Wagon with a Brown's sticker right next to the little rainbowthingee on the back window, but she was nice. Just not a good lawyer. She had no fangs.

Everybody has a story about the lawyer that got all that money for someone over something like part of a bug in a fast food burger. Well, that somebody got a lot of money, but the lawyer probably got more, especially with all those copying fees....

So, Big Ed has been able to assist PA in its downward spiral towards James Carville's dream of PA being a state of trailer trash with gangland theme parks for bookends all supported by the ABA and welfare.

I love my state. Why are Rendell and his cronies trying to make it Jersey Lite?

republican Perzel is a backstabber

2008-05-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

There's more to this story.

Democrats, Republicans and Perzel
A hot topic of conversation at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference over the weekend was the role of John Perzel in various Legislative races across the state.

I spoke to several Republican candidates who lost primary races on April 22. Each said the same thing. They could have won if John Perzel hadn't showered their opponent with money. That's what these candidates firmly believe.

Makes you wonder how different the Pennsylvania political scene would be if Republicans didn't have someone like Perzel playing games behind the scenes.

You expect Ed Rendell to campaign for Democratic candidates and hand out large amounts of campaign cash to get more Democrats elected. Republicans have one of their own working to defeat GOP candidates.

After my conversation with Perzel last week, I got the impression that Perzel didn't care if the Republican Party regains the majority in the House in 2009 ... as long as Perzel finds a way to return to the Speaker post. That's all Perzel cares about.

That means Perzel is very willing to work with any and all Democrats to form a coalition that will elevate Perzel to the Speaker's post.

At a time when reform is trying to stay alive in Harrisburg, the old bulls are trying to kill it and keep things the way they like it. Corrupt.

Perzel and the old bulls support Rendell and themselves more than the citizens of PA. Why hasn't Perzel been thrown out of the party?

Past Speaker's past speaks volumes

2008-04-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

PA Young Republicans Chairman Matt Best:

Perzel is the reason why I left the Republican Party after the general election in 2006. Should he get elected Speaker, every Republican who votes for him should know that when I have an opportunity, I will work to get them fired, thrown out of office, do anything to make their worthless lives miserable, highlight their spinelessness, embarrass them, etc. I may be only one person, but if others will take the same attitude and no longer accept pathetic leadership, arrogance, and thuggery, then we will prevail.

10,000 more cops

2008-04-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

PottMerc likes the idea. Cops walking a beat is always a good thing, but

“The No. 1 concern among us as legislators should be the safety of the public,” said Perzel.

Bull. Perzel's No. 1 concern is getting another union behind him.

Sex Ed like new math - anything is ok

2008-04-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

We never had teachers like this.

33 new charges filed against stripper/ex-teacher's aide
Prosecutors have filed new charges against a former teacher's aide who allegedly let teens party in a hotel room she had rented in Westmoreland County.

Thirty-four-year-old Abbiejane Swogger is now charged with having sex with at least two teenage boys and with stripping for teen and adult men in a private home before the hotel party in February.

Swogger's attorney, Duke George, says the new charges are even more ridiculous than that hold ones.

Swogger was charged with felony crack cocaine possession and corruption of minors after police said they found cocaine, beer and teenagers in the hotel room rented on Feb. 22.

She faces a preliminary hearing on all the charges May 1.

Bitter vote

2008-04-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Hillary win PA

2008-04-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

It musta been the God, guns and guts voter backlash.

First grade math shows slot legislation didn't add up

2008-04-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Big Ed didn't tell the truth?

Gambling money is not the answer
Nearly four years after Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law a bill that ushered in slot machine gambling in Pennsylvania, the state’s taxpayers will finally see a reduction in their property taxes

Most Pennsylvania homeowners could get an average $169 reduction on their property tax bill starting with the 2008-09 school year.

That’s a far cry from the “substantial” property tax relief promised by Gov. Rendell and members of the Legislature who supported casino gambling. The anticipated tax relief is about a 10-percent reduction off school property taxes — way short of the 30 percent in cuts Rendell promised when he first ran for governor.

“It took us a while to get here, but we are finally here,” said Michael J. Masch, the budget secretary for Gov. Rendell. That is an understatement. If Pennsylvania residents knew in July 2004 that the promised windfall from slot machine gambling would take more than four years to materialize and average less than $170, few would have supported the gambling initiative.
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Conveniently, there was no mention in the governor’s recent announcement that school property taxes have risen by hundreds of dollars for the average Pennsylvania homeowner since the summer of 2004. And it’s still not clear how many Pennsylvania residents will share the slot income.

I say follow the money and you will find the pols who pushed hard for this. Hint, look at the old bulls first. They've had more money put in'em then most slots.

Write-in vengence

2008-04-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

It appears that Fumo and Perzel are encouraging and helping fund write-in challengers against Republicans they don't like. One such is a write-in against Speaker Dennis O'Brien who Perzel despises.

With "republicans" like Perzel who's still wondering why Big Ed Rendell gets his way. Wait, do you think Perzel and Rendell are really the same person?

Tax Day

2008-04-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

It is a dark day this day, every year it is.

Tax Day is a coming

2008-04-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

"Over the past five years, the governor's priorities have been focused on increasing taxes, spending and borrowing," state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said during an afternoon press conference. "Our goal is to put money back into taxpayers' pockets and the economy. We need to refocus our spending priorities and cut taxes, which will make Pennsylvania more business friendly and create more family-sustaining jobs."

Democrats and the old bulls love taxes. Republicans should view them as a last resort.

Git me gun and the Good Book

2008-04-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Obama sez:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Lord forgive me my bitterness.

31.9% of what you make goes to government

2008-04-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

The best and worst states for taxes

PA is 20th in the nation when computing combined state/federal tax burden, which factors in property, gasoline, tobacco, sales and state income taxes. I wonder where's we'd be if local and hidden taxes were included.

Understand liberals? Huh?

2008-04-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

"It goes without saying that liberals hate free markets, big business, even democracy when the voters disagree with them. If truth be known, they hate the human race — at least the part of it that is not them. Darn those human beings for not living their lives according to the liberal prescription."-- Charley Reesesyndicated columnist

Tony P has the rest

Inquirer hates gunowners and their supporters

2008-04-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Remember their names

House Speaker Dennis O'Brien (R., Phila.) thumbed his nose at his city constituents Tuesday by helping to defeat a measure aimed at stemming the tide of illegal handguns. He was joined in defeating the bill requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons by eight other Republican lawmakers from the suburbs.

There ought to be a political price paid by O'Brien et al for their obstinate resistance to a gun-safety measure supported by police, prosecutors and Gov. Rendell. Voters should contact them, and remember them at the polls on Nov. 4.

Here's the "no" voters' dishonor roll: O'Brien, Stephen Barrar (R., Delaware), Paul Clymer (R., Bucks), Gene DiGirolamo (R., Bucks), Robert Godshall (R., Montgomery), Art Hershey (R., Chester), Bob Mensch (R., Montgomery), Scott Petri (R., Bucks), and Thomas J. Quigley (R., Montgomery).

I wish I could vote for them, but then I'd have to live in the city of brotherly love where the love don't shine.

Obama outspending Hillary 5 - 1

2008-04-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

Knockout try could be risky for Obama
Barack Obama raised $40 million in March, about twice as much as Hillary Rodham Clinton raised. He’s got 30 offices in Pennsylvania; she’s got 21 offices.

He’s outspending her on Pennsylvania television by about 5-to-1. And a flood of new voter registrations in the state — thousands of which were generated by his volunteers — suggest the electorate is changing in ways that work to his benefit.

Outspending a Clinton 5 - 1 is audacious. He'd fit right in in Harrisburg with a busdget like that.

Leftover $ in Harrisburg??????????

2008-04-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to the Pennsylvania General Assembly: Return Your Surplus to Taxpayers!

Dear Legislator:

On behalf of the nearly 17,300 Pennsylvania members of the National Taxpayers Union, I urge you to support efforts to devote the General Assembly's operating fund surplus to tax relief.
For years, the Assembly has hoarded hard-earned taxpayer dollars and now there is a sizable surplus. The Legislative Audit Advisory Commission has recommended that the Assembly adopt standards for how to deal with this money. Rather than expanding government and increasing spending, the best course is to return those dollars to the folks who earned them in the first place.

At a time when our economy is slowing, Pennsylvania ought to be collecting only the revenues necessary for legitimate core functions. The operating fund from which the Assembly draws its salary and pays for other costs has taken an extra $241 million out of Pennsylvanians' pockets in recent years. That money would be better used to feed the families, fill the gas tanks, and expand the businesses upon which Pennsylvania relies so heavily.

Nonetheless, some legislators would prefer to use the money to boost spending on programs like health care. Instead of spending millions on new programs that would expand the reach of government, elected officials ought to focus on relieving the burdens of taxation. Pennsylvania has the nation’s second-highest corporate income taxes, a high sales tax, and a property tax burden that is increasingly difficult to bear for hard-working families.

Politics has trumped the interests of taxpayers for far too long. The time has come to stop using the fruits of Pennsylvania's labor as a political shield in budget battles between the legislative and executive branches. The General Assembly should resist the urge to grow government and instead devote the operating fund surplus to tax relief for Pennsylvanians suffering from a slowing economy.

Sincerely,
Andrew MoylanGovernment Affairs Manager

Who's been naughty and who's been nice?

2008-03-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

Presidential race is not the only important one on primary ballot

But no one has forgotten the last campaign in 2006, which occurred after lawmakers passed, then repealed, a fat pay increase for themselves and other high officials in state government.
Voters responded by unseating 24 incumbents, and the atmosphere became so poisonous that 31 others retired voluntarily.

The pay raise fervor has cooled, but now incumbents have to worry how voters will react to a new crop of controversies that include the law to add tolls on Interstate 80, the arrest of a politically connected owner of a Poconos casino on charges he lied about contacts with underworld figures, and last summer’s budget stalemate that briefly shut down large parts of state government.

The old bulls are being naughty now. Rumors of planted primary challengers are flying as the old bulls try to settle old scores. More later

Casey says Obama wright - Will endorse

2008-03-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

Goes against Big Ed, Mad Dog and the Nutter from Cobbs Creek.

Bob Casey to endorse Obama, join bus tour

The endorsement comes as something of a surprise. Casey, a deliberative and cautious politician, had been adamant about remaining neutral until after the April 22 primary. He had said he wanted to help unify the party after the intensifying fight between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

By coming out for Obama, Casey puts himself at odds with many top state Democrats - including Gov. Rendell, Rep. John P. Murtha and Mayor Nutter - who are campaigning for Clinton.
...

Obama strategists hope that Casey can help their candidate make inroads with the white working-class men who are often referred to as "Casey Democrats." This group identifies with the brand of politics Casey and his late father, a former governor, practiced - liberal on economic issues but supportive of gun rights and opposed to abortion. (Obama favors some gun-control measures and backs abortion rights.)
...

The source, reached by The Inquirer yesterday, said that Casey was also impressed with how Obama had stood up to the pressures of the campaign, including recent attacks over the racially incendiary remarks of his former pastor.

Casey's decision was also personal, motivated in part by the enthusiasm his four daughters - Elyse, Caroline, Julia and Marena - have expressed for Obama, the source said. "He thinks we shouldn't be deaf to the voices of the next generation."

So, a poll of four gave Casey the green light to drop his hammer for Obama's vision and Pennsylvania's future. Ain't no more crazy than usual when you know two wrights don't make a wrong.

Break a leg Big Ed

2008-03-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

What others are saying about our esteemed politicians and their unique style of ruling.

Not many surrogates this week, but Rendell vs. Richardson promises to be interesting, with Richardson proclaimed by the media to be a towering intellect and Rendell being the old fashioned, break-your-legs mob type.

Maitre d' of the year - 1884

2008-03-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Lecture Explores Origins of Mudslinging

This should be the definitive handling of the subject...

It's being held at the John M. Perzel Education & Technology Center ETC.

No kidding.

The lecture is based on “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion: The Presidential Election of 1884.”

Haydentown High School 1910

2008-03-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Grandpa's class

Big Ed & friends going lame is good for us

2008-03-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

Big Ed and his three stooges

Rendell left quacking

That hurts an equally lame-duck Rendell, who wants the General Assembly to approve his health care and energy proposals, plus millions of dollars in new state borrowing for infrastructure.

Rendell now has lost his three go-to guys: Fumo; former House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, who remains in the House but out of leadership; and former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, D-Beaver Falls, defeated in 2006.

Rendell's Big Three -- Fumo, Perzel and Veon -- helped ram through a state income tax increase and other tax hikes, the 2004 casino law (engineered by Fumo) and property tax reduction schemes aimed at placating the voters.

Big Ed was quoted, "WUP-Wup-wup-wup-wup"

Billy does the Allegheny country

2008-03-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

Former President Clinton stumps for wife in Pittsburgh area

Yeah, like that power couple will bring reform anywhere. The game's the same, just the names on the checks change.