State House Sound Bites - witf.org

Corbett’s chief of staff leaves amid reports of shake-up

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:15:59 +0000

Gov. Corbett’s top aide has left his post. Chief of staff Bill Ward is stepping down to become a judge in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Ward’s departure comes in the wake of published reports the administration is shuffling its staff to weather a drop in popularity and appease unhappy GOP donors and advisers urging the governor to improve how he deals with the Republican-controlled legislature. Corbett’s spokesman has denied such claims.

Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin and Marshall College, said the change could signal a shift in the way the administration shapes its message.

“It’s not unusual. It’s, in fact, rather typical and I don’t think the difference at the moment, [that] exists within the Republican Party and the advisors to the governor, that it’s a question of policies.”

Madonna noted Corbett’s approval rating has been sinking, which he said isn’t surprising given the economy.

“Governing during a recession often meets popular programs and once you start to do that, you lose popularity with the voters,” said Madonna. “You lose the positive contributions to your job performance.”

Protests against the governor’s proposed budget cuts to education and social services have been regular occurrences at the Capitol.

Ward’s nomination to the county bench still needs to be confirmed by the state Senate. His replacement, Stephen Aichele, is currently Corbett’s general counsel. He’ll take the reins as chief of staff Tuesday. Aichele is married to Carol Aichele, the Commonwealth secretary.

The Corbett administration announced Ward’s exit this afternoon:

Governor Corbett to Nominate William Ward to Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas; Names Stephen Aichele as Chief of Staff

Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today announced that he will nominate current chief of staff William F. Ward to a vacancy on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Ward, 60, of Mt. Lebanon, Allegheny County, will depart his present post after serving 16 months as the governor’s top aide. In addition to fulfilling a longstanding career goal to serve in a judicial post, the change reunites Ward with his wife and family in Pittsburgh.

“For as long as I’ve known Bill, it’s been his dream to be a judge,” Corbett 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.”

The governor described Ward as “a trusted friend and advisor for more than 30 years.”

“My current role in government has been both professionally challenging and personally rewarding,” Ward said today. “A position serving on the bench in Allegheny County will allow me to be reunited with my family in Pittsburgh while continuing to serve the Commonwealth.”

Ward is a former federal and state prosecutor who served as First Deputy to then-Attorney General Corbett in the mid 1990s.

Ward had been a Merit Selection Finalist for a 2000 vacancy on the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County and a year later he was a Merit Selection Finalist for an opening on the U.S. District Court bench in Pittsburgh.

In both 1994 and 2002, he was a Merit Selection Finalist to fill a vacancy for United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

He is an honors graduate of The College of the Holy Cross and Temple University School of Law.

Ward began his legal career as a law clerk to United States District Judge Louis C. Bechtle in Philadelphia. Two years later, then-Attorney General Griffin Bell appointed him Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He later was promoted to chief of the office’s Economic Crimes Section.

In 1996, Corbett appointed Ward to be First Deputy Attorney General. The following year, Gov. Tom Ridge named Ward as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, a cabinet-level position. He resumed his legal career in Pittsburgh in 2003 until Gov. Corbett appointed him to serve as chief of staff.

Ward and his wife, Joan, are parents of two children.

Pending confirmation by the state Senate, Ward will serve as a special adviser to the governor.

Corbett said that current General Counsel Stephen Aichele will succeed Ward as his chief of staff, effective Tuesday, May 29.

For more information about Governor Corbett and his administration, visit www.governor.pa.gov.

For PA natives without photo ID, one less hurdle to jump

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:44:42 +0000

Pennsylvanians who need a photo ID this fall to vote no longer have to pay $10 and wait months to receive a copy of their birth certificate.

The Department of State has announced that Pennsylvanian-born residents can now head to a PennDOT licensing center, submit their personal information, and wait for it to be cross-checked against the commonwealth’s birth certificate records. Once their status as Pennsylvania natives has been confirmed, residents can head back to PennDOT for their photo ID – free of charge.

“When they return to the driver license center, they’ll need Social Security card and two proofs of residence,” said agency spokesman Ron Ruman. “Those are the same requirements for anyone getting a PennDOT ID for the first time.”

The new process should take about 10 days – good time, considering the state’s current backlog of requests for birth certificate hard copies.

“In many cases it could have taken up to 10 to 12 weeks” to receive a birth certificate duplicate, said Ruman. “So this should eliminate the need for everyone in Pennsylvania, born in Pennsylvania, to get that birth certificate.”

And what about the dropped $10 fee? The state is offering refunds to those who can prove they ordered a birth certificate to obtain a photo ID in compliance with the new voter ID law.

Ruman said it took a while to develop this system of securely sending information electronically between PennDOT and the Department of Health. When the voter ID law was passed, back in March, multiple state agencies began working together to make it as simple as possible for Pennsylvanians to obtain a photo ID. Ruman said the Department of Public Welfare and the Department of Aging are also involved in efforts to make it as simple as possible for voters to obtain photo ID.

“We have to make sure that it’s done in a way that the identity of everyone is verified, so I think we are turning over every rock that we possibly can,” said Ruman. “That’s certainly been our intent from day one.”

Photo: Gov. Corbett signs the voter ID law in March as Department of State Secretary Carol Aichele looks on.

Links: Heads begin to roll, beer sellers slam liquor privatization plan, jail reforms a June priority

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:45:43 +0000

The Associated Press cites unnamed sources in a report that Gov. Corbett’s top aide is leaving his job:

Two people told The Associated Press that they each were told by separate senior administration officials that chief of staff Bill Ward is leaving the job.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be named divulging private conversations on a sensitive topic.

It was not clear whether Ward wanted to leave the job, or whether he was being forced out.

Line that up against this reporting from the Philadelphia Inquirer, about supporters fed up with the pummeling the administration is getting for deep proposed budget cuts, among other things:

Enough, say top political advisers, supporters, and fund-raisers to Gov. Corbett.

Though they have anxiously watched for months as Corbett has fielded political hits on everything from policy to personality, they are now encouraging the governor to shake things up in hopes of shaking off what they think is turning into a growing image problem.

Next week, according to four sources speaking on condition of anonymity, a small circle of heavyweights in the Republican Party, known as the governor's "kitchen cabinet," will be quietly meeting with Corbett in Harrisburg to push for changes to his top staff in the Capitol.

Looks like liquor privatization has some new opponents: the state’s beer wholesalers have come out against House Majority Leader Mike Turzai’s proposal to sell off the commonwealth’s wine and spirit stores, reports the Patriot-News:

“It will be detrimental to the beer industry,” said Jay D. Wiederhold, president of the beer alliance which represents 34 beer wholesalers in the state.

Up until now, the industry was quiet about the issue, largely because beer was not part of the original legislation.

But in December, legislators gutted Turzai’s bill, stripping out language to sell off the state’s wine and spirit stores in exchange for language that would allow beer distributors to purchase licenses to sell wine and beer.

“It changes the game on us,” Wiederhold said.

Also from the Patriot-News: Gov. Corbett wants to pass prison reform alongside a budget package, “by the end of June.” That news comes the same week a working group focused on finding savings within the prison system to reinvest elsewhere in the budget released recommendations it says could save the state $263 million in the next five years.

Gov. Tom Corbett made an unprecedented appearance at the meeting Wednesday morning and congratulated the group for coming up with recommendations that focus on rehabilitation, efficiencies in the system and reinvesting money in public safety.

The proposals would send millions to counties for improved policing and probation at the local level, and offer millions more to counties that reduce the number of people they send to prison with less than one year to serve.

“Pre-release” policies would be abolished, half-way houses would be limited to parolees only and state agencies would have to become more efficient.

Bill would extend inheritance tax exemption to domestic partners

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:33:01 +0000

A Democratic-backed proposal in the state House would change the rules for inheritance taxes to exempt not just married couples and young children, but all domestic partnerships.

If someone is married, and his or her spouse dies, any inherited property doesn’t come with the state’s usual 15 percent tax. The same applies if a child under 21 inherits property from a deceased parent.

For David Jacobs, the issue is personal. He lives with his partner of 17 years in Philadelphia. They had a health scare last year, prompting Jacobs to discover that if his partner had died, he would have had to pay a 15 percent inheritance tax on the home they owned together.

“My married neighbors don’t have to pay this inheritance tax,” said Jacobs. “In their case, the state rightfully acknowledges the unfair burden that would be placed on the survivor. My situation would be no different.”

A bill introduced by Rep. Babette Josephs (D- Philadelphia) would make the same rules to apply to domestic partners – people who haven’t gotten married, either because they can’t, or won’t.

“We all know that there are people who are deeply committed to their relationships but for personal reasons they choose not to enter into marriage,” said Josephs. But she stressed that it’s not as if her proposal would make it easy for someone to skip paying inheritance tax. Stringent requirements would ensure only people in demonstrably committed relationships would get the exemption, she said.

“Joint liability in a mortgage lease or loan, primary beneficiary under life insurance, a primary beneficiary under the will, a durable power of attorn—I mean, most couples don’t have any of that,” she said, reeling off the items on a check list needed, along with a signed partnership affidavit, to prove a relationship.

The bill was referred to a House committee last September, where it has sat since. No vote is scheduled.

GOP lawmaker proposes defunding Planned Parenthood, abortion providers

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:15:01 +0000

Health care providers in Pennsylvania would be unable to receive public dollars if they perform abortions under a Republican state lawmaker’s proposal. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, of Butler County, is singling out Planned Parenthood in particular as one of the largest providers of abortion services that he wants to strip of government money. He and other supporters of his bill argued that every tax dollar slated for a health care provider like Planned Parenthood frees up other money the organization can then spend on abortions.

“They’re utilizing taxpayer subsidies for their window dressing and as their public relations funding arm, and that’s what needs to come to an end,” said Metcalfe in a press conference Wednesday.

“It just doesn’t work that way,” said Sari Stevens, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania. She said the patients, not the organization, will be affected by a rescinded subsidy.

“So, a woman will come in and have subsidized services because she is low-income, or she’s a college student, whatever the case may be,” said Stevens. “She is able to be eligible for some sort of subsidy, for a pap smear, for an STD testing, and then… she gets a reduced rate of services. We’re not getting that money. She’s getting that money.”

Chuck Donovan, with the Susan B. Anthony List national anti-abortion group, said the legislation would not cut any funding from the state’s health budget, or strip money from organizations providing non-abortion family planning services.

“What it does say is that funds must be prioritized… and those funds must be prioritized to agencies that provide primary care and whole women’s health care,” said Donovan.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Huffington Post have reported, six other state laws defunding abortion providers haven’t fared well when challenged in court. But Metcalfe said his bill takes a different approach, specifically because it reassigns funding priorities, with public entities getting top priority, followed by non-public hospitals, federally recognized health centers, rural health clinics, and non-public health centers.

“We believe that this legislation would meet the tests, the court tests, that the others have failed to meet,” Metcalfe said.

Federal funding is prohibited from being used for abortion services and requires health plans to keeps its federal funds separate from any funds used to provide abortions. Planned Parenthood has pointed out that state funding is prohibited from being used to pay for abortions as well.

“We do believe that currently covers the situation,” said House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin.

Another proposal with backing from anti-abortion Republicans won heavy national media coverage but stalled after introduction after receiving criticism from a medical association. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp (R-Warren) would require women to undergo ultrasounds before receiving abortions.

House Republicans don’t seem to be eager to move the abortion providers defunding bill to the floor, either. “We haven’t seen [Metcalfe’s] language or legislation yet,” said Miskin.

Larger classes, fewer field trips: survey shows schools expect another tough year

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:05:26 +0000

More than half of the state’s school districts expect to scale back their offerings as schools grapple with low tax revenues and limited government funding, and new study shows.

The third annual school budget survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators received responses from 281 of the commonwealth’s 500 school districts.

Of the schools surveyed, 60 percent are increasing class sizes, 58 percent are offering fewer electives like arts, physical education, and advanced classes. 11 percent of respondents are reducing full-day kindergarten, and eight percent are eliminating it. A majority of the surveyed districts said they’re planning to furlough employees and not fill empty positions next year.

Speakers from the two groups behind the report said Tuesday that unless state and federal education spending increases, there’s little relief in sight for school districts.

Jay Himes, executive director of PASBO, said the “fiscal deterioration” is severe. School districts are suffering for a number of reasons, he explained: the poor economy has hampered local revenue sources, state and federal funding is down, and state-mandated pension costs are rising.

“48 percent of the respondents to the PASBO-PASA survey say their districts will be in fiscal distress in three years if state funding and local revenues do not improve,” said Himes.

Despite recent claims from state lawmakers that schools should be spending down their savings to weather the storm without cutting instructional programs, speakers from PASBO and PASA cautioned against relying on savings to balance school district budgets.

More than 20 percent of the school districts participating in the survey said they had spent more than half of the uncommitted funds in their savings accounts in the last two years to cover costs.

Eric Eshbach, superintendent of the Upper Adams School District in Adams County, said it’s a bad idea for schools to do that repeatedly when rising pension costs loom on the horizon.

“The contention is out there that it’s a rainy day and we need to use our rainy day fund,” said Eshbach. “I would contend that it’s a rainy decade, and for most school districts, we have about three days worth of rainy day fund to get through that decade. What do we do when it’s over?”

Links: Closer to transparent campaign finance, troopers knock radio system, DeWeese back to jail

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:54:51 +0000

A state House committee has approved a bill to require candidates for public office to submit all of their campaign finance records electronically, writes WHYY’s Dave Davies.

The bill moved out of a house committee today and appears headed for passage in the Republican-led legislature, in large part I'm told because Gov. Tom Corbett was annoyed in 2010 when his Democratic opponent, Dan Onorato employed the paper-filing gambit and made it harder for Corbett to see who was funding his campaign.

The PA Independent adds that measure would mean earlier disclosure of finance records. Now, roughly 70 percent of candidates file by snail-mail to the Department of State, which then has an outside vendor compile the data for a state website:

That process takes three to four business days.

The vendor has 72 hours to compile the data and enter it electronically, which then comes back to the department to be posted online.

As a result, the final round of campaign finance reports — which must be postmarked 10 days before the election — are sometimes unavailable online before voters go to the polls.

The State Police are detailing the problems they’ve had with the statewide radio system, despite hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the network, reports the Patriot-News.

Convicted former state Rep. Bill DeWeese was ordered back to prison yesterday, the Post-Gazette reports.

AG arrests four for alleged fraud scheme targeting seniors

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:31 +0000

The state Attorney General’s office is charging four southeastern Pennsylvania men for leading an alleged financial fraud scheme that targeted seniors throughout the commonwealth. Attorney General Linda Kelly said her office claims to know of 218 seniors who were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for services they never received.

Four men have been charged and arrested for selling bogus safety equipment, shopping services, and even assistance with insurance: Bruce Cherry and Robert Lerner, both of Philadelphia; Ross Rabelow of Bucks County, and Thomas Muldoon of Delaware County.

State Attorney General spokesman Nils Frederiksen said that two of the men had worked previously in a legitimate insurance company together, which was how they knew some of the seniors they allegedly targeted. But many cases document the men simply canvassing neighborhoods for clients, according to Frederiksen. “There are a number of different forms of contact but most of it we believe was simply cold calls, just approaching seniors directly in their home, to see if they were interested in buying these services,” he said.

The average age of the alleged victims was 83 years. Kelly’s office has also found victims in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland – and it is keeping the investigation open to find other potential victims, and encouraging those with information to call the Office of the Attorney General’s units for Insurance Fraud and Elder Abuse.

Most of the services were sold under the names of two companies, called American Comfort Home Care Services and Global Services for the Home.

Frederiksen said alleged victims, all told, have lost more than $700,000 for services that were never provided. “Things like shopping or house cleaning, helping them get dressed, helping them get organized, anything that they would need around the home if they became sick or disabled or injured or were recovering from medical procedures,” he said.

Links: House sets budget ceiling, property tax bill gets hearing, & more pension reform prognosticating

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:47:07 +0000

The Standard Speaker has more on yesterday’s House Appropriations Committee vote to send a budget bill to the floor of the House – with a spending cap.

The Republican-controlled Appropriations Committee used a procedural rule involving available state tax revenues to reject on party-line votes several amendments to spend an additional $300 million in fiscal 2012-13 in the areas of education, health care, social services and environmental protection. The Democratic caucus amendments sought to increase spending beyond the $27.6 billion budget bill approved earlier this month by the Senate.

A party-line vote to require that budget amendments be revenue neutral with the $27.6 million amount and include offsetting spending reductions elsewhere set the course for the committee's debate.

The House plans to take additional action on the budget the first week of June, said panel Chairman Bill Adolph, R-165, Springfield. He said early reports of state tax revenue for May show collections running below estimate.

Pension reform is a budget item, said state Sen. Jake Corman to reporters Monday, and it'll be ripe for action next year. The Associated Press reports the Senate Appropriations chairman says the state has to consider reducing future pension benefits of state employees.

The revolution-minded House Bill 1776, to unshackle Pennsylvanians from property taxes and make up the difference with higher sales and personal income taxes, has gotten its first committee hearing. PA Independent has the details.

Opponents said the proposal would redirect the cost of public education from property owners and businesses to individuals and small businesses.

Others were against eliminating some exemptions in the state’s sales tax code.

And others questioned whether Harrisburg was better equipped to control education dollars than school boards.

Convicted former state Rep. Bill DeWeese has been out on bail since Friday, and a judge has a week to determine whether he should remain free on bail while appealing his conviction, reports the Associated Press.

House caps budget plan at $27.6 billion

Tue, 22 May 2012 02:03:26 +0000

State House lawmakers have an official spending cap on the budget proposal, which passed a committee vote and is poised for House action as early as the first week of June. Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted to recognize a $27.6 billion upper limit on spending – equal to the overall spending plan passed by the Senate, and half a billion dollars more than Gov. Corbett’s proposal.

The move to define a ceiling – and take no amendments that would exceed it – was met with dismay from the Democratic minority on the panel.

Minority chairman Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny) said the GOP wanted to “stifle debate.” He said Monday the ceiling has been set too low, leaving out $300 million his caucus insists will be available to restore funding to education and social services programs. Republicans said the state can’t count on another $300 million, because the latest economic data shows a slowdown in tax revenues.

“It’s a disagreement of what those revenues are, that’s the real issue here today,” said Markosek, voicing frustration that the Democrats’ amendments, which assumed no funding cap, were being ruled out of order in the committee meeting. “Why not just let us vote all our amendments? If you want to vote no, vote no. You have the votes,” Markosek said.

“We’re not stifling any amendments,” said the committee’s Majority Chairman, Rep. Bill Adolph (R-Delaware). “What we’re saying is that the amendments cannot spend over the amount that we have.”

Other Republicans argued that there would be plenty of time to offer amendments on the House floor, but that any funding increases in those proposals would need to be accompanied by either cuts, or increases in revenue.

“We’re trying to be very cautious in what we’re doing and trying to move this bill, and this is not going to be… the final budget,” said Adolph. “And I’m going to be working with members on both sides of the aisle, but I can guarantee it, the amendments will be revenue-neutral.