Pennsylvania Government's Failure With Eachus's Turnabout

On election day House Majority Leader Todd Eachus lost his bid for reelection to newcomer Attorney Tarah Toohil. At his concession speech he had these words to say.

“Next week, I’m going to be going to the House floor, and I’m going to be Leader, and I’m going to focus on protecting the pension system and the obligation to our public citizens.”

Although Eachus was nowhere to be found he surfaced Friday in Harrisburg in time to help cancel the rest of the post election House sessions. According to this Associated Press report filed with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review outgoing House Speaker Keith McCall issued a memo announcing that the House would not have the lame-duck voting sessions later this month that were previously scheduled.

House Majority Whip Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, said he argued against the decision to cancel the remaining session days when he discussed it with McCall and Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne.

"I thought it was the wrong approach, that we should go back and that we ought to address a couple issues, the pension issue, among others," said Dermody, who is running for Democratic floor leader in the coming session.

Dermody said the overriding factor in McCall's decision was opposition to establishment of a legislative fiscal office, which is a provision of the Senate-passed pension bill pending in the House. He called it an unfunded mandate, but said he would vote for the pension bill even if it contains the new office.

A main opponent of the fiscal office has been Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia.

His spokeswoman Johnna Pro said Friday that the pension bill does not pass constitutional muster because it contains the fiscal office, citing an Oct. 14 ruling by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau that the legislation violates the state's constitutional requirement that laws may not address multiple, unrelated topics.

"We're talking about creating a $4 million legislative agency with three dozen employees," Pro said. "We just don't agree with that." Dwight Evans doesn't agree with someone looking over his shoulder. Mr. Evans...what was it about that $29 million that went to that charity in Philadelphia.

Karen Heller of the The Philadelphia Inquirer does a nice job of exposing another Harrisburg boondoggle involving the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.

While the state is bankrupt and deserving programs have been slashed, career politicians like Rep. Dwight Evans continue to siphon money for their pet projects.

According to the Darwyyn Deyo of the Pennsylvania Independent House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) said Friday the pension bill was unconstitutional and would not be brought to the floor for a vote.

Since they cancelled the sessions before the election McCall and Eachus have given legislators who earn $78,314 per year minimum a two month vacation on our tax dollars.

A spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus says the Democratic caucus is still trying to decide what to do about a Senate bill that packages pension reforms with the creation of an independent fiscal office.

The message being sent to the citizens of Pennsylvania. Don't dare ask us for an independent review. And Eachus wonders why he was a target?

It is rumored...well more than that..he said after the results of the election.."I was cheated". No Mr. Eachus...the taxpayers are cheated if for two months our legislature is prevented from coming to work.

Shame on the media in Northeastern PA for not getting to the bottom of this.

We Can Do Better

Philadelphia Editorial Questions Eachus Credibility On Marchelus Shale

This opinion column written by John Baer in the Philadelphia Daily News questions House Majority Leader Todd Eachus and sidekick Rep. Dwight Evans credibility on really wanting to pass a sincere and proper tax on Marcellus Shale. He labels them the "Addams family of Pennsylvania politics" calling them dysfunctional.


House Dems' take on shale tax is creepy and kooky
By John Baer
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Political Columnist



STATE HOUSE Democrats - the Addams Family of Pennsylvania politics - are known for putting the D in dysfunction, and they're at it again.

The state faces fiscal horrors from underfunded pensions, loss of federal stimulus money, an unemployment-compensation-fund bust and more.

But House-controlling D's just spooked efforts to tax natural gas from Marcellus Shale and reap hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Oh, they passed a tax bill, with the help of a dozen southeast (where there is no shale) Republicans, including Philly Rep. Dennis O'Brien.

And they needed GOPers. Ten Democrats from western counties (where there's plenty of shale) voted "no." The measure passed, 104-94.

But Democratic leaders, especially Luzerne County Rep. Todd Eachus and Philly Rep. Dwight Evans, were driving the hearse.

The result, what they call "a starting point," could be buried in just a few finger-snaps. Allow me to count the ways.

First, House D's took Gov. Rendell's initial request for a tax rate of 5 percent and basically doubled it to almost 10 percent. Republican Senate President Joe Scarnati immediately labeled the rate "ridiculous."

Why would leaders of one chamber pass a measure on the highest-profile issue in the state, as the legislative calendar runs down, that leaders in the other chamber call inane?

Well, either they don't really want the tax or they have all the communication skills of the Addams' Cousin Itt.

Second, because revenue bills by law must start in the House, waiting to act until last Wednesday blew an agreed-to Oct. 1 deadline promised during last summer's budget deal.

But, hey, credibility in the House is like a pulse on a corpse - pretty rare.

Third, the legislative vehicle used, a county-code bill dealing with bonding/insurance requirements for local officials, appears to violate the state Constitution.

Separate sections of Article III say that no bill shall be passed that's altered "to change its original purpose," no bill shall be passed "containing more than one subject" and all revenue-raising bills "shall originate in the House."

What the House passed was a Senate bill (SB 1155) with an altered purpose and more than one subject. Three for three.

GOP Senate legal counsel Drew Crompton says it's "likely unconstitutional."

Fourth, there might be attempted humor here. The bill's listed sponsor is Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Altoona, arguably the Senate's most conservative member and the last person likely to vote for this or any tax.

"I don't see any humor in it; they might," Eichelberger tells me. "It's clearly unconstitutional. . . . I'm not going to support the tax, period."

What now?

Senators say they'll want a compromise but insist on a much lower tax rate. Their schedule calls for three more days in the current two-year session: Oct. 12, 13 and 14.

Evans says "we don't believe" that the bill is unconstitutional (well, then), that Dems are "open to discussion" on the rate and that the Senate should schedule more days. "We get paid until Nov. 30," he adds.

Yeah? You already got paid for a year and nine months; why didn't you do something sooner?

Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County, who voted for the House bill, suspects that the Senate will wait, pass something unacceptable to the House and the Guv and then take off for the year.

A cynic might say "leaders" don't want to anger either side of the debate in election season.

Or that gas-industry gifts to more than 100 lawmakers - gifts favoring Republicans over Democrats and including $117,575 to Senate leader Scarnati, according to tracking by Common Cause and Conservation Voters - are designed to delay a final vote until next year, when maybe the GOP controls the Legislature and the governor's office.

Republican Tom Corbett opposes a tax. Democrat Dan Onorato supports it.

I'm waiting to hear from Uncle Fester. Snap, snap.

Rendell's Abuse of Taxpayer Dollars To Solidify Political Base

The Pennsylvania Independent published a story about Ed Rendell distributing a disproportionate amount of Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) funding to the City of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia County received $109.5 million in RACP funds for 12 projects, a little more than a third of the total funding doled out in the bill signed yesterday by Mr. Rendell, including $10 million for the Sen. Arlen Specter Library at Philadelphia University. Mr. Specter, who served as Philadelphia District Attorney from 1965 until 1974, was Mr. Rendell’s first employer.

“I think that’s been this governor’s mode of operation,” said state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R – Butler). “Dole out the goodies from Harrisburg that he can grab a hold of for his base, for the Philadelphia area especially.”

The Legal Intelligencer penned this story about the Feds appeal of the light sentence imposed on former Senator Vince Fumo after his conviction in what amounts to one of the worst corruption cases in Pennsylvania.

Weighing in at 281 pages and more than 53,000 words, the appellate brief filed by the Justice Department on Thursday to challenge the leniency of the 55-month sentence imposed on former state Sen. Vincent Fumo is like a Harry Potter novel for the judiciary -- highly anticipated, loaded with entertaining vocabulary, and chock full of talk about darkness and wicked ways.

What are the similarities between these two stories? Here is more information from the appeal by the Feds in the Fumo Case.

"The corruption exposed in this case was breathtaking," they wrote.

Fumo was a 30-year member of the Pennsylvania Senate, they wrote, who "used his control of a well-funded Senate committee and of a nonprofit organization he created and supported (Citizens Alliance), as well as his influence over another nonprofit institution, to support a lavish lifestyle and illegally amass political power."

The brief says Fumo used funds and resources of the Senate and of the nonprofit organizations "to provide him with staffers who served his every whim, from running political campaigns, to aiding his personal business ventures, to attending to his needs at the five homes he maintained."

Fumo used the funds of Citizens Alliance "for political purposes, and to acquire over $1 million of luxury vehicles, merchandise, farm equipment, and myriad other items," the brief says, noting that Buckwalter calculated more than $2 million in losses from Fumo's crimes when "in actuality, the loss was at least double that."

And "just as strikingly," the prosecutors wrote, "once the federal investigation began, Fumo embarked on a determined effort to obstruct justice, directing his public employees to destroy extensive computer evidence of his crimes."

In a previous post I highlighted the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp, the tax-exempt, taxpayer-supported nonprofit group founded by State Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee and the waste of $1 million in Pennsylvania taxpayer's money on a jazz festival.

From Eachus's office Brett Marcy this comment back on May 09, 2010.

"We have worked hard to trim costs and find ways to improve efficiencies," said Brett Marcy, press secretary to House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne.

Over at the Capitol Wire With John Micek he quotes House Majority Leader Todd Eachus about the budget:

"This is a responsible budget, and it's a win for Pennsylvania taxpayers. It holds the line on state taxes and it keeps our commitment to invest appropriately in our children's education and protect our local property tax payers from having to shoulder more of the burden for funding our schools."

How he can make that claim with the obvious waste of taxpayer money is beyond me.

Rock The Capitol's List Of Those Who Have Yet To Return Illegal Pay Raise

From the Post Gazette:

Rock the Capital, led by Eric Epstein, is one of the citizens watchdog groups that have criticized 60 state legislators for not returning to the state treasury the four months of higher pay they received from a controversial pay raise enacted in July 2005 and repealed in November 2005. The group released this list of seven senators, who are still in office, and 53 House members, some of whom have retired or been defeated and some who are still in office. Mr. Epstein noted that some lawmakers did donate their raise money to charities (resulting in tax benefits) but still will benefit from the "pension bump" caused by the higher salary.

The following legislators from our area on the list- Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, House majority leader, Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, Ed Staback, D-Lackawanna. It's amazing how a leader can't be a leader by setting an example for the rest of his pack and do what is right for the taxpayer.

More from the Post Gazette about stalled legislative pay reform.


Democracy Rising PA and Rock the Capital Tuesday challenged the gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Dan Onorato and Republican Tom Corbett, to take the lead on several upcoming reform measures, including pushing for a "limited constitutional convention."

"Citizens need a megaphone to reach our tone-deaf lawmakers, and the only one loud enough to do the job is the governor," said Democracy Rising's Tim Potts.

"Things are not going to change until we have a constitutional convention," Mr. Epstein said.

Mr. Potts and Mr. Epstein, along with Matthew Brouillette of the Commonwealth Foundation, said they didn't think legislators have learned much from the middle-of-the-night pay raise debacle in July 2005.

Last week, they noted, legislators waived a post-pay-raise reform measure that would have required a 24-hour delay (in the House) and a six-hour wait (in the Senate) before the state budget could face a final vote. Legislative leaders insisted their members had adequate time to review the lengthy budget bill before approving it.

The citizens groups also asked Mr. Corbett and Mr. Onorato about changes recently recommended by a grand jury that spent two years investigating the so-called Bonusgate scandal, including convening a constitutional convention, cutting the size of the 253-member Legislature and imposing term limits on lawmakers.

Mr. Onorato has said he supports a convention that is limited to certain key issues, such as a smaller Legislature, but Mr. Potts said he'd like to know exactly what issues Mr. Onorato wants to look at.

Mr. Corbett also favors a limited constitutional convention and would end unvouchered per diem payments to legislators for food and lodging. He also favors a part-time Legislature, said campaign aide Kevin Harley.

The citizens groups also want to get the two candidates' views on whether legislators should spend $42 million this year on "walking around money," for pet projects in their districts; the funds are listed under vague categories called "cultural activities," "community assistance" and "urban development."

The reform groups also want the two candidates' opinions on whether the Legislature should continue to squirrel away $200 million in a reserve account, sometimes called a "slush fund," or put most of the money back into the general budget to ease some of the reductions in departmental budgets.

Rep. Dwight Evans Wastes $1 Million Dollars Of Taxpayer Money On Jazz Festival

Beavers for Initiative Growth, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation. What do they all have in common? All are non-profits tied to politicians from Harrisburg. In the case of the first two trials resulted from allegations of improprieties connected to mismanagement of their funds. Former Senator Vince Fumo and Representative Michael Veon were associated with those entities.

Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp, however is the tax-exempt, taxpayer-supported nonprofit group founded by State Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Philly.com reported that the non-profit received $1 million dollars of Pennsylvania taxpayer money to host the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival. Claims were made that the crowd would rival Woodstock, "in excess of 500,000 festival attendees from around the world." In reality only a couple thousand made it to the event.

Today Karen Heller writes an op-ed that Pennsylvania taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for the festival.

The three-day festival was free to the public.

And, then again, not.

Because you, dear reader, paid for the festival to the (free-form jazz) tune of $1 million through the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp. (OARC), the tax-exempt, taxpayer-supported nonprofit group founded by State Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee.

This support is $1 million more than what the commonwealth gave to the July Fourth Welcome America festivities, which drew crowds Ogontz Avenue could only dream of.

Meanwhile, city parades, athletic competitions, heritage events, and even Mummers go scrambling for funding.

"I don't want to get into a debate about the numbers," Evans said about attendance, though he has no problem with numbers when it comes to securing state grants for OARC, scads in the past decade.

Consider this: $29.3 million in tax dollars went to his pet charity. That's an amount that would impress even Vince Fumo.

Rep. Dwight Evans and House Majority Leader Todd Eachus frequently appear together in photo ops especially around budget time. Harrisburg will not change it errant ways unless the voters change the way Harrisburg looks by voting out incumbents who fling their thumb off their nose to the public when it comes to spending our money wisely.

Roxbury News Eachus And Evans Speak On Budget

Click on Roxbury News to hear Eachus and Evans discuss their hour long meeting with Republicans over the PA budget. Hear their carefully couched words, more taxes equals a "menu of options". Isn't it funny how House Majority Leader Todd Eachus stands behind Rep. Dwight Evans and Rep. Keith McCall. Guess he needs them to block for him.

Editorial Calls Dwight Evan's Attack On AG Corbett "LOONY"!

Colin McNickle, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's director of editorial pages, writes a scathing editorial about Dwight Evan's attack on AG Corbett over the lawsuit on healthcare.

Dwight Evans, the chairman of the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee, is threatening to cut the Legislature's appropriation to the office of state Attorney General Tom Corbett.

Mr. Evans, a Philadelphia Democrat, is peeved that Mr. Corbett, a Shaler Republican seeking the GOP's gubernatorial nomination, joined attorneys general of more than a dozen states to challenge the constitutionality of ObamaCare.

Evans has the audacity to call Corbett's participation in the lawsuit against the constitutionality of certain provisions in the federal healthcare bill rammed down the people's throat as a "political stunt".

He wants people to believe his own press conference was for the good of the people and not a political stunt. It was such a shallow attempt at leadership no wonder Harrisburg is in such a disarray.

"(H)e will pay for it in his department," Evans said at a news conference.

No, Dwight, we will pay for it in increased premiums and unfunded mandates raising taxes.

That said, Evans' base argument is loony, given what Corbett's lawsuit seeks to accomplish.

Evans cites "the state's fragile economic situation," which he says already has affected Corbett's office. "I do not believe it is prudent to spend taxpayer dollars on such a suit."

So, does he believe it's "prudent" to encumber an already strapped state with hundreds of millions of dollars -- perhaps even $1 billion -- of unfunded mandates?

The primary basis of the AGs' lawsuit is that ObamaCare violates the Commerce Clause. As the lawsuit states, "It has never been held that the Commerce Clause ... can be used to require citizens to buy goods and services. To depart from that history to permit the national government to require the purchase of goods and services would deprive the Commerce Clause of any effective limits."

Hey, maybe Evans is hoping to use the Commerce Clause to force people to shop at those government-subsidized grocery stores of which he's so fond to ensure their "success." While being well intentioned, they are a horribly inefficient allocation of resources in any economic climate.

Protecting taxpayers, as the Corbett et al. lawsuit seeks to do, is not playing politics. Defending the Constitution is no stunt. But attempting to kill such a lawsuit with bombastic threats of budget cuts and bogus rationales is. Dwight Evans should know better. More's the pity that he does not.

Advocating what is right is not politics. Threatening several hundred employees with a "whip" is appalling behavior but not untypical of the same behavior that begat Bonusgate.

Another Legislator Involved In A Questionable Non-Profit Deal

House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans just added his name to the list of Pennsylvania solonians who started non-profits only to be involved in questionable transactions. According to the Pennsylvania Independent the non-profit bailed out friends and collegues of Evans in a failed nightclub to the tune of $700,000.00.

The Ogontz Avenue Rehabilitation Corp. (OARC) purchased North By Northwest, a Mount Airy nightspot, in March and it has remained closed since. In return, OARC received nothing tangible, not even a state liquor license, according to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

The initial costs borne by OARC included $400,000 in debt and $169,000 in back taxes on the property that had been leased by the North by Northwest partners. OARC was also saddled with $160,000 rent on the property until the lease expired in October.

Mr. Evans, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on the situation to the Pennsylvania Independent. The woman did say Mr. Evans is not involved in OARC operations. His supporters, however, are.

The North by Northwest partners were Mr. Evans’ longtime protégé Ameenah Young, president of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and first recipient of the Dwight Evans Leadership Award given by OARC; prominent city lawyer Carl Singley and his wife, Rose; Ina Walker, CEO of the New Media Technology Charter School; and Philadelphia attorney Hugh Clark, president of that school.

The school is one of six city charter schools currently under federal investigation for possible misuse of funds and has received $500,000 in state taxpayer money. Mr. Clark and Ms. Walker have been asked to step down from their positions, but have refused to do so thus far.

Just last week SOP reported about Senator Argall's non-profit issue. Of course former Senator Vince Fumo's conviction forced the closing of his non-profit, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, which was a central focus in his trial. Lest we not forget former Representative Michael Veon's trouble with Beaver For Initiative Growth, BIG, a non-profit agency created by Veon.

Should we have applauded Senator Mellow when he wanted to tax the non-profits?? Take it easy...just kidding.

AG Tom Corbett has a Handbook for Charitable Non-Profit Organizations online. One would think that one of these fine legislators would at least take the time to read the damn thing.

Dwights Evans- Exposed By Ugarte

Pop on over to CasablancaPA to see a great analysis on Representative Dwight Evans, a player in this year's budget negotiations, and his role with the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation.

The whole arrangement between Evans, OARC and North by Northwest was so unseemly that it led the Philadelphia Inquirer to editorialize:

"But remember, without Evans, there are no taxpayer dollars. And without taxpayers' dollars, there is no OARC. Without OARC, Young & partners are stuck with a failed business and paying their back taxes. Here's one opinion of how it all looks: Bad." (Inquirer 8/17/09)

Some just don't get it. But in Harrisburg it seems a handful of players are the same names that pop up time after time. To honor CasablancaPA let's end with "Round up the usual suspects".

Captain Renault: Hello Rick.
Rick: Hello Louis.
Captain Renault: How extravagant you are, throwing away women like that. Someday they may be scarce. You know, now I think I shall pay a call on Yvonne. Maybe get her on the rebound. Hmm?
Rick: When it comes to women, you're a true democrat.

Groundhog Day- Budget Impasse Finally Over

Headline from September 18, 2009

Pa. budget deal ends impasse with cuts, taxes

Headline Ocotober 9, 2009

Pennsylvania Legislature sends $27.8 billion budget to Gov. Ed Rendell for enactment


Just like the movie "Grounghod Day" the same events just keep happening over and over and over.

In philosophy, Groundhog Day has been considered a tale of self-improvement, to look inside oneself and realize that the only satisfaction in life comes from turning outward and concerning oneself with others rather than concentrating solely on one's own wants and desires

When Pennsylvania Leadership gets its head out of its ass and realizes it works for the people, not the other way around. Children in daycare, the hungry, the elderly, the poor, and the challenged will not endure the suffering caused by these men and women behaving irrationally. They not only deserve but actually earned all of the media bashing that has and will occur over taking 101 days to reach a deal.

DemocracyRising sees a constitutional convention on the horizon to examine shrinking the size of the legislature as well as whether it should be full time or part time. Bonusgate has proven it really is a part time legislature. The impasse has proven that its size cannot get the job done.

Nathan Benefield over at the Commonwealth Foundation opines that is about time to have "An Honest Debate About State Spending."

The Daily Review called Pennsylvania's Ineffective Leadership a Disgrace." That was at day 65.

One comment from that editorial.

A bipartisan group, a majority, in the PA House has brought forward a budget. The group includes Republicans and moderate Democrats from all across PA. This budget could pass the PA Senate, as well. But the radical ultra-liberal Democrat leadership in the PA House will not bring the bipartisan budget to a vote. They will not allow House members to vote. Their reason: they know the bipartisan budget would pass, and it does not include sufficient new taxes and spending to satisfy the liberals.

It will be hard for Eachus, McCall, and Evans to explain their role in this disaster. However, it will remain to be seen whether public sentiment will last until the next election. The leadership should not be suprised at a Veon Style repeat where unexpected election results were not a lesson learned.

You can say what you want but AG Corbett arrested a Republican first for actions as described in the Bonusgate indictments. Nobody listened to him. If history repeats itself the legislature will not listen to the Veon outster over the pay raise scandal.

When Will We See Our Full Time Legislators Earn Their Pay

Go to the Pennsylvania Democratic Appropriations Committee website. You will see the following:



Budget Crisis: click here for the latest information or to ask a question.

Welcome to the House Appropriations Committee (D)

Subcommittee Hearing Schedule
Please watch this space for future developments

Dwight Evans is chairman of the Democratic Committee on Appropriations. Mr. Evans, how can you cite a budget crisis but then state-"Please watch this space for future developments"? Shouldn't the schedule be full if you're working on it?

Folks it gets even better. Go to the Budget button and click on it. Then click on the link Budget Briefing: Fiscal Crisis - January 29, 2009. The page cannot be found. The same thing happens when you click on Forum on the Economy(Power Point Presentation). Dwight, pay attention.

Todd Eachus, when does Hazleton get some money?? Here is his latest press release. Exactly how much money from gaming have you earmarked for Hazleton? Time to stop playing partisan politics and time to prove your worth to the biggest voting base in your district. What serious money have you ever brought to Hazleton? You were elected to represent your district, not do Governor Rendell's bidding for him.