Shoveling the dirt
Gov. Ed Rendell was all over town today, breaking ground at the USAirways maintenance facility in Moon, breaking more ground at UPMC Passavant Hospital in McCandless, and fielding questions on the fact that a friend and lobbyist, Leslie Merrill McCombs, had sought tax-credit legislation for the film industry without registering as a lobbyist.
Echoing the reponses he'd given previously in Harrisburg, he said Ms. Mcomb's and Lionsgate, the studio that employed her, should have registered and that the state's toothless lobbying law should have some penalties for such lapses.
Dodging subpoenas
Back in Harrisburg, State House Democratic leaders were trying to wish the genie back into the bottle in Attorney General Tom Corbett's probe of bonuses to House staffers that may or may not have been related to campaign work.
The Harrisburg Patriot's Charlie Thompson reported that, "In appeals filed before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, attorneys for the House Democrats are seeking to pre-empt subpoenas requiring several caucus employees to appear before a statewide investigating grand jury.
"The grand jury, which is meeting in Harrisburg, is probing the payment of $3.6 million in bonuses to legislative staffers during the 2005-06 session. Corbett has said that he is looking into whether the bonuses were intended as compensation for staffers who worked on legislative campaigns. Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate gave out bonuses, but House Democrats paid the most. ''
House Democratic leaders have maintained that the $1.9 million in bonuses were legitimate, merited compensation for good legislative work.
The Post-Gazette's Tom Barnes notes that, "At least seven House Democratic employees have been subpoenaed to testify before the investigating grand jury. According to the papers filed with the Supreme Court and obtained by the Post-Gazette, they are David D. Bliss, Jennifer K. Brubaker, Ryan L. Kline, Christa C. Kraber, William D. Minnick, Charles W. Quinnan and Stephen A. Webb.''
The Post-Gazette's Dennis Roddy was the first to shine a spotlight on the probe, in a story last month.
Mayor's race on the menu
The Economic Club of Pittsburgh has invited Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and his principal challenger, Republican Mark DeSantis, to a forum on Wednesday, Sept. 26. It looks, however, like the mayor has other things to do. A spokesman for his campaign said that at this point, the event is not on his calendar. The DeSantis campaign, on the other hand, said its man would be there. The lunch starts at 11:45 a.m. at the Omni William Penn. Mr. DeSantis (and an empty chair?) takes the stage at 12:30 p.m. The club is charging $30 for members, $40 for non-members and $15 for students. You can make a reservation by email to reservations@econclubpgh.org by Sept. 24, 2007.
Presidential potpourri
Turning to the national stage, The Washington Times' Ralph Hallow (a Post-Gazette editorial writer in a former life) quotes an insider who suggests that Sen. John McCain's campaign is running on fumes.
Eric Gorski, of the Associated Press, finds Dr. James Dobson dissing Fred Thompson.
The Wall Street Journal sees more fund-raising clouds hovering over Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Around the pork barrel
Instapundit alerted us to this Roll Call story on Western Pennsylvania's King of Clout, Rep. Jack Murtha. (You'll have to scroll down a way to find it.) /
"Every private entity that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) favored with an earmark in this year's defense bill recently has given political money to the lawmaker, according to an analysis of House Appropriations and federal elections records by Roll Call and Taxpayers for Common Sense.
"PACs and employees of those 26 groups together have contributed $413,250 to Murtha since the beginning of 2005. He collected nearly a quarter of the sum -- $100,750 -- in the two weeks leading up to March 16, the original deadline for lawmakers to file their earmark requests.''
You'll need a subscription to Roll Call to read the original story.
First Published: September 20, 2007, 7:45 p.m.
