Whatever you think of Pat Meehan, you have to admire his talent for creative problem solving. A former U.S. Attorney and Delaware County DA, Meehan presumably knows a thing or two about election law. That didn't, however, stop him from filing nomination petitions so rife with errors that a fifth grader with so so vision might have questioned their adequacy. Was this stupid beyond belief? Well, sure. But give creddit where it's due: since the problems came to light, Meehan's handling of the situation has been nothing short of masterful. Future candidates caught up in petition scandals would do well to take notes on the problems he's faced and how he's responded.

Friday March 19th is a big day across the City with a bunch of important events focused on the state of Philadelphia's employed and unemployed.

First, tomorrow at 10AM in room 400 of City Hall, the PA House Urban Affairs Committee along with the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance and Liberty Resources will hold a public meeting on House Bill 1914. This bill would grant Taxi Drivers the right to workers compensation coverage and create wheelchair accessible taxis. Workers compensation coverage is particularly important for cab drivers as they are 60 percent more likely to be killed on the job and 80 percent more likely to be assaulted on the job according to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. Moreover, according to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, taxi drives make an average of $29.50 plus tips per 12 hour shift or $4.17 an hour, and it has been reported by taxi drivers that wages are declining even further due to the recession.

HB1914 would compel medallion owners (who have seen the value of medallions go up 400 percent in the last four years) to pay around $1.50 a day for workers compensation coverage. The bill would also necessitate some wheelchair accessible cabs, which most major cities already have. Check out the video Driving the America Dream a joint production of UTWA and Media Mobilizing Project focused on the working conditions and need for workers compensation for cab drivers.

Second, tomorrow at 10:15 outside the main entrance of Temple University Hospital (Broad and Ontario) National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join rank-and-file union leaders to pledge all-out support from organized labor for an impending strike by Temple University Hospital’s 1,500 nurses and professional and technical employees. Shortly before the press event, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) will deliver a 10-day strike notice to the hospital, setting a walkout deadline of 7:00 A.M. Wednesday, March 31. Check out recent reporting on the nurses campaign at Temple University on MMP's labor blog: PASNAP wins tuition reimbursement battle | Temple students meet with PASNAP | Temple found guilty of bad-faith bargaining with PASNAP | Temple Doesn't want us to Speak for our Patients

Finally at 11:45 National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding will lead hundreds of union activists in a massive rally at Paine Plaza -- across from City Hall at 15th and JFK -- to tell Bank of America that it's time to pay up to restore the jobs Wall Street destroyed in the worst financial collapse since the great depression. This event is one of 200 actions happening across the country at the Big 6 Wall Street Banks now through March 26 demanding "Good Jobs Now: Make Wall Street Pay."

Philadelphians should definitely come out and support these events

The health reform vote is coming in the House. Representative Chris Carney (PA-10) needs to keep listening to us, not the insurance companies.

In Carney's district, the House's improvements to the Senate health reform bill will [pdf]:

• Improve coverage for 406,000 residents with health insurance.

Disclosure: Hannah is working/volunteering/something for the Hoeffel campaign

Intro: A little while ago I reached out to some bloggers in Pittsburgh to get perspectives on the Westerners running for governor, since they are so unknown here. Sue Kerr of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents wrote this inspiring and very well reported piece cross posted from PAProgressive.com below.

It is certainly timely. This morning, the Pennsylvania State Senate will be voting on whether to write discrimination against love into our state constitution, and so I think today provides an excellent opportunity to think about how we, living in a world which still denies the basic humanity, dignity, and beauty of millions of our friends and neighbors, can pursue justice in all our political decisions - especially, as Sue notes, in choosing those individuals to whom we, the people, lend power.

http://www.thepennsylvaniaprogressive.com/diary/2310/the-pittsburgh-quee...

The Pittsburgh Queer Perspective on Dan Onorato

This is a guest article by Sue Kerr of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents.

I've been asked by progressives in Eastern PA to contribute a guest blog post. So I'm going to share the queer perspective on Dan Onorato you might not hear from the gay Onorato supporters who have the resources to travel across the state to attend house parties.

For the past four years I've been blogging about Pittsburgh's LGBTQ community at Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents. I cover political, cultural, and a wide range of general interest topics. I've contributed to Pam's House Blend and Lez Get Real. I recently spearheaded the second "Blog for Equality" around yet another attempt to amend Pennsylvania's constitution to protect marriage for the LGBTQ community (as I write this, the outcome of the Judiciary Committee vote is yet unknown). Over 20 bloggers, gay and straight alike, contributed thoughts both political and personal on an issue that resonates across the Commonwealth.

After 20 months, this part of our campaign for quality, affordable health care for all is coming to an end. We are fairly sure the critical vote in the House of Representatives will take place by Saturday.

The vote will be very close, and health care reform won't be enacted without an outpouring of grassroots energy that can overcome the powerful insurance company interests that are trying to block it.

So many of you in Pennsylvania have been doing so much for so long. Over the last three weeks, Pennsylvanians have led the way at two events in Washington. Hundreds of you joined us for the end of Melanie's March and for the exciting anti- health insurance company rally last week.

But whether you have been an active participant in the campaign or not, I must ask you to do everything you can in this crucial last week to make our dream a reality. Most importantly, I need you to do some

Phone banking

If you want to get a stomach ache, I would encourage you to read the Inquirer's article on the money heavy, astroturf campaign on behalf of that most aggrieved product: Soda.

The food and beverage industry is mobilizing against Mayor Nutter's proposed tax on sweet drinks, with a rush of activity that has City Hall bracing for a "madhouse."

Lobbyists are buttonholing City Council members. Trade groups and the unions have locked arms. Industry ads are sprouting on the air and in print extolling the good corporate citizenship of soft-drink companies. The public has weighed in with hundreds of calls and e-mails.

The Inquirer neatly sums up the arguments lobbyists are making against the tax:

The tax will cost jobs. Working families can't afford it. It's a "money grab" by Nutter. Soft drinks alone don't cause obesity.

Let's take this one by one:

1. The tax will cost jobs.

What jobs will this hurt? The bottling plants? Sorry, I doubt it. Coca Cola bottles in Philadelphia, and sells to the region. People in Philly pay the tax, people outside don't. It is not as if Coke would have an incentive to move out of the city- the same consumption tax would still exist.

Futher, Philadelphia itself is only a small part of the region's market. You would also have to assume that people will not substitute their sugary drinks for other non-sugary, coke-bottled ones. If there is one thing I trust, it is that if they need to, American corporations will figure out how to make sure people buy other drinks.

2. Working families can't afford it.

If this tax is done right, this is the worst argument of them all. All sin taxes, like all sales taxes, are regressive. Does that mean we should eliminate cigarette taxes? Of course not.

3. It's a "money grab" by Nutter.

Money grab? Ha ha ha ha. I really hope the lobbyists make this their center piece. We do all understand there is a deficit, right? And we either raise money or we can shut libraries, lay-off people, close after school programs and pools, and a lot of other stuff. We can argue about whether this is a good tax or well designed or whatever, but, the money has to come from somewhere.

4. Soft drinks alone don't cause obesity.

And Eddie Jordan didn't alone ruin the Sixers. Who cares?

Now, there is a legitimate argument that the way the tax is designed, as a BPT add-on, is not smart. I get that. But does that mean it will not work at all? I don't think so. I would expect that almost instantly, the price in vending machines would go up, the price in gas stations would go up, etc. But, I do get the argument, and I wonder if there is a better way to do this?

The article, however, is most focused on what is about to happen in the city. Lobbyists will write checks to Councilpeople, the teamsters will pack a hearing, letters will come in (and they have, many supposedly not from city addresses), and we will see commercials about poor, poor, poor soda:

Poor soda. I just want to go give you a hug and protect you, you aggrieved individual!

And hey, the ad has a point. As it says, "taxes never made anyone healthy." Right?

Several studies have examined the effects of state cigarette tax increases on youth substance use over the 1990s, with most -- but not all -- finding that higher taxes reduce youth consumption of tobacco... Our most consistent finding is that -- contrary to some recent research -- the large state tobacco tax increases of the past 15 years were associated with significant reductions in smoking participation and frequent smoking by youths.

Oh, right.

We don't often see such clear floods of money into the city, at least on such a short-term, blast basis. But rather than every lobbyist with their hand out, and rather than an ex-Mayor waiving around an empty soda bottle, let's deal with reality:

1) Soda is really bad for you, and
2) We need money, so...
3) We are taxing soda.

The flood of money that is about to rain down on our city is not proof that this is a bad idea, but simply a clear display of the festering toothache of our political system.

LaGreta Brown made her first public appearance before the SRC since the violence at South Philadelphia HS, joining ten other individuals to denounce, er, a cartoon.

The cartoon by Tony Auth showed a woman inside the principal’s office at her desk with her head down, phone off the hook, and a shattered window next to her.

Brown said it was an unfair characterization. "I'm rarely at my desk during the day," she said. "Most days, I'm located in the halls and in the classrooms. How dare anyone portray me as sleeping . . .

"I'm not tired. I'm not clueless. I'm not knocked out," she continued. "I come to serve and I'm not going anywhere."

Meanwhile, the SRC continued with the extreme literal interpretation and disregarded the entreaties of its Superintendent Arlene Ackerman who had appealed publicly to "let it go" around South Philadelphia High School. Chairman Robert Archie said the SRC - which has made no public statement on the violence at South Philadelphia High School in the past three months - said it would confer about whether to issue its own condemnation of, er, a cartoon - supposedly on the basis that Ms. Brown was actually awake and cognizant throughout the chaos of the school day.

Once again, Ms. Brown escorted about 20 "student ambassadors" from the school to accompany her. None of the Asian immigrant students who had boycotted the school were invited.

While most eyes are focused on the HCR debate right now, there is another high-stakes legislative issue waiting in the wings. For those whose families and communities are impacted by the problematic immigration system, immigration reform is as crucial as anything else on the Democratic agenda.

But right now, immigrants and advocates are wondering whether immigration reform is even on the agenda of Democrats in Congress and the White House, notwithstanding Candidate Obama’s promise to make immigration reform a top priority during his first year in office.

That’s why I was happy to see the Inquirer’s editorial about the DREAM Act over the weekend.

On Sunday, Monica Yant Kinney wrote a shocking story about the locals who make Bucks County's Parx Casino so "profitable." According to Parx, most of their clients live within a 20 mile radius of Street Road and come 3-4 times a week, losing $25-$30 a trip.

Today we get to meet one of Parx's regulars: a former construction worker who was sidelined due to injury but now has found his new profession as a casino player.

Anderson lives five minutes from the Bensalem slots box, which raked in $400 million in profit last year in a recession. Proximity, plus free valet parking, has turned the unemployed cement mason into a casino operator's dream.

Anderson, 31, pops in for 90 minutes here, three hours there. He plays to relax and to kill time when his kids are in school. He plays late at night when he can't sleep or at dawn while his wife dozes.

Anderson views playing the slots as a profession, a flextime job he can do in sweats while smoking.

"I treat it like a business," he tells me after we meet at the casino. "If this is what I have to do to make money, this is what I have to do."

Problem is that Anderson doesn't realize Steve Wynn's favorite quote: The only way to beat the house is to be the house.

To paraphrase the Daily News' Catherine Lucey, the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority says we'd save $13-$15 million annually if we eliminated four independent row offices and moved their functions to other city agencies or the court system.

The queenpin of one such office, the Clerk of Quarter Sessions, announced her resignation yesterday.

Mayor Nutter, you're on: the time to do the right thing is now.

Eliminate this and other unnecessary positions/offices and spend the savings on things Philadelphians actually need like safe schools and clean streets.

By the way, check out Committee of 70's recommendation to eliminate six unnecessary elected offices.

1. Today’s front page Inquirer story on the chaos at South Philly High School on Dec. 3: The chaos and trauma that gripped South Philly High is front and center - as is the leadership of SPHS principal LaGreta Brown. From before 9 a.m. and continuing throughout the school day, Brown knew of multiple attacks on Asian immigrant students and a school in crisis and largely failed to act.

   What the story missed: The day after the violence on Dec. 3rd, the Principal sent home a letter to parents that began: "As you may have heard in the news, an incident occurred at dismissal, outside of South Philadelphia High School on Thursday, December 3, 2009." The letter not only brings into question the principal's judgement that day but in the days following when Brown engaged in questionable conduct as public scrutiny increased. LaGreta Brown may have entered a challenging situation at SPHS when she arrived, but her lack of leadership, action and subsequent acceptance of responsibility has resulted in a challenging school becoming a dangerous and fractious place for all students there - Asian immigrant students in particular - and a national embarassment for the School District.

2. Where’s the apology?: The claim that Asian students attacked a disabled African American child was an explosive allegation first uttered by Supt. Arlene Ackerman in her first remarks on the S. Philly incident almost a week after the attacks:
   

   "What began as an unwarranted off-campus attack on a disabled African American student, quickly escalated into a retaliatory multi-racial attack on primarily Chinese students at the school the following day." (School Reform Commission hearing, Dec. 9, 2009)

   This allegation generated confusion, heightened racial tension, and fueled suspicion citywide. And it was completely unsubstantiated, according to a recent District investigation. In fact, the report raised the likelihood that there’s a totally different version of events than the one Dr. Ackerman put out – that it was in fact Asian immigrant kids who were beaten. It would seem imperative to call for a response from the superintendent who uttered the accusation in the first place. Thus far, Dr.Ackerman has taken a convenient "case closed, move forward" approach. It’s convenient because it doesn’t accept her role in fanning the flames and heightening confusion and suspicion through hearsay and rumor rather than encouraging a thorough inquiry into what led up to the attacks.

   The high road would be to apologize. Instead, there is a deafening silence.

3. Predatory gambling and the call to revoke Foxwoods license: Today Buzz Bissinger joined the call to revoke Foxwoods’ license. The problem is that while fed-up with the mess, the author, like others, simply says rebid the license at another location to foist the miserable process and even more miserable outcome on other neighborhoods – missing the point that it’s the larger city that suffers.

   Just read Monica Yant Kinney’s column today on the gambling at Parx casino:

   Inside the smoke-filled slots box, much of what casino bosses took for granted has changed. Gone are the days of wooing "whales" and dissing grannies in fanny packs. Parx president Dave Jonas says his revenue comes almost exclusively from local low rollers.

   "We underestimated significantly how many trips our customers were going to make," Jonas said at last month's Pennsylvania Gaming Congress in Valley Forge.

   "When I was in Atlantic City, to have 12 to 15 trips out of customers, they were VIPs," Jonas said. At Parx, "it's not uncommon for us to have 150 to 200 trips."

   Moderator Michael Pollock, a well-regarded casino analyst, paused to digest the statistic.

   "You said 150 to 200 times a year," he repeated. "That's three to four times a week, essentially."

   "Yes," Jonas confirmed, most of his players fit that profile. In fact, because Parx players tend to live within 20 miles of Street Road, many go even more frequently.

   "We have customers," Jonas boasted, "who give us $25, $30 five times a week."

   Is there any question that localized gambling is anything less than predatory? The message around Foxwoods is not to revoke the license so we can surround Philadelphia with yet another of these bottom feeding industries. The message is to revoke the license period and rethink gambling in this city and the Commonwealth. Anything less is just playing power politics rather than protecting the real needs of communities and people throughout our region.

4. Steve Wynn: There’s no doubt that the Foxwoods fiasco continues on its downhill slide with Steve Wynn angling to gain his way in. As anti-Philadelphia as he is, Wynn is correct on this end – with predatory gambling we have struck a pact with the "dark side" so to speak – a dark side that’s on full display below (thanks to Roxbury News). And as long as city leaders keep that pact, they’ll reap what they sow.
   

   Steve Wynn Reveals Shocking Ignorance from Ron Stanford on Vimeo.

And not to be a complete sourpuss, I have to say it’s pretty darn cool that Vincent Chin – whose murder politicized a generation of Asian American activists around anti-Asian violence – made the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“We have completed our underwriting review and are sorry to advise that we must decline your request for insurance coverage…We regret that we are unable to consider based on medical history as noted in your medical records”

I received this letter in the mail from Independence Blue Cross nearly 9 weeks after applying for coverage. As I roll over in bed, nearly two feet of snow lie on the ground and lying on my side trying to fall back asleep, my hand brushes over my chest and I feel it flutter and stop. Thud, thud, th-thud, stop…thud. My heart erratically beats on as my mind scrambles with anxiety. “Jesus, why is this happening to me” I lament, as I wonder if this will be the day that it does not restart.

Mayor Nutter's "Keep Philly Clean" program is a noble attempt to plug Philadelphia's gaping budget deficit, but it doesn't fit the bill of a City striving to become the "Greenest City in America" - a title Philadelphia's Sustainability Office is eager to earn. As Nutter outlined in a public address yesterday, Philadelphia seeks to fix the deficit problem by charging residents a weekly $5.77 trash fee and offering discounts at area stores to residents who recycle.

Yesterday I joined Coalition of Essential Services in attending the Mayor’s budget address. Quick thoughts (and not in any way speaking for CES who I hope posts here):

On the upside, Mayor Nutter acknowledged the work of many Philadelphians, including Coalition of Essential Services, saying that for those fighting to preserve core services for the most vulnerable of Philadelphians, “we heard you then and we hear you now.”

“We can’t cut our way out of this deficit . . . it is a path we must avoid.”

He said that the budget largely preserved core services, restored pools and re-emphasized that not a single library, rec center or health clinic would close. He talked about hunger and the “pain” of everyday Philadelphians struggling. He highlighted the work of his administration, and I was particularly impressed with L&I’s work on reducing response time. And I was impressed that he apologized for past mistakes:

“I ask for your forgiveness for my mistakes. I am trying hard each and everyday . . . “

On the downside:

• The Mayor promised not only that he wouldn’t cut services, but that he wouldn’t raise taxes so . . . I guess that gets us what we largely got in this budget, keeping things mostly the same for the wealthiest and the poorest and squeaking in on a few taxes.

• The trash tax: regressive and a missed opportunity. Basically it’s $300 or $200 per household depending on your income with some possibility for other unclear arrangements. We’ll get a notice in the mail for a separate bill (rather than have it worked into say a property tax), we have 60 days to pay and then interest will accrue? Rrrright. Second, it’s a missed opportunity because it doesn’t even have a message about curtailing trash consumption. A pay–as-you-go program – which I am familiar with – at least would distinguish between a frat house that holds weekly keg parties from a single senior on a fixed income (read more at Its Our Money)

• No mention of education at all other than a brief reference at the beginning that we have an education system where too many fall through the cracks. He spoke about literacy (but mostly adult literacy) and truancy. Maybe in a state-run system this is where we are, but the Mayor in the past has always made sure that public schools were front and center for everyone. It’s a shame to see education and our public schools fall off the radar even in a budget address (or from my viewpoint, especially in a budget address).

In the end, I was underwhelmed rather than angered or fired up. Partly because I think the Mayor started off with aspirations, with acknowledgement about the role and need of good government for people in the worst of economic times. He had a much more human and compassionate projection than we’ve seen in a long time. And he has said repeatedly that we are in the worst of economic crises.

So, given all of that . . . this is it? Soda and trash taxes and everything else largely the same hanging on by the skin of our teeth? I mean why not a latte tax? Seems all rather arbitrary and tip-toeing to not offend entrenched interests.

What sort of leadership message is here? In Ken Burns’ awesome National Parks documentary, the historian reminds us that in the midst of the Great Depression, the U.S. invested in parks and in the process created one of the most important national treasures and remade and expanded on our notion of democracy. He reminded us that looking back on crisis can be a recognition of opportunity and investment, not in the usual exploitive way as Naomi Klein has documented in the Shock Doctrine, but in the best of ways from "our better angels" as Mayor Nutter said.

I am grateful that the Mayor acknowledges the importance of core services and largely avoided cuts, but without a stronger message on cleaning up city government, tackling tax abatements and the property tax mess, and addressing a share the pain message with our largest businesses, we're just tiding ourselves over while a whole lot of stuff is devolving through passive inaction.

After the City and Penn Praxis invested so much time, effort, and resources into putting together a publicly-supported plan for the Central Delaware waterfront, prospective waterfront tenant Steve Wynn, who wants to buy the Foxwoods project and its much criticized South Philly site, sent the wrong message yesterday in Harrisburg:

"The waterfront is horribly ugly in that place," said Wynn, who walked the casino lot on Tuesday night. "You couldn't do any more damage to it if you set it on fire."

Mr. Environmental Sensitivity also said the only way he'd agree to build the hotel that was part of the approved Foxwoods deal was if he got access to even more waterfront property, suburban sprawl-style. Seems like he doesn't believe that urban architecture should build up instead of out.

The funny thing is this makes it easier for the Gaming Control Board to do the right thing.