Yesterday, State Representative Josh Shapiro called for Bill DeWeese to resign his post as House majority leader. DeWeese presided over the Democratic Caucus during the period where 12 staffers, including his own chief of staff, were alleged to have used state taxpayer funds for political purposes. Shapiro called for this resignation in unusually blunt terms saying "We need leaders who are committed to transformational reform. We need a monumental shift, and we need it now. We can't do better, at least in our caucus, until we dedicate ourselves to a new direction."
At a time when Democrats are poised to create significant inroads in Pennsylvania, we simply can't afford the party to be tarnished by these allegations and DeWeese needs to step aside for the good of the party. We have spent years railing about Republican corruption and, unless we want to end up like them, we cannot tolerate even the appearance of it in our party. As many progressive commentators have noted, we don't just need more Democrats - we need better Democrats. It took guts for Shapiro to say what he did and we need to urge other Democratic state representatives to stand behind him and call for DeWeese to step down as majority leader.
Articles covering Shapiro's call for DeWeese's resignation:
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080804_Shapiro_calls_for_D...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08217/901779-100.stm
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/columnists/20080805_John_Baer__Sha...
UPDATE
State Representative David Levdansky (D-Forward) called for DeWeese to resign his leadership post today.
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08218/902013-100.stm
I hope you are right, and
I hope you are right, and agree with you in part. But, are Democrats actually poised to create inroads, at least on the state level?
Except for
1. a Bonus-Gate scandal that snow balls and snow balls - and don't think that Corbett won't try.
2. Fumo's trial in Federal court. We may not pay enough attention to our own state legislators and no attention whatsoever to legislators from the rest of the state - but the rest of the state pays attention to Fumo. He gets lots of coverage in the rest of the state - all of it bad.
In both cases stupidity and avarice did the damage. And you have not been paying attention if you don't think Republicans are running on Democratic corruption in state races this fall.
Thats why Josh Shapiro's leadership here is so important and so noticeably lacking in the Philadelphia delegation.
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.
Yes, we are poised to create inroads
As you keep saying, Dan, Obama is going to win in PA---if we all do our jobs--and he should win in a way that helps other Democrats. It certainly looks like he is going to run a campaign that helps other Democrats. And that should help us in the State House.
There are at least three seats in SEPA where Democrats have a chance of extending our one vote majority: Brendan Boyle should win a seat in Northeast Philadelphia, Matt Bradford has a decent chance of defeating Jay Moyer in Montgomery County, and Rich Costello has some chance of defeating John Perzel (and wouldn't that be sweet!).
There are other House seats in play around teh state where we have a chance to make gains. I'll try to post some of them here later.
The two Democratic seats we might lose are DeWeese's own seat and Rick Taylor's in Montco. Taylor is number one on the Republican hit list. But he has been a good State Representative; he works incessantly knocking on doors; and is getting help from other Democrats. He should win.
There are three real stumbling block in the way of statewide gains for Democrats:
1. Bonusgate. There should be a few Republican indictments before long and that will help. But Josh Shapiro is right: we need a house cleaning in the Democratic leadership to protect other Democrats. Bill DeWeese really must go or he will be the target of every Republican House challenger.
2. The utter incompetence of the Senate Democratic leadership which has not recruited good candidates in races that are potentially winnable this year. For this reason, and because he is always a lukewarm supporter of progressive initiatives, Bob Mellow should be the next one out the door after DeWeese.
3. Gerrymandering in Senate districts. That's why, pace Rep. Mark Cohen, redistricting reform is so critical to the Democratic future in PA.
PS Kudos to Josh Shapiro
I've sometimes wondered just how good Josh Shapiro is willing to be. He says the right things both about policy and procedure. He has shown himself to be a good operator...in the best sense of that word...by taking the lead in making Denny O'Brien the Speaker. But I've wondered whether he had the courage to do something so bold that it would make real change possible.
I'm not wondering any more. This was a really good and couragous move on his part.
Why doesn't Rendell do more?
Why doesn't Rendell do more? He cuts deals with the GOP on who will go unchallenged, right? It seems like Rendell could with about 5 fundraisers, and various transfers from his campaign accounts, fully fund an entire slate of Democratic legislators, that would make life a lot easier for him...
Rendell's better than he has been
In his first year in office Rendell cut a deal to not go after Republican legislators in return for getting about a third of what he wanted on education funding.
He's been better since. He did provide funding for the HDCC in 2006 and campaigned for D State Representative and Senate candidates. He is talking about doing even more this time.
Is it enough? No, not yet. He had tons of money in 2006 he did not need that could have helped in a few State House races. And, sometimes, his own canvassers were so focused on helping him that they did not canvass in a way that might have helped legislative candidates.
On the other hand, Rendell has had to work with a Republican legislature--and epecially Senate. With little hope of taking back the Senate, Rendell can't be as partisan as we might like and get anything accomplished in Harrisburg.
Rick
I can certainly attest to the fact that Rick Taylor is public enemy # 1 in the eyes of the Republicans. They are coming hard and coming fast for Rick, but he is weathering the storm well. Despite heavy contention for this seat, I am fairly certain Rick will keep it. Dems are pinning all sorts of charges against Stephens, things that no one likes to read. There is actually a hilarious website (paid for by the DLCC of course) that outlines all of Stephen's infractions. Notably, he is in violation of the federal hatch act.
Costello has an excellent chance of ousting Perzel. Rich is starting to raise a lot of money and he is a stand-up, straight laced, tell it like it is guy and I think the voters of the 172nd will appreciate that. Rich has been knocking on a lot of doors and meeting with all the right people. He is getting work done.
BADDASS AWARD
CAJONES AWARD OF THE YEAR!!!! Oh my god!
Hey peeps - this means we have to get Josh's back now! The guy he just pissed off is a genuine fish head in the mail type!
Also Josh Shapiro's coming to Philly for Change in September with Babette, so please come. 7 pm Wed Sept 3, location TBA.
In the interim, we have a PFC meeting Wednesday at Fergie's at which we MOST CERTAINLY will talking Bonusgate.
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GREETINGS
PLEASE NOTE: Due to an unexpected delay in some repairs at our usual host venue, Tritone, Philly For Change August Meetup will be at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom St (in between Chestnut and Walnut) this Wednesday August 6 starting at 7:00.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the change.
Come celebrate an impromptu PFC Old Home Night at Fergie's, the site of the first Philly For Change Meetups and the longtime home of our predecessor, Philly For Dean. In celebration of our temporary return to our old stomping grounds, there will be free beers for the first few Philly For Dean members whose memberships in Philly For Change has lapsed.
With a new mayor, a new city government, and a great new hope for taking the White House and both houses of Congress, come back home to Philly For Change in our old home at Fergie's. We'll also have updates on Philly Against McCain, Casino Free Philly, and House Bill 1220 to prevent global warming. We'll also be voting to endorse in PA's 8th Congressional District.
See you there,
Sam Durso
Philly for Change