State Rep. John Taylor, a Northeast Philly Republican, got into a little trouble over some unpaid gas bills. Philadelphia Gas Works filed suit in July in Common Pleas Court saying Taylor was $2,035 behind on his bill.

Taylor, first elected in 1984 and now paid $78,351 by the state, said his gas service had been "briefly cut off." He described the unpaid PGW bills as the result of "chaos" during a family illness. A payment plan was set up, which Taylor said was mostly, if not all, paid.

Taylor was attuned to PGW issues even before his bill trouble. He co-sponsored legislation five years ago to prevent PGW from adding surcharges to the bills of paying customers to deal with the longtime problem of unpaid bills.

The PGW woes follow two IRS liens filed last year against Taylor and his wife, Evelyn, for unpaid income taxes from 2004 to 2007. The first lien in May 2008 was for $173,801; the second was in August for $41,659.

Taylor, a Temple Law School grad, said that tax mess was now under control and grew from his work as an independent contractor for a couple of law firms. The tax debt quickly grows, he said.

"Not only do you pay it, you pay the penalty and the interest," Taylor said. "It's not something I want to pay again. You wind up paying double."

A political newcomer

A PhillyClout congratulations goes out to power duo Jamie Fleet and Kate Philips, who yesterday welcomed their first daughter, Rory Lennon Fleet.

Fleet's a staffer for U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, and Philips is a former press secretary for Gov. Rendell who now works for communications group the Karma Agency. The two got together while working on Brady's 2007 mayoral campaign.

Rory, who clocked in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces, was born at Lankenau Hospital. We expect to see her running for office in about 25 years.

Hoeffel in and under attack

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, a former congressman, jumped into the 2010 Democratic primary election for governor this week with a Facebook-page announcement.

Hoeffel is expected to face Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Auditor General Jack Wagner, Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty and Philly millionaire Tom Knox in the primary.

With Hoeffel touting a poll listing him as the front-runner - with a lot of undecided voters - it didn't take long for the competition to come after him.

One political camp noted how Hoeffel pushed in April for a local law banning many county employees from raising campaign funds and from seeking political office.

Exempted from that law: Commissioners and other elected officials in the county.

Hoeffel said elected officials still must follow other sections of the county's revised ethics law, but have to be free to raise funds and run for re-election.

He was not shocked that someone took a political shot at him.

"I'm flattered that I'm the subject of an attack," Hoeffel joked. "This is good news."

Guv in hot water at home?

And in the possible-trouble-on-the-homefront category, it occurs to PhillyClout that Gov. Rendell's support for a new tax on the arts to help balance the still-pending state budget might not sit well with his wife, federal Judge Midge Rendell. According to the first lady's Web site, the judge sits on the board of the Avenue of the Arts and on the board of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Might make for some interesting live - uh - performances in the Rendell household. Can't you just imagine Midge saying:

"Ed, when you said you were willing to extend the sales tax to ANYTHING other than food or clothes, it didn't occur to you the Republicans would stick it to us with an arts tax?"

Judicial endorsement dustup

Both Republican Joan Orie Melvin and Democrat Jack Panella - who are running for the state Supreme Court - are boasting on their Web sites of endorsements from the Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police and the firefighters union.

Something about that didn't ring true to PhillyClout. We checked it out and the unions have endorsed only one candidate in the general election - Panella.

Melvin did not return a call for comment. But a staffer said Melvin had been endorsed by those unions in the primary and just never updated her Web site.

Come on, guys, the primary was four months ago. We call foul.

Quotable

"We have, like, sat around, with our thumbs up our ass, and not done anything."

- Mike Cibik, Republican ward leader, on the state of the GOP in Philly, in the October issue of Philadelphia magazine.

Columnist John M. Baer contributed to this report.

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