Nutter planning his 2d fund-raiser
Mayor Nutter is well past the midway point of his first term in office - and he is making plans to hold what is just the second major fund-raiser of his tenure.
Campaign aides have booked the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel, at 17th and Race Streets, for Oct. 14.
Nutter's finance director, Scott Freda, would not say who was invited or how much donors were expected to contribute.
City rules limit individual donors to giving up to $2,600 a year, and political committees to $10,600.
Freda did say the campaign hoped to pull in at least $500,000, similar to the goal set for the last major event, in June 2008. That fund-raiser, held at the Franklin Institute, reaped Nutter $600,000.
Invites are expected to be mailed soon, he said. - Marcia Gelbart
Lots of lobbying
The Center for Responsive Politics, one of the most reliable trackers of campaign finance and lobbying spending, has come out with the list of state and local governments that have spent the most money lobbying the federal government, and Pennsylvania comes in second only to Puerto Rico, which doesn't even have a voting member in Congress.Pennsylvania spent $540,000 in the first six months of 2009, the center's study found, while Puerto Rico spent $610,000. Philadelphia, meanwhile, which has relied on using lobbyists to bring home federal bacon - it led all cities in 2005 and 2006 - did not even make the top-spenders list.
"At $41.56 million through June 30, the non-federal public sector ranks 12th among 121 profiled industries and special interest areas in terms of federal lobbying expenditures," the center said in a news release last week.
That includes 73 local, state, or territorial governmental entities that paid lobbyists at least $100,000 between January and June, the center said.
For the entire list, go to www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/09/state-and-municipal-politicos.html. - Jeff Shields
All eyes on PICA
It's one of the biggest unanswered questions in Philadelphia's never-ending budget drama: What will PICA do?On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority is scheduled to approve or reject Mayor Nutter's so-called Plan C budget, the bare-bones spending plan that would slash basic services like trash collection and police and fire protection.
PICA has never before rejected a mayor's spending plan outright, but this time it is a real possibility, given the draconian nature of the Plan C budget. What happens if PICA does reject Nutter's five-year spending plan?
"I have no idea," said Uri Monson, executive director of PICA, a state agency that oversees the city's finances.
Had state lawmakers approved the temporary sales-tax increase and pension-payment deferrals Nutter asked for back in May, none of this would be necessary. PICA approved an earlier plan based on the assumption that the city would get Harrisburg's approval for those measures.
In theory, if it rejects Nutter's Plan C budget, PICA could go to court to force the mayor to rewrite his plan. It could also freeze the transfer of state funds to the city, and cut off about $30 million in wage tax revenue a month.
- Patrick Kerkstra
