Archive: April, 2013
WASHINGTON – Could Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey be a GOP bridge that helps secure a deal on background checks on guns?
His office on Friday confirmed that Toomey, a strong second amendment advocate, is in discussions on pending gun laws that have struggled to gain traction with Republicans and many pro-gun Democrats in the Senate.
WASHINGTON -- The first Democrat hoping to take on Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick formally opened his campaign Thursday. Kevin Strouse, a 33-year-old former Army Ranger, declared his candidacy for the 2014 race in the Bucks-based 8th Congressional district.
Strouse, who has never run for office, played up his military background and outsider status in a press release announcing his candidacy Thursday morning. He served three tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, and spent the past eight years working in the CIA, according to his campaign.
WASHINGTON – The video-taped ravings of Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice – fired Wednesday morning – show the need for anti-bullying laws at colleges, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Congressman Rush Holt said today.
“This incident shows us that physical and emotional abuse of college students by faculty is occurring right under our noses,” the two Democrats said in a news release. Rice was fired after video surfaced of him berating players with homophobic slurs, shoving them and throwing basketballs at them.
WASHINGTON -- After Pennsylvania’s Democratic Sen. Bob Casey changed his position on Monday, every Philadelphia-area Democrat now supports same-sex marriage.
That matches the trend nationally -- after Casey, a social moderate, flipped his view Monday, Delaware Sen. Tom Carper shifted his stand Tuesday, leaving just seven Democrats in the Senate who have yet to back same-sex marriage.
WASHINGTON -- Count another Senate Democrat as a new supporter of same-sex marriage.
Delaware’s Tom Carper today became the latest Democrat who once opposed same-sex marriage to change his views on the rapidly shifting social issue, announcing his new stand on Facebook.
WASHINGTON – Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said today that he supports same-sex marriage, reversing his former stand and joining a long list of Democrats who have changed their minds on an issue that was pushed to the forefront of the news last week.
“After much deliberation and after reviewing the legal, public policy, and civil rights questions presented, I support marriage equality for same-sex couples and believe that (the federal Defense of Marriage Act) should be repealed,” Casey said in a news release issued Monday afternoon.
Jonathan Tamari is the Inquirer’s correspondent in Washington, where he follows the Philadelphia area’s interests and representatives. Tamari comes to D.C. after two years as a beat writer reporting on the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL (where, a political source once told him, there are at least rules against hitting below the knees). He previously wrote about politics and government from Trenton, reporting on the characters and color of New Jersey state government.Jersey born and bred, Tamari now lives in the capital city, where he is looking for stories, places to run, soccer bars and good meals.
Reach him at jtamari@phillynews.com.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @JonathanTamari.
