Archive: October, 2010
Chris Brennan
We're a couple of hours away from the last debate in the gubernatorial election season and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the Democratic nominee, really wants to talk about how he differs from his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Tom Corbett, on the issue of gun regulation.
Their positions are pretty easy to boil down to the basics: Corbett doesn't want to do anything new or different while Onorato said there are sensible changes to be made on subjects like the "Florida loophole," which allows Pennsylvania residents to obtain a permit from the Sunshine State's Department of Agriculture to carry a concealed weapon permit here even if they've been turned down for a permit by law enforcement in this state.
Onorato raised the issue this morning at City Hall, where he received the endorsement of CeaseFirePA, a non-profit group that sells itself as "Working to prevent gun violence in your community." The group endorsed Onorato, noting that Corbett was the only candidate -- Republican or Democrat -- running for governor this year who refused to respond to its request for information. Onorato noted that Corbett, speaking Saturday during a debate in Pittsburgh, declared that there is no Florida loophole, claiming that state has stringent checks on permit requests.
"You can't fix a problem if you don't realize there is a problem," said Onorato, noting that elected officials and law enforcement agencies from across the state have advocated to close the Florida loophole.
Onorato was joined by Mayor Nutter, who claimed Corbett was more interested in playing to a constituency of people opposed to any gun regulation than in sound public policy. "Tom Corbett appears to be owned, lock, stock and gun barrel by the NRA," Nutter concluded.
Corbett, in a campaign pamphlet that circulated last month on his "record of fighting for gun owners" made special mention of the fact that his office has "tripled the number of concealed carry reciprocity agreements with other states." The pamphlet touted his score of an "A+ rating from the National Rifle Association."
Catherine Lucey
When cops shoot: The DN talks to DA Seth Williams about his efforts to speed investigations into police shootings.
John Baer says the gubanatorial debate over the weekend was a snooze.
Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach is proving to be a formidible opponent for challenger Manan Trivedi.
Catherine Lucey
Here's the release:
Friday, October 15, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAYOR NUTTER, MAYOR NEWSOM MAKE NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES BET
Philadelphia, October 15, 2010- Today, Mayor Michael A. Nutter and Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a National League Championship Series bet serving their respective veterans communities. The Mayors agreed that the losing city’s mayor will wear the winning team’s hat and will volunteer with veterans during Veterans Day. Mayor Nutter will volunteer with Impact Services, regardless of the series’ outcome, at their newly expanded veterans facility located at 124 E. Indiana Avenue.
“I’d be honored to volunteer with our city’s courageous veterans on Veterans Day,” said Mayor Nutter. “Philadelphians have a longstanding commitment to service, and I look forward to volunteering at Impact Services. I will proudly wear my Phillies hat while Mayor Newsom also wears one in San Francisco.”
Impact Services was established in 1974 and operates in seven locations in Philadelphia providing employment and training, supportive house, community and economic development services to over 17,000 needy Philadelphians each year. Impact Services’ veterans facility located 124 E. Indiana Avenue serves homeless veterans and veterans who are managing mental illness.
Catherine Lucey & Chris Brennan
Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters has been awarded a new four-year contract in arbitration that starts with a one-year wage freeze, retroactively from June 30, 2009 [when the last contract expired], a 3 percent pay increase retroactive to July 1, 2010 and then 3 percent increases in July 2011 and July 2012.
Mayor Nutter announced today that the city plans to appeal the entire contract -- with the exception of some changes to the pension and vacation plans. He said the award, estimated to cost an additional $146 million over five years, is too expensive.
"This award is bad in the short term and worse in the long term," Nutter said. "We cannot afford this."
Fire Union president Bill Gault shot back that Nutter was being unreasonable.
"I don’t know how to be happy any more," Gault said. "I’ve been dealing with this for 16 months. It finally gets done, it’s not that great, it’s not that bad, it’s a standard regular award that everybody can live with."
You can read the contract here. After the jump, you can read Local 22's news release that spells out some of the highlights in the new contract.
Chris Brennan
We guess it was only a matter of time in Pennsylvania's contentious race for the U.S. Senate. Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, the Republican nominee, declared that the latest campaign ad from his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, "is full of poop."
Toomey does have a point, since the ad features clips of Sestak cleaning up after his family's fluffy white dog, Belle, and comparing the plastic bags of Belle's backyard business to the clean-up he said was necessary after the economic policies of President Bush and Toomey's time in Congress. Sestak also compares Toomey's campaign ads about his votes for bank bail-outs to a bag of dog poop. Here's what Sestak says in the ad:
"My family loves Belle but she can make a mess and we have to clean it up. I think about Belle when see Congressman Toomey's ads attacking me. It made me sick to bail out the banks. But I had to clean up the mess left behind by these guys [Sestak gestures here to side-by-side pictures of Bush and Toomey]. They let Wall Street run wild. Now Pat Toomey is attacking me for cleaning up his mess [Sestak holds up a bag of Belle's business here].
Toomey called the ad "amazing" and disputed Sestak's claim that he hated voting for the bank bail-out, noting that Sestak voted for other large federal bail-out bills, against legislation to end the Troubled Assets Relief Program and proposed legislation for a new bail-out. "He certainly has a cute little dog," Toomey said "But that's probably the most redeeming feature of the ad."
Catherine Lucey
This just dropped in our inbox:
MEDIA ADVISORY
MAYOR NUTTER TO DISCUSS RECENT DEVELOPMENTS WITH UNION NEGOTIATIONS
WHO: Mayor Michael A. Nutter
City officials
WHAT: Mayor Nutter and other City officials will discuss recent developments with union negotiations
WHERE: City Hall, Mayor’s Reception Room Rm. 202
Catherine Lucey
A Columbia prof accuses decorated Philly cop of getting rough during a traffic stop.
The Delaware Senate race is getting more national interest than the Pennsylvania battle.Will Bunch looks at why. \
Former City Councilman Rick Mariano is plugged in for a job when he gets out of prison.
Another woman files suit against former PHA director Carl Greene.
Catherine Lucey
A hearing scheduled for today to settle the dispute over whether paramedics belong in firefighter union was postponed as both sides try to reach a resolution.
The paramedics sued the city after they were removed from the fire union based on a state Labor Relations Board ruling that they are not firefighters. The medics argue that the city has moved too quickly to change their status and has not given them time to find representation.
This dispute dates back to 2003 when a group of paramedics sued the city for unpaid overtime on the grounds that they shouldn’t be held to the same rules as those working in “fire suppression.” They won the suit in 2008. Based on that ruling, the Nutter administration has sought to remove them from the union.
If the medics and the city can't reach a compromise, they'll return to court on Nov. 1.
Chris Brennan
Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey says U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is partially to blame for the housing bubble that nearly collapsed the nation's economy, which is strange because Sestak says Toomey is the blame.
Polls show a tight race for the 7th Congressional District between Republican Pat Meehan and Democrat Bryan Lentz.
What's more lame than a guy disrupting a presidential speech by streaking? How about a rich guy who offered $1 million for the stunt but then changes the rules after it happens.
And remember those activists who tussled with Philadelphia police officers before the start of Mayor Nutter's 2009 budget address to City Council? They both were sentenced to probation yesterday.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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