Four years ago,  former Philadelphia City Solicitor Ken Trujillo helped run the Democratic campaign for state Attorney General against Republican Tom Corbett.

This year, Trujillo is endorsing Corbett - and urging Philadelphia's predominantly Democratic Latino community to split their ticket and pull the lever for Corbett on Tuesday.

It's quite a change of heart for Trujillo, who chaired Democrat Jim Eisenhower's campaign against Corbett in 2004. But Trujillo, who is very active and influential in Philadelphia's Latino community, said he believes Corbett has done a very good job in office, particularly in handling the investigation in Harrisburg known simply as Bonusgate.

And, Trujillo added, he doesn't think Corbett's Democratic opponent, Northampton District Attorney John Morganelli, measures up.

 "Tom Corbett has been doing a job that is not a one-term job: he’s in the middle of the most important corruption investigation and prosecution in the state’s recent history. It’s not the time to change horses," said Trujillo, whose name is being floated as a possible Democratic candidate in the Philadelphia district attorney's race next year.

Corbett's Bonusgate investigation has focused on whether top leaders in legislature directed and/or condoned using taxpayer-funded bonuses to reward legislative staffers who worked on political campaigns. So far, the investigation has resulted in indictments against 12 former and current House Democratic lawmakers and staffers.

Corbett is favored to win the race by political pundits, but Morganelli has run an aggressive campaign and could benefit greatly from the surge in Democratic registrations this year. 

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House Speaker Dennis O'Brien - who has occupied a most unusual if not unique role of Republican interloper in the Democrats' House -  is making a pitch  to his colleagues for another term.

In a speech to the Pennsylvania Press Club O'Brien, of Philadelphia, said if his fellow lawmakers elect him he would like to serve as speaker again in the next session.

"I am ready, willing, able and clearly interested in serving as speaker in the next session," O'Brien told a roomful of reporters, lobbyists and lawmakers yesterday. He said he wants to continue to work to "promote creative solutions" to address autism and other health care needs along with the state budget. (O'Brien also issued an early plea to his colleagues to start work on the budget now and not wait till the last weeks before the June 30 deadline).

Democrats nominated the popular chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in Jan. 2007 after it became apparent that with only a one-vote margin of control the new House Majority Leader, Bill DeWeese, did not have the support within his caucus to win the race himself.

Shaking off criticism - event shunning - by members of his own party, O'Brien has clearly relished the role of presider-in-chief,  keeping floor debates in check and session schedules running smoothly. His future at the rostrum, however, is up in the air. A DeWeese spokesman said the majority leader is busy campaigning in his southwestern district and will think about the speaker's post and who will fill it after next Tuesday.

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Gov. Rendell is hitting the road for the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania.

Starting Tuesday, Rendell embarks on a six-day, fifty city tour to rally support for Obama. Democratic voters may have the edge, but Rendell wants to make sure they hit the polls on Nov. 4 with a statewide get-out-the-vote drive. The campaign will post updates, photos and videos on the "Rendell Road to Change" blog: http://pa.barackobama.com/rendelltour

The bus tour begins in Erie tomorrow and ends Monday in Philadelphia.

Former Pennsylvania governor, Tom Ridge, has been criss-crossing the state to fire up voters for John McCain who is expected to seek plenty of face time with voters here in the next week. The Republican nominee is campaigning today in Pottsville and tomorrow in Hershey and Quakertown.

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Gov. Rendell and animal advocates will gather at a Bucks County veterinary clinic Monday to celebrate landmark legislation to improve the lives of dogs in Pennsylvania.

Rendell will hold a ceremonial bill signing to highlight the new requirements governing roughly 650 commercial kennels that sell puppies mainly to pet shops throughout the region. 

It is the first piece of companion animal legislation enacted in Pennsylvania in a decade.

Rendell signed the bill Oct. 9, without fanfare, one day after it was approved by the General Assembly in order to immediately implement a provision governing euthanasia. Animal welfare advocates say the shooting of 80 dogs in August by a Berks County kennel owner, ordered to get veterinary care for flea bites, demonstrated the urgent need for the bill and helped win its startlingly quick passage. Under the new law only veterinarians may euthanize dogs in commercial kennels.

The bill, championed by Rendell as a way to crack down on inhumane conditions in puppy mills, requires semi-annual veterinary exams for breeding dogs, doubles cage sizes and mandates exercise. It also eliminates wire flooring. Breeders will have one year to make the changes. Waivers of up to three years may be granted by the Secretary of Agriculture for breeders with no convictions for dog law violations in past three years and who have made substantial improvements to their kennels.

In a compromise deal with the bill's opponents - the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and the PA Professional Dog Breeders Association - the law creates a Canine Health Board comprised of  nine veterinarians appointed by the governor, the four caucuses in the legislature, the PVMA and University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical School. The board will determine standards for flooring, temperature, ventilation and lighting. 

The ceremony will take place at noon at the Center for Animal Referral and Emergency Services 2010 Cabot Blvd. West, Suite D in Langhorne.

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As he prepared to hop on a tour bus to stump for John McCain, former Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge said this morning that he doesn’t believe the polls that show his good friend trailing by upwards of 10 points.

“I’m buying that we are behind. I’m not buying a double-digit lead. I don’t see it. I don’t sense it. I don’t feel it,” Ridge told reporters in Harrisburg as he discussed a range of topics.

“You don’t want to write John McCain off – Ever.… If John McCain has a Webster’s Dictionary, there are a couple of words that are not in it. 'Surrender,' 'Quit,' or 'Give Up.' "

To reverse the polls, Ridge said McCain must in the remaining days hammer home this main rhetorical point: “Do you think your future and your family and your employment is better served with bigger government and higher taxes or not?

“…One candidate wants to spread the wealth, another candidate understands how you can create the wealth.”

 
Ridge also called the pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over him as Veep a “typical bold McCain-like choice.” And despite her poor approval ratings, Ridge said Palin has reinvigorated the GOP base.

Yet, he acknowledged that the dynamics in Pennsylvania -- for McCain a must win battleground state -- would be different if he, a former popular two-term governor, was on the ticket.

"The bottom line is that it’s not just about one state,” he said. "...John made the choice for a lot of reasons and I think John had several good choices. I was one of them.”

Ridge said that he doesn’t foresee any role for himself in a McCain administration, insisting that he is enjoying life in the private sector.

“What I see myself doing in a McCain presidency is being invited over on Sunday to watch either the Eagles or the Steelers beat the daylights out of the Arizona Cardinals,” Ridge joked. 

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With the Phillies’ 3-2 win last night in Game One of the World Series, Gov. Rendell got a step closer to a cracking some stone crab claws and peeling open Sunshine State oranges.

That’s what Rendell’s FLA counterpart, Charlie Crist, put up in a friendly wager between governors if the Tampa Bay Rays lose in the Fall Classic.

Rendell, for his end, will send down south a Philly cheesesteak and soft pretzels, if the Fightins lose. That won’t happen, Rendell said in announcing the bet.

"I believe the Rally Towel is more powerful than the cowbell,” Rendell said, referring to the cacophonous noisemakers in the hands of seemingly every Rays fan.

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PEMA, buckle down and get to work, state Auditor General Jack Wagner says.

A special audit by Wagner's agency - released today - of how the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Administration (PEMA) is running the state's wireless E-911 Emergency Services program found quite a few holes: the audit determined that a fully operational statewide system was still not in place.

Auditors found that 11 of 69 call centers could not pinpoint the location of cell-phone users placing emergency 911 calls as of June 30, even though PEMA had invested $214 million to build the system during the past 3½ years. The funds were raised from a $1 monthly surcharge that wireless service providers collected from Pennsylvania cell-phone customers.

Auditors found that inadequate staffing played a key role in the program’s shortcomings, including PEMA’s inability to make sure that the $214 million had been disbursed prudently to county call centers.

“Taxpayers have a right to expect that when they pay for something, it should work as intended and it should be completed on time,” Wagner said. “This is not a civics debate; it is a matter of life and death. When every second counts, and with more and more people relying on cell phones as their only communications device, it’s imperative that the wireless E-911 system fulfill its goal of providing a caller’s precise location to emergency responders.”

Wagner's auditors made a number of recommendations for ways to fix the problem, including immediately filling several vacant emergency management specialist positions. 

The state’s wireless E-911 program grew out of Act 56 of 2003, which required PEMA to establish and maintain a wireless emergency call system. Ideally, when fully deployed, the statewide system would not only route wireless calls to the appropriate county call center, it would also provide the caller’s phone number and latitude and longitude coordinates.

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With a dozen days to go, John McCain has barely moved the needle on Barack Obama’s double-digit lead in Pennsylvania, has lost ground in Ohio but has narrowed the gap slightly in Florida, a poll of swing states released today found.

Quinnipiac University found that Obama is up in the Keystone State 53 to 40 percent, virtually the same margin (54 to 39 percent) as three weeks ago.

In Ohio, the Democrat is up 52 to 38 percent, widening the 50-42 lead he held there the last time the Connecticut university polled.

But in the Sunshine State, McCain is trailing by only five points, 49 to 44 percent. It was 51 to 43 percent in Obama’s favor at the beginning of the month.

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said one of the most remarkable developments is that Obama is doing significantly better among white, born again evangelicals in Ohio and Pennsylvania than did Democratic nominee John Kerry four years ago.

And the poll found that the economic meltdown is working for Obama, too.

“Voters are scared about their economic futures and have decided that Sen. Obama is Mr. Fix-it,” Brown added.

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With all the hoopla over the race for the White House, you probably didn't know there is a ballot question to consider next month. 

Pennsylvania voters on Nov. 4 will be asked to approve this question: Should the state borrow $400 million to pay for water and sewer improvements?

The bond referendum, approved by the state legislature in July, will authorize grants and low-interest loans to municipalities to repair sewer and water systems, develop pollution controls and address storm water runoff. Many communities are grappling with aging drinking water systems and sewage treatment facilities - a total $20 billion maintenance backlog, according to industry figures.

Gov. Rendell, industry and environmental groups are urging voters to support the measure, saying it is necessary for improve the environment, maintain public health and create jobs. Some fiscal conservatives are questioning the wisdom of going deeper into debt during an economic downturn, but bottom line, they say, is that communities need the upgrades.

Here is the question in its entirety:

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