Heard in the Hall

Archive: March, 2011

NTSB to release Duck boat report Monday

POSTED: Friday, March 4, 2011, 12:47 PM

Miriam Hill

The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday will release a preliminary report on last summer's Duck boat accident, but any finding of cause will have to wait for the agency's final report this summer.

Monday's report will include transcripts, photos and other information the NTSB has collected in its investigation of the July 7 accident, which killed two Hungarian tourists. A barge owned by the city hit the Duck boat.

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Democrat to switch parties to run as Republican for Mayor

POSTED: Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 4:00 PM

Miriam Hill

Saying she is tired of politics in her own party, Karen Brown, who had been running as a Democrat for City Council, said she will instead run for Mayor as a Republican.

She said she expects to get the endorsement of the Republican City Committee, which had been hunting for someone to put on the ballot.

"The Republicans came to me and said we welcome you with open arms," Brown said. "A woman can make a difference in the city and I think people are going to see that."

RCC Chairman Vito Canuso said the party could endorse Brown, real-estate agent John Featherman, or no one.

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Convention Center Chairman Defends Right to Party

POSTED: Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 5:37 PM

Marcia Gelbart

Not many people take on a powerful politician like State GOP Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi. And of those who do, not many are fellow Republicans.

That makes Buck Riley a standout.

Riley, a Chester County Republican, is chairman of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority board. And he was displeased, it seems, with a Feb. 24 letter from the senator, a Delaware County Republican, in which Pileggi said, "No taxpayer funds should be spent on a self-congratulatory party or celebration" of the nearly $800 million Convention Center expansion.

At issue is a $1.75 million state grant the authority received, and how those taxpayer dollars should be spent in these tough economic times.

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Attempt to knock Rizzo off the ballot

POSTED: Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 12:16 PM

Miriam Hill

Republican ward leader Matt Wolfe plans to file a challenge March 9 to Councilman Frank Rizzo's right to be on the May 17 primary ballot.

In a letter dated Monday, Wolfe told Pamela Dembe, president judge of Common Pleas Court, that he would challenge Rizzo's ballot because the Councilman is enrolled in the city's Deferred Option Retirement Program, or DROP.

The controversial pension perk lets city employees collect a lump-sum upon retirement, in addition to a lower monthly pension. DROP enrollees are supposed to retiree, but Rizzo and some other elected officials have used a legal loopholle that lets them collect the money, retire for a day, and run again.

Wolfe said his suit will challenge whether Rizzo can do that.

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Corbett names Sam Katz to PICA

POSTED: Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 10:15 AM

Marcia Gelbart

Sam Katz has finally landed a government job.

Sort of.

The three-time mayoral candidate was named by a fellow Republican, Gov. Corbett, to serve on the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. That is the state-created five-member panel that serves as the official overseer of Philadelphia's finances.

That means that while Katz bowed out of running against Mayor Nutter this year, he may still have a chance to do so by challenging the mayor's financial assumptions.

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