HarrisBlog PA

Will the City of Harrisburg go green with vehicle purchases?

2008-01-29T11:56:00.000-08:00

Mayor Reed has said that the city will go ahead with $8 million in vehicle and equipment purchases with almost all city departments getting a new vehicle. I want to know if the city will purchase fuel efficient vehicles, including hybrid models.

We'll all seen what gas hogs the current city fleet is. They look like they're all V-8's. Purchasing green, hybrid, fuel efficient vehicles could save the city tens of thousands of dollars annually.

The Chevy Aveo would be great for a lot of city officials to drive around in. It gets 22 city/33 highway.

The parking cops could drive around in the new Smart Fortwo, a small car from Mercedes, and very economical in purchase price and fuel usage. This little car gets 36 city/45 highway and is perfectly suited for driving around the city giving parking tickets to illegally parked vehicles. It would sure beat the huge V-8 Chevy boats that they currently drive around in.

The Honda Fit is another excellent vehicle for city officials. 26 city/34 highway. Toyota's Yaris is a zippy little car that gets 28 city/35 highway.

What about the city police? They need something with a lot of horse-power for chases and emergency responses and such. I've seen some of the local township police forces with the Dodge Charger. The Charger can do 0 - 60 mph in 5.0 - 7.6 seconds. Fuel economy is 12-18 city/18-25 highway. Not too bad, although I'm sure that is better gas mileage than they are getting now. Chevrolet has a nice Impala that does 0-60 in 5.7 - 7.5 seconds. Gas mileage is slightly better, but not by much.

Let's talk to the Mayor and ask him to seriously consider more fuel efficient vehicles for the city. You can email him at: mayor@cityofhbg.com.

Card and gift shop closing........

2008-01-16T05:22:00.000-08:00

in downtown Harrisburg. Perks 'N Bribes, located at 225 N. Second St. has announced that they will be closing their doors forever January 31, 2008. Owner David Ferris blamed the closing on "poor sales and the disappearance of other retail shops on Second Street."

Now, this brings us to the proposed new federal courthouse for Harrisburg. The GSA has given Harrisburg the details of requirements of what is needed to build the courthouse at the 6th and Reilly Sts. location endorsed by Mayor-for-life Stephen Reed and local leaders. Some of the requirements are shopping, restaurants and offices. The Mayor has said before that would be no problem, etc., etc. Barbara Shelton, the GSA's regional director and a Harrisburg native has major doubts as to whether Reed can deliver on all his promises. I don't blame her on that one, a lot of people have their doubts as to whether Reed can deliver.

This all brings me to a really big question........if Reed can't attract and keep retail shops downtown, how in the hell is he going to do it at 6th and Reilly?

DeWeese is an ass......

2008-01-15T06:33:00.000-08:00

Pennsylvania State House Dem leaders (aka DeWeese) are fighting to block unemployment benefits for 2 of several of their workers that took the fall for DeWeese last November. Remember the firings? I believe 7 of them were fired, and only 1, DeWeese's right hand man, landed a plum job working for Triad Strategies.

It seems that these workers were asked to sign resignation letters at the caucus leaders' request, and when they refused, they were promptly fired. These people were wrongly fired to begin with. Scapegoats for DeWeese's inability to tell the truth to investigators. DeWeese doesn't want to lose his plum job with all the bennies and the power that goes with it. He's guilty and he knows it. It's a real shame that these people got fired for something they were ordered to do by DeWeese. This whole bonus debacle came from the top of the state Dem Caucus. And who is at the top? DeWeese. DeWeese's right hand man carried out the orders of his boss using caucus staff. It all came from DeWeese, EVERBODY knows that.

So now the state house Dem Caucus (DeWeese) is fighting to deny these workers unemployment benefits. They should be ALLOWED to collect. They were WRONGLY fired to begin with. DeWeese should be ashamed of himself. These workers have families to support. Wrongful terminations each and every one, except DeWeese's right hand man. They got him a new job really fast, too fast if you ask me. DeWeese more than likely made a phone call to the head of Triad and asked him to find a spot at Triad for his (DeWeese's) right hand man. He had to find a job for him because if he didn't, his former right hand man knows EVERYTHING and might spill the beans.

In another development relating to DeWeese's "Bonusgate"..........
The House Democrats have filed a suit to keep Attorney General Tom Corbett from caucus office files marked "incumbent protection plan" and "opposition research". The House Dems want to invalidate the search of caucus offices which netted 20 boxes of paperwork including the files that I just mentioned. I'll bet that those files are just loaded with all kinds of stuff that DeWeese doesn't want Corbett to see. DeWeese could be in BIG, BIG trouble. Serves him right.
Wait until the Grand Jury finds out about the elections of 2004, more bonusgate and staff members working for several months in Dem districts helping candidates while getting paid their House salaries. I can't wait till ALL THE SHIT hits the fan.

Send Mr. DeWeese an email telling him what a scum bag he is, I'm going to. It's time to get rid of the bad Dems, they give all Dems a bad name.

Abortion protester gets clobbered........

2008-01-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

A couple were about to enter the Hillcrest Women's Medical Center on N. Front St. in Harrisburg, when Mr. Ed Snell, a local anti-abortion protester, began to verbally assault them from on top of his car parked in a parking lot next door to the clinic. The man did not care much for the verbal abuse emanating from Mr. Snell, so the Perry County man climbed the fence between the two properties and pushed Mr. Snell from his perch. Mr. Snell was taken to Hershey Medical Center and treated for head trauma and released a few days later.

Mr. Snell was parked in a private parking lot next door to the clinic, and separated by an 8 foot tall fence between the two properties. Mr. Snell was obviously trespassing, and verbally assaulting this couple. This couple had made a private decision, one that is not made easily to terminate a pregnancy for reasons known only to them. What right does Mr. Snell have to trespass and verbally assault these people? Mr. Snell had even gone so far as to construct a platform on top of his car so he can peer over that tall fence. Can you believe that?

Mr. Snell is also the same man that posts very graphic images of dead fetuses in front of his house for all to see. Neighbors have tried to get him to cease and desist from posting these horrible pictures, but to no avail. Mr. Snell apparently is within his first amendment rights to free speech on his property.

I do not condone what Mr. Richardson did to Mr. Snell, but one has to wonder what Mr. Snell was saying to this couple that provoked him in such a way as to climb that fence to attack Mr. Snell. I am willing to bet that it wasn't very nice.

I will be contacting the owner of the neighboring property to ask them if they intend to prosecute Mr. Snell for trespassing on their private property. The owner does have signs posted saying that it is private property. I am sure the owner was unaware of what was happening on his property in regards to these anti-abortionists.

I will be sending Mr. Richardson a check to put towards his legal defense in this matter. As for Mr. Snell, he should be cited for trespassing. His kind are hate mongers that cite the Bible for the "right" to do what they do. They are dangerous people, and cannot be reasoned with. Don't even try.

State & Local stuff.....

2007-12-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

Lots of stuff to comment on today. Wow! Some of it good, some not so good and some bad. Oh well, that's the state of politics these days.

Let's start off with State, shall we?
House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene), has been busy going throughout the state on a public relations tour of Pennsylvania's newspaper offices. "It's been a very difficult lesson", he says. Yea, I bet it has, especially when you get caught with your hands in the cookie jar. This guy is a very skillful manipulator, and very skillful at bending the truth as well.

Being an elected official is the only job he has ever had in his adult life. He graduated from Wake Forest University, joined the Marines (1972-1975), won his first election in 1976 and has been in the halls of power in Harrisburg ever since. Almost thirty-two years. Amazing isn't it?

Mr. DeWeese is not taking any personal responsibilty for the bonus program that is being investigated by the State Attorney General's office. Of course not. It's always someone else's fault, right? He says he was mislead by staffers. Yeah right. Believe that one and I have a bridge to sell ya. He says he acted swiftly upon learning of the potential wrongdoing by his top staffers. Well, he did fire them. I guess he expects brownie points for that. You can't tell me that the top staffers are doing this bonus for campaign work thing, to the tune of $1.9 million dollars, and the boss does not know anything about it. This doesn't even pass the smell test. Come on Bill, we're not idiots here. We'll be hearing lots more on this in the near future.

In today's Harrisburg Patriot-Snooze, we found an interesting Letter To The Editor about nothing getting done in the state legislature. We've all been complaining about that for years. They have only three speeds - slow, slower and STOP. I'll be looking into this one in more detail and will publish my results here between now and Christmas.

Moving on........to local, and the comedy of errors that is Harrisburg City government. Jeez Louise!
Remember the BIG party this past Labor Day on McCormicks Island? Well, the last 44 of the more than 125 partgoers that were busted had their charges dismissed. Look out for that law suit against Harrisburg for the strip searches of arrested out-of-state partygoers. The City of Harrisburg will eventually lose this one. This is a big-time lawsuit. A similar lawsuit was settled in early October in New York, very very similar to this case, and the defendants won big-time. The same will happen here, Harrisburg will lose this lawsuit. Watch for the fireworks on this one.

The really BIG story this week is in City Council chambers. Tuesday night was the Budget and Finance Committee meeting. It lasted 3 - 1/2 hours and was very contentious. Our local Channel 21 News sent a team to cover it, and it was shown on their 11 PM news that night. It was not a pretty sight in Council Chambers, as there was much spirited debate. Council member Dan Miller is a CPA and he was trying to explain financials of the 2008 City Budget that King Reed has presented to Council, but he was getting nowhere fast. Dan's a good man, and I think Linda T. and a couple of the others should really listen to what he is saying. Linda T. unfortunately, is looking ahead to her future campaign for Mayor, and is not doing much to further her cause with her caustic attitude. It was a long meeting to say the least.

Tonight's Special Legislative Session at City Council Chambers is going to be a doozy. Tonight they have to either approve or reject King Reed's budget. Jeez Louise, it's going to be a LONG meeting tonight. If you are going to attend, get there EARLY to get a seat, bring your bottled water, some snacks, and some Advil or Tylenol, cause you're gonna need it. This meeting will be SRO folks. SRO! This will not be pretty, not at all.

I feel bad for City Council, they're on the short end of the stick no matter which way they vote on the budget tonight. They're between a rock and a hard place on this 2008 budget. King Reed has really stuck it to them this time. You'll see what I mean tonight. Stay tuned.......

Harrisburg School District apparently has

2007-12-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

more money than brains these days. At last night's meeting the Board of Control voted 6 -1 to rehire Triad Strategies of Harrisburg for $90,000 annually to be the school district's lobbyist in the halls of power in state and federal government. And get this, they made Triad's contract retroactive to October. Retroactive to October! Wasn't that nice of the Board of Control? The lone dissenter on the board, Trent Hargrove, voted against the contract with no comment.

A former Board of Control member, Les Ford, criticized the rehiring last night, saying that this money could be better spent to fund parent-teacher organizations or for other classroom uses. Les is right. That could also pay for 2 additional teachers' salaries for a year, or more instructional materials, etc.

For the current 2007-08 school year, Harrisburg School District requested $20 million in state demonstration grants, but only received $3 million after receiving as much as $13.5 million for the program the year before. Triad Strategies President and Managing Director Roy Wells speculates that Harrisburg may have reached the ceiling in what it can expect in directed state grants and other add-on money for special programs. Ya think?? Wells then goes on to say that his strategy would focus on pointing out the amount of tax-exempt state property within the school district. I am assuming that he means that he will be pointing that out to federal and state education departments and anyone else he runs into in the halls of power. Neither the reporter nor Mr. Wells really elaborates that in this article.

Since the good people of Harrisburg are paying Mr. Gerald Kohn a generous salary of at least $235,000 a year, can't Mr. Kohn do the same thing as part of his duties? I mean, he can point out to the proper authorities that there is a large amount of tax-exempt state property within the school district, and since there is, perhaps Harrisburg School District should receive more money for it's schools. Can't he do that too? Jeez Louise, me thinks the good people of Harrisburg are getting ripped off!

Oh, and don't forget, Randy King, who was King Reed's right hand man for so many years, left City Hall to take a job with Triad. The same Randy King who is on the Board of School Directors with the Board of Control, for the Harrisburg School District. Interesting huh?

Tha Harrisburg Authority and King Reed.......

2007-12-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

I was reading the December 7 issue of the Central Penn Business Journal yesterday, and there is an interesting interview with the new Harrisburg Authority Chairman and CEO. The new chairman is James E. Ellison, a partner at the law firm of Rhoads & Sinon in Harrisburg.

In the interview Mr. Ellison was asked what he thought the downfall of the incinerator was. His response: "It was several things. No. 1, I think the figure was that there was between $30 (million) to $34 million spent on artifacts from Harrisburg Authority proceeds over the last 17 years. I'm not just talking about Wild Wild West artifacts. I'm talking about artifacts, period. Any time you divert that kind of money away from operations into a black hole that returns nothing to the Harrisburg Authority, you are compromising your ability to build infrastructure and to prepare yourself for future unknown contingencies like construction problems that you'll have to address. I think that was one of the biggest problems in addressing the more recent incinerator work because we didn't have the money available to immediately address these issues as they came due. Secondarily, there's also politics. When you remove political considerations from the table, everything comes down to a business decision. Business decisions are pretty cut and dry. Numbers dictate how you act."

Now, let's discuss this statement. Jeez Louise! $30 - $34 million over 17 years?? This is a staggering amount of money that King Reed took out of the Authority, and with the obvious permission of past Harrisburg Authority Chairmans and Board members. My God that is a lot of money. How did this happen? How was this allowed to go on for 17 years? Where was the oversight? Jeez Louise!

Mr. Ellison was asked another question about what makes the Authority less political now. Mr. Ellison answered: "My team doesn't answer to anyone but the board; whereas before, the Harrisburg Authority was run in essence by the mayor. I've gone through correspondences from the past 5 years or so, and there are reams of letters from the mayor to the authority executive director or the authority chairman, particularly when it came to funding the city's special-projects fund. I've got dozens of letters from the mayor's office directing the executive director to put XYZ number of dollars in the special-projects fund. When it came to decisions, such as which contractor we were going to go with to do the retrofit, I think it's pretty well documented that that was the mayor's decision. That was a decision made between the mayor and special counsel Andrew Giorgione and a member of the mayor's staff, Dan Lispi. That wasn't a circumstance where the authority board went out and did their own due diligence and research. That was a decision made by the mayor's office. The authority at the end of the day had to make the legal decision to award Barlow (Projects Inc.) the contract, but most of the behind-the-scenes work was the mayor, Giorgione and Lispi."

Wow. King Reed was a very busy man. We just didn't realize how busy did we? This is corruption of power, greed and deception on a major scale by Stephen Reed, King of Harrisburg. This man is not fit to serve out the rest of his term as mayor. Get him out of there before he causes any more damage. Can we blame Reed, Giorgione and Lispi for the $250 million debt incurred by the authority? All of this must be looked into more closely, and I think maybe the Attorney General of Pennsylvania should be asked by City Council to investigate all of this NOW. My God what a mess. Jeez Louise!

All I can say is this.....thank God, thank the courts, and thank City Council that new leadership was put in charge of the Harrisburg Authority. Mr. Ellison and the other new people at the Authority have an awful lot of work to do to get the incinerator working as it should and to pay down that HUGE debt. After reading that interview, I have faith in Mr. Ellison and the board that they will be able to get the job done. It will not be easy, but I believe they'll be able to do it.

Politics, politics.........

2007-12-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was perusing the Patriot-News, I stumbled across Brett Lieberman's political column. That man is such a hack it's ridiculous. His column was about party endorsements not being like they used to be and such. Well I was reading through it and it went on about how rank and file Dems and Repugs were upset that there were no open primaries on either side for Gov and US Senate. I, like many others was equally upset with the powers-that-be that put pressure on candidates to make sure there were no "open" primaries. That is so wrong on so many levels and actually goes against our rights as citizens.

So anyway, I read a comment by TJ Rooney, the PA Democratic Party chairman, talking about Bob Casey being endorsed in the primary....."Bob's liberal credentials didn't meet the standards of some, but (with) anybody other than Bob Casey we'd still have Rick Santorum in the Senate."

First of all, I took issue with TJ saying Bob had liberal credentials......what are you smoking TJ? Bob a liberal? That's a funny one. He is just as conservative as Santorum is, what are you talking about TJ? And secondly, Barbara Hafer could've beaten Santorum as well, but she wasn't given the chance. TJ, when is your term as Chairman up? It's about time for you to pack your bags and go back home. Jeez Louise!

Citizens of Pennsylvania, we must demand OPEN primaries! Do not let the party big whigs make that decision for you, that is our right, not theirs. Demand better and demand it NOW!!

A new week..........

2007-12-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

I wonder what this week will bring in the way of more ugly incinerator news, King Reed's rants and such?

I bust on Reed a lot, but I will say this about him.......I do acknowledge that King Reed has done an awful lot for the City of Harrisburg during his reign. He lifted this city up out of the bowels of filth and decay and did a lot of good for the city.

But the last few years he has become drunk with power. He used the Harrisburg Authority as his personal piggy bank. People were appointed to that board that wouldn't question King Reed's authority. All hail King Reed!

He reigned terror down on all those that dared to question his actions, especially City Council. He blamed City Council for all the bad things that were going on, and then he himself took credit for everything that was good. King Reed and his chief spinmeister, Randy King, were great with the art of the spin, weren't they? But, King Reed lost Randy King to Triad Strategies, a big lobbying group in the Burg. King Reed then hired a fresh-faced young man 1 year out of college at a very good starting salary of $50,000. I can see maybe starting him out at maybe $30,000, but $50,000?? Is it any wonder the city has fiscal problems? Jeez Louise!

TGIF!!!

2007-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

What a week this has been. It's been a really depressing news week, don't you think? Gasoline is creeping upwards again. Food prices at the grocery store are going up. Everything is going up except wages. Damn Republicans and their corporate interests, trying to eliminate the middle class. Citibank is trimming their workforce by 45,000 people. That phrase sounds nicer than "firing", or "laying off", doesn't it? "Trimming the workforce." One of the brokerage houses on Wall Street is going to trim their workforce by about 3,000 people. They all got caught trying to be too greedy in the sub-prime mortgage business.

The fall-out from the sub-prime mess isn't over yet. That mess isn't just confined to the US, it's hitting financial institutions all over the world. A couple of British banks are having financial problems related to this sub-prime mess, as well as a couple of German banks. This mess will continue well into 2008.

Recessesion? We're in one right now, although the powers that be haven't confirmed it as of yet. Us working stiffs have been feeling it for months now. We feel it. I feel it every time I go to the gas pump, every time I go to the grocery store, every time I go shopping for clothes (which isn't that often). Utilities are going up. Everything is going up except our wages.

Recession? What am I talking about? The economy is great! If I made over $200,000 a year I'd be making money. I'd be feeling real good about my finances. Every time I turn on one of those financial channels on TV they keep saying everything is great, the economy is booming, etc. It's all BULLSHIT!!

I could go on and on, but I can't. I'm depressing myself over this shit. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. I think I'll go to work now and at least that will take my mind off these things for a while. At least until I go home tonight, have my dinner and turn on the news. I'll be depressed again.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'm going to try.

Capitol news........

2007-11-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

The Patriot-News always has a little column in the daily paper called "Inside The Capitol", which has a little piece in it called "Heard On The Hill" which is usually a little quote from someone official in the Capitol. Yesterday's "Heard On The Hill" was a quote from the Gov's Press Secretary, Chuck Ardo: "LED (lights) would cost approximately $1,800....and is thus cost prohibitive. However, the governor's energy plan will help ensure that the cost of lighting every Christmas tree and menorah in Pennsylvania will cost less in the future." Apparently Chuck was asked about why the Capitol Christmas tree will not be decorated with the energy-efficient lights now available.

What, we can't afford $1,800 for LED Christmas lights now? Come on Governor, surely you can find $1,800 somewhere to buy the new lights? Jeez Louise. And the Gov has this really great-sounding energy plan that he is pushing and he can't decorate the state tree with LED lights? How ridiculous is that?? Aaaargh!!

Meanwhile.......
PA House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese's ousted top aide gets a new job. Isn't that great? (snark) I knew he would find a lobbying job somewhere. It always seems that these ousted political people get hired by lobbying concerns. Triad Strategies, one of the capital's leading lobbying and image-making firms gave him a great job - senior associate in the firm's communications practice. He'll be making as much or more than he was making in DeWeese's office. So are the other ousted staffers going to get nice new jobs too? We'll see.

DeWeese and Co. are still not out of the woods yet with this legislative staff doing campaign work on OUR dime scandal. I bet this scandal will grow and there will be more Dem wrongdoings with that, AND, when State Attorney General Tom Corbett looks more closely at the Republican side in this scandal he'll find this mess on their side too. I think the Attorney General should also look at the campaigns in 2004. There was a lot of that going on in 2004. I know someone that was shipped to one of the counties surrounding Philly and that person worked in that county for 3 - 4 months leading up to that November 2004 election. I have a lot of friends working with the state, and I hear lots of things.

You know, if all the residents of Pennsylvania just hear HALF of what all goes on in the state capitol, they would vote them all out in the next election. ALL of them. If you think for one minute that our elected state representatives are there working for us, you've got another thing coming. Just ask State Senator Mary Jo(I love mercury and polluters) White (R-21st). Her district leads the state in mercury levels, and she wants to kill any and all bills to cut down on mercury pollution, and all pollution, and crack down on industrial polluters. I wonder if her constituents realize that she works exclusively for special interests in her district and not the health and welfare of her constituents. Jeez Louise!

Once in a blue moon (around re-election time) SOME state legislators will actually do something for us working stiffs in Pennsylvania. Everyone should take a really good look at their state reps and their records to see what have they done for US lately?

The incinerator debacle continues......

2007-11-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

This is just a never-ending nightmare. Aaaaargh! Why do our Harrisburg City and Dauphin County elected officials keep throwing more money down this money pit? This is just insane. They keep believing if we just throw a little bit more money at it, Covanta will perform magic and the incinerator will work like it's supposed to and we'll either break even or start making money every month. I have my doubts on that. Do you know how much the city and county taxpayers are on the hook for this? Approaching $300 million dollars. Jeez Louise that's a lot of money. Most of that amount falls on the city taxpayers. $300 million d-o-l-l-a-r-s.

This incinerator loses $1 million plus dollars a month. A month! And our elected city and county officials keep throwing good money after bad. When does it stop? Go to King Reed's office and ask him that. This is the guy who used the Harrisburg Authority,which owns and runs the incinerator, for his own personal piggy bank to buy artifacts. Go to the City Council meetings and ask them how much longer will they permit this folly to continue. Go to the Dauphin County Commissioners meetings and ask them the same thing. How much longer will they continue with this? This is INSANE people!

The city of Harrisburg is the most heavily indebted municipality per capita in Pennsylvania. Embarassing isn't it?

The Patriot-News has an excellent editorial in today's edition: Too Much.
That's the title in the print edition, and they're right. It's really an interesting read, especially the first paragraph.

My take on all of this? Stop this insanity and either default or find some way to pay this debt, and start using Lancaster County's incinerator that is right down the road a little ways near Bainbridge. It's not that far from Harrisburg.

Stop the insanity!!

Today's Harrisburg news........

2007-11-29T06:14:00.000-08:00

City Schools.........A $40,000 study that King Reed commisioned last summer, AFTER the school district failed to register much progress on state student assessment tests has been made public by the Patriot-News. This report was delivered to King Reed on October 31, 2007 and he has not made it public. Par for the course with him. He's all into secrecy and such.

Biggest findings? A need for stronger leadership and better communications between the district office and teachers. The Patriot News says: "Superintendent Gerald Kohn ackowledged the district has struggled to find the right mix of leadership across its 15 school buildings. At least five principals have been dismissed during the past year." Mr. Kohn, leadership starts at the top. Communication Mr. Kohn starts at the top also.

We're paying this guy $235,000 a year, with many terrific perks, AND a 6.5% salary increase every year. This information was contained in a November 9 article by the Patriot-News titled "School chiefs draw Grade-A perks, benefits. I think we are over-paying Mr. Kohn judging by the results the district has posted during Mr. Kohn's tenure. The results? A little improvement, but still a long way to go. And he's been here about 6 years? I expect a LOT more for the money we are paying him. A 6.5% salary raise every year? Do YOU get this kind of a raise every year? I bet not. I know I don't. Most of us working stiffs are only getting a 1 - 3% increase at best. Does Mr. Kohn realize how hard WE, the tax-payers, have to work for even that kind of increase?

And this is all King Reed and State Senator Jeff Piccola's doings. I hope the taxpayers don't re-elect these two jerks.

I'm baaaaack!!

2007-11-29T06:12:00.000-08:00

I've been busy working and such. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I had a great one too. Ate too friggin' much, but that's what holidays are for, right? Eat, drink and be merry!

Ok, it's time to get down to business!

The Mayoral saga goes on and on and.........

2007-09-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

Well, the Patriot News is still sticking this breaking story on the back page of Section B - B6 about the possible criminal investigation of the Mayor and his use of his own personal piggy bank, the Harrisburg Authority.
The city's Budget Director and Acting Mayor (since the Mayor-for-life is out of state right now) has issued a statement about the Authority's records concerning the purchase of artifacts has been made public, been scrutinized and fully addressed by the Mayor. She's wrong on that account. These are records that City Council has been asking for for a long time, and neither the Mayor nor the Authority has made them available to Council. The Budget Director has denied the allegations made at the Authority meeting Wednesday night by Eric Papenfuse. I have learned that Mr. Papenfuse is a respectable man, and was very thorough in combing through all the records in the Authority's possesion. He does not make these accusations lightly and he has found the smoking documents. The Mayor and his enablers are in big trouble.
Linda Thompson of City Council has an excellent "As I See It" article in today's Patriot-News. Her rebuttal is to the paper's Editorial of Sept. 25 about the continuing saga of the Authority, the Mayor, City Council, etc. She correctly picks apart the inaccuracies in the paper's Editorial. And if you have been paying attention the last 2-3 years or so to this incinerator issue you too will see the inaccuracies in that Editorial.
And so it continues...........

Let's really bury this story.........

2007-09-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

Last evenings big news story about Mayor Reed, the Harrisburg Authority and the artifact buying spree by Reed at 7 & 11 PM on WHTM 27 News didn't make the front page in the Patriot News. They really buried it in Section B on the last page - B6. Now if this was some kind of a juicy story about Harrisburg City Council it would have been front page news. Am I right? Just goes to show the cozy relationship this paper has with Harrisburg's Mayor and the GOP state legislature.

Breaking News from WHTM's 27 News at 7 PM.......

2007-09-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

One of the new members of the Harrisburg Authority Board at it's meeting tonight is calling for an investigation of Harrisburg's Mayor Reed. Eric Pappenfus, one of the new members appointed by City Council is recommending that there be an investigation by the State Attorney General's office of Mayor Reed's spending of funds from the Harrisburg Authority to buy artifacts. Could this be why the Mayor was using the court system to prevent these new members of the from taking their seats on the Authority Board? Interesting, isn't it?

The old Harrisburg Authority Board was hand-picked by the Mayor, and they gave him carte blanche to use authority funds to go on an artifact buying spree. What was the role of the former Board members and the Board Chairman in all this? We'll find out, won't we?

And the saga continues.............

State House Dems in trouble.........

2007-09-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

The state House Democratic Caucus is trying to quash subpoenas for 7 of their staffers to appear before an investigating state grand jury. Tsk, tsk. It seems they got caught doing something illegal: paying staffers to do political work on state House Dems re-election campaigns. That is a big no-no. 100 staffers of the Dem Caucus collected big bonuses coming out of our (taxpayer) pockets. House Dem leader Bill DeWeese asked bonus recipients in a letter to keep quiet about the bonuses. Evidently, somebody leaked it to the press and now it's become a big albatross around the neck of the Caucus leaders.
So now the Caucus is doing everything they can to de-rail this investigation. Mr. DeWeese is now the one keeping quiet about all of this. Funny isn't it? What goes around comes around Mr. DeWeese.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in an editorial in their Sunday, September 23 paper says the House Dems must come clean on the bonuses. I agree. I'm a Dem and I'll go after Dems as much as I'll go after Republicans. I don't care who you are, I'll call you on it whenever you screw up. And I'm calling on the state House Dem Caucus to come clean about this.

Our State Legislature.......

2007-09-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

It seems the state Senate Republicans are spending the taxpayers' money foolishly......again. This time it's State Senator Jeff Piccola who wants to hire a private investigator or two to look into reports that a representative for Lionsgate Films had lobbied the Legislature for a tax break for filmmakers shooting movies in Pennsylvania without registering as a lobbyist. When it was brought to the lobbyist's attention, the lobbyist promptly filed the required paperwork.
Senator Piccola wanted to find out who the lobbyist was lobbying. Turns out the lobbyist was lobbying the entire state Senate including Senator Piccola. That should be the end of the story but it isn't. The Senator is on a fishing expedition at taxpayers expense. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had a great editorial in their Saturday paper about Senator Piccola that is worth reading. Senator Piccola needs to issue a public apology to the lobbyist and to Governor Rendell.
I certainly hope the state Dems come up with a worthwhile candidate to run against Piccola in his next re-election bid. We need to get this clown out of the state Capitol.

Kudos to Mars, Inc.

2007-09-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about a lot of chocolate makers that want to change the definition of chocolate? Actually they want the government to allow them to replace cocoa butter with another vegetable fat, up to a level of 5 percent. The chocolate makers that want the change say it would save them money and allow for more flexibility and innovation. Some chocolate makers already use vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter, but they aren't allowed by the FDA to call it chocolate.

Hershey is one of those manufacturers that wants to replace the cocoa butter with another vegetable fat. Hershey has said high quality oils are available that "are equal to or better than cocoa butter in taste, nutrition, texture and function, and are preferred by consumers." What consumers? For Hershey I guess the bottom line is all that matters. Forget about taste.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 in the Business section of the Patriot News there was an article about Mars vows NOT to make any changes to it's chocolate recipe. I am so glad that at least one local giant candy maker has taken a stand against faux chocolate. Mars has said it will continue to use 100% cocoa butter in its US chocolate products. Hooray for Mars! The company said that allowing vegetable oil would have diluted the quality of its chocolate. "Changing the definition of what chocolate is would be a mistake," said Todd Lachman, president of Hackettstown, NJ-based Mars Snackfoods US. "The bottom line is that we're not going to change our chocolate. Today, Mars US chocolate products are pure, authentic chocolate and they're going to stay that way." Thank you Mars Inc.!

Hershey, you lost me as a consumer. Kiss off!

Mayor's a Drag........

2007-09-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

In the September 12 edition of the Harrisburg Patriot News, the Mayor circled the wagons at City Hall and surrounded himself with senior citizens, union members, clergy and employees of Covanta. DRAMA QUEEN!!! The Mayor just loves drama, doesn't he?

This whole thing with the Harrisburg Authority and the incinerator is just one big drama that seems like it will never end. Funny how over the last several years the Mayor was using the Harrisburg Authority as his own personal piggybank to buy artifacts, isn't it?