It’s been quite a week politicos, and in light of depressing events we present a list of all Ups.
Plus, don’t miss out list of Q1 congressional fundraising winners and losers!
Pat Toomey. The Senator’s bipartisan effort to expand background checks failed. Many people in his political base are furious. But we say he won the week. Why, you ask? Reasons like this: an op-ed from AG Kathleen Kane that praises Toomey so definitively it could be a campaign ad. It’s indicative of many Democrats, independents, newspaper editorial boards across the state, who hail Toomey and laud his pragmatism. Ultimately, that’s more likely to be on voters’ minds in 2016 than anything else. Oh, and he raised half a million dollars so far this year, too.
Brendan Boyle. The state Rep. is the only candidate for Congress in PA-13 from Philadelphia – at least for now. Former Controller Jonathan Saidel dropped out of the race to replace Rep. Allyson Schwartz this week, leaving the district’s 50% Philly voters to Boyle. He promptly received the endorsement of Philly Dems Chair and Congressman Bob Brady as well as IBEW Local 98. Also, he won a Irish hearts when he loudly protested a resolution honoring the late Margaret Thatcher. Tiocfaidh ár lá!
Dominic Pileggi and state Senate reformers. The state Senate this week passed a package of bills that would modernize elections and campaign reporting in Pa. First, people could register to vote online. Second, it increases lobbyist disclosures. Finally and most importantly, if requires candidates to file campaign finance reports online. No more must voters (and reporters) wait until after the election, after the understaffed Department of State has the chance to manually enter data from printed paper, to see who’s paying for what.
Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick. Of all the county coroners in the nation, Hetrick might just be the star of a forthcoming reality series on the A&E network. He’ll be the subject of a pilot soon, which poetically will focus on life as much as death.
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No tweets stood out this week. Pick up your game, politicos.