Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson reach a settlement with Philadelphia, Marino sues a constituent, Miccarelli is under investigation again, and redistricting reform gets high level support but still faces obstacles. See who made this week’s Ups & Downs!
Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson. Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, the two men arrested while waiting in a Starbucks in Philadelphia, settled with the city for $1 each and $200,000 grant pilot program to help Philadelphia high school students who want to become entrepreneurs. “we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see,” they said.
Tom Marino. Congressman Tom Marino filed a lawsuit against two of his constituents for sending an email criticizing donations her received from the pharmaceutical industry as “kickbacks.” The move opens the door to lots of criticism of Marino, who was already facing criticism of his role in the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act which experts blame in part for the opioid epidemic.
Nick Miccarelli. It was revealed this week that State Rep. Nick Miccarelli is under investigation by the state House again. This time for an additional complaint against him stemming from allegations of sexual and physical assault against him.
Redistricting Reform. State House Majority Leader Dave Reed announced he will work to change the way Pennsylvania draws its legislative maps, possibly opening a door to getting a bill through the House State Government Committee. The announcement comes after State Government Committee Daryl Metcalfe gutted two redistricting reform bills in his committee to give the legislature more power. A poll released this week also showed that a majority of voters support an independent commission to draw district lines
Taxpayer Money. Governor Wolf’s announcement that the special election to replace former Congressman Pat Meehan will be held alongside the general election, and likely will be the same for Congressman Charlie Dent’s seat, taxpayers will not be on the hook for the cost of two more Congressional special elections.
Bonus Up/Down: Every week, PoliticsPA will be including a bonus up or down, that is exclusive to Playbook email subscribers. To sign up to see the bonus arrow click here.
The tweet of the week goes to WESA reporter Chris Potter for his take on the House State Government Committee’s most recent move on redistricting reform.
So on redistricting, the idea is to bypass the majority of legislators because … the legislature is a representative body? Huh. https://t.co/NkVjChdkUl pic.twitter.com/dMrlHRKbwB
— Chris Potter (@CPotterPgh) May 1, 2018
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3 Responses
The Marino case is interesting as mentioned in the 5/4 Ups and Downs. NY Times v Sullivan sets a really high standard for public officials to be libeled and I would not be surprised to see the ACLU get involved here. This really cuts to the core of freedom of speech in regard to political commentary as it relates to public personalities. Highly likely ACLU provides assistance in some capacity.
It is without question that Dave Reed has a good chance to make a run for governor in 4 years if he gets behind a no-brainer redistricting plan that puts the non partisan into this process. What did steam rolling get the Republicans–they lost in the Pa Supreme Court and now most likely will see 2 or 3 Dems go to Congress for 4 years till next redistricting. If they’d hammered out an agreement with the Dems 8 years ago, you could argue they’d save a seat at least and maybe more. If Dave Reed takes a page from the Tom Ridge centerist playbook and backs non partisan redistricting, it could be a game changer for his hopes for Gov. As for the Tom Marino lawsuit, it was totally wrong for his constituents to name call but he’d be better off in the long run to get over it and move on.
First, Dave Reed has zero chance at ever running for governor. He is not running for Congress or State House, do you not understand why? He made his own bed with that one. The last State House or State Senate member to win governor was in 1967 with Raymond Shafer. Exactly.