Monumental Court rulings, a rare loss for the NRA and the 237th Kathleen Kane controversy. See who made this week’s list!
Tom Wolf. The coming weeks will likely be the most pivotal of Governor Wolf’s Administration. Therefore, it’s quite important that Gov. Wolf had such a good week. It started when Quinnipiac revealed Wolf’s approval ratings stand at 47%, an improvement from April and nearly twenty points higher than the legislature’s. That same day, Gov. Wolf revealed that he’ll being going on the offensive with a new SuperPAC. His staff is also working on framing the budget debate in the best possible light. Additionally, the Governor caught a huge break on Thursday with the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling. Now, he won’t have to spend precious time and resources creating a state-based system. Although whether this is the beginning of a hot streak for the Gov, or just the calm before the storm, is yet to be determined.
Kathleen Kane. Somehow, someway, Attorney General Kathleen Kane always seems to find a way to dig herself into an even deeper hole. The week started off with paranoid anecdotes from staffers in the Attorney General’s office. Apparently, employees are avoiding their official phones and leaving tape on their doors to know whether others have been in their offices. I can’t imagine the atmosphere has gotten better after Kane fired George Moore. Moore is the man who advised her not to hire Chief of Staff Jonathan Duecker because of the sexual harassment accusations made against him. Instead of dealing with the furor over Duecker, Kane stayed loyal to him and fired Moore. At this point, who knows what turn this saga will take next?
Pat Toomey. The Keystone State’s junior Senator was another beneficiary of good news from the latest Quinnipiac Poll. A head-to-head survey put him up eleven points over his 2010 opponent Joe Sestak. Sen. Toomey has an even larger 24 point lead over Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski. His approval ratings also hit 51%. On Wednesday, the Senator was honored by the Sandy Hook Promise for his work on gun control. He remains disappointed, though, that Congress has yet to take any action, even in the wake of the shooting in Charleston.
NRA. Act 192 was a big victory for pro-gun activists and the National Rifle Association (NRA). By allowing gun owners to sue municipalities over their laws, and forcing the local governments to pick up the tab, it ensured cities wouldn’t be able to implement their own gun control measures. Thursday’s ruling from the PA Commonwealth Court, however, struck down the law because it was attached to an unrelated bill. Republican legislators in Harrisburg could try to pass it again but Governor Wolf is likely to veto any such effort. As a result, one of the most powerful interest groups in America suffered a very big loss.
Ryan Costello. It might seem strange to give Costello the up arrow instead of Mike Parrish, who announced his entry into the PA-6 race this week. The possibility of a Democratic primary between Parrish and potential candidate Joe Denham, though, can only help the freshman Congressman by keeping the spotlight away from him. It also can’t hurt that Rep. Costello already has the NRCC out there fighting Parrish, so he doesn’t have to.
To the victor goes the spoils and the best spoils we can give is the tweet of the week. Therefore, the honor goes to State Sen. Daylin Leach, who was a leading petitioner against the aforementioned Act 192.
Today the Commwlth Ct. Struck down the #NRA-can-sue-everybody law I sued to stop. It's unconstitutional. Huge victory for safety!
— Daylin Leach (@daylinleach) June 25, 2015
2 Responses
Every day that DA Ferman doesn’t bring charges against AG kane is an “up” day for AG Kane and a “down” day for Fina & The Corbett Pervs.
If DA Ferman had any faith in the integrity of the CLOWN CAR’s “investigation,” charges would have already been filed. It’s clear that DA Ferman and her team understand that AG Kane was the target of a partisan hatchet-job and a vicious smear campaign.
If I’m Ferman, I would not bring charges against AG Kane for leaks unless I also was prepared to bring charges against Fina & The Corbett Pervs for their leaks (to Craig & Angela at the INKY).
The focus on he-said/she-said nonsense at the AG’s Office would seem to indicate that the Clown Car is running out of gas What next? Allegations that AG Kane delayed her GJ testimony? Killed an ant by accident? Put a recycling item in her trash can?
Correction: Kathleen Kane did not dig herself into a hole. That hole was dug by a conspiracy of old white men who compelled Kane to promote a guy who groped female subordinates because porn emails.