7/25 Ups & Downs

A credit downgrade, a listicle and a gun. Who says summer is boring and predicable? See who made this week’s list.

Up Arrow1PA Employment. The state added 1,800 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stayed flat at 5.6%. In fact, PA’s unemployment rate has dropped 2.5% over the last nineteen months. We’d give this arrow to Governor Corbett but as polling has shown, leaders get the blame when the economy is bad but don’t get the credit when the economy is good (there’s a guy down in Washington who can sympathize).

Down ArrowCredit Rating. This week’s the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Pennsylvania’s rating from Aa2 to Aa3. There was (of course) much partisan finger-pointing but the firm blamed budgetary tricks and the state’s burgeoning pension obligations. Regardless of blame, this was bad news for everyone.

Up Arrow1Pat Toomey. How can we not give an up arrow to the man who has successfully become a Buzzfeed contributor? Besides reminding everyone of the commonwealth’s abundant supply of home-grown entertainers (from Grace Kelly to Will Smith to Taylor Swift) it’s an unconventional way to reach voters. The Senator also made headlines this week for his call for harsher against Vladimir Putin. As a member of the legislative branch, Toomey has the advantage of denouncing a man everyone hates without any negative consequences.

Down ArrowCharlie Dent. Nearly every member of Congress takes advantage of the traveling perks and PA’s Representatives are no exception. Unfortunately for Rep. Charlie Dent, though, he led the pack among the state delegation. Congressman Dent and his staff took fifteen such trips over the past two years and serves on the House Ethics Committee that approves all these expenditures.

Down ArrowTom Marino. Rep. Marino found himself at the center of an unwelcome situation last Friday when his press secretary was arrested for attempting to bring a gun into the Cannon House Office Building. Ryan Shucard was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and was placed on leave. Shucard has pled not guilty, however, so this story probably isn’t going away anytime soon.

The tweet of the week goes to Philadelphia Daily News reporter William Bender for admitting what we all secretly do, even if we’re too ashamed to admit it, click on Internet ads.

https://twitter.com/wbender99/status/492143437416640512

3 Responses

  1. Senator Toomey (or rather, his staff) forgot Trent Reznor – Academy and Grammy Award winning musician from Mercer, PA. A glaring oversight! 😉

  2. Sy, you should do a tally of the total number up arrows vs down arrows Governor Corbett has received

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