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Speaker Turzai to be Ousted?

Mike-TurzaiAs (some) lawmakers work together to bring the budget impasse to an end, straining relationships in the House GOP leadership could bring negotiations to a halting crash.

More than two dozen House Republicans and Democrats have met this week to discuss ousting Rep. Mike Turzai as Speaker of the House, Kevin Zwick of Capitolwire reports. The group has even brought in an experienced attorney to draft a resolution to remove Turzai.

“It’s very serious. I think that members are getting blamed for what’s going on and I think that pot has begun to boil over,” an unnamed House GOP source told Capitolwire. “The credibility of the institution, it’s losing its value by the minute, and the person who gets held responsible in many eyes is the top dog – the Speaker.”

The anonymous source said Turzai could be gone as soon as next week if a budget isn’t passed before then, though another source called the talk an “intensified rumor,” with people looking for a scapegoat for the six months of fruitless negotiations.

The relationship between Turzai and House Majority Leader Dave Reed has reached a breaking point, after Turzai pushed for the passage of a trimmed-down spending plan that goes against the budget framework negotiated by Reed, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman and Gov. Tom Wolf.

Last month, Reed made Turzai cry during a meeting of the GOP caucus after asking for his support of medical marijuana. One person described it as a “John Boehner-like breakdown.” Rumors first started to bubble up about a possible change a few days ago when Sean Kitchen of Raging Chicken Press wrote that Turzai also wants Bryan Cutler to replace Reed as Majority Leader.

The resolution to hold an election for a new Speaker would require 102 votes, including 18 from Republicans if all 84 Democrats support the move.

60 Responses

  1. I am on social security disability since 2009 when I bought my home in 1998 my property taxes were $800 a year now they are just over $1200. Due to the increase in the salerys and very generous benefits that the state has given to the teachers ,school employees , themselves how much longer I will be able to live the american dream of owning my home is in you hands. Property taxes are being paid only by property owners. Why should people who live in apartments or rent homes not help pay their fair share of school taxes. After all they have children who attend public schools, yet the tax burden falls on the property owners that is not fair,you need to come up with a way to tax those people who rent so property owners do not have to be burdened by higher taxes.renters need to pay towards their children’s education

  2. Fed Up – you might want to check your research. The IFO report on the 2013 legislation (they haven’t issued one on the current bills) found that it would only adequately replace property tax revenue in the first year, but there would be a gap of a billion dollars after just three years. So much for equality of opportunity. Of course, that’s not even getting into the fact that it eliminates property taxes on businesses too, paid for by income and sales taxes on people. The governor’s plan would help those who most need it instead of giving a big tax break to businesses paid for on the backs of workers.

  3. Trolling? Paid? We’re not like the prostitutes from the Trial Lawyers, accountants, Chamber of Compromise or Americans for Poverty. We’re volunteers and 76 is a PEOPLES bill! No fat or kickbacks for special interests…it’s clean. When’s the last time a grassroots bill was passed? Or do special interests run PA? I know the answer is yes. the rain’s gonna fall on some of these liars and traitors real soon.

    If you had any Common sense, you would know the bill hasn’t been voted on in either chamber this session.

    And the Wolf “lackey”…you can stick your socialism where the sun don’t shine.

  4. Regarding wealth distribution: wealth DOES need to be redistributed as far as education is concerned. We will have a PERMANENT underclass in the country forever if we do not offer poor kids the same kind of education the kids in the affluent suburbs get. WE are going to have to suck it up, for the good of the future of the country. If more people get a decent education, they will have a greater chance of rising above poverty, adding to the stability of the economic system of this country OR we will forever be paying for people who never got a decent shot at life. Believe it or not, tax dollars are pooled all of the time. We should pool all of the dollars and make sure that education funding is equitable and fair…or we will continue to pay the price.

  5. What’s with all the trolling about HB/SB 76? Do people not realize that this bill has been defeated in both chambers and has zero chance of becoming law? I get they’re probably paid posters, but give it a rest.

    Anyway, Turzai is more interested in self-preservation and pleasing his campaign donors than actually compromising. Keep in mind this is the same tool who read directly from a Gas company’s talking points in the Capitol.

  6. If he would do his job instead of spending 100% of his time and lot of tax payers money trying to sell the state liquor stores he might acomplish something ?

  7. It seems that Isaac L. may be the idiot in a hurry. “The math doesn’t work” is a Teacher’s union talking point with no backing. The IFO report SAYS the numbers work to control, out-of-control spending instead of increasing 6-8% per annum meaning the DOUBLING of taxes every 9-12 years!

    The governors’ BS bill only helped 1/5 schools while the other 4/5 would pay more…can you say wealth re-distribution?

    I’ve pounded pavements all over PA surveying and petitioning folks on property tax and OVERWHELMING support of 80% of Pennsylvanians DEMAND property tax elimination. They are TIRED of living like serfs in the establishments’ home. Get a damn clue Isaac, 10,000 homes lost each year and you’re playing party politics…shame on you!

  8. And property taxes have been going up because the state has shifted the burden to pay for schools onto the local school districts, which can only raise money via property taxes. Gov. Corbett and the Republican caucuses didn’t hold the line on taxes, they effectively raised property taxes. The Republicans would have property taxes go up more because they didn’t want to pass the governor’s legislation. The 76 bills are farcical – the math doesn’t work. The governor’s legislation would have provided wide-ranging property tax relief to those who needed it most using the very same ideas in those bills but with realistic math. The irony is that a PIT increase would mean Pennsylvania keeping more of its tax dollars since the PIT is deductible from federal taxes, but the short-term political optics of increasing the PIT are too bad for the classic “idiot in a hurry” because it takes an extra 10 seconds to explain that.

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