Politics PA

Gov. Ed Rendell has described his January rescue mission that brought 54 orphans out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti to Pennsylvania as one that cost taxpayers nothing. But the state plane log for January shows there was a cost to taxpayers after all.

During his CNN broadcast from Port-au-Prince on Monday night, anchor Anderson Cooper implied that the overwhelming task of helping Haiti’s victims might be being compromised by ad-hoc rescue missions launched through political channels.

Governor Rendell talks to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about the overnight rescue mission to bring orphans to Pittsburgh.

The week before Thanksgiving, Gov. Ed Rendell announced in Scranton a push for major reforms to the state’s campaign finance law, the way judges are chosen and the process for drawing congressional and legislative district boundaries. Since then, hardly a peep.

Gov. Rendell says the higher-than-expected bids at the state auction of gas-drilling leases this week, along with the fact that Exxon Mobil Corp. paid billions for a drilling company active in Pennsylvania, are evidence the industry can withstand a new tax this year. Rendell, who dropped his proposal to tax natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale amid difficult budget negotiations last year, yesterday reiterated his plan to revive the tax as part of his annual budget address Feb. 9.

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled yesterday that the state constitution does not prohibit the governor from continuing to employ and pay state employees during a budget impasse.