Search
Close this search box.

1/30 Ups & Downs

Resignations, investigations and subpoenas. See who made this week’s list!

Down ArrowRob McCord. This one was extremely easy. Out of nowhere yesterday, the State Treasurer announced his resignation effective Feb. 12th. Now, though, it doesn’t seem like he’ll last that long, as reports have emerged that McCord is under a federal investigation for “alleged theft of campaign and other funds.” Last year, McCord was considered a major contender to be the next Governor. This year, his future is murky at best.

 

Up Arrow1Val Arkoosh. Conversely, this time last year Val Arkoosh was the unknown in a four-way PA-13 primary that included a former Congresswoman, a State Senator and a State Representative. Now, she will be filling the vacant seat on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. The seat formerly belonged to Leslie Richards, who left SEPA to go to Harrisburg as Gov. Wolf’s Transportation Secretary.

 

Up Arrow1Joe Torsella. Also, speaking of State Treasurer, that is the office Torsella is seeking in 2016. The former U.N. Representative and Philly Deputy Mayor is well positioned thanks to a strong fundraising haul in 2014. He brought in $1,017,000 last year and currently has $995,242 cash on hand. With a head start like that, Torsella has already made a name for himself in a wide-open race.

 

Down ArrowChaka Fattah. Congressman Fattah made our year end list for all of his 2014 troubles and it doesn’t appear that 2015 will go any better. Earlier this week, Rep. Fattah’s district office manager was subpoenaed in a case against the Philadelphia Congressman. This is now the second Fattah staffer to be subpoenaed, on top of the two aides who’ve pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud. Suffice to say, it’s been a steady tide of bad news for Chaka Fattah.

 

Up Arrow1Sarah Del Ricci. Even though Del Ricci was chosen as the Democratic nominee in the HD-170 special election last week, this week was arguably more important to her campaign. That’s because Seth Kaplan, a top operative for Brendan and Kevin Boyle, took a pass on an independent campaign that threatened to split the Democratic vote. With the party rift seemingly healed, Del Ricci can focus on her GOP opponent Martina White.

 

Down ArrowErik Arneson. Remember Erik Arneson? The guy who was going to destroy the relationship between Governor Wolf and the Republican legislature right off the bat. Well thanks to Rob McCord, this story will be swept out of the headlines. Quite ironic that the biggest beneficiary of McCord’s fall may end up being Tom Wolf.

 

 

Tweet of the week goes to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Karen Langley for this selection from the comedy team of Leach and Folmer (the two State Senators were advocating for their medical marijuana bill).

7 Responses

  1. Nobody’s picking up on the middle of that Court quotation: “from which we might infer….” Pileggi has already said what the legislative intent was. Presumably, debate records will also provide the Court with some direction on inference. This isn’t open-and-shut.

  2. Even if it is legal, not the best way to start things off. Are we really to believe that this governor won’t make any such appointments at the end of his tenure? It also sets a bad precedent in the way that there was a blanket firing of 29 people- there should have been a case by case review.

  3. @Josh, that case is limited to the Game Commissioner statute:

    “In the absence of statutory language governing the removal of game commissioners or from which we might infer legislative intent to limit the power of removal, the Governor, as the appointing power, may remove game commissioners at will.”

  4. Not quite sure what Josh imagines to constitute precedent, but most of us know that looking to the Ridge administration for an office created by statute when Rendell was governor is at best flaky.

  5. What is up with that Arneson rating? One of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen on this site.

Email:
  • Do you agree that ByteDance should be forced to divest TikTok?


    • Yes. It's a national security risk. (60%)
    • No. It's an app used by millions and poses no threat. (40%)
    • What's ByteDance? (0%)

    Total Voters: 30

    Loading ... Loading ...
Continue to Browser

PoliticsPA

To install tap and choose
Add to Home Screen