Harrisburg City Council. It is the responsibility of the Harrisburg city council to do what’s best for the residents of Harrisburg and the integrity of the council member’s actions should not be questioned, but, it is fair to say that most of the state’s politicians hoped it would not take a takeover by the state government for Harrisburg to get its finances in order. Hopefully, Gov. Corbett’s office, the legislature, Mayor Thompson’s office and city council can work out a solution that leads Harrisburg on the path of fiscal stability while still looking out for the priorities of the city’s local politicians.

Sen. Pat Toomey. The senator’s persistence on burdensome regulation has paid off: local communities will no longer have to shell out for new street signs. The question is whether this is low-hanging fruit or whether the Senator can continue to gain influence as he serves on the debt committee? The Senator is going to have problems, however, if he ducks town halls or places them out of the reach of most of the state’s population. People will see it as the Senator being less than forthright and think the Senator is out of touch.

Former House Speaker John Perzel. The only up side to this is that this drama is coming to a conclusion. Everything else about it is not only bad but it reflects poorly upon the state, the General Assembly and the state Republican party. Hopefully, the ethics reforms passed by the General Assembly will prevent this from ever happening again.

House State Government Committee. Regardless of where you stand on illegal immigration, the fact that the State Government Committee had two days of hearings on illegal immigration is a sign that both sides feel the issue is important to tackle. What happens next is unclear, but, it will be interesting to see if these hearings spur legislators to form a consensus or if Harrisburg remains as polarized as ever on the issue.

Luke Ravenstahl.  It’s already been five years since Ravenstahl took over after Bob O’Connor’s passing, and the Post-Gazette marked the anniversary with a blistering critique of Hizzoner’s less than stellar track record of…showing up at important meetings and events.  Ravenstahl has never been able to shake the feeling that he’s more Tom Hanks in “Big” than big-city mayor.