Democratic Committee Chairman Jim Burn was officially re-elected today, ending the ordeal over the position.
While Burn had faced the open opposition of the Wolf campaign until 48 hours before, he betrayed no ill will and was elated on Saturday afternoon.
At the end of the two-day Democratic state party summer committee weekend, Burn convened the meeting of the nomination and election of state party officers. All the incumbents and chosen new-comers were elected unanimously by voice acclamation.
This included Burn, who asked for any other nominations three times just to be sure he had escaped any challenge by McGinty or any other spoiler.
Afterward, he acted like a man who had a large load lifted off his shoulders.
“Thank you for your vote of confidence,” Burn told the 299 assembled committee officials and proxies.
Furthermore, he denounced efforts by the media to spin the conflict as a fight and emphasized party unity, as well as his desire to defeat Tom Corbett and elect Tom Wolf. This prompted Wolf chants and even howls from the audience.
Burn, who was wearing a Wolf for Governor button throughout the day, then became his most passionate, to the point that he was channeling Stone Cold Steve Austin.
“If you like Tom Wolf, give me a hell yeah!” he yelled to the crowd’s delight and affirmative response. “If you think we’re gonna elect Tom Wolf, give me a hell yeah! If we’re gonna send Tom Corbett packing, give me a hell yeah!”
He went on to assert that their differences of opinion were what made the Democratic Party the superior party and once more pledged his support to Wolf.
“Tom Wolf we love you, you have my friendship,” he declared.
At the apex of the event Burn urged the crowd to hold up their Tom Wolf for Governor lawn signs. After a moment, he called to one of the members of the audience to hand him a sign. Burn stood beaming as he displayed the sign, although watching it you couldn’t help but feel he’d rather be raising the arm of the man himself.
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30 Responses
Glad to read this. I was just going to post that Keegan wouldn’t take this s—.
Unsanctioned R-
Well, they aren’t doing a very good job of impersonating, other than fooling Sklaroff, who has proven easily fooled into believing right-wing fiscal policies are good for the country (rather than that the policies are the basis for an oligarchy).
The admins at PoliticsPA can track IP address, cookies, browsers, etc. So, the prankster(s) (poorly) impersonating me are easily rooted out. They’d be wise to take Keegan’s threat seriously about being banned from the site.
Quick note to spam posters: if you continue to violate the comment policy, specifically by impersonating other users, we will block you from commenting. It’s been a problem for the past few weeks. Cut it out.
Comment policy is here.
Dear David,
Someone thinks that they can impersonate you and remain 100% anonymous. How embarrassing that will be for them, no?
Jim Burn and the entire state committee delegation showed a lot of class on Saturday in Camp Hill. Now it’s time for the Wolfpack to do the same. If Wolf looses in November, it won’t be state committee’s fault, it will be Wolf’s.
Unsanctioned R-
I’ll give you that Wolf should have shown up to demonstrate he was a good sport about losing the chair battle and to meet/mingle with state committee members.
I don’t think it makes a difference overall, but it would have been nice for Wolf to make an appearance.
Wolf didn’t even show up to thank people. Rude. What an idiot.
Interested Observer-
I was talking about the party Friday night, and was merely responded your “not well attended” comment, because I thought the reception was well attended.
I never stay for the Saturday meetings (since I can’t vote and the parties are more interesting).
290 out of 400 credentialed is actually pretty good since a Harrisburg is a long haul from some parts of the state and there really wasn’t anything critical to vote on since Thursday’s news.
DD (assume you are the real DD)-presume you are talking about parties that contained more than just committee members.
If you attended the meeting, there was no bounce in the room on Saturday – it was more about showing a stiff upper lip and a feigned unity than generating enthusiasm for the Party or a renewal of Party purpose. Burn looked lost and foolish holding up a sign and the chants were all made for TV. Bob Brady was his usual joke. Marcel Groen couldn’t leave fast enough. Lots of leaders left early before the meeting.
There were a significant number of no shows—only ~290 credentialed out of more than 400 members…a total lack of enthusiasm.
If you are interested in Party building, it was not an impressive gathering. If you are looking to inflate one’s ego and have your ego stroked ala Jim Burn, it was good.
Interested Observer-
I was there Friday night, and the evening’s festivities seemed well attended. I didn’t do a head-count, but I think there were around 200 in attendance at the reception.
There were no TV cameras.
It was a lot less exciting since the chairmanship issue was settled the day before, so all the interesting debate was missing. Your comment: “Burn will be shown the door” makes no sense. What would be the mechanism for it? The committee members, who overwhelming supported his reelection, aren’t going to ask him to step down. I don’t even know what it would take to removing a sitting chairman short of him going on TV and opening supporting the GOP candidate.
Bob-
First: the posting at 6:22am and 10:07 am are fakes. So, try not to be so foolish as to respond to them.
Second. you ARE arrogant in predicting that Corbett will close the 20-point gap, that Penn Staters will rally to him, that the people who supported him in 2010 will do so again, that the right-wing issues you advocate will draw voters to him, etc.
On the issues themselves, you, Corbett and the right-wing “think tank” Commonwealth Foundation are wrong. The CF’s only purpose is more profiteering for oil/gas and big companies that don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes and cut government services. They wrap it in the claim of “principles” but they aren’t following any noble principles. They are promoting an oligarchy under the guise of a democracy.
As for cyber-schools: Nicholas Trombetta is facing charges for bilking millions of dollars.
Here is an article from last month about the problems with charter schools, particularly in PA: (key line: The industry is rife with fraud and corruption)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/05/20/a-dozen-problems-with-charter-schools/
So, please stop feigning ignorance on the problems with cyber-schools.
As for Corbett/Sandusky:
—-begin quote
Kane said in a prepared statement. “The facts show an inexcusable lack of urgency in charging and stopping a serial sexual predator. The report documents that more investigative work took place in just one month in 2011 than in all of either 2009 or 2010.”
The report is critical of Corbett’s investigation for, among other things, waiting more than two years to search Sandusky’s home
—– end quote
So, that’s worse than I thought for Corbett. I thought voters would have to figure out for themselves that Corbett’s delays in handling the case were terrible. But, Kane is spelling it out in no uncertain terms.
I don’t think it will matter in the overall outcome, but clearly his exoneration from criminally prosecutable actions, doesn’t save him from the perception that he was derelict in his duty.
Isaac-
Well, I do joke that I have a PhD in arguing earned at the dinner table growing up. 🙂
Dem State Committee was a rather boring and poorly attended event. It looked and had the feel that it was purely made to convince a TV audience that Jim Burn and his henchmen of opportunists were not at fault for dissing the party’s nominee for governor and lt. gov.
While Jim Burn won reelection with no opponent, he weakened himself and the influence of the State Committee as an organization. The weekend, as it unfolded, became less and less about the Party moving forward to bigger and better things and more about Jim Burn, and his stated version of history.
Hopefully when the WolfStack ticket is elected in November in spite of Burn and his cadre of uninformed groupies, Burn will be shown the door so that Dem State Committee can have some prominence again.
At least Diano isn’t so pompous as to include post-nominal letters…
– Isaac L., D.O., Esq.
@DD:
As you know, I’m not sufficiently arrogant to predict outcomes, for my focus is upon issues; here, you failed to provide data that would contradict what Nathan Benefield published regarding annual expenditures on education by Corbett.
Thus, rail as much as you desire regarding alleged “revulsion” against Corbett, but know that such sentiments among those who aren’t Dems do NOT rise [or “fall”] to that level; there may be disappointment, particularly regarding messaging, but there is no corruption, etc. [compared/contrasted with BHO].
Therefore, when you have assembled documentation to support your belief-system regarding education-funding, please provide it; otherwise, your input is predictable and, indeed, prompts the reader to LOL.
Bob-
That’s okay. You provoke me to demonstrate how foolish you are so everyone can LOL at you.
But, the last laugh will be in November when Wolf beats Corbett by a large margin (no less than 10 points, and more likely close to 20 points).
You can keep saying “it’s possible” for Corbett to gain/recover, but that’s a far cry from sticking your neck out and making an actual prediction.
So, sh*t or get off the pot. What do you believe is the most likely outcome in November: Wolf wins or Corbett wins?
Pick one.
@DD:
You must admit that, if nothing else, I end-up provoking you to type comments that provoke me to LOL.
Bob-
Since you were the one bringing up the “Commonwealth Foundation” I thought you knew what they were as they spout the same bullsh*t talking points you do.
From their “Issues” link:
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/issues/
The favor more drilling, without adequate taxation. They want to bust the teachers and other unions by not having the dues taken out directly, to make it harder for the unions to collect (even though it’s not really any significant cost or trouble for payroll systems). They favor cyber schools (the biggest ripoff every) and privatization of services that are best controlled by government (because for-profit enterprises would cut corners endangering public safety).
The site is a litany of conservative nonsense and not one bit of it should be taken seriously (and neither should you).
Bob, we’ll Corbett is certainly a candidate who invokes revulsion. So, at this point, it’s not a question of whether Corbett is going to lose (he is), but whether the revulsion of him harms the rest of the GOP ticket. Around the state local many GOP down-ticket candidates got more votes than him in their district. Even LT Gov Cawley got more votes than Corbett (certainly embarrassing for Corbett). But, that’s not an endorsement of Cawley, but an un-endorsement or Corbett.
Looking at total votes for Gov vs Lt Gov:
For the Dems, the LT Gov vote was 91% of the total Gov vote. A reasonable drop-off.
But for the Republicans, Corbett got about 6% fewer votes than Cawley. So, Corbett did 15% worse than he should have WITH REPUBLICAN PRIMARY VOTERS, who are far more hard-core, right-wing than the general election Republicans.
As for Obama, his biggest problem is the GOP house who can’t pass anything but their own gas, and the GOP Senators who block any progress on immigration, veterans benefits, pay equity, student loan reform, sensible gun control, etc. I feel A LOT safer with Obama in the White House than McCain or Romney, who would have started a war with Iran by now, or instituted bad health and tax policies.
The economy is improving. My health insurance is the best it’s been in 10 years. Average fuel economy in cars is improving which is helping keep gas prices down. Obama has pushed for better civil rights, especially for gays serving in the military, marriage equality and marriage benefits. He’s taking steps toward strengthening environmental protections. He’s appointing better judges (would like him to replace a few more on Supreme Court, but if he doesn’t Hillary will).
You should be more disgusted with the feckless GOP House.
@ DD:
None of your attacks on the Commonwealth Foundation included citation of alternate-data; this impugns your ability to provide evidence-based info.
Also, I have no doubt that Philly will vote for Wolf/Stack but, remember, people have a tendency both to vote for a party and to reject an individual who provokes revulsion; would you not agree that BHO is rapidly attaining the latter status, portending a tsunami mediated by the former phenomenon?
Also, your memory is faulty when you claim I’d claimed existence of a “groundswell of support for Guzzardi,” because my focus was on his ballot-eligibility [for I’d vetted the signatures]; I felt [as did he…and the one poll that was taken in this regard] that he had a baseline-support of ~20% [most of whom would gladly support Corbett over Wolf, BTW, assuming they vote].
Post below “David Diano on June 22, 2014 at 8:16 pm” is an obvious fake.
Bob, try not responding to it as one of mine, since you’ve already demonstrated you can’t tell the difference.
Bob-
The “Commonwealth Foundation” is another piece of crap anti-union, right-wing think-tank. Over 2 million voters are going to vote to replace Corbett and none of them are going to read the drivel from the “Commonwealth Foundation”.
The voters aren’t going to be fooled by Corbett’s bait-and-switch. He cut education to the bone, and beyond. The subsequent increases have been inadequate and Corbett is reviled by everyone in the education establishment from educators to parents to students to local governments (except the frauds involved in charter schools).
So, let Corbett claim he’s increased funding for education: the voters will be appalled by his audacious lies.
We are in a budget crisis because of Corbett’s refusal to collect sufficient revenue from his buddies (or rather owners) in the oil/gas industry and other special interests.
He can cry all he want’s about cuts in Federal spending, but he and his right-wing pals have been behind the federal cuts as well. So, that’s not going to help him.
There is not a single thing he can do to turn around his 20 point polling deficit and 4 years of mounting public opinion against him.
Stack’s presence on the ticket will help boost Philly turnout from pathetic to mediocre. But, even that won’t matter because Wolf is going to beat Corbett by more than the entire vote out of Philly.
Let me repeat that: by more than the entire vote out of Philly.
That means that if you count only the other 66 counties, Wolf still wins. That’s how epic it’s going to be. It’s going to be like Casey’s defeat of Santorum (which was by double the net Dem vote in Philly).
So, you can prattle on, like you did about the groundswell of support for Guzzardi, but the cold-hard-truth is that Corbett is done for.
@ DD:
If you think your best-shot is on Education-funding, perhaps you should recognize that it has increased during the past three years [with total external funding dipping only after the “Stimulus”]; each of the below is on the Commonwealth Foundation’s website:
“An Inconvenient Truth: School Spending & Revenue at All-Time Highs”
“Five Facts on Pennsylvania Public Schools”
“Myth: PA Spends Less on Education”
Bob-
Wake up and smell the polls. Corbett is deeply unpopular and he’s got no way to turn it around. The unemployment number isn’t going to mean sh*t to parents and students who have suffered under his education budget cuts.
Even though he fails in every single issue, that one education alone is enough to sink him.
Had a great time at State Committee, seeing old friends and meeting so many first-timers! Disappointed that Wolf did not come to this meeting, but we’ll get over it. PA Dems meet again in September in Philly. Guessing this family squabble will be ancient history by then, and we – the Democratic Party – can focus on the real issues defining the differences between the parties and candidates. That will be right about the time most folks – and not just the party regulars – start to engage in the November elections . . . all in with Wolf!
@DD:
As I just wrote elsewhere [https://www.politicspa.com/exclusive-staff-shakeup-highlights-dem-family-feud/58902/comment-page-1/#comment-868341], you do not re-enter the world of pontification with clean hands, and your skewed thought-patterns are again evident.
Your hypothetical ignores the effects of what happened over time; clearly, there are roots to this obvious conflict that will persist; again, although the GOP shouldn’t draw any degree of false-confidence from awareness of what has transpired, it would behoove you to adopt a more level-headed approach to interpreting ongoing events.
Again, although I could be accused perhaps of over-focus on issues, the greater impact on the gubernatorial race will emerge as the voters look upon Corbett [and lower unemployment, for example] in a cohesive fashion [comparing promises with performance].
“Sad”-
What exactly was “lost”?
We are in exactly the same configuration for state committee and McGinty is running a new PAC that didn’t exist previously. Sounds like a gain.
If Wolf/McGinty had announced this PAC 3 weeks ago, you (and all the other whiners) would be touting how continuity in state committee combined with a new PAC is the key to victory.
So, quit your pouting and crying or Santa won’t leave you any presents this Christmas.
This is why you need to Write in Eric Bradway Former Constable of Lower Merion For Governor . We need a Fresh Face as our new Governor
I wonder if I can hitch a ride on Air-Force one with Barack and Debbie.
Just a sad day in the Democratic Party. Nothing was won. A bunch was lost. History has been written. And it won’t be good.
He won an election, Chuck, that’s what he’s done. Sorry, if you want party leadership to come from the top down, catch the next plane to Beijing.
I wonder if he really understands what he has done?