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PA-Sen: McGinty Critiques GOP Leadership in Newly-Released Email

Pennsylvania Governor DemocratsAll of a sudden, Katie McGinty has an email problem.

Yesterday, Brent Scher of the Washington Free Beacon unveiled an email between McGinty and former Governor Rendell’s Deputy Chief of Staff Dave Myers.

The email was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the NRSC.

In a June 30th message, Myers offers advice and sympathy concerning the budget stalemate.

He laments that the Republican leadership is more difficult to deal with now than in similar past instances during the Casey and Rendell Administrations.

McGinty responded to Myers on July 15th, sadly agreeing with his diagnosis and contrasting 2015 to her time as DEP Secretary under Gov. Rendell.

“The culture is different and deteriorated from 2008 when I left,” McGinty writes. “Jake and Joe are shadows of their former selves. Scared of their own caucuses. Devoid of substance and and full of rhetoric and posturing. It really is a shame.”

The Jake and Joe referenced above are Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati.

The NRSC believes this undermines the case McGinty made when she took the Chief of Staff job that she could reach across the aisle. The insinuation being that if she couldn’t do it in Harrisburg, she also wouldn’t be able to do it in Washington.

“When the going got tough, Katie McGinty got going – quitting her job in the midst of difficult state budget negotiations because she couldn’t handle working across the aisle,” stated NRSC National Press Secretary Alleigh Marré. “Pennsylvanians deserve someone who doesn’t resort to mudslinging or walk away from the table when Pennsylvania’s future is on the line.”

It is worth pointing out that just as Democratic leaders are pushing McGinty as the front-runner, the Republican Party has began to set its sights on her.

Nevertheless, she’ll face a competitive primary from former Congressman and 2010 nominee Joe Sestak as well as Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.

Incumbent GOP Senator Pat Toomey is running for his second term.

14 Responses

  1. Just to clarify my earlier point. Note this from the State Supreme Court: “The requirement that an email must document a ‘transaction or activity of the agency is essential for a record to be a public record,” said President Judge Dan Pellegrini, who wrote for the majority.

    Moreover, under the Open records Law, each legislative Chamber aapoints its own Open records custodian, who has the authoirty to interpret the law. So again, why was this exchange subject to the Open Record Law and who made the decision to release it?

  2. This seems like a given much less than some kind of partisan revelation. When you join with fringe elements to knock off a long-time moderate leader, you know that you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to the same fate if you displease those who helped you assume power.

  3. Anyone who doesn’t think moderate Republican Leaders are held hostage by the ultra right-wing elements of their party in both state houses hasn’t been paying attention. Not only is their leadership positions in jeopardy but also their own re-election to their seats are being threatened by those groups. That is exactly the problem in Harrisburg. No one can talk across the aisle without being called a traitor. People from opposite sides have to talk in order to compromise. Term Limits would make that happen. Politicians more afraid of losing leadership positions and their elected offices than doing what is right for the people they represent is a bad situation.

  4. It seems to me that McGinty was bemoaning not so much Republicans in general as the crazy amount of tea-fueled partisanship that has gripped Harrisburg.

    But that’s just my opinion.

  5. Pittsburgh Observer

    Would that include OAG special agent Robert Marsili aka kanesdriver?

  6. The emails of all state employees are subject to Right to Know. If you don’t want something to show up on PoliticsPA or pennlive, don’t put it in an email.

  7. Exactly how did this email exchange qualify for release under the state FOIA statute, when the same email exchange involving a state legislator would likely to have been deemed non-releasable?

  8. It’ll be too late before the Dems realize that empty pantsuits will not be their path to victory in 2016. I can’t wait.

  9. DD: You are right, but hacking voting buttons would be illegal. Do it the legal way like GOP gerrymandering districts and suppressing votes and outrageous lies and propaganda.

  10. Sounds like PoliticsPA has set their sights on McGinty too.
    What’s wrong with telling the truth that the GOP is held hostage by the rightwing radical Teabaggers?

  11. Well, at least now we know who Republicans, the NRSC and Toomey are scared of most.

    That would be future US Senator Katie McGinty.

  12. The GOP critics are missing a key point: McGinty would be replacing Toomey, and be better on budget votes.

    Nobody expects, or cares, about McGinty “reaching across the aisle” in the Senate. She’s not going to be a leader. Her only job is to vote the opposite of Toomey on key issues.

    Hacking the wiring of Toomey’s voting buttons to switch Yea/Nay would have an equivalent effect/value.

    This Senate election is about replacing Toomey. Having no senator would be an improvement. Having an additional Dem vote is even better. The bar is very low: being not-Toomey

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