Blue Pennsylvania: A Momentous Week in Pennsylvania

Things are heating up in Harrisburg, particularly with our two favorite topics – the 2025/26 state budget, due to be completed by the end of the month; and the judicial retention ballot questions, coming up in November.  Below are some of the details.

Judicial Retention

Introducing Scott Pressler

While Pennsylvania’s Republican legislators have issues with Larry Krasner about his refusal to prosecute people for prostitution, marijuana possession and misdemeanor retail theft, they apparently have no problem with Attorney General Pam Bondi and her Department of Justice for defending January 6 convicts for the possession of cocaine and illegal guns.

The Republican Party, once self-branded as the Law-and-Order Party, has undergone an image change, since the party’s standard bearer is himself a 34-tine convicted felon.  Just how complete this paradigm shift has become is exemplified by Republican activist Scott Pressler’s remark last wethat “We are courting the felon vote,"

Yet a 2019 study found that felons are four times more likely to be Democrats or politically unaffiliated as non-felons. Only 20% of felons identified as Republicans after being released.  Why then, would Republicans target this population?  The answer may exist at a more granular level.  While an overwhelming majority of black male ex-convicts are registered as Democrats, the opposite is the case for white ex-convicts.    

Pressler’s organization, Early Vote Action, which has benefitted from a $1 million donation from Elon Musk, has taken credit for helping to secure Trump’s victory in Pennsylvania last November.  For the current election cycle, he is concentrating his efforts in Chester, Erie, and Dauphin counties – something to think about as we target our campaign efforts through the summer and fall.

Pressler’s biggest issue in this election cycle is judicial retention – particularly for the three PA Supreme Court justices whose terms end this year.  One of his main arguments for encouraging voters to deny these justices another term is that they kept Trump from winning Pennsylvania in 2020 because they allowed any ballot postmarked by Election Day to be counted, if they were received up to three days later.  But what Pressler fails to mention in his allegations is that the Supreme Court’s decision was grounded in the fact that the U.S. Postal Service, under Louis DeJoy, had taken measures during the previous summer, to assure that the mail would not reach its destination in a timely manner.

Although there is very little that we can do to stop Pressler and the various “information-laundering services” on cable TV and the internet, we can augment the various legitimate voter-registration efforts across the state, and set the record straight on judicial retention.

The Budget

Climate and the Environment

In recent weeks, PA House Environmental Chair. State Rep. Greg Vitali (D., Delaware County) has written op-eds that have appeared in a number of publications across the state, alerting readers to the failure of the current budget proposals to address the regulatory enforcement of environmental regulations in the state.  That problem will need to be addressed sooner than later.  What the governor’s proposal does contain is a program modeled after the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade system spanning multiple states.  Pennsylvania is a current RGGI member, but has not benefitted from the program because of ongoing litigation around the legitimacy of the state’s participation.  This week, however, State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said that he would not entertain the governor’s environmental program until the PA Supreme Court rules on the RGGI issue is settled.

Transportation

While Pittman’s statement is certainly a setback, the failure of the state to properly fund public transportation systems across the state would blow the reduction of greenhouse gases in the wrong direction.  According to SEPTA’s website, “SEPTA service avoids over 1.5 BILLION pounds of carbon-dioxide equivalent per year by getting people out of their cars, reducing congestion, and supporting eco-friendly land uses.”  Yet a recent email from State Senator Cris Dush (R, Centre County and Jefferson County and all of Cameron County, Clinton County, Elk County, McKean County, and counties) highlights the irrationality that exists among the leadership in the state senate’s Republican majority.  Once the reader maneuvers through his ramblings, we learn several things: (1) that senator Dush has no idea who the current CEO of SEPTA is; (2) that the previous CEO was discourteous to Dush and several of his associates at various times; (3) that a study was performed by the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce showing that SEPTA’s region receives more money than Pittsburgh and surrounding counties than they pay from the liquid fuels taxes; and (4) that, because of a state structural deficit, there is no additional money available to fund SEPTA.

Obviously, items (1) and (2) above have nothing to do with state funding for SEPTA, and an internet search, even on the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce website, fails to uncover the study Senator Dush is referring to in Item (3).  But even if it did, then welcome, Senator Dush to our world, because a 2019 study suggests that the five counties comprising southeastern Pennsylvania contribute considerably more to the state treasury than they receive.  With regard to Item (4), Governor Shapiro has suggested raising the share of state sales tax revenue dedicated to transit by 1.75% to provide an additional $1.5 billion for transit over the next five years.  A tax on “skill games” has also been proposed, but the senate has so far been unwilling to consider either option.

Education

Nowhere is the southeastern part of the state more mistreated in the inequitable distribution of state dollars than in the area of education funding.  Again, the state senate is where we are concentrating our efforts.  Blue Pennsylvania volunteers contacted close to 500 school board members in over 70 underfunded districts by email, asking them to alert parents and voting age students to the problem so that they can contact their legislators.  We have also canvassed in Pottstown, and are planning future canvasses as well in Pottstown and northeast Philadelphia.  Both efforts have received positive feedback

Actions

Pennsylvania's budget must be passed by the end of June.  One senator - Tracy Pennycuick in Pottstown - may be the deciding factor in whether SEPTA will avoid making deep service cuts and whether underfunded school districts like Philadelphia, Norristown, Pottstown, and Chester-Upland will get the money that they need to properly educate our young people.

You can help her to make the right decision.  We are heading up to Pottstown this Saturday, June 14, to celebrate No Kings Day with the residents of Pottstown.  We will also be equipped with palm cards explaining why Governor Shapiro’s budget proposal will be a win for Pottstown and how to automatically email Pennycuick’s office to ask for more money for the Pottstown school district.  If you are interested in joining us, please contact me at cposes1@gmail.com.

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Please join the Good Trouble

Phone Squad. SIGN UP HERE (The location will be disclosed once you register).

They will be making calls in partnership with Senator Art Haywood, Neighborhood Networks, the Pennsylvania Policy Center and Action Together NEPA.  The calls will be focused in targeted Congressional districts where constituent pressure will be most impactful.  They will be asking constituents to contact their own representatives to oppose cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. 

You don’t have to be an expert on policy or phone banking.

They will provide phone banking support. You bring your laptop, phone, earbuds, and concern for your fellow Pennsylvanians. SIGN UP HERE.

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The Pennsylvania Policy Center has a page where you can write to your legislators directly to ask them to support Governor Shapiro’s education budget for this year.  It does not matter where you live, just as long as you are a resident of Pennsylvania.  It takes a few seconds if you use the generic language, but you can personalize it, and if you have a little extra time, that would be a good thing to do.  When you are done, get others to do the same.  You can access that page here. 

If you are interested in helping to counter Scott Pressler’s information laundering voter registration efforts, here are two organizations involved with voter registration now:

New Pennsylvania Project (NPP) 

Vote That Jawn

Thanks,

Coleman