Blue Pennsylvania: Sundries, even Sunday

Although events at the federal level still dominate the news, this has been a very eventful week for our government in Harrisburg.  Here is what has been happening.

1.   Two special elections were held in the commonwealth on Tuesday.  In House District 35 in Allegheny County, Democrat Dan Goughnour won the seat against Republican nominee Charles Davis by a margin of 29%.  Not a big surprise there, since this is a very blue district. 

What was truly shocking, however, was the victory of Democrat James Andrew Malone, the mayor of the borough of East Petersburg over the Republican candidate Josh Parsons for the 36th senatorial district seat in Lancaster County.  Although the vote was close (50% to 49.1%), it represents a major shift for a district that has been a Republican stronghold for decades, with Republicans dominating hitherto (never get a chance to use that word) voting patterns there by 20%.  Democrats are now two seats away from controlling the state senate.

2.   Tuesday was also an auspicious day legislatively, with the Pennsylvania House passing four bills sponsored by Democrats, with significant Republican support.  The bills assure that various provisions of the Affordable Care Act will continue for residents in the commonwealth in the event that those provisions are eliminated at the federal level.  They are:

• House Bill 404, sponsored by state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, which would allow adult children to remain on a parent’s private health plan up to age 26

• House Bill 535, sponsored by state Rep. Dan Frankel, which would prohibit insurers from setting annual or lifetime limits on the cost of care

• House Bill 618, sponsored by state Rep. Jim Haddock, which would prohibit insurers from denying or excluding coverage due to preexisting conditions

• House Bill 755, sponsored by state Rep. Perry Warren, would require health insurance policies to cover preventative health care services without cost-sharing.

Now, it is up to the state senate to send these bills to Governor Shapiro for his signature.

3.   The Philadelphia Inquirer published an interesting interview with Dave Sunday, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General – a Republican who was elected into office last November.  In the interview, Sunday belittled the lawsuits that many Democratic AG’s around the country have initiated against the U.S. government for such actions as ending  birthright citizenship and freezing federal funds to states, claiming that “The federal government has a right to cut fraud, waste, and abuse.”  He also seemed to imply that such lawsuits were outside of the purview of the AG’s responsibilities by stating that “I’m focusing on my job and what I’m supposed to be doing.”  Yet he acknowledges that he has spent a significant amount of time gathering information from research universities to understand the problem with freezing these funding streams and has shared this information with Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators. 

In other words, Sunday envisions the A.G.’s job as being an information service rather than as a litigator.  Is this why voters elected him last November?

Well, there is not a lot that we can do about the Attorney General’s position for the next four years, but voters will have the chance this November to maintain the Democratic presence on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 

We have been distributing our flyer and poster over the past two months at Mondays with McCormick, Fridays with Fetterman, Tesla dealerships, the People's March, and Not My President's Day.  You can help us out next week by attending the Hands Off! National Day of Action Rally and March, a week from Saturday - April 5, at 12 noon, in front of City Hall,  If you can help us, please reply to this email.

Also, if you are interested in helping us out with advocating for full and fair funding for Pennsylvania’s most under-resourced school districts, please take a few minutes to complete this form.

Thanks,

Coleman