It’s over. Put a bowtie on it and mail it in.
In the latest primary poll, Tom Wolf has opened a 25 point lead over his closest challenger Allyson Schwartz. It was nice knowing ye Tom Corbett…
Heading into the home stretch, York businessman Tom Wolf is maintaining the wide lead he built over his fellow Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls with a barrage of early TV ads.
The first statewide poll of the contest in more than a month shows support for Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz and state Treasurer Rob McCord, creeping up, but still trailing Wolf by more than 20 points.
Wolf is the choice of 38 percent of likely Democratic voters in The Morning Call/Muhlenberg College survey, leading Schwartz with 13 percent and McCord, who has 11 percent. Former state environmental secretary Katie McGinty is a distant fourth with 2 percent.
Add in undecided voters who are leaning toward one of the candidates and Wolf comes away with 42 percent, Schwartz 16 percent, McCord 14 percent and McGinty 3 percent.
The number of voters describing themselves as unsure is dwindling, but still at 33 percent.…
The most recent statewide poll, conducted by Franklin & Marshall College and ThePhiladelphia Daily News in late March, had Wolf with 33 percent of the vote to Schwartz’s 7 percent, McCord’s 6 percent and McGinty’s 4 percent, with 46 percent of voters still undecided.
The Muhlenberg College poll of 417 likely Democratic voters has a margin of error of +/-5 percentage points.
HI Sean–
Yes, it seems likely that Wolf will get this nomination. Sad it is then that he is as much to be coubnted on to continue despoiling our water and air as his predecessor. As I argued, at least Corbett is the wolf in wolf’s clothing. Tom Wolf is the wolf pretending to be the sheep–at least as far as gas drilling is concerned. The fact is that with respect to the most important issues facing the state, Wolf is as willing to be bought off to fund education as was Corbett–with dirty frack bucks:
http://thewrenchphilosleft.blogspot.com/2014/03/when-it-comes-to-fracking-mcginty.html.
Fact is, the two party system in PA is a fraud. The only real choice we have is Paul Glover of the Greens:
http://www.gpofpa.org/
Do you support single payer?
I have yet to see a single Wolf add. I have seen one for Schwartz, and soooo many for McCord and Corbett. This is NEPA, mostly on WNEP or MeTV.
Paul Glover does not even support single payer. That used to be a Green position.
I’m a big fan of Raging Chicken Press most of the time, but telling readers that the election is over is a good way to keep them from bothering to vote. I would prefer that RGP writers refrain from doing what much of mainstream media does.
Wendy……do you support single payer?
Paul Glover has been working on health care co-ops for about 20 years since he established the Ithaca Health Alliance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Health_Alliance. He has been trying to establish a similar model in Philadelphia. It is one of his priorities and was working on it before he became the Green Party candidate for Governor. The Green Party of Pennsylvania has been supporting a single payer system such as the model put forward by Healthcare4all Pa. This plan is funded by a 3% payroll tax and a 10% employer tax. However, Paul Glover claims a healthcare co-op would cost $100.00 a year as proven by his record in Ithaca.
I am sorry, but $100 per year is totally out to lunch. If the study by HealthCare4ALLPA.org shows the need for funding to be a 3% tax on income (there would be no deductibles or co-pays or insurance premiums) plus a 10% tax on employers’ payroll( most employers pay far more than this now to private insurance companies), how in the hell could a pool of money derived from a mere $100 per person support major medical treatments? Is Glover talking about treating people for sniffles and colds? C’mon man, this is not a serious candidate. By the way, what is Lt. Gov. candidate Wendy Lee in favor of—single payer?
Well the Ithaca Health Alliance has existed for nearly 20 years. They must be doing something right. They may not pay for major medical expenses, but, neither does the Affordable Care Act. Deductibles are high leaving the recipient to pay the bulk of the expense. Healthcare 4 All is a comprehensive plan covering everything.
Vote for one of your “serious” candidates and you’ll need comprehensive healthcare when you are sickened by the feacking they support.
Jay—you just proved my point. Glover does not pay for medical care, basically. And I am no defender of the privatized ACA approach. I support HealthCare4ALLPA.org Just wish Glover did, and what about Lee?
I also support the work of Healthcare4allPa. I think the plan is far better than ACA. I don’t discount Pal’s healthcare co-op idea. Like I said, they must be doing something right in Ithaca. I cannot speak for Wendy.
Jay—–Does Wendy Lee have a position paper on issues or a website with such? I am trying to learn more about her and I thought she monitored this site since she has blogged here……..
I do not believe Wendy has at this time.
That is so strange–I used to attend some local Green Party meetings years ago, and Greens were always promoters of single payer/Medicare for All. I also know Carl Romanelli fairly well. I am very disappointed to discover the changing philosophy of the Green Party. I know Wendy is very into anti-fracking and I am also against fracking. I would hope she has other issues she cares about, however. Thanks for the info.
Don’t be to disappointed. Wendy has agreed with the Green Party of Pa platform.
Platform
I. BRING HOME NATIONAL GUARD.
a. Bring home Pennsylvania’s National Guard troops from overseas by invoking a state’s right to determine the deployment of its National Guard units.
b. Ensure full medical benefits and services for all returning vets.
II. A FUTURE BUILT ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY.
a. Implement zero emissions clean Energy initiatives that will result in sustainable long-term reductions in greenhouse gas pollutants through development of wind and solar energy.
b. Focus economic development initiatives on building a “Green Economy” in PA.
c. End all use of nuclear power production in Pennsylvania.
III. CONSERVE RESOURCES AND REDRESS POLLUTION.
a. Investigate and calculate the air, ground and water pollution caused by toxics generating industry and military activities, and
b. Pursue recovery of costs for environmental damages from polluting private businesses or individuals. Reparations must be made to communities suffering such environmental and social damages.
IV. SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE – NO MORE, NO LESS.
Enact single-payer universal health care for all Pennsylvanians, state-funded and locally administered with an emphasis on the greatest possible flexibility for doctors and patients, to guarantee health care for all, alleviate the medical malpractice insurance crisis and cut costs by focusing on prevention.
V. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS, NOT CORPORATE WELFARE.
a. End KOZ (Keystone Opportunity Zone) tax breaks that are nothing more than corporate welfare that privatize profit while placing the risks on the public.
b. Instead, offer low-interest loans to local, sustainable small businesses.
c. Shift as much state purchasing as possible to in-state, small and sustainable businesses.
d. Encourage small, locally-owned businesses and especially worker-owned cooperatives.
VI. LIVING WAGE.
Raise the minimum wage to a “self-sufficiency” wage, calculated based on the cost of living on county level. Transition to this living wage over time so that small businesses in particular are able to adjust as the state economy shifts to accommodate higher wages for low-income workers.
VII. FAIR TAXATION.
a. End reliance on property taxes to pay for critical social services, particularly education.
b. Amend PA Constitution to permit a progressively graduated state income tax and implement one.
c. Raise taxes on extractive industries, such as logging, mining and drilling operations and using those taxes strictly to support reducing the consumption of such resources and supporting the development of sustainable and renewable alternatives.
VIII. PUBLIC TRANSIT AND BRIDGE REPAIR, NOT NEW HIGHWAYS.
a. Urban transit spending needs to be dramatically increased in order to best serve Pennsylvanians.
b. Transportation infrastructure must not be privatized.
IX. EQUITABLE SCHOOL FUNDING.
a. Increase state funding of school districts, along the lines proposed by GOOD SCHOOLS PA, to restore fair educational spending that does not condemn rural and urban districts to inferior educational outcomes.
b. Eliminate school district takeovers by state or municipal government or private enterprises as a threat to democracy, and support democratically elected school boards of local citizens.
X. CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
a. End the Death Penalty in Pennsylvania.
b. Establish statewide funding of Public Defenders Offices throughout the Commonwealth.
c. Create commonsense gun laws that severely restrict handgun possession in urban areas.
d. End the criminalization of the possession of small amounts of marijuana and the legalization of medical marijuana.
XI. ELECTION REFORMS.
a. Institute Instant Run-off Voting (IRV) in all single-office state-wide elections.
b. Change representation in the State Assembly to a proportional system and institute Single Transferable Voting (STV) voting to fill Assembly seats proportionally.
c. Enact same-day registration and an Election Day holiday.
d. Require voter-verified paper trail for all voting machines.
e. Establish state-funded voluntary clean elections and enact reasonable campaign spending and political contribution limits.
f. Ensure equitable ballot access across the political spectrum, in which small parties that demonstrate a modicum of support have the same ballot access as larger political parties.
g. Implement initiative and referendum processes for citizen-proposed legislation in Pennsylvania elections.
XII. GLBT MARRIAGE RIGHTS.
a. Protect sexual and gender minority communities from discrimination.
b. Amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission Act to abolish discrimination on the basis of sexual minority status.
c. Amend the family law and domestic relations statutes at Title 23 of Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes creating marriage equality in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania such that same-sex couples have the same and full set of marriage rights that heterosexual couples have.
d. Repeal the Pennsylvania Defense of Marriage act.
e. Guarantee the right of sexual minority and gender minority residents to adopt children either through first or second parent adoption.
XIII. REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE.
Support full reproductive choice, including funding for comprehensive family planning education and services, Medicaid coverage of abortion, and repeal of the Abortion Control Act.
XIV. IMMIGRATION REFORM.
Reform immigration legislation to protect immigrant populations in Pennsylvania.
XV. ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE, SMALL-SCALE, ORGANIC FARMING.
a. Protect and support Pennsylvania’s remaining family farms.
b. Abolish large-scale corporate farming.
c. Promote organic farming, sustainable toxin-free agriculture, and local produce markets.
XVI. GOVERNMENTAL TRANSPARENCY.
Make complete open records and data available to the citizenry with the goal of providing government records and data digitally on the internet.
Natural Gas Drilling & Fracking
Green Party of Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Resolution
Adopted by consensus, April 2011
Whereas Marcellus shale natural gas is not a transitional fuel, but an impediment to a clean energy policy that conserves energy and develops solar, wind, geothermal, micro hydro and other renewable technologies, and
Whereas methane (CH4) a greenhouse gas and the principal component of natural gas is more harmful than carbon dioxide (CO2), and
Whereas the Energy Act of 2005 exempted the oil & gas industry from the Safe Drinking Water Act, and
Whereas natural gas fracking results in a level of devastation on the scale of the previous oil, timber and coal exploitation of our natural heritage, and
Whereas the byproducts of the hydrofracking process include the release of radioactive materials into the environment, and
Whereas hydraulic fracturing squanders our precious water resources and poisons drinking water, private wells and public supplies, and
Whereas natural gas extraction poses dangers, including explosions, threatening those employed by the industry as well as the general public, and
Whereas Article 1, Section 27 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania states, “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people,” and
Whereas there is a total failure to regulate extractive industries including the failure to prevent illegal water withdrawals by the oil & gas industry in Western Pennsylvania, and
Whereas Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have passed ordinances calling for a ban and a moratorium, respectively,
Be it resolved that, we, citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and members of the Green Party of Pennsylvania, call for the termination and prohibition of all natural gas extraction involving the use of our Commonwealth’s water resources. We call for a ban immediately stopping all high volume, slick water, horizontal fracturing of deep shale, including exploration, in Pennsylvania and worldwide.
Be it further resolved that the Green Party of Pennsylvania believes the short term economic benefits will be dwarfed by the long term economic and environmental consequences of natural gas extraction. Any and all political and legal means must be employed to protect our environment.
In the interim, the right of local communities to protect themselves and assert their rights through local ordinance is supported by the Green Party of Pennsylvania.
http://www.gpofpa.org/fracking
And for more on why Tom Wolf is not Green candidate, please see: http://thewrenchphilosleft.blogspot.com/2014/05/chiefs-dacheux-well-pad-5.html
Wendy Lynne Lee