News & Brews January 14 2022
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McCormick officially enters U.S. Senate GOP primary
Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick has officially entered the race for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. The AP reports, “McCormick signaled he would target Biden’s economic and foreign policies, as well as left-wing ‘woke’ culture.” The primary promises to be heated, with more than a dozen candidates running, including former Lt. Gov. nominee Jeff Bartos, former U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands, celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz, and more.
Mastriano endorses Lt. Gov. running mate
Following Democrat Josh Shapiro’s somewhat unusual step of endorsing a Lt. Gov. running mate (generally, the two run separately for the primary and join forces only in the General Election), Republican Doug Mastriano has endorsed Teddy Daniels for lieutenant governor. At Mastriano’s kickoff rally last Saturday, Daniels announced his candidacy for Congress, but on Wednesday, he switched to lieutenant governor. Daniels has been openly critical of fellow Republicans, showing little interest in working with them to achieve policy goals. Instead, he said, “If we can’t make them see the light, we’ll make them feel the heat and that’s what we’re going to do there.”
Johnny Doc’s conviction ‘reveals big labor’s political machines’
The Capitol Research Center (which, incidentally, does some great investigative work), took a look at union political influence in the wake of former Philly labor leader Johnny Doc’s conviction on conspiracy charges last fall. Read the piece here.
GOP Senator aims to expand school choice during Covid
Republican Sen. Ryan Aument (Lancaster County) has introduced legislation (SB 1015) that would use money Pennsylvania is receiving through the American Rescue Plan Act to establish Education Savings Accounts to provide parents options if their assigned public school is not working for their child. Aument’s press release on the bill notes, “Eligible parents would be authorized to use money transferred into an education savings account to offset costs associated with educational alternatives to their public school which could include services such as tutors, at-home instructional content, tuition, and testing.”
Could Dems’ redistricting strategy backfire?
POLITICO reports that some Pennsylvania Democrats are ‘fuming’ over the court case filed by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee challenging our congressional map as unconstitutional and asking the court to take over the redistricting process. On Monday, the liberal state Supreme Court declined to take up the case (scroll down for more on that), leaving it in the conservative Commonwealth Court’s hands for now, and some Dems are “panning the strategy that got them there.” Read the story here.
Op-Ed: The Covid context the Wolf administration isn’t giving
Government transparency shouldn’t be difficult. For well over a year, the Wolf administration (and other government entities) have given “shoddy and misleading data” when it comes to Covid. With states like NY and NJ now giving clearer data on hospitalizations “for Covid,” vs. “with Covid,” yours truly has an op-ed in Broad + Liberty asking when the Wolf administration will do the same.
PA AFL-CIO endorses Shapiro for governor
Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro picked up another government union endorsement as the state AFL-CIO’s executive council unanimously backed him for governor. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as Shapiro consistently sides with government unions.