News & Brews April 25, 2023
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Inky Editorial: Helen Gym ‘long on ambition, short on specifics’
The uberly-progressive-liberal Inquirer Editorial Board takes on uberly-progressive-liberal mayoral candidate Helen Gym, saying “her grandiose ideas are long on rhetoric but short on details.” Specifically, the Ed Board criticizes Gym for refusing to say how she’ll pay for her grand spending plans. This is a welcome question from the Inky, for sure. It would also be super nice if the Inquirer took the same, um, ‘inquiring’ approach when it came to other massive spending plans.
Report: Pa.’s highways rank 41st
Well, this won’t surprise anyone who spends his or her drive time dodging potholes or trying to find lane lines that are faded beyond visibility. A new report from the Reason Foundation ranks Pennsylvania “41st in the nation in highway performance and cost-effectiveness.” Among some of the specific categories ranked, we came in 42nd in rural interstate pavement condition and 39th in urban interstate pavement condition.
House committee advances election bill
Yesterday, the House State Government Committee voted on party lines for legislation that would, on the one hand, allow for pre-canvassing of ballots. On the other, however, the bill “raised concerns [among GOP lawmakers] about provisions that they feared would violate the secrecy of the ballot and would potentially allow for voters to vote twice.” While pre-canvassing has bipartisan support, former Gov. Wolf vetoed legislation that would have allowed it as the bill also strengthened voter ID requirements.
On bootleggers, Baptists, and environmental regs
The Commonwealth Foundation’s Gordon Tomb uses the “unlikely pairing” of bootleggers and Baptists to describe how environmentalists are “fleecing” Pennsylvanians. Basically, Baptists—once known for their support of alcohol prohibition—”are the environmentalists insisting that solar and wind replace coal and gas to avert a climate catastrophe. The Bootleggers include ‘green’ technologies and utilities lobbying for taxpayer subsidies and government mandates to up their profits.”
Biden announces re-election bid
On the national front, last evening, President Biden officially launched his 2024 campaign for re-election. The Inquirer reports, “The president has wide but shallow support from the party’s rank and file.” Yet, the story notes that “he’ll again need Pennsylvania Democrats to win the White House.”