News & Brews December 18, 2024
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Campaign funds, secretive nonprofit pay for Shapiro’s sports tickets
Spotlight PA reports that last year, the secretive non-profit Team PA spent a least $12,000 on sports tickets for Gov. Josh Shapiro. Team PA “manages the Pennsylvania Growth Partnership fund, which raises money to promote the governor — and by extension, the commonwealth and its economic health — on the national and international stages.” It does not disclose its donors. “Shapiro’s camp has insisted that the governor has done nothing wrong by accepting tickets from Team PA or political donors, including a lobbyist for a gaming industry at the center of a messy political fight. But good-government advocates have previously argued that Shapiro is violating his own ban on taking gifts from people with business before the government. They say third parties financing Shapiro and other policymakers’ attendance at pricey events is problematic no matter how it happens.”
Counties want SCOTUS to rule on mail-in ballots
And the mail-in ballot saga continues. The election boards of Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Allegheny Counties have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania cannot be disqualified on those grounds. Of course, our state law requires that ballots be dated. And our state Supreme Court just before the election chastised a lower court for ruling otherwise and ordered in no uncertain terms that undated ballots should not be counted in this past election. (The court, however, did not rule on the merits of the case.) The Delaware Valley Journal reports, “It isn’t known when the U.S. Supreme Court could decide on whether to take up the case.” (Relatedly, check out this op-ed on how lawmakers should “give Shapiro the election reform he wants.”)
Who will replace departing state Sen. Ryan Aument?
Republican state Sen. Ryan Aument is resigning his seat to become Senator-elect Dave McCormick’s State Director. The LNP reports that on the Republican side, as of now just one candidate is “known to be lobbying committee members for their support” to run in the yet-to-be-scheduled special election. That candidate is Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, a former U.S. Army Captain and Lancaster County prosecutor. State Rep. Mindy Fee, who was also in the mix, has said she’s not interested in running for the seat. State Rep. Brett Miller is also reportedly considering running, according to the LNP. On the Democrat side, “No Democrats have announced their intention to run for the seat, but committee chair Tom O’Brien said last week that the party would have a candidate.”
17 doctors issued 132,000 medical marijuana cards in Pa.
Spotlight PA reports that in 2022, just a handful of doctors in Pa.—17 to be exact—”issued more than 132,000 Pennsylvania medical marijuana certifications combined.” Each of these doctors issued more than 5,000 certifications. In total, this “accounts for nearly one-third of the total number issued in the state that year.” Further, “Pennsylvania health department data show one doctor issued roughly 14,500 medical marijuana certifications in 2021 — which averages out to about 40 per day.” The story notes, “The findings have already spurred calls for greater oversight of physicians and potential changes to the state’s medical marijuana law. The data have also raised concerns among some medical professionals about the ability of doctors to provide appropriate care to several thousand patients a year.”
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans hasn’t voted since May
After U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (Philadelphia) suffered what he emphasized was a “minor” stroke in May, he said he expected “to be back voting in Washington in about six weeks.” Now, seven months later, it turns out he is still not back. The Inquirer reports that “following his stroke, Evans has not been recorded as voting on any roll call votes since May 8.” What’s more, in October, while up for re-election, he told the Inquirer he’d be back in November. Now, he says he’ll be returning in January. We’ll see.