News & Brews February 21, 2025
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Shapiro gets a Trump appointment
Once upon a time, Gov. Josh Shapiro said President Trump was an existential threat to democracy. Now, Shapiro has accepted a Trump appointment. The Inquirer reports that on Wednesday, President Trump appointed Shapiro “to serve on a little-known panel alongside other governors to strengthen partnerships between states and the federal government.” The Council of Governors will include five Democrat governors and five Republican governors and, among other things, will coordinate disaster responses. In a statement, Shapiro’s spokesperson said the governor “looks forward to this opportunity to represent Pennsylvania and collaborate with leaders in both parties on key security and emergency response issues.”
IBEW on the hook for Johnny Doc
Former Philly union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty may be in prison, but the union he led is on the hook for his unethical behavior. IBEW 98 has agreed to pay nearly $25,000 in penalties to the Philadelphia Board of Ethics due to “Dougherty’s failure to have registered as a lobbyist as he and the organization he directed sought to influence government officials between 2014 and 2016,” the Inquirer reports. Throughout his years leading IBEW 98, Johnny Doc directed tens of millions of dollars to candidates for office, mostly Democrats. His lobbying efforts included “his attempts to influence legislation regarding the towing industry, sweetened beverage tax, or Philadelphia Parking Authority.”
Pa. Auditor General calls for cyber charter funding changes
Following an audit of five of Pennsylvania’s 14 public cyber charter schools, Auditor General Tim DeFoor announced that the audit showed that “from 2020 to 2023, they legally increased revenues by $425 million and reserves by 144%, due in part to an outdated funding formula that does not use actual instruction costs to determine tuition, set guidelines for spending or set limits for cyber charter school reserve fund.” But the audit failed to mention that traditional public schools hold about $6.8 billion in reserve funds. And while cyber enrollment has seen an increase, traditional public schools have seen their enrollments decline, all while getting more funding. Meanwhile, Gov. Shapiro jumped on the audit as ammo in his anti-school-choice call to cut funding for public cyber charter students.
Highlights of yesterday’s Senate budget hearings
Yesterday, the Pa. Senate Appropriations Committee continued its budget hearings, this time hearing from the Departments of State and Transportation. You can catch up on key points from those hearings here. Separately, the Center Square reports that one topic of discussion was early voting, which Pennsylvania technically does not have in the same way that many other states have. In the House, budget hearings continue today, and you can watch the live streams here.
Pa. Supreme Court’s future at stake this year
Spotlight PA looks at this year’s judicial elections, in which “[c]ontrol of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is on the ballot … with three Democratic justices up for retention elections.” These elections are typically quiet affairs, but “Republican operatives, who have chafed at the Democratic-majority court’s decisions for a decade, say that with a flip within reach, they’re getting ready for an expensive political fight.” In a memo, the Republican State Leadership Committee said its Judicial Fairness Initiative has “already committed to spending seven-figures in 2025 and raising even more resources is necessary to win and could make a decade-long impact.” And Democrats are already “sending out fundraising emails highlighting the races.”