You have to give it to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Not only does he deny any wrong-doing in handing out no-bid contracts in Harrisburg, he defends himself by telling WHYY’s Marty Moss-Coane that his administration steered a contract to a bidder he preferred while he was Philadelphia’s mayor.
Here’s what he said on Radio Times:
When I [...]

A judge yesterday denied fomer state Senator Vince Fumo’s request for a delay in sentencing. Prosecutors say the 66 year old  he could face anywhere from 21-27 years in prison.  Fumo’s attorneys will argue for less time and say they needed more time to prepare their arguments.
Fumo was one the most powerful politicians in Pennsylvania [...]

Heard in the Hall reports that Severino Verna passed away over the weekend at the age of 78. He had suffered from a stroke three years ago. This thursday is City Council’s last meeting before the summer break.  Majority Leader Marian Tasco will fill in for the Council president for this session.  Here’s an excerpt [...]

Next month, the State of Indiana will outlaw “sham retirements” in which a public employee will retire for a short period and then return to work. This practice allows the workers to begin collecting their monthly pension and get their full salary. Here’s an excerpt from The Times newspaper in Munster, Indiana.
A new state law, [...]

Democratic Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak says he’s personally made the decision to challenge Senator Arlen Specter for the Democratic nomination for Senate next year. Talking Points Memo broke the news yesterday and put this video clip up of Sestak speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
If Sestak is in, this promises to be a mega-money U.S. Senate [...]

What did she say? That pretty much sums up local reaction to a comment Anna Verna made about why a really high sales tax in Philly could be a good thing.
“The surrounding counties would be the beneficiary of the sales tax (hike), because if you live in Philadelphia and have to buy a large item, [...]

Thanks to Will Bunch for posting this video to his Attytood blog this morning. If you haven’t been following this story, the controversy is that John Yoo, who was the legal architect for President Bush’s “enhanced interrogation” program, is a paid commentary writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Many critics of the Bush Administration think that [...]

Conventional wisdom suggested that Seth Williams was the favorite going in to the Democratic primary, but with no public polls to act as a compass, it really seemed like the win could go to anyone of the candidates. That feeling was reinforced when Daniel McCaffery (man with the TV $$$ ads) led in the election [...]

The fact that an incumbent won his party’s nomination should be no surprise to anyone. But I have to admit that I thought Brett Mandel ran an energetic campaign one would have thought would have translated into more votes for him. So, What happened? Did Brett go too far in his claim that City Controller [...]

I’ve been spending the past 30 minutes looking at every local political website and we’re in holding pattern. Just waiting for the polls to close. 3 minutes and counting. Here are some of the race’s we’ll be tracking tonight for you.
AP-PA-Philly-Glance-Sum,0088
(AP) 05-19-09 14:15,,

Controller Philadelphia Dem - Primary
0 of 1,678 precincts - 0 percent
Alan Butkovitz (i) [...]