Obamacare, Obama money, Corbett Money, and Philadelphia lobbyists

If you didn’t get to read it through, find Will Bunch’s piece in Wednesday’s Philadelphia Daily News about Gov. Corbett and the extraordinary support – by which I mean a whopping $450,000 campaign contribution – he got from the head of a gas-drilling firm back in 2004, when a Corbett won the race for state attorney general.

The contribution from Oklahoma energy executive Aubrey McClendon to Corbett, a guy he’d never met, was funnelled through the Republican State Leadership Committee, a group I wrote about last year.

The contribution raises a lot of questions neither Will or I can answer, but it’s great reading. Corbett’s press office wouldn’t answer questions either, but that’s its standard practice.

Will’s sidebar details how Corbett’s years representing the nation’s largest trash-hauling and disposal firm has been air-brushed out of his official bio.

Kudos to the Daily News for putting a solid, substantive piece on the front page.

Obamacare upheld

For those of you tracking the journey of the health care reform law to its showdown in the Supreme Court, a federal appeals court in Ohio has upheld the insurance mandate in the law. In the 2-1 decision, one of the concurring judges was appointed by George W. Bush. Read the Associated Press’ account here, the decision here.

Obama, Romney campaign here

President Obama will be in Philadelphia for a fundraiser Thursday evening at the home of Comcast executive vice president and Philly uber-player David L. Cohen. The goal for the event is reportedly $3 million, to be split between his re-election committee and the  Democratic National Committee.

But we also have word now that Mitt Romney will be in town as well. He’ll have a couple of fundraisers in center city before touring a factory in Allentown.

CLARIFICATION: Romney is holding an event in front of a closed factory in Allentown, using it to slam Obama’s jobs record. The Inquirer’s Tom Fitzgerald notes Romney has a new web ad citing the Allentown Metal Works.

Lobbying reform finds Philadelphia

Finally, a law passed last year requiring lobbyists active in Philadelphia to register and disclose what they spend is supposed to go into effect Friday, but it won’t. The city Ethics Board, which is charged with enforcing the law passed a resolution explaining that the city was slow providing funds for implementation, so the software to track the lobbyists’ disclosures isn’t ready just yet.

There are other issues. The Committee of Seventy says there are ambiguities in what activity is covered by the law, and the Philadelphia Bar Association thinks it may be unfair to practicing lawyers. You can read the Bar Association’s concerns here. You can read the Committee of Seventy’s opinion here. You can read the Ethics Board’s resolution here. And you can hear an informed discussion of the issue on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane Thursday morning at 10 a.m. on WHYY-FM. That’s 91FM on your dial, and here on the web.