Our Philadelphia

Pennsylvania's state budget has been late for seven years in a row, culminating in last year's 101-day stalemate that left many Philadelphia-area nonprofits without funding to continue vital social services, and no way of knowing when funding might be restored. Why do our state legislators have such a hard time finding common ground? One reason for the partisan gridlock in Harrisburg is our system of partisan redistricting, in which districts are drawn to be heavily Democratic or heavily Republican. Such districts tend to produce hyper-partisans who, surprise, surprise, have a hard time getting along with members of the other party. You could even say that our current method ...

The skyrocketing cost of congressional campaigns forces potential candidates to ask a difficult question: do I have sufficient financial backing from wealthy donors and corporate PACs necessary to run a competitive race? The need to fundraise fundamentally mars the purpose of running for office as a representative of voters, instead breeding an ever more entrenched relationship between incumbency and the approval of the relative few able to max out checks and bundle large contributions.

A better alternative exists. In Maine, Connecticut, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and North Carolina, public campaign financing systems have allowed almost 400 state legislators, judges, and statewide officials to run for office without taking a single ...

Philadelphia is no longer the biggest city in the country that does not require lobbyists to register and report the issues on which they are lobbying. Last month, City Council passed a lobbyist registration bill that includes a number of model provisions, including a prohibition on lobbyists knowingly making false statements to legislators, and a ban on "bell-ringing" or the practice of encourage a legislator to introduce a bill so that a lobbyist can be paid to oppose it. Council's final lobbying bill also includes a number of provisions suggested by Common Cause: a requirement that lobbyists report the numbers of the bill(s) on which they have been ...

On March 5, City Council Majority Leader Marian Tasco, along with Councilman Bill Green, introduced multifaceted ethics legislation that Green estimates addresses 80% of the recommendations set forth by the Mayor’s Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform, discussed here yesterday in regards to lobbying regulation and oversight. The Inquirer followed up on March 8 with an editorial entitled “Don’t toy with reform,” that quickly cut to the chase: “City Council's surprise new enthusiasm for plugging ethical loopholes in the city's rule book could come at a price that's not worth paying if it undermines efforts to clean up City Hall.”

-A restricted Inspector ...

The issue of a soda tax in Philadelphia has quickly become a central dispute in city politics. Notably, citizens and the media have increasingly commented on the soda tax as an issue that will draw lobbyists to City Hall. The Inquirer, in a March 5 article by Patrick Kerkstra, confirmed that longtime Philadelphia political insider Lana Felton-Ghee had been “hired by Pepsi Bottling Group in Northeast Philadelphia to lobby against the sugary-drinks tax, making her just one of what will surely be many lobbyists hired to bring the proposal down.” (“Nutter presents 2011 budget with sugar tax, trash fee”) Later in the month, in reporting on lobbyists hired by PepsiCo ...

In mid-February, state senator John Rafferty (R-44th, Chester, Montgomery, Berks) proposed a bill to reform Pennsylvania's beer distribution laws. The bill's central purpose is to allow consumers to buy six packs at grocery and convenience stores rather than be limited to purchasing cases from dedicated beer distributors. Rafferty's press release regarding the bills can be found here and a PDF overview of his bill here.

Many convenience and grocery store owners are standing behind Rafferty in his call for reform to what he calls an "antiquated" system, while representatives of beer distributors fear the bill would hurt the businesses that currently sell most of the beer in ...