It’s a mystery.

Kinda hard to top this guy.

Thomas L. Garman Jr. (left) will try to do what Republicans have failed to accomplish year after year after year: unseating Democratic state Rep. Mike Sturla. The 32-year-old North Franklin Street resident, who runs a small landscaping business, said in an interview this morning he is entering the race to give voters of the 96th Legislative District a choice. “Our party in 2008 didn’t have a candidate,” Garman, a city committeeman, said. “To me that’s not really acceptable. The public deserves a debate on the issues that affect them day to day.” Garman told me he understands the task at hand; the list of Republicans who have fallen to Sturla is long: Peter Hahn; Steve Geisenberger; Steve McDonald; Ted Darcus; Tan Vo, Tony Allen, Dave Schwanger and Patrick Snyder. “I know it’s going to be an uphill battle,” Garman said. “It’s automatically an uphill battle in the city. But voters deserve a choice. I’m going to work really hard to meet and talk to them, and maybe I could pull off an upset. At this point, I’m going to start small and work toward getting my issues out.” Garman is seeking the city GOP’s endorsement.

Sturla, reached for a response, said he welcomes a challenger. “I’ve always expected a challenger. It was a pleasant surprise last time when I didn’t have one.” Sturla, who is seeking his 11th term in the state House, added: “I actually welcome the opportunity to talk about the issues. And it’s not that I don’t talk about the issues. No offense to the press, but if there’s no challenger, they usually don’t write about those issues on the front page. A campaign allows those issues to be talked about more in public. I welcome that opportunity.”

SINGLE PAYER: Voting members of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, meeting in Lancaster on Saturday, endorsed a resolution calling for passage of single-payer health care proposals — Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660, the “Family and Business Healthcare Security Act.” Chuck Pennacchio, head of Healthcare for All PA, said in a statement: “Not only does Pennsylvania now have the Democratic Party on board with the Single Payer health care for all, we also have the promised signature of our governor and the active support of Republican and Democratic leaders in both the State Senate and State House.” Tom Herman of Berks County offered the resolution to the 301 credentialed committee members meeting to endorse candidates during the two day convention. Jon Fox of Lancaster James Burn of Allegheny County seconded the motion.

OPEN PRIMARY FOR GOV: Before the balloting began, committeeman Marcel Groen of Montgomery County offered up a resolution to not endorse anyone in the four-way gubernatorial contest. The proposal was resoundingly booed. In the end state Auditor General Jack Wagner attracted the most support — but he fell four dozen votes short of the total needed for party backing. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato finished second. State Sen. Anthony Williams, a Philadelphia Democrat and 1979 Franklin & Marshall College graduate who joined the race Friday, finished third. Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel was dropped from the balloting because he received the fewest amount of votes in the first round. On the first round of balloting, Lancaster County’s seven votes broke this way: 3 for Wager, 3 for Hoeffel and 1 for Onorato. In the second round, the 3 Hoeffel votes and 1 Onorato vote switched to Wagner, given the auditor general all 7 votes from Lancaster.

SALES TAX EXPANSION? The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Gov. Ed Rendell is expected to proposal sales tax changes to pay the looming pension costs. Rendell’s pension solution “will likely involve lowering the sales tax rate by 1 or 2 percentage points — to 5 percent or even 4 percent statewide — but removing dozens of current exemptions that prevent many items from being taxed,” the paper is reporting. “The major exemptions, for food, clothing and drugs, would remain in place. The state Revenue Department has estimated the state could get up to $12 billion a year in added revenue if it removed dozens of other current exemptions.” But The Patriot-News has Rendell’s chief of staff saying: “[Rendell] has no intention of expanding the sales tax and/or reducing the rate to deal with the 2010-11 budget or the pension spike.” Rendell’s annual budget address to a joint session of the Pennsylvania House and Senate is set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The joint session of the Legislature will convene at 10 a.m. to prepare for the address.

STURLA FUNDRAISER: Our friends at Capitol Ideas are reporting the Lancaster’s own Rep. Mike Sturla is holding a Molly Brannigan’s pub on Walnut Street this morning. Admission is $500 for guests and $1,000 if you want to be a “sponsor.”

The chairman of the state Democratic Party says a rule that made its endorsement harder to get will probably prevent any of the gubernatorial candidates from being endorsed this year, The Associated Press reports. The 2004 rule changed the endorsement threshold from a simple majority vote of the Democratic State Committee to a two-thirds majority. State party chairman T.J. Rooney says that makes a gubernatorial endorsement unlikely because the vote will be divided among four candidates.

Hey, if the rule change won’t prevent an endorsement, maybe this will:

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts’ chief of staff, Gabe Neville, had this to say about Lois Herr’s challenge to the congressman to rebuke James O’Keefe: “On the day of the State of the Union, with unemployment at 10 percent, is defending ACORN really at the top of Lois Herr’s agenda? She has yet to say anything on job creation or the economy. However, she’s had plenty to say about single-payer healthcare, giving up in Afghanistan, and government-funded abortion. Now she’s defending ACORN. She might want to try out some issues that are a little more in tune with the district.”

At least U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts thought the conservative darling did three and a half months ago. The Republican lawmaker was a cosponsor of this House resolution:

Getdoc

Democrat Lois Herr, who is challenging Pitts this year, called on the lawmaker to repudiate his support of O’Keefe.

The Honorable Joseph Pitts
United States Congress
420 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Pitts:
Like almost all Americans, I was disturbed and appalled by the news yesterday that James O’Keefe and three others had been arrested by the FBI for attempting to wiretap Senator Mary Landrieu’s office in New Orleans. Sen. Landrieu is a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
As you certainly know, O’Keefe was the mastermind behind salacious “hidden-camera” tapes made at affiliates of a community organization last year. In the tapes, he posed as a pimp, accompanied by a woman posing as a prostitute, in attempts to entrap employees of ACORN. It has since been revealed that Mr. O’Keefe’s released tapes of these encounters were heavily doctored, and that his activities have been underwritten by a shadowy group of ultra-conservative funders.
According to the FBI, O’Keefe and his confederates “told a member of Senator Landrieu’s staff that they were telephone repairmen, and they requested access to the main telephone at the reception desk.” After being directed to the General Services Administration’s office in the same building, they attempted to gain access to the building’s phone closet. The felony charges against O’Keefe carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
I am certain you are aware of Mr. O’Keefe, because two months ago, you co-sponsored a House resolution (H.Res 809, http://thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.RES.809:) honoring Mr. O’Keefe for displaying “exemplary actions” and stating that he was “owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States.”
At this point, it is important to the people of Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District that you clarify your position on Mr. O’Keefe and his activities by answering the following questions:
Do you agree with the sponsor of House Resolution 809, Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX), who yesterday said yesterday that O’Keefe is still worthy of praise, despite the serious charges against him?
Do you believe H.Res 809 should be withdrawn? Do you regret or repudiate your co-sponsorship of it?
Will you condemn those such as Andrew Breitbart, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, who raised money to further O’Keefe’s activities?
Do you agree that if these charges are borne out against Mr. O’Keefe and his confederates, they constitute no less a potential breach of national security than if the perpetrators were agents of a foreign power or terrorist group?
Do you agree that if these charges are borne out against Mr. O’Keefe and his confederates, they constitute no less an assault on democratic institutions than the Watergate activities of Richard Nixon’s Administration in the 1970s?
Rep. Pitts, I believe you are an honorable man and a patriot who loves his country. Please join me in condemning in the strongest possible terms any attempt to subvert any part of our government.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Lois Herr, PA-16

In an op-ed to this newspaper, Lancaster County Democratic Committee Chairman Bruce Beardsley says the message from Republican Scott Brown’s victory is that President Barack Obama has not yet governed with the strength voters expected of him.

So, yes, Democrat Martha Coakley was an incredibly horrible candidate and
ran an unbelievable bad campaign. But, this was Massachusetts, the bluest
of blue states, where any Democrat should have won.  So, yes, there are
lessons here for Democrats and President Obama.

The “change” the American people (at least, the 30% of the American middle
that determines most of our elections) wanted and expected by electing
Barack Obama was the fixing of a broken political system – a system that is
too hyper-partisan and is dominated by big-money special interests.  The
2008 election wasn’t ideological (it rarely is) and wasn’t driven primarily
by policy positions. The voters wanted strong Presidential leadership to
reform a process that was no longer working for the interests of the broad
middle class.

What the American people wanted was a President who generally stuck to his
core principals and would “call out” members of Congress of both parties
(and Independents – that means you, Joe Leiberman) which were receiving
huge special interest money and voting accordingly. They wanted a
President who would loudly and consistently challenge a blindly partisan
strategy of pure obstructionism. And, most of all, they wanted a President
taking charge, leading and explaining the way forward, and getting things
done.

Instead, President Obama was seen to put the inmates in charge of the
asylum by deferring to congressional leadership, the architects of the
broken system, to write the stimulus and health reform legislation. Worse
yet, he made his own “secret” deals with the special interests. The
administration focused exclusively on getting a bill, any bill, instead of
attacking the process.

[Read more →]

As you already know, the Pennsylvania Democrats hold their endorsement convention in Lancaster on Feb. 6. U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democrat who’s trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, said it’d be great if he won his party endorsement. But Sestak’s clearly not counting on it — nor will he call it quits if the Dems don’t back him that weekend. “If I get the endorsement, great,” Sestak said this afternoon at the Lancaster Elks Lodge on North Duke Street. “But I ended up being the anti-establishment candidate. I’m going to continue on. It’s not even a question. I’m staying in all the way.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts’ re-election campaign raised $89,189 and spent $49,565 from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, according to its latest finance report. About 54 percent of the contributions, or $48,039, came from individuals. The remaining 46 percent, or $41,150, came from political-action committees, according to the report. The Pitts campaign had $221,817 on hand at the beginning of the year. The deadline for filing the reports is Jan. 31. Those for Democrats Lois Herr and John McClure had not yet been filed. McClure said this morning he had not done any fundraising in the reporting period and would not be filing a report. His campaign also has not filed a statement of organization with the FEC. The campaign treasurer said she would be filing the statement with the signatures to get McClure on the May ballot.

Here is a map of the Pitts campaign’s contributions:

View Contributions to U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts’ campaign in a larger map