Let’s ask state Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr., who returned to the House floor for the first time this week since being diagnosed with acute pneumonia in February. The Northumberland County Democrat, at one point, had slipped into a coma for a week and was reportedly near death. On his first day back, Wednesday, Belfanti told his colleagues: “I really did miss you all and I do appreciate and my family appreciates your outpouring of understanding while I was on the road to a six-foot plot as opposed to getting back here. I can say that waking up and coming here ranks slightly over being in a box.”
… Mount Joy Township, according to Census Bureau estimates made public this week. Since 2000, the largely rural northwestern county municipality has grown faster than any of the county’s 59 other municipalities, by 31 percent or nearly 2,500 people.
Rounding out the Top 10 fastest growing municipalities here are: East Donegal Township; Adamstown Borough; Ephrata Township; West Lampeter Township; Manor Township; Rapho Township; Penn Township; Mountville Borough and East Earl Township.
Here’s a list of all 60 Lancaster County municipalities. You’ll notice Lancaster City and many boroughs are losing population.
Came across this little nugget, an October story from The Associated Press, in researching previous state budget votes (emphasis is mine):
The deteriorating economy and rising costs for such big-ticket items as health care and prisons is leading the state government on a path to a massive deficit that will require a tax increase to erase, two senior state legislators said Monday.
The two state senators, Democrat Vincent J. Fumo of Philadelphia and Republican Gibson E. Armstrong of Refton, said the deficit will be larger than any in the past three decades. They also said that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to make up the difference by cutting costs alone.
“I honestly don’t know where you cut,” Fumo told reporters after a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the state budget. “We’re down to the bone.”
Armstrong, the committee chairman, added: “I don’t know of any program up here that we can get going the other way.”
The new guard Senate Republicans insist you can close the gap by cutting.
New Era staffer Bernie Harris confirming what we reported on Thursday:
Lancaster County elections officials confirmed with an official count that former Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall received enough write-in votes on Tuesday to be placed on the November general election ballot as the Republican nominee. Smithgall needed 100 votes. He received 135 or more, depending on how they are counted, according to elections officials. There were 96 votes for Charlie Smithgall, 39 for Charles Smithgall and about a dozen other votes for some variation or misspelling of Smithgall’s name.
You may remember our little caption contest from last week, involving this picture of Republican Democrat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.
It’s a 1991 Lancaster Newspapers photo of Specter inspecting the former low-grade rail line in southern Lancaster County. At right is former county Commissioner Bob Brenneman. To the left is former county Administrator Sherri Heller. New Era staffer Tim Buckwalter, who runs the Flashback Lancaster blog, came across the photo recently. His idea for a caption:” U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has been performing a political balancing act in Pennsylvania for decades.”
Here are the entries we’ve gotten so far:
Steve McDonald: “I guess Arlen Knows when to jump off the track when the train is coming.”
Goldilocks from TalkBack: “He may be jumping off one track onto another track with a train coming in the other direction.”
HazMatMan from TalkBack: “Come one, come all! Step right up!! See the Spectacular Specter as he walks, without a net, The Rail of Death - a harrowing balancing act like no other! Watch as he fights the shift in the political breeze which, forcing him to lean too far to the left or too far to the right, could foster his sudden fall from the top to the rocky ground below. Bring the wife, bring the kiddies! Yes, ladies and gents! Come see if the Spectacular Specter can reach the end of line before he runs out of steam!”
Jeff Eberly, via e-mail: “Ah yes, you can RAILROAD anything through, if you balance your your career on both sides of the aisle.”
Virginia Anspach, via e-mail: “Straddling the middle, as usual.”
Bob Wireback, via Facebook: “Even back then he couldn’t choose which side of the track he should be on.”
Joe Hainthaler, via Facebook: “Low grades, trains, Anita Hill, hah, I laugh in the face of danger, political or otherwise, Arlen Specter seems to be saying as he walks the rail line in southern Lancaster County.”
So here’s the question: Whose caption is the best? Vote below.
The Senate last night stripped Snarlin‘ of his seniority on committees, a week after the 29-year veteran of the chamber quit the Republican Party to join the Democrats, reports The Washington Post. Those crazy Democrats. Earlier in the day, Specter got a standing ovation from the Senate Democratic Caucus with which he lunched for the first time. Meantime, Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak sounds a bit more irritated by Specter’s “power grab” in Pennsylvania during a radio interview on Fox’s Brian and The Judge show. Sestak said he’s more inclined to run against Snarlin’ in the primary. Should he? The Progressive Change Campaign Committee wants to know your opinion. Meantime, Douglas W. Kmiec, a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, says the Republican Party is going to miss the senior senator’s “prudence.” Josh Marshall wonders if Specter was kidding when he said he was supporting Norm Coleman. And then there’s Tom Ridge: Pennsylvania’s former governor is reportedly weighing a run in the GOP primary for Specter’s seat. Gil says that ain’t gonna happen, and I think he’s right about that — but for a different reason: Ridge knows Specter well (Ridge, in endorsing Specter in 1996, said this: “He is as tough and untiring a campaigner as Pennsylvania’s ever seen and one of the brightest senators that we’ve ever seen…”). Charlie Crystle is still baffled by all the joy over Specter’s defection.
A sampling of the feedback I’ve gotten about Wednesday’s story on U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party.
“Tom, In the small and narrow-minded world that you live in, I understand it’s hard for you to comprehend why Senator Specter decided to switch parties. So allow me to lay it out for you. In 1980, when Arlen was first elected to the senate, the Republican party was relatively close to the center. It leaned only slightly to the right. I know Republicans like to hold Reagan up as if he is God, but the truth is Reagan was centered, as was most of your party. But now, 29 years later, the base and the leaders of the Republican party are so far to the right it’s nearly off the charts. People like Senator Graham from SC, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann from MN, and other Republican leaders are so out of touch with the American people they’re being left behind when it comes to improving America and our future. Senator Specter understands this. He never left his Republican principles, the Republicans left him. He has proven for the past 29 years that he is an independent minded person and he follows his heart when it comes to his votes. The departure of Senator Specter from the GOP means they now have one less man of integrity, and the Democrats have one more. If the Republicans wish to continue to have a say in America’s future, they better get back to the middle quick. Otherwise, their place in American history will sit right next to the Whig Party.” — Kevin Hutchinson
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“I was fortunate enough to read your article that is posted on Lancasteronline.com. Occasionally I have to read news that is written from the bias and republican right to remind myself of how selfish and greedy some people actually are in this world. Mr. Specter is more than welcome to represent team Liberal, because you Republicans seem to only care about the flat screen in your living room and the Benz in your drive way. Since when has it become American to not care about anyone but self ? Since when has it become Un-American to care that the starving child is well fed and can go to the doctor when she has a cough? People like you and your darling Sarah Palin are the reason that the Republican party is in disarray. I was born and raised in Lancaster city, and I can tell you that your Republican bed-mate, Mr. Smithgall has never cared or done anything to help the people in the community. He only cared about causes that were profitable to him. Who cares what he thinks. Rick Gray is in now and is doing a great job. He fights for the city workers and the unions. For you to take an opinion from the conservative side is like asking George Bush for advise on fixing the economy. If you need to better understand the condition of the impoverished community and the help that it desperately needs, check out my book, “Escaping Mr. Charlie - Writings from My Journal.” — Roger J. Rudolph
A new feature detailing what Lancaster County’s representative in the U.S. House, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, says and does in Washington, D.C.
For the week of April 27-May 1, Pitts:
THURSDAY: Gave President Barack Obama bad marks on the House floor. “Madam Speaker, yesterday marked President Obama’s 100th day in office. In that short time, the Obama administration has managed to launch a war on critical pro-life and pro-family policies. As a result, foreign organizations that promote and perform abortions are eligible for U.S. taxpayer family planning money that has been increased to $545 million a year this year. Life-destroying research will be eligible for more taxpayer dollars. Medical professionals’ rights to practice according to their consciences will be under threat. Foreign organizations will be allowed to receive Federal tax dollars despite support for coercive abortion policies like forced abortion, forced sterilization, and the UNFPA in China. Contentious organizations like Planned Parenthood will be granted massive amounts of hardworking American tax dollars. Such actions certainly contradict the President’s pledge to find common ground with pro-life Americans. As the old adage goes, ‘Actions speak louder than words.’ Yesterday was a sad day for America’s unborn and for those who would like to protect them.”
THURSDAY: Voted against The Credit Card Holders’ Bill of Rights, which passed the House 357-70. The bill would prohibit so-called double-cycle billing and retroactive rate hikes and would prevent companies from giving credit cards to anyone under 18. If they become law, the new House provisions won’t take effect for a year, except for a requirement that customers get 45 days’ notice before their interest rates are increased. That would take effect in 90 days.
WEDNESDAY: Talked about debt on the House floor. “Madam Speaker, Debt Day is the day on which the government runs out of money in a given year and all of the government spending for the rest of the year is borrowed money. For 2009, Debt Day fell on April 26, this past Sunday. This is an astonishingly early day in the year to run out of money. Last year, it was August 5. So in 4 months, this Congress and this administration has shattered all previous records for debt levels, moving Debt Day up in the calendar over 3 months from last year. President Obama and this Congress make the Bush deficit look trivial. Friends, this is the most valuable and expensive credit card in history, a Member of Congress voting card. This Congress has taken out their credit cards and saddled our children and grandchildren with debt, mortgaging their future. Since the first of the year we’ve spent $350 billion in TARP, billions in auto bailouts, $787 billion in stimulus, $410 billion in omnibus, $3.5 trillion in the budget–mostly borrowed money–all of this debt dumped on future generations.”
WEDNESDAY: Spoke and voted against the federal hate-crimes bill on the floor. “Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1913, the hate crimes legislation. “This bill would be more appropriately termed the ‘thought crimes act,’ as it seeks to criminalize certain types of thoughts. Our legal structure was established to punish actions, not thoughts or beliefs, and this bill would set a dangerous precedent. It will threaten our most basic right to free speech established under the First Amendment. Religious groups who hold certain convictions based on their faith could, in fact, be targeted by this law. In Sweden, a pastor was convicted by a trial court and sentenced to jail time for a hate crime after preaching a sermon that discussed biblical views of homosexuality. And in New York, the State hate crimes laws were used to justify taking down billboards on sexual immorality that a local pastor had paid to post. This legislation seeks to create categories of citizens who are either more or less protected under the law depending on what category they fall into. This framework flies in the face of one of the most fundamental principles of our justice system. Chiseled in stone across the front of the Supreme Court building are the words ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’ This means that all citizens, regardless of sexual identity or anything else, are to receive equal protection from the law. I support this basic principle that has long guided our Nation’s system of justice. But this bill undermines that principle. It seeks to establish different groups of citizens with different levels of protection under the law. And the bottom line is that this legislation simply isn’t necessary. If someone commits a violent crime, they should be punished to the full extent of the law regardless of who the victim is. I urge you to preserve equal justice under the law and oppose H.R. 1913.”
TUESDAY: Criticized U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party. “I’m deeply disappointed that Senator Specter would choose to align himself with so many of the irresponsible policies we are seeing the Democrats attempting to implement in Washington. From a trillion dollar energy tax, to government-run healthcare, to a $3.6 trillion budget, and deficit spending as far as the eye can see, I am saddened that Senator Specter has chosen to be a part of the party that has brought us these kinds of irresponsible policies.”
ISEL RUSHBO really the de facto leader of the Republican Party, as some Democrats suggest? Nah. At least not according to Republican voters in Pennsylvania. No, the picture is a lot bleaker than that. Who is steering the ship of the GOP these days? Apparently, GOP voters don’t have a clue. When asked who they believe are the party’s most influential members, 50 percent of registered Republicans in this state said: “We don’t know.”
Rush Limbaugh? He gets only 3 percent of the vote. Pretty paltry when you consider that 5 percent say no one’s guiding the ship. In fact, the party’s own presidential candidate last year, John McCain, tied with Newt Gingrich for the lead — with a measly 9 percent, Franklin & Marshall College’s latest poll found.
“This does illustrate the difficulty the Republican Party has in trying to figure out who its leaders are, and where it goes,” said G. Terry Madonna, the poll director. “This is a classic illustration of a party that doesn’t have the presidency, that doesn’t have a set of nationwide figures who appear ready to lead the party,” said Madonna.
Rounding out the list below McCain and Gingrich are: Sarah Palin with 4 percent; Arlen Specter (yes, that Arlen Specter), Mitt Romney and Limbaugh, each with 3 percent. This if funny: Michael Steele — who really is chairman of the national party — gets 2 percent. Mike Huckabee, Glenn Beck, Pat Buchanan, Bobby Jindal, George Bush, Tom Ridge, Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell each get only 1 percent. Another 8 percent responded that the most influential member of their party is “other” … without saying who that other is.
* * *
CHRIS MATTHEWS, who had considered running for U.S. Senate, tells it like it is: “I don’t want to be a toady of a political party and when you join these damn political parties, no matter which one it is, you end up buying the blue plate special, you gotta buy card check, you gotta buy trade restrictions, you gotta do everything they want. You’ve got to eat it. And I didn’t want to eat it. Now Arlen is willing to eat it. This guy is willing to do anything to keep that Senate seat.”
* * *
U.S. SECRETARY OR DEFENSE ROBERT M. GATES quietly slipped into Lancaster County last weekend. He attended the wedding of Vanessa Dziuba, a 1997 Catholic High and 2001 Franklin & Marshall grad, to Seattle native Bryant Wilkie, our sources tell us. The event was held Saturday at the Best Western Eden Resort & Suites in Manheim Township. Gates arrived, with Secret Service, at the Eden Road facility around 2 p.m., general manager Mark Clossey confirmed. He was early for the nuptial, so took a guest room and stopped by Garfield’s, one of the Eden’s eateries, for a drink. Later he attended the wedding, held in the resort’s grand ballroom, and left about 10 p.m., shortly after it ended, Clossey said. “He enjoyed his time in Lancaster,” said Clossey. “It was a lovely wedding. It was very low-key. I thought it was very nice.” The attention was on the bride and groom despite the presence of Secret Service agents, he said.
* * *
Somebody has been distributing Charlie Smithgall for Mayor flyers across parts of the city again. One of our sources dropped off a fresh copy this week. Supporters are trying to orchestrate a write-in campaign for the former two-term mayor in next month’s primary. Smithgall says he has no idea who’s behind the movement, but has guessed the effort is pretty small. The draft-Smithgall campaign must get at least 250 write-in votes for their candidate in the May 19 Republican primary for his name to appear on the November ballot for Lancaster mayor. There’s no Republican on the primary ballot, leaving Democratic Mayor Rick Gray potentially unopposed in the fall. Smithgall, who is 63, has said he might consider running if his name is to appear on the ballot. But I get the sense he understands how monumental of a challenge beating Gray would be.
Let’s ask state Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr., who returned to the House floor for the first time this week since being diagnosed with acute pneumonia in February. The Northumberland County Democrat, at one point, had slipped into a coma for a week and was reportedly near death. On his first day back, Wednesday, Belfanti told his colleagues: “I really did miss you all and I do appreciate and my family appreciates your outpouring of understanding while I was on the road to a six-foot plot as opposed to getting back here. I can say that waking up and coming here ranks slightly over being in a box.”
The deteriorating economy and rising costs for such big-ticket items as health care and prisons is leading the state government on a path to a massive deficit that will require a tax increase to erase, two senior state legislators said Monday.
It’s a 1991 Lancaster Newspapers photo of Specter inspecting the former low-grade rail line in southern Lancaster County. At right is former county Commissioner Bob Brenneman. To the left is former county Administrator Sherri Heller. New Era staffer Tim Buckwalter, who runs the 
“Tom, In the small and narrow-minded world that you live in, I understand it’s hard for you to comprehend why Senator Specter decided to switch parties. So allow me to lay it out for you. In 1980, when Arlen was first elected to the senate, the Republican party was relatively close to the center. It leaned only slightly to the right. I know Republicans like to hold Reagan up as if he is God, but the truth is Reagan was centered, as was most of your party. But now, 29 years later, the base and the leaders of the Republican party are so far to the right it’s nearly off the charts. People like Senator Graham from SC, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann from MN, and other Republican leaders are so out of touch with the American people they’re being left behind when it comes to improving America and our future. Senator Specter understands this. He never left his Republican principles, the Republicans left him. He has proven for the past 29 years that he is an independent minded person and he follows his heart when it comes to his votes. The departure of Senator Specter from the GOP means they now have one less man of integrity, and the Democrats have one more. If the Republicans wish to continue to have a say in America’s future, they better get back to the middle quick. Otherwise, their place in American history will sit right next to the Whig Party.” — Kevin Hutchinson
IS EL RUSHBO really the de facto leader of the Republican Party, as some Democrats suggest? Nah. At least not according to Republican voters in Pennsylvania. No, the picture is a lot bleaker than that. Who is steering the ship of the GOP these days? Apparently, GOP voters don’t have a clue. When asked who they believe are the party’s most influential members, 50 percent of registered Republicans in this state said: “We don’t know.”
CHRIS MATTHEWS, who had considered running for U.S. Senate, tells it like it is: “I don’t want to be a toady of a political party and when you join these damn political parties, no matter which one it is, you end up buying the blue plate special, you gotta buy card check, you gotta buy trade restrictions, you gotta do everything they want. You’ve got to eat it. And I didn’t want to eat it. Now Arlen is willing to eat it. This guy is willing to do anything to keep that Senate seat.” 
U.S. SECRETARY OR DEFENSE ROBERT M. GATES quietly slipped into Lancaster County last weekend. He attended the wedding of Vanessa Dziuba, a 1997 Catholic High and 2001 Franklin & Marshall grad, to Seattle native Bryant Wilkie, our sources tell us. The event was held Saturday at the Best Western Eden Resort & Suites in Manheim Township. Gates arrived, with Secret Service, at the Eden Road facility around 2 p.m., general manager Mark Clossey confirmed. He was early for the nuptial, so took a guest room and stopped by Garfield’s, one of the Eden’s eateries, for a drink. Later he attended the wedding, held in the resort’s grand ballroom, and left about 10 p.m., shortly after it ended, Clossey said. “He enjoyed his time in Lancaster,” said Clossey. “It was a lovely wedding. It was very low-key. I thought it was very nice.” The attention was on the bride and groom despite the presence of Secret Service agents, he said.
Somebody has been distributing Charlie Smithgall for Mayor flyers across parts of the city again. One of our sources dropped off a fresh copy this week. Supporters are trying to orchestrate a write-in campaign for the former two-term mayor in next month’s primary. Smithgall says he has no idea who’s behind the movement, but has guessed the effort is pretty small. The draft-Smithgall campaign must get at least 250 write-in votes for their candidate in the May 19 Republican primary for his name to appear on the November ballot for Lancaster mayor. There’s no Republican on the primary ballot, leaving Democratic Mayor Rick Gray potentially unopposed in the fall. Smithgall, who is 63, has said he might consider running if his name is to appear on the ballot. But I get the sense he understands how monumental of a challenge beating Gray would be.
