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Pat Toomey's early-bird TV spots tag
The Lehigh Valley congressman hopes to unseat four-term incumbent Arlen Specter in the GOP primary and went on the offensive in the 30- and 60-second commercials.
"Are you tired of seeing Republicans in Washington vote with liberal Democrats?" one of the spots ask. "For 22 long years, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter has compiled one of the most liberal records of any Republican senator."
Toomey's staff did not immediately disclose the markets in which the commercials are appearing or how long they would be on.
If it seems a bit early to be worried about next year's primary before Independence Day, consider that a little known congressman from Erie began running commercials in 1993 in anticipation of the 1994 gubernatorial race. That strategy worked pretty well for a fellow named Tom Ridge.
RULES FOR LAWMAKERS. Most of us are taught at an early age that stealing is wrong. But the folks in the Senate apparently need reminded.
Reuters reported last week that the Senate Rules Committee moved closer to warning lawmakers not to remove from the U.S. Captiol any furniture, paintings or other historical items.
"We are not supposed to steal from the Capitol," Republican Don Nickles, of Oklahoma, said wryly after the panel sent the proposed rule to the full Senate for consideration.
"We're not supposed to, but it has been a regular practice for about 150 years," Mississippi Republican Trent Lott added.
Senate aides explained that lawmakers often manage to take home a piece of furniture for a discounted price after it has been declared surplus. Other times, items just seem to disappear.
Connecticut Democrat Christopher Dodd proposed the new rule that specifically informs lawmakers they may not remove any art and other listed historical items.
Lott applauded the measure and predicted the full Senate would approve it, saying, "There has been no real restraint. ... We want to make this what we think it is -- a living, working museum of American history."
Lott, who is considering proposing annual inventories, conceded, "Much of the stuff is not worth having. The stuff in our offices is early junk, it's not antiques."
Much of the "good stuff," Lott added, is already gone.
BUT WOULD HE EAT A TOFU BURGER? Many Pennsylvania residents are concerned about the health of Gov. Ed Rendell, long known for his atrocious eating habits. Now is their chance to do something about it.
Gene Stilp, an attorney, former state House aide and Harrisburg public relations executive, is collecting healthy recipes for inclusion in a "Recipes for Rendell" cookbook he hopes to publish. The cookbook crusade will coincide with an effort to encourage Rendell to lose 67 pounds over the next year -- one pound for each Pennsylvania county.
"The governor's understanding of healthy eating is like slow nutritional suicide," Stilp said in a release last week. "A cheesesteak is tasty now and then, but Gov. Rendell has a loaded cheesesteak pointed right at his heart. It's time to pry that loaded cheesesteak out of his hand."
Sound like an unreachable goal? To lose 67 pounds in a year, the governor would have to shed a mere 1.28 pounds per week, Stilp points out.
Care to contribute to the effort? Submit your healthiest recipes to recipes4rendell@aol.com.
CONTROL FREAKS. Rendell's top aides have clamped down on lower-level administration officials freely interacting with members of the General Assembly.
A recent memo from Rendell Chief of Staff John Estey and Secretary for Legislative Affairs Steve Crawford circulating in Harrisburg last week clarifies the administration's role on legislative policy in mind-numbing detail.
"During the early days of this legislative session, it was important to allow new administration officials and members of the General Assembly to meet and interact in an informal and casual manner," the message stated. "As we enter the very substantive period of this legislative session, it is critical that legislative policy be coordinated and uniform."
What follows is a painstakingly thorough instruction on how to deal with legislators and pending bills that essentially boils down to this: If any member of the administration wants to meet with any legislator on pretty much any issue, Crawford or a deputy secretary better know about it first.
TOO MUCH STARCH IN HIS ... SHIRTS. A columnist at one of America's newspapers -- we'll call him Dennis -- is searching for a new dry cleaner.
He apparently threw a hissy fit after recently entering his now-former dry cleaner on Beverly Road in Mt. Lebanon and discovering the business was engaged in a promotion with a competing newspaper. The dry cleaner was wrapping clothes in plastic adorned with the Tribune-Review logo and handing out free copies of the paper.
According to one witness, Dennis went into a five-minute tirade that ended with his vowing never to return to the establishment. The witness said that the man waiting in line behind him told the attendant that if the Post-Gazette was going to employ people who behave in such a manner he would never read the newspaper again. He happily accepted his free copy of the Trib, and we sincerely hope he is happy with the conversion.
TAXING PROBLEMS. Some owners of hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions are upset that they didn't get a cut of the proceeds from Westmoreland County's 3 percent hotel room tax, which has generated $600,000 in revenue.
One owner called to complain that "insiders" had unfair advantage in landing grant money, by serving either as directors of the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau or as members of the committee that reviewed applications.
Not so, said Commissioner Tom Balya, a member of that committee.
He said Ann Nemenic, director of sales and marketing at Mountain View Inn in Unity Township and a director of the visitors bureau, was on the review committee but left the room when votes were taken on the applications concerning her employer or the bureau. Even though Mountain View received a small grant, a much larger grant application was rejected, Balya said.
Balya defended other grants that were awarded to for-profit as well as nonprofit groups.
He said $10,300 was awarded to Rolling Rock Brewery so the beermaker could begin public tours of the plant; its parent company, Interbrew, doesn't want to spend any money on the Latrobe plant, according to Balya.
"That's the way it was presented to me," he said. "Lots and lots of people want to tour the brewery when the Steelers open training camp at St. Vincent."
Balya said the committee sorted through lots of worthwhile -- and some not so worthwhile -- projects related to tourism.
One bed and breakfast wanted the tax money to install hot tubs. The Westmoreland Trust wanted money for the Palace Theatre in Greensburg. Another applicant wanted money to transform an old house into a restaurant.
One complaining hotelier noted that West Newton received a total of $35,000 for the borough's downtown district, the nearby Renaissance Festival and the Youghiogheny Trail -- even though there's not one hotel in West Newton.
Balya said there just wasn't enough money to fund every deserving project.
"I thought it was a pretty good process," he said. "There were some good projects that missed the cut that we were unable to do."
