Radio PA Roundtable 03.15.13
On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul sit down with Governor Tom Corbett to discuss his slumping poll numbers and the state of the economy.
This week’s show also features an explanation of the “Pay-to-Play” scandal at the Turnpike that’s resulted in criminal charges, and we’ll hear Harrisburg Bishop Joseph McFadden’s thoughts on Pope Francis.
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.
Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:
[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable03-15-13.mp3]Is it Time for a Name Change at the DPW?
A broad-based coalition is forming in the push to change the name of Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare. A letter of support delivered to the General Assembly last week was signed by five former governors: George Leader, Dick Thornburgh, Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker and Ed Rendell. It begins by stating, “Words matter. Names matter. Stigma lasts.”
State Senator Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery) is joining forces with Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) to introduce legislation that would change the name of the DPW to Department of Human Services. “Everyone assumes when you see the Department of Public Welfare that that is all they do. In honesty they do a lot more than just welfare,” Mensch explains. “It’s a department that doesn’t deserve a name that creates bias.”
None of the 67-counties uses the term “welfare” for its human services agency, and Mensch believes Pennsylvania is the only state government that still refers to a Department of Public Welfare.
“It really has a huge presence in our state and I think it would be appropriate to have a meaningful discussion around what that department does – calling it by its rightful name, which I believe should be Department of Human Services.”
The Mensch/Costa bill already has 20-cosponsors in the Senate and it hasn’t even been introduced yet. An identical bill being introduced in the House has 82-cosponsors. To save taxpayer money, Mensch suggests a graduate changeover whereby all existing supplies are exhausted before new ones are ordered with the new name.
The Campaign for What Works has also sponsored an online petition to help garner public support for the name change.
Charges Reveal Pay-to-Play History at Turnpike
A years-long grand jury investigation finds that in order to get big Pennsylvania Turnpike contracts… you had to pay-to-play. Eight men now face criminal charges: one former lawmaker, five former Turnpike Commission officials and two businessmen. The biggest name in the bunch is former state Senate Democratic Leader Bob Mellow, who’s already serving a federal prison term on corruption charges. Others charged include former Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier and former Turnpike Commissioner Mitchell Rubin.
The charges include: bribery, bid-rigging, corruption and theft.
“According to the charges, those who pay-to-play have sought and been rewarded with multi-million dollar Turnpike contracts and the public has lost untold millions of dollars,” says Attorney General Kathleen Kane who announced the grand jury’s findings on Wednesday.
Kane says the Turnpike created its own fiefdom, whereby officials forced vendors to make hefty contributions to the political campaigns of their choosing.
Joining Kane in the Capitol Media Center was State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan, who encourages the public not to paint all state employees & officials with the same brush of corruption. “There were numerous state employees who tried to stand up for the right things to do,” Noonan says. “They were terminated. They received poor evaluations and they were isolated. They knew something was wrong but they couldn’t do anything about it.”
‘The right thing’ is what the new CEO says the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is doing today. In a statement, Mark Compton says he’s troubled by today’s news:
“If charges against former Turnpike employees are indeed proven, we certainly cannot – and will not – defend that. But I can say these actions definitely don’t represent the hard-working men and women who keep our road open and safe for customers….” Compton’s statement goes on to point to a number of accountability reforms enacted at the Turnpike in recent years.
All eight defendants will be prosecuted in Dauphin County; the investigation is ongoing.
Poll Suggests Gov. Corbett Vulnerable in 2014
Just 39% of voters approve of the job Governor Tom Corbett is doing, according to Wednesday’s Quinnipiac Poll, while 49% disapprove. The governor’s Quinnipiac Poll numbers have been worse – 35% approval in June 2013 – but not by much.
Pollster Tim Malloy also took an early look at potential General Election matchups for Corbett in 2014. “If the election were held today, six of the possible Democratic contenders, their races with the governor would be too close to call,” Malloy explains, “and he would in fact lose convincingly to Representative Joe Sestak and he would lose as well to Allyson Schwartz.”
Former US Congressman Joe Sestak is currently leading Corbett 47 – 38, while current US Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz leads Corbett 42 – 39. Neither has officially entered the race.
However Corbett can at least hang his hat on the fact that he’s polling better than the General Assembly. The legislature’s approval numbers stand at 28 – 58. Malloy says, “It’s a tough time to be a politician.”