I just want to say this for the record. I am gooood!

At about 8:30 on Wednesday night, I was sitting on the steps outside the Dover fire hall, waiting for the 27 Republican committee members inside to pick their candidate for the 196th district's House of Representatives race. Brock Parker from the York Dispatch was there, too.

We were discussing the likeliness of the respective candidates. I told Brock, "My money's on Seth Grove."

Just then, we saw a couple of people exiting the hall. They told us that they were done inside. We entered, and saw a bunch of people giving congratulatory handshakes to ... sure enough ... Seth Grove.

Man, how do I do it?

Actually, it didn't take a genius to make that prediction. Evidently.

Seth Grove is the chief of staff for state Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township, and had been involved in various Republican camapigns for the past 10 years. This despite the fact that he's only 28.

Like York County Republican Chairman Peck Foster told me and Brock afterward, Seth's got an interesting combination of youth and experience. The former can be an asset, because it takes years for lawmakers in Harrisburg to get to a level of seniority where they're in charge of committees -- at which point they can wield some serious influence.

A lot of people like complaining about the "career politicians" in Harrisburg, which I find kind of naive.

Yes, people are right to distrust a culture of complacency, where elected officials are relaxed in their assurance that they will be re-elected every term no matter what they do. But I'm equally distrustful of the knee-jerk distrust based on the assumption that any government official -- much less an experienced one -- is inherently suspect. I consider blind trust and blind distrust to be equally worthless philosophies.

Anyway, Seth was up against five other wanna-be Republican state representatives. It was up to Republican committee members to select them, because the state primary already took place in April.

At the beginning of July, incumbent state Rep. Bev Mackereth, R-Spring Grove, announced that she isn't running for re-election in November because she's accepting a job as York County's director of human resources.

When I interviewed Grove after Wednesday night's vote, he impressed me with his grasp on some of the issues. Pretty much everybody who runs for state office in this region has to mention ballooning property taxes, and pledge to do something about them. Many propose raising the state sales or income taxes to offset them.

But Seth raised an interesting point that I hadn't heard before.

He pointed out that in the House of Representatives, about 80 members come from growing areas such as York County, where property taxes are the biggest burden. The remaining 123 are from districts where that's not a problem.

Seth pointed out that the majority of lawmakers are unlikely to approve a plan that will raise sales or income taxes for their constituents in order to solve a problem that doesn't exist in their districts. So lawmakers who want property tax reform may have to seek some other solution.

It's certainly a thorny issue, but Seth shows admirable pragmatism in raising it.

He said he doesn't intend to take it easy where campaigning is concerned, which is also pragmatic of him.

County Democrats didn't have a candidate to run in that district for the April primary, so no Democrat's name will be on the ballot. Democratic school board member Rob McIlvaine has since announced that he will run as a write-in candidate.

Write-in candidates typically face an uphill struggle, to say nothing of Democrats in a predominantly Republican district such as the 196th. But Rob is part of the slate of school board candidates who triumphed over the "intelligent design" backers during Dover's legal scrap about the teaching of evolution. As such, he's well-known locally and internationally.

And as Seth pointed out Wednesday night, the county's new, computerized voting machines make it easier to submit a write-in ballot.

The next few months should be busy ones in the 196th.

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YORK - Senator Mike Waugh (R-York), Chairman of the Senate Firefighters and Emergency Services Caucus, will welcome nearly 30 fire chiefs from across the Commonwealth at the Pennsylvania Career Fire Chief's Association quarterly meeting being held in York on Wednesday, July 23rd at 9am.

At the invitation of Chief John Senft of the York City Department of Fire and Rescue Services, Waugh will provide opening remarks for the event being held at Fire Station #9 and will discuss fire service related legislation currently before the General Assembly.

"It is always an honor to join my fellow firefighters, and I look forward to this opportunity to speak with firefighters from across Pennsylvania and share with them the efforts we're putting forth in Harrisburg to improve fire services," said Waugh, a former assistant fire chief with Shrewsbury Volunteer Fire Company.

The Association is comprised of fire chiefs from stations across the state that employ career, or paid, firefighters, as does York City. Areas of the Commonwealth that will be represented are: Erie, Butler, Oil City, Easton, and Bethlehem, among others.

Media are welcome to attend the opening portion of the meeting, during which Waugh will also participate in a question and answer session with the fire chiefs regarding state legislative efforts. It is estimated this will last until 9:30 or 10am, after which an opportunity will be given for media to speak to the fire chiefs before they continue with the rest of their meeting.

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I just had to share this, because it cracked me up.

Tonight, I've been talking to some members of York County's state House of Representatives delegation about the bonusgate scandal. (The story's going to run later this week. Keep an eye out for it, because it's going to be really, really good, like pretty much all of my stories.)

So far, all of the people indicted have been Democrats. But even the Republican state representatives aren't happy about this, because they say that everybody tends to get painted with one brush. A lot of people just don't understand distinctions such as one caucus being involved, but not another.

And yeah, that's true. I've seen it plenty of times myself. Members of the public will show up at township council meetings wanting to know what council members are doing about the war in Iraq. People tend to think of government at the local, state and federal level as one big, amorphous chunk.

So here's what cracked me up. On Saturday night, I was watching a pay-per-view mixed martial arts event called "Affliction: Banned." (For more coverage on that, be sure to see my friend Ted Czech's excellent blog, "MMA Explosion," on the York Daily Record Website.)

One of the fighters, Matt Lindland, is running for the Oregon state House of Representatives. Apparently he's already won the Republican primary, now he has to win over a Democrat in November.

At one point, one of the announcers made a reference to Lindland serving in the U.S. Congress. Either he got some wrong information or -- like many people -- he doesn't understand the distinction between the state and federal House of Representatives.

As far as Lindland goes, I give him credit for campaigning and training for professional MMA events at the same time. They're both, strenuous, time-consuming pursuits. I guess the main difference is whether you kicked in the face in an actual or metaphorical sense.

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I'm back ... again.

I took some more vacation time. Frankly, I was hoping things would be slow last week to give me time to get readjusted to being at work. No such luck.

Unbeknownst to me, "bonusgate" was breaking back home even as I enroute to West Virginia for my camping trip. That's right -- the scandal is so big, it even got a "gate" suffix.

In case you're just returning from a trip yourself and haven't heard about it, a bunch of Democrats from the state House of Representatives are in deep doo-doo.

Twelve people have been indicted so far, including former Democratic House whip Mike Veon. The grand jury reports in question are pretty lengthy, but the gist of it is that the Democrats in question used public funds (aka: "taxpayer dollars") to finance campaigns.

That's a big no-no, from both a legal and ethical perspective.

OK, by necessity this blog is more about analysis that opinion. I can't be praising or trashing the people I cover in one forum, then claiming to be neutral in another. It just doesn't work that way.

Still, I think I'm safe in saying that the implications here are really disturbing, if the allegations are true.

Look, I'm no Pollyanna. Sometimes, I get irritated when people complain endlessly about negative campaigning during election season. Yes, it would be nice if candidates only talked about what they intend to do instead of criticizing their opponents' records. It would also be nice if I had a pet flying pony from The Magical Land of Gumdrop Trees. Ain't gonna happen.

Politics is a bloodsport that gets particular brutal around campaign time. That's just the nature of the game.

But consider the implications here. The crucial thing about tax money is that you have to pay it. If you don't, somebody comes around and arrests you.

The reason we tolerate this arrangement, ostensibly, is because it's necessary. If it wasn't, it would simply be extortion.

That's why it's vitally important for the government -- at every level and in every aspect of its operations -- to be fully accountable to the public. Members of the public give great power to their government officials by entrusting them with that money.

If government officials use that money for the purpose of keeping themselves in power, then take steps to conceal their actions, it represents an appalling and frightening abuse of that trust.

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Here's another press release from the office of state Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township.

State Rep. Keith Gillespie (R-Hellam), a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) and paramedic, was pleased to see the General Assembly pass and send to Gov. Ed Rendell's desk a bill on Friday that would provide tax breaks for emergency responders.

"We are seeing a significant decline in the number of volunteer firefighter, rescue and
emergency medical personnel," said Gillespie. "In addition to rewarding current emergency responders, this legislation will hopefully offer further incentive to individuals considering joining local response teams."

House Bill 377 includes a provision for a credit of $100 to be applied against the state
personal income tax liability of constituents who are active with a volunteer ambulance service or volunteer fire or rescue company. A point system will be established to set annual requirements for certification of active volunteers.

"The point system will take into account the level of involvement as an emergency
responder in measuring eligibility for the credit," Gillespie added. "Those individuals who are certified benefit from the tax break and the citizens they serve in turn benefit from a more experienced and involved public servant available in their time of need."

Gillespie is chairman of the House Firefighters and Emergency Services Caucus.
Before running for office, he spent 32 years in the health care field and became one of the first certified paramedics in Pennsylvania through a national pilot program in 1972.

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Gov. Ed Rendell will be in York tomorrow afternoon. Here's the full press release from the office of state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester:

It is an exciting time for advocates and concerned citizens who have worked so hard to promote the advancement of alternative energy production here in Pennsylvania. The state's 2008-09 budget makes a real commitment to investing in alternative energy and much of this success can be attributed to your efforts.

I would like to thank you for your interest and participation in making Pennsylvania a leader in alternative energy production and invite you to join me as Gov. Ed Rendell officially signs into law my proposal that will invest $650 million to help fund business and consumer projects that develop clean, green energy.

The event will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 9 at the Codo Building, 241 N. George St. in York.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday as we celebrate a major victory in developing alternative energy projects here in the Keystone State.

As always, feel free to contact me or visit my Web page for updates and other information regarding this issue. If you do not get a response from the contact page within 24 hours, you can also e-mail me directly at edepasquale@pahouse.net.

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A lot of York County residents voted for cartoon characters in the April primary.

Recently, I stopped by the York County Elections and Voter Registration office to check the write-in results. I didn't bother to count them, but the cartoon references seemed to number in the hundreds.

Disney, Warner Brothers and Hanna Barbera were all represented, with votes for Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny and Boo Boo.

Off-hand, I'd estimate that the cartoon character written in most frequently was Mickey Mouse, which kind of offended my sensibilities. I wasn't offended by any inherent disrespect for the democratic process, so much as the lack of creativity. Mickey Mouse? Come on, try harder!

Actually, I didn't see any inherent disrespect for the democratic process at all. The fact that these people showed up to vote in the primary is, in itself, evidence of their civic involvement.

The sheer number of write-ins that clearly weren't serious puzzled me at first. Assuming nobody lowered the voting age to 8 while I wasn't looking, why would so many people go through the trouble of showing up at polling stations just to cast a vote for Foghorn Leghorn?

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense -- especially once I started looking at party registration.

For the presidential race, most of the write-ins were from Republicans. Since their party's candidate for president was basically decided by the April primary, I assume that most of them were there to vote in other races, such as state representative or state senator.

Since they were at the polls anyway, why not cast a presidential vote for Quickdraw McGraw? He's probably a gun rights supporter.

For Democrats, it was the exact opposite. Very few of them went the facetious route for the presidential race, where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were still in hot competition. But for statehouse races, where a number of Republicans ran unopposed, they had a field day.

From that perspective, it was pretty interesting to see what people wrote.

Many chose real-life celebrities, such as Brad Pitt, Chuck Berry and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Others chose political figures, living or dead, whom they presumably wished were running, such as Colin Powell, Dennis Kucinich, Condoleeza Rice, John Edwards and Ronald Reagan.

Some went with political commentators. I saw plenty of votes for Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, John Stewart and Steven Colbert.

Some were amusing: "Moe Syslak," "George Costanza."

Some were vulgar: Use your imagination.

And some were just disturbing: "Adolf Hitler."

I found one subcategory oddly poignant. It basically consisted of two- or three-word editorials. "No Pay Raise." "Stop the War." "Time for Change." "Someone Else Please."

I found them poignant because they had a certain message-in-a-bottle quality. Who did the voters think would see these messages? Party officials? An office worker in the Pennsylvania Department of State? A newspaper reporter who's got nothing better to do with his afternoon?

I assume they took the trouble of writing those words in the hopes that somehow, even in a small way, they could express their opinion and someone would read it.

Casting a vote in the hope that somehow, somewhere, your opinion will matter. I guess when you get down to it, that's what democracy is about.

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Wow. Last week was an interesting one.

Yeah, the state legislature was getting down to the nitty gritty on the 2008-2009 budget, which was a pretty big deal in itself. But it was interesting for me because I ended up covering not one, but two de facto resignations by prominent local government officials.

The first one, I was expecting. I got a press release that state Rep. Bev Mackereth, R-Spring Grove, was going to make a big announcement in the York County Commissioners meeting room.

I'd heard some rumblings that Mackereth was going to replace Judith Bassett, who resigned several months ago as county human services director. I called her the night before the press conference and asked if she wanted to confirm it on the record. She apologetically declined, saying she didn't want to defy the county commissioners, who'd asked her to hold off on breaking the big news before the press conference.

That's understandable, I guess. You don't want to start a new job by disobeying your new bosses.

Technically, I don't know whether to call it a resignation or not. She's not actually quitting her post, since intends to finish out her term, which expires at the end of this year. She simply will not run for re-election in November.

Now, it's up to Republican committee members from her district to find a replacement, since the primary is already over.

No Democrat ran in the April primary. So her successor might have a clear shot at that seat, unless a Democrat runs a write-in campaign or an independent or third-party member mounts a challenge. And even then, her challenger would have an uphill fight in the predominantly Republican 196th District.

The other de facto resignation I definitely was not expecting.

During the summer months, a lot of people in the newsroom take vacation time, and we frequently fill in on each other's beats. So on Wednesday morning, the day after the Mackereth press conference, my editors asked if I'd cover York Mayor John Brenner's monthly press conference for our city government reporter.

For whatever reason, summer months tend to be kind of slow for government news stories, and I figured Brenner probably wouldn't have anything particularly dramatic to say. Boy, was I wrong!

He announced a few upcoming municipal projects, including a new pamphlet for "York's Downtown Action Plan," and a drive to identify and deal with blighted properties. He urged residents to take safety precautions if they give sparklers to kids for the July 4th holiday.

Then he announced that he won't run for re-election next year.

Frankly, all of this left me feeling a little freaked out. I'd show up at politicians' press conferences, and they'd announce their imminent departures.

So I couldn't help but wonder -- is it me? Something I said? My cologne? What?

Like I alluded to earlier, I don't ordinarily cover York city government. I'll let people more knowledgeable than myself on that topic analyze the implications of Brenner's departure.

Where Mackereth is concerned, her announcement echoes one that state Rep. Steve Nickol, R-Hanover, made late last year about his intention not to run again. Both Nickol and Mackereth said that a major factor in their decisions was the Republican status as minority party in the state House of Representatives since the 2006 elections. It's simply harder to get things done, they said.

I mentioned that to a colleague, who was skeptical. He pointed out that the Democratic majority consists of a single seat in the House of Representatives, meaning that the Republicans could well retake the chamber in November. He believes that they're just tired of getting grief over the 2005 legislative pay raise, and don't want to admit it.

To be honest, I'm not convinced. As politicians go, Mackereth and Nickol have always been pretty forthcoming.

I suspect it has more to do with the reluctance of many politicians to leave office before they've finished their terms, because they feel they'd be letting down the people who elected them. Both Nickol and Mackereth have told me they feel that way.

So if the election doesn't go the Republicans' way in November, they'd both feel locked in for two more years.

Also, Mackereth told me that she wouldn't be doing this if the county hadn't offered her the job.

I stopped by her office in the State Capitol Thursday to interview her for a profile that's running tomorrow. She was telling me about some of the situations she's been contending with since finding herself in the minority party.

She said that the chairman in one of her committees -- she wouldn't say which one -- orders her to put her hand down when she tries to ask a question or voice her opinion. I don't know if any Republicans did that to Democrats when they were the majority, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Assuming Mackereth is telling the truth, and I have no reason to believe that she isn't, that's disturbing on a number of levels. Rudeness aside, it doesn't say much for that lawmaker's respect for the democratic process.

Mackereth is there not only as a member of the Republican caucus, but as a representative of everybody who lives in her district. By telling her to shut up, this lawmaker is essentially telling every Pennsylvanian who lives in the 196th district -- Republican and Democrat -- that they have no right to a voice in their state government.

So while Mackereth admits to some reluctance in walking away from state government, I guess I can understand why she'd want to walk away.

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