Republicans: May 2009 Archives

So Tom Ridge is taking issue with Dick Cheney's assertion that President Obama has made the country less safe.

Interesting. Ridge seems to be joining Colin Powell as the increasingly assertive voice of moderate Republicanism.

I remember the term "waving the bloody shirt" from high school history -- the tendency of northern politicans to evoke the Civil War for decades after that conflict in an attempt to gain moral leverage over their southern counterparts.

It seems to me that there was a lot of waving the bloody shirt for much of this decade, but the blood was from the Sept. 11 attacks. Anyone who didn't support the Bush administration's particular brand of hawkishness on the foreign or domestic front was a squishy-soft pacifist, wallowing in self delusion as terrorists plotted their next strike.

But it seems difficult to credibly make that accusation against the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the first director of homeland security. Maybe it's me, but I can't picture either of those guys hanging out with Joan Baez, sitting around a campifire and singing "If I Had a Hammer."

Now that Democrats are done celebrating U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's defection from the GOP, they're faced with the same question Republicans have been asking for years. Will having him on board really make any difference?

That question is particularly germane where organized labor is concerned. I spoke to Clark Ruppert, president of the York-Adams Central Labor Council, after Specter first announced his party switch. Ruppert was pleased to see the Democratic majority stengthened, but at no point did he have to put down to phone to do joyous cartwheels.

Labor's always had a love-hate relationship with Specter. You can see evidence of that with the Employee Free Choice Act, which Specter actually co-sponsored in 2005, and which he's lately been saying he'll oppose.

So now that he's switched parties, will he support it to show unity with his new Democratic colleagues? Or will he oppose it to demonstrate his stated commitment to remain independent? I guess we'll see.

In the meantime, expect to see commercials like this.

As promised, here's the sound clip of state Rep. Seth Grove talking about his property tax reform proposal.

Let's face it -- property tax reform isn't the sexiest issue out there. But I probably hear more about it than any other issue in state government. It's a huge problem around here.

State Rep. Seth Grove, R-Hanover Township, recently announced that he's going to introduce some property tax reform legislation. I hope to get him on the phone to talk about it, and post the sound clip here. In the meantime, here's a news release from the House Republican caucus, outlining Grove's plan.

Here's a news release from the office of state Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus.

HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) will be holding a job fair, according to state Rep. Ron Miller (R-Springfield Township). The event will take place at PHEAA Headquarters, 1200 North Seventh Street, Harrisburg, on the following dates and times:

3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 14

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, May 15

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 16

PHEAA is hiring for entry-level Customer Service and Collections Call Center Representatives. These are full-time wage positions, paying $11.00 per hour, including full training.

PHEAA is Pennsylvania's student financial aid organization, providing the Pennsylvania State Grant Program and servicing Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and alternative student loans.

Interested job seekers must complete an application for employment prior to attending one of the sessions. This application, as well as a detailed job description, can be accessed by logging on to www.pheaaa.org/jobs, or by visiting Miller's Web site, RepMiller.com, and clicking on Career Services on the left bar.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, newly minted Democrat, paid us a visit at the York Daily Record this afternoon.

He hung around for about 45 minutes and discussed a lot of different stuff. But much of the conversation -- prepare for a major shocker here -- centered on his announcement last week that he's shifting his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat.