Same-Sex Marriage Ban Tabled

The state Senate has decided to table the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, meaning that all that time the senators wasted debating this is, well, still wasted.

House leaders said if the bill passed the Senate it would be sent to the “House State Government Committee,” which apparently not only exists but is chaired by Babette Josephs, who opposes the bill. (She’d no doubt fight extra hard because her district includes the Gayborhood.)

But Vince Fumo knows otherwise! He says the Senate would probably strip the language also banning gays from the “functional equivalent” of marriage (i.e. civil unions). “I think there were enough votes to strip that out and I think that’s what scared them,” Fumo told KYW 1060 “So they needed an excuse, and the excuse was the House. Which is fine with me, any face-saver they want is good with me.”

Fumo would, of course, let them save face while telling the radio station exactly why the bill was tabled.

Pa. Senate Derails Proposal That Would Ban Gay Marriage [KYW 1060]
Yesterday: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Out Of Committee

Same-Sex Marriage Ban Out Of Committee

A state senate committee on wasting time yesterday voted 18-8 to send the ban on same-sex marriage to the full senate.

The bill will probably pass in a vote as early as tomorrow, but the AP reports it might not matter: There’s no similar bill in the house, and chances of any bill passing there are slim with Democratic control. (But, boy, wouldn’t it be interesting to see how Speaker O’Brien votes on it!) People rallied against the bill after it went out of committee.

Notorious funnyman/lame duck state senator Vince Fumo noted his fellow lawmakers would also vote for genocide, bloodletting, a flat earth, Zeus and bronze tools.

Pa. Senate set to vote on same-sex marriage ban [AP/Philly.com]
[Photo via AP/Daylife]

Fumo Bravely Stands Up For Closed Records

Monday night, the State Senate Rules Committee approved a bill that would presume government records are open, forcing government officials to prove records aren’t public when denying records request. Currently, the state only releases white sheets of paper with “Pennsylvania is Awesome!” written on it.

But guess who voted against it?

The rules committee voted 14-1 to approve this version overhauling the records bill. Sen. Vincent Fumo, a Philadelphia Democrat, was the lone dissenting vote.

It’s okay, Vince. You could simply keep everything private by saying it’s all trade secrets related to alpaca farming or maybe the Seaport Museum, the city’s most important cultural landmark. You may remember a similar lone dissenting vote was cast by everyone’s favorite state rep last year.

Proposal would presume most records open [BCCT]

Everyone Lining Up To Run Against Fumo

A.J. at Phillymag reported last night Johnny Doc is considering a run for Vince Fumo’s State Senate seat. With (bi hottie) Anne Dicker already running alpaca cartoons and related fun anti-Fumo ads and multiple posts on Young Philly Politics saying some people you’ve never heard of should run, it could be a crowded race come primary time. Will Larry West throw his hat into the ring?

Daulerio’s source sums it up this way: If Fumo wins the primary, he could drop out after it and essentially handpick his successor. Johnny Doc could swoop in and take the senate seat from the 30-year vet and then he could have all the alpacas he wanted. If only it was Pennsylvania and not New Jersey where alpaca farming is booming, maybe everyone could get along and vacuum up alpaca hair in peace.

Also: Dammit, I missed Larry West’s auction for a signed print of a drawing of Pamela Anderson!

Update: It’s confirmed! And here’s his hilarious quote! “My family’s been living in this area for 100 years. At one time, I had 11 aunts and uncles in one house, that same house I raised my daughter.”

BREAKING: Johnny Doc Considering Run for Fumo’s Seat [The Daily Examiner]

Six-Packs At Beer Distribs; Solar-Powered Flying Cars

Raise a toast, Pennsylvanians! Thanks to a benevolent state senate committee, we now might be able to purchase six-packs at beer distributors and get up to 18 beers take-out at bars. This is a development worth pounding a few cans of Sly Fox over.

The move comes from the Pennsylvania Senate’s Senate Law and Justice Committee, and it would allow beer distributors to sell six-packs until September, and then sell in any configuration they want! Imagine: 7-packs. 11-packs. 31-packs. What a world we will soon live in.

And some state senator was really honest:

State senator John Rafferty (R-Chester and Montgomery counties), who chairs the Senate committee, says the bill is the product of months of negotiation: “There are a lot of special interests involved in this bill. There are a lot of people that wanted strictly their own fiefdoms preserved, and could care less about somebody else. We tried to look at number one, the bottom line, the consumer.”

Ha ha. It’s good to know it’s 2007 and we still have fiefdoms.

Meanwhile, New Jersey towns aren’t allowed to make people register their kegs so if they’re used for underage drinking they could get in trouble. Uhh… a victory for freedom? The proletariat will rise again?

Beer Sales in Pennsylvania Move Closer to a Makeover [KYW 1060]
Official: Towns can’t do keg registration [AP/Camden Courier-Post]

Sen.: Philadelphians Aren’t Paying Enough For SEPTA

State Senator Roger Madigan, who is from Bradford County, Pa., yesterday angrily demanded SEPTA raise its fares.

In Bradford County, all the residents have cars and drive around on roads paid for by the state and federal governments. SEPTA does plan to raise fares 11 percent on July 1 (tentatively), and will raise fares like 300 percent unless the state kicks in $100 million to close a budget gap for the cash- and quality-strapped transit agency.

Madigan, though, did say that “SEPTA has made a decision that could significantly hinder efforts to build consensus on new funding, given the fact that the legislature has clearly indicated that transit users have to be part of any funding solution.”

Get ready for $5 fares coming later this year!

Senator critical of SEPTA’s delay in raising fares [Inquirer]

State Senate Strikes Blow For Freedom

The Pennsylvania State Senate has passed legislation that would guarantee a woman the right to breastfeed her baby in public.

But that’s not all. A senator is attempting to pass a whole stack of breastfeeding bills. She also has a bill that, ah, “make[s] sure that women who have been breast feeding their children and go back to work, we want to make sure that they’re not punished at their place of work when they take a break to pump milk to bring home to their baby.” Yes! That!

And companies who aid in breastfeeding — I don’t know how this is done — might be able to get tax breaks under a third bill. Two of the greatest things in the world, together at last: Breasts and tax breaks.

Pa. Senate Passes Public Breast-Feeding Bill [KYW 1060]

Pa. Lawmaker Makes Firm Stand Against Crackers ‘N’ Beer

Yesterday, Pennsylvania lawmakers debated whether the state should allow beer sales in grocery stores. What? Oh, happy day! Surely we’ll soon be riding our hoverboards to the food store, purchasing moon soda and delicious, delicious beer.

The hearings yesterday — a joint session of the House and Senate, which means both parts of our bicameral legislature do something right once in a while — arose after a Sheetz convenience store in Altoona received a license to sell beer. It was challenged by the same people who testified at the hearing yesterday: Beer distributors. (Of course.) Distributors don’t want to lose beer sales to grocery stores, Wawas, whatever.

But everyone at the hearing agreed it’s wrong to sell beer next to milk, because… uh, I dunno.

So will we soon be able to buy a six pack at the Whole Foods or even a K-Mart? Not if House liquor control board chair Robert Donatucci has his way:

“We might want to prevent the Wal-Marts and Targets of the world [from getting licenses to sell beer],” Donatucci said. “I’m a firm believer the cashier should not be selling crackers and beer at the same time.”

Yeah! You tell ‘em, Bobby! If you want to eat crackers and beer, you gotta purchase them separately! It’s good to see a lawmaker who’s not afraid of standing up for what he believes in.

Milk, bread, eggs and … beer? [Bucks Co. Courier Times]

Pennsylvania To Finally Notify Us Of Legislators’ Names

It’s not just emergency weather week in Pennsylvania. It’s also apparently Sunshine Week and it surely will have us all saying, “Saber. ¡Es su derecho!” (Yes, the week to study emergency weather conditions and “Sunshine Week” take place at the same time. Nobody ever said this state didn’t have a sense of humor.)

Sunshine Week is the one time of the year when politicians tell us we have a right to know what they’re spending our money on. (The other 51 weeks, they go all Mark B. Cohen on us.) In Pennsylvania, which has the worst open-records laws in the country, politicians are slowly attempting to make the state more, ah, sunshine-y.

One of those is new Democratic State Rep. Tim Mahoney of Fayette County, who campaigned on improving right-to-know laws. And actually won! (Wow. The rest of the state has some amusing ideas on why you should vote for someone, instead of just how much one sees the candidate on television.)

As part of a toast to Sunshine Week, I’d like to propose this toast: “Saber. ¡Es su derecho!”

Pa. leaders begin efforts to expand open-records laws [Inquirer]
March 5: Mark B. Cohen Doesn’t Want You To Know He’s Secretly Funding Phillyblog’s Server Bills

Fumo Delivers Pre-Emptive Defense

A day before he’s expected to be indicted, state senator Vince Fumo has lobbed a pre-emptive strike at the feds. (Ahh… what a politician.) The speech took place on the Senate floor this afternoon.

Fumo explained how he’s innocent, the charges are trumped up, blah blah blah. You know how this works. He temporarily resigned from the minority chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but says he’ll be back. The indictment is expected to focus on his dealings with Citizens’ Alliance for Better Neighborhoods and will most likely allege he used millions of the charity’s money for his own political and personal benefit.

So why hold a presser a day early? Easy: It lets you go first. But he also was able to, in a traditional political tactic, kinda sorta blame the media, saying he was subject to “threats, intimidation and frequent leaks to media… intended to embarrass me.”

Only one day until the official indictment, it seems. Huzzah!

Fumo: I Am Not Guilty of These Allegations [6 ABC]
“I know in my heart I have not done anything illegal” [Inquirer]