Free Republic

Ed Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania as well as former mayor of Philadelphia, said that progressive Democrats should support moderate Democrats such as Conor Lamb, the Democratic candidate in the Tuesday special election in Pennsylvania for an open House seat. "Conor Lamb is a lesson to us as a party. Conor Lamb ran as a conservative Democrat, certainly a moderate.

CONCORD, N.C. — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell warned Democrats today that the Republican attack alleging that President Barack Obama gutted the welfare work requirement is taking hold. "It’s starting to resonate," he told the Maryland delegation at a breakfast. "It’s starting to affect blue-collar white voters.” Rendell predicted that pushing back on the widely criticized attack will be a central component of the last Democratic president's speech. "I think the man that will push back on it will be the man that pushed for it and signed it — President Bill Clinton," Rendell said, "but he can't do it...

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell decried federal lawmakers for failing to pass a permanent ban on assault weapons, such as the one used in Friday’s deadly Colorado movie theater shooting. Rendell said it was an “act of cowardice by the Congress” not to renew the ban, which expired in 2004, and blamed lawmakers for being too “terrified” of the National Rife Association, which has lobbied against the ban, to actually do it. “We’re terrified of the NRA. We Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. Everyone is scared of the NRA,” Rendell said Friday on MSNBC. “There are some things...

Rendells tell friends they are separating HARRISBURG -- Their marriage survived years of speculation about Ed Rendell's never-confirmed affairs, but today -- 20 days after the former governor left office -- he and U.S. Circuit Judge Marjorie O. Rendell told friends they are separating. The news came in a five-sentence email sent at 4:08 p.m. and signed "Ed and Midge." The Rendells told recipients that the split is amicable, that they will remain friends and that they "will not find it awkward or uncomfortable" to be invited to the same social events. The Rendells have been married for about 40...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pennsylvania's Democratic governor says that "wackos" are taking over the Republican Party in Congress. Gov. Ed Rendell made his observation Wednesday as he introduced Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine at an event in Philadelphia to rally Democrats for the November midterm elections. Rendell says the GOP "is a party that's slowly but surely being taken over by wackos" who are "obsessed" with President Barack Obama's American citizenship and believe the unemployed refuse to work.

A curve ball thrown by Luzerne County on Monday could jeopardize a baseball stadium renovation plan put forward by Gov. Ed Rendell last month. Luzerne County commissioners filed a lawsuit against Lackawanna County and the Lackawanna County Multi-Purpose Stadium Authority to enforce their belief that Luzerne is entitled to half of the "gross proceeds" of any sale of the triple-A baseball franchise. While Lackawanna County does not comment on litigation, it has previously indicated an October 1986 agreement entitles Luzerne County to "net proceeds," or rather, the profits after Lackawanna County deducts almost $14 million it has put into the...

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY- Perhaps unaware our cameras had followed him out of a meeting room on Wednesday morning, Governor Ed Rendell proceeded to tell Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees President Kristen Rose, "This TV station doesn't get it, about spending the $20 million. But I think I gave good answers." A Rendell spokesman said a station reporter likely didn't understand the economical impact a new stadium would have. The complex issues surrounding reported deals investigating the possibility of a new stadium bubbled to the surface last week at a stadium authority meeting. Claims that local funding would come from the sale of...

Gov. Ed Rendell pledged Thursday to provide up to $20 million in state funds to finance up to half the cost of repairs at Lackawanna County Stadium. Lackawanna County commissioners declined to comment on Rendell’s statement or how they would foot the rest of the bill, estimates of which have ranged from $13 million to $30 million, but Luzerne County commissioners made it clear Friday, Lackawanna will need to look elsewhere for help. Luzerne will not fund the project. Lackawanna County Commissioner Mike Washo said Friday that he was aware of the governor’s statements, but that the commissioners have decided...

On Hannity just now, Ed Rendell said he was in talks with Rahm Emanuel about wanting Sestak not to run against Specter. Hannity cut him off while he was in the process of admitting another job offer to someone against Santorum. I can't believe Sean would just cut him off like that. Oops!

Gov. Rendell says he did not know his transportation department had a 35-person unit that dealt exclusively with legislators' requests until he read about it in Monday's grand jury report. And now that he knows about the unit, Rendell is disbanding it. "A unit like that should never have existed," he said Tuesday. "It's inappropriate." A state investigating grand jury singled out the unit for special criticism in a scathing report on legislative corruption and waste. The "constituent services" unit within the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is part of a network of state employees whose only jobs are to get...

Most national Democrats have been careful to tread lightly around the tea party for fear of provoking its activists’ wrath. Not Ed Rendell. “There is no movement,” Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor told POLITICO when asked why in recent months he has used appearances at rallies and on television to assert that the tea party movement is hyped, extreme and lacks a basic understanding of how government works. “The media – and not just the conservative media, the mainstream media – has made the tea party guys out to be an impactful movement, but they aren’t,” he said asserting tea party activists...

Up to 11,000 Pennsylvanians could benefit from low-interest home loans under a $1.2 billion state package announced Tuesday that is meant to stimulate the housing market. ''To kick-start the housing recovery we need to repair the damage of the past few years and again make it possible for qualified homebuyers to get loans,'' Gov. Ed Rendell said in announcing the package.

DANVILLE — State officials seem to have lots of money to make their offices more comfortable, but claim there isn’t enough to meet their legal obligations to counties, the Montour County commissioners say. The commissioners are trying to force state lawmakers to pay 65 percent of District Attorney Robert Buehner’s salary as required by the state law that made the prosecutor’s position full-time. Montour County is already owed about $200,000, they say. Officials of other counties have voiced similar complaints. During a recent trip to Harrisburg to notify state officials that Montour County is suing them for their share of...

MILTON — A Republican lawmaker and a school superintendent are still arguing over whether it was appropriate for the Milton district to host Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s Sunday morning press conference a month ago. The dispute between state Sen. John Gordner and Superintendent William A. Clark came to light Tuesday night during a work session of the Milton school board, when Clark said he and the politician had a 12-minute conversation that ended with neither giving ground. Contacted Wednesday, Gordner said Rendell’s visit to Milton was purely political in nature. The state senator said Rendell has been visiting schools in...

Note to Gov. Rendell: When trying to negotiate a final budget with legislative leaders, it’s perhaps not a good thing to utter publicly that you have daydreamed about killing a roomful of them. You might think it, governor. Just don’t say it out loud. But he did just that this morning. Rendell told reporters that he was frustrated with the way the conference committee of legislative leaders charged with finalizing a budget bill was progressing. The initial two committee meetings were held in public with Democrats and Republicans spending most of the time bickering about procedure and making little if...

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday that much of the outrage being demonstrated at town halls across the country comes from so-called birthers, whom he described as “absolutely nuts.” Responding to a question on the fury demonstrated at numerous town halls, the governor asserted that “many of these people are birthers.” “The birthers are a perfect slice of these people who have lost their rationality and they have become obsessed with certain things, and that obsession is hurting the democratic process,” Rendell said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” referring to the conspiracy theorists who believe President Barack Obama...

Dear Governor Rendell: I noted with interest that your current approval rating stands at just 39 percent — the lowest point in your career. Despite denying my repeated requests for a one-on-one interview, I nonetheless offer my thoughts as to why you have fallen out of favor with so many Pennsylvanians. Conflicts Of Interest First and foremost, the citizens of the Keystone State are fed up with what they see as huge conflicts of interest permeating every level of your Administration, with you being the focal point of many. The appearance of a governor showing favoritism and special treatment to...

A Pennsylvania Turnpike spokesman calls it a "fork in the road," but it might be a giant financial pothole that PennDOT is approaching. The turnpike yesterday transferred $225 million to the state for highway projects and public transit, the first of four payments scheduled for the fiscal year under Act 44, the transportation funding law enacted in 2007. The $900 million in annual payments will shrink to $450 million in the fiscal year that starts next July if the state fails to win federal approval to impose tolls on Interstate 80, or come up with some other revenue source. That...

Convicted killer William Wright III of Altoona on Wednesday reiterated his desire to die. Wright asked a federal appeals court to step in, remove public defenders from his case and allow his execution to proceed. In a legalistic, self-written appeal filed in U.S. District Court in Johns-town, Wright said federal public defenders in Pittsburgh “do not have petitioner’s consent to file any further pleadings of any kind on petitioner’s behalf.” The Federal Public Defender’s Office in Pittsburgh had no comment Wednesday. The petition was the latest development in back-and-forth volleys in which Wright’s life hangs in the balance: •  In...

HARRISBURG — If you work, own a home, drive, smoke cigarettes, drink liquor or buy tires — and even when you die — there's a tax bill to pay to state or local governments in Pennsylvania. The per capita tax burden in Pennsylvania, 11th highest in the nation, increased steadily during the past 10 years, according to figures from the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit research group in Washington. The amount Pennsylvanians pay — $4,463, annually — is for each man, woman and child. "Pennsylvanians pay about two-thirds of that to their own state and local governments," said Bill Ahern, spokesman...