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The timing of the first day of the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC), the annual congregation of the commonwealth’s leading conservative activists, seemed like divine intervention. Last Thursday, as the flags were being hung and the set was being constructed in the main ballroom, the General Assembly invoked new constitutional powers approved by the voters in ...

Citizens Amend PA Constitution to Limit Emergency Powers Voters saw through Gov. Tom Wolf’s flimflam that they would fall for a partisan political maneuver, risk the loss of government benefits, and even jeopardize their safety, if they voted “yes” on two constitutional amendments to limit a governor’s emergency powers. Voters also saw through how the ...

Gov. Tom Wolf, as Sen. John Gordner (R-Columbia) recently pointed out, unwittingly made the best argument for approval of the constitutional amendments on tomorrow’s ballot, placing a checks-and-balances limit on his emergency powers. “Soon after he created the vaccine task force, Pennsylvania went from 49th on the list in effectiveness in rolling out the vaccine ...

Last week, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R-Centre) rightly called the May 18 ballot questions limiting the governor’s engineered authority to endlessly extend emergency declarations among the most consequential for Pennsylvania voters in his 23 years in office. A “Yes” vote, Corman said, will restore the checks and balances in government as envisioned by ...

Two economic resurgence plans in Harrisburg couldn’t be more opposite in approach and effect. The first, from the Senate Republicans, “Prioritize PA: Small Business,” offers real relief from tax rates and excess regulations. The other, the governor’s plan, encompassed both in his “Back to Work PA,” recovery plan and his budget proposal, uses the pandemic ...

The constant question dodging, “I’ll-get-back-to-you-on-that,” and blame-shifting answers by the Wolf Administration during the on-going budget hearings lends itself to a sketch comedy with a tragic ending. It remains unclear whether department heads are keeping information from the General Assembly or if they are simply unprepared for what lawmakers view as the most important hearings ...

On Wednesday, January 27, President Joe Biden announced a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land. The ban strikes a direct and devasting blow to the economies of numerous states but will also damage all domestic industries that depend on American energy leadership. The American Petroleum Institute estimates the moratorium would cost ...

“To take the measure of a governor, one must consider the public stage at that moment. When Dick Thornburgh came into office there was no honeymoon. He needed to burnish the executive branch starting on day-one. He was quickly hit with a nuclear crisis. He had to face-down a relentless and long-running recession. The task ...

Newly elected Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) says that she and her Republican colleagues will be in lockstep at the start of the new legislative session working to restore faith in a democratic process battered by Governor Wolf’s unyielding grip on power, and his Secretary of the Commonwealth’s questionable management of the General Election. ...

Upon their post-election return to Harrisburg, the General Assembly can put up a unifying policy “win” by clearing the way for advanced recycling of waste plastics in Pennsylvania. The bill, HB 1808, would make a simple change in regulatory classification to expand a burgeoning industry that almost everyone can support, as evidenced by the 46 ...