Monday news

Funny smattering of news today, so will glob it all together here...

• Inquirer columnist John Grogan is not too impressed with Operation Clean Sweep's assembly of Pennsylvania legislative candidates (see prev. here). He questions the merit of turning out incumbents for protest's sake, and challenges the Sweepers to put forth a platform to justify the votes they want.

  The shared platform boils down to this: Replace them with us, and we promise to never stop being outsiders, to never become jaded, to never succumb to the hubris that led the current bunch to think they could simply give themselves a double-digit pay hike in the dark before dawn and no one would squeak.
  
  That's not good enough.
  Leadership needs to be about more than who you won't be.

  Indeed. Dan at YPP chimes in as well.
  
  
• Two pieces in the Daily News on Philadelphia's Mayor John Street and his proposals:
  
  
  
  1. A reporter follows the mayor as he spreads the gospel of Safer Streets to various churches, but is not convinced that this effort will do the trick.
     
     
  2. Another piece looks at the proposed business-tax cuts and some uncertainty about whether the mayor backs a 1- or 3-year cut. I think I'm more confused after reading it than I was before...
  
  
• Half of Rep. Chaka Fattah's mayoral campaign thus far has been underwritten by one wealthy benefactor, a fact which appears to be raising some eyebrows. And, of course, it blows away the limit for individual donations set by City Council...
  
  
• The husband of Philadelphia City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown apparently feels that he's being victimized by zoning regulators who, um, expect him to follow the law. If only his wife weren't so well known, he could develop his slum lord reputation in peace...
  
  
• Finally, two opinion pieces round out our coverage:
  
  
  
  1. I am shocked, Shocked! that city candidates aren't interested in the spirit of the campaign finance regulations. Great quote:

     When politicians start knocking on your door asking for money, they're candidates. Trying to skirt the law only makes them weasels.

     heh heh
     
     
  2. Dare I hope that the reintroduction of the smoking bill might actually suceed where previous efforts failed? Can Street find his way to supporting (what is essentially) his own idea? Can we work in a few smoke-related puns?