Philly Polling Locations, Senate Bill 999, Marian Tasco and PAVOTNGNIGHTMARE.COM

We would like to call your attention to www.pavotingnightmare.com and you can see for yourself the polling place problem in Philadelphia. Nevertheless, Marian Tasco who has commented on this blog before and will be speaking this evening at the Committee of Seventy's "If These Wards Could Talk" seems to think that Senate Bill 999 will "repress" and "Deny" voters.
We guess she doesn't think that those Republicans voting in the 1ST WARD DEMOCRATIC HEADQUARTERS are disenfranchised or that those voting at 24th and Ellsworth in the Vacant Office with "DANGER KEEP OUT" plastered on the front door with broken windows aligning the second floor are repressed. How about, it is a safe idea to move a polling place like this. We can look at Tasco's 50th Ward where they vote in mostly public buildings this would be akin to moving another polling place into Finley Rec or Leeds School; where there are already multiple polling places. What is ironic about some of this is that Bok sits directly across the street and IN THE SAME DIVISION as the first Ward Democratic Headquarters.
Some complain about moving the polling place across the street or a block away into a builing; however, that may easier to walk then say up 14 steps into an inaccessible residence.
Any comments on this?

Some complain about moving the polling place across the street or a block away into a public building; however, that may easier to walk then say up 14 steps into an inaccessible residence.

Remember Officer Skerski

Officer Skerski wasn't just a cop who reported to the neighborhoood for work and then went home. He became the neighborhood. He was at community meetings, church meetings etc. He cared aout the city as a whole and he will not be forgotten.

Scott Cummings, president of the Mayfair Civic Association, said the first e-mail in his in-box yesterday morning was from Skerski. The pair were thinking of a way to honor the crossing guards in their district.
"I don't think a guy like Gary can be replaced," Cummings said.
During one recent community meeting, Skerski could not stop praising two fellow officers for their arrest of a pair of gunmen, recalled John McCarthy, president of Mayfair Town Watch. He kept saying how brave the men had been, how they had willingly gone into a situation that they knew was dangerous without thinking twice. Because it was their job.
And then Monday night, Cummings said, Skerski did the same thing.
From todays Inquirer
"I think the man is an absolute hero," Cummings said.

Joan is running or she isn't

Krajewski in after all?
She missed four months of work due to illness last year, and has enrolled in the city's retirement-incentive program. But despite widespread assumptions that City Councilwoman Joan L. Krajewski's seventh term would be her last, could the Northeast Philadelphia Democrat be thinking of running again after all?
That's the rumor making its way around City Hall. And Krajewski, 72, isn't exactly dispelling it, either.
"I really don't know," she said last week. "I'll tell you when I decide."
She was a bit more definitive, however, when it came to another part of the story: That her recent trip to Atlantic City with Council President Anna C. Verna had been an opportunity for Verna - who became president with Krajewski's support - to lobby against retirement.
"I don't need to go all the way to Atlantic City to have somebody put the arm on me," Krajewski said. "I like my poker." Verna did not return a call for comment.
- Michael Currie

Not exactly sure what this means but it seems that Joan is not sure whether she is going to run again

They shot down HB 1318, Here comes SB 999

SB 999 recently passed the House 139-59...

AMENDING THE ACT OF JUNE 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, NO.320), ENTITLED <-- 7 "AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTIONS, INCLUDING GENERAL, MUNICIPAL, 8 SPECIAL AND PRIMARY ELECTIONS, THE NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES, 9 PRIMARY AND ELECTION EXPENSES AND ELECTION CONTESTS; CREATING 10 AND DEFINING MEMBERSHIP OF COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTIONS; 11 IMPOSING DUTIES UPON THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, 12 COURTS, COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTIONS, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS; 13 IMPOSING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF THE ACT, AND CODIFYING, 14 REVISING AND CONSOLIDATING THE LAWS RELATING THERETO; AND 15 REPEALING CERTAIN ACTS AND PARTS OF ACTS RELATING TO 16 ELECTIONS," FURTHER PROVIDING FOR VOTING STANDARDS 17 DEVELOPMENT BOARD, FOR COMPENSATION OF DISTRICT ELECTION 18 OFFICERS, FOR POLLING PLACES SELECTED BY COUNTY BOARDS AND 19 FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS TO BE USED WHERE POSSIBLE AND PORTABLE 20 POLLING PLACES AND FOR PROHIBITING POLLING PLACES IN 21 BUILDINGS OR ROOMS WHERE MALT OR BREWED BEVERAGES OR LIQUOR 22 DISPENSED; PROVIDING FOR POLLING PLACES IN OTHER BUILDINGS; 23 FURTHER PROVIDING FOR NOMINATIONS BY POLITICAL BODIES AND FOR 24 AFFIDAVITS OF CANDIDATES; FURTHER PROVIDING FOR OPENING OF 25 POLLS, POSTING CARDS OF INSTRUCTION AND NOTICES OF PENALTIES 26 AND VOTERS' RIGHTS AND EXAMINATION OF VOTING MACHINES, FOR 27 VOTING PROCEDURES, FOR DATE OF APPLICATION FOR ABSENTEE 28 BALLOTS, FOR CANVASSING OF OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOTS AND FOR 29 VIOLATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO ABSENTEE VOTING; AND 30 MAKING A REPEAL OF THE ACT OF OCTOBER 8, 2004 (P.L.830,


MORE HERE
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/BT/2005/0/SB0999P1790.HTM

HISTORY HERE
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/BH/2005/0/SB0999.HTM

Ed Dixon's Letter on Johnny Doc

Marcia Gelbart and Thomas Fitzgerald's April 20 article, "Phila. party's finances probed," implied that John Dougherty, treasurer of the Democratic City Committee (DCC), mishandled party funds. In Philadelphia, most campaigns' Election Day operations are financed via "street money," funds paid to individuals who are getting out the vote. Gelbart and Fitzgerald's article suggests that monies were improperly paid to members of electricians' union Local 98. I strongly believe that is not the case.
Without Dougherty, the Election Day operations of the Democratic Party would be severely diminished. In addition, over the years, Local 98 has supplied the DCC with an ample amount of funding, not to mention numerous donations to local candidates' campaigns.
If U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, chairman of the DCC, is dissatisfied with the work Dougherty has done for the Democratic Party, perhaps another political party would appreciate his passion and services.
The issue is not finances. It is about a real "neighborhood guy" rising through the ranks of the DCC and attempting to share power with other senior officials within his party.
Ed DixonPhiladelphia