Government Accountability
Commonwealth Foundation Launches Website Exposing Governor Shapiro’s Shady Activities
Harrisburg, Pa., October 9, 2023 — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation launched a new webpage dedicated to exposing the myriad of shady actions that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has engaged in…
Read More: Commonwealth Foundation Launches Website Exposing Governor Shapiro’s Shady ActivitiesThe state government is ultimately held accountable to the people through the electoral process—but that should not be the only line of defense against government overreach or waste. Taxpayers deserve a transparent government that works for them. Reforms are needed to reduce corruption and limit the scope of government to its constitutional authority. Additionally, reforms that ensure a transparent budgeting process, a fair electoral process, and a streamlined regulatory process should be pursued to increase the government’s integrity.
Government Accountability
Another claim that Pennsylvania is full of racists
First, Ed Rendell claimed that racist, conservative whites wouldn’t vote for Obama (just like they didn’t support Lynn Swann). Then Daily News columnist Fatimah Ali declared their would…
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Campaign Finance Reform: Fool’s Gold
Imagine if George W. Bush would declare that, as part of the war on terrorism, he proposed the Patriot Act II, which would grant the federal government power to collect…
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Please Spare us from a “Professional” Legislature
John LaPlante editorializes that states (Minnesota) should avoid the “professional legislature” model (e.g. Pennsylvania): The personal dynamics in professional legislatures also favor increased spending. Professional legislatures offer…
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Time for School Board Transparency
Commonwealth Foundation launches “sunshine” project on school district labor negotiations HARRISBURG, PA — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation announced the launch of a new project engaging in an effort to provide…
Press Release
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ACORN Workers Afraid to Fall Short
An article in the New York Post today describes how ACORN employees in Ohio were pressured and bullied to meet voter registration quotas. Some workers were driven to bribing…
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Autumn: Falling Leaves and ACORNS
The PA GOP filed a lawsuit today against ACORN and the Secretary of the Commonwealth for incidents of voter fraud. The lawsuit makes a number of requests, including requiring…
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Heritage on ACORN
The Heritage Foundation has a post today giving an informative primer on ACORN and how it gets it money.
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Buckeye Institute files Rico suit against ACORN
Our sister think tank in Ohio has filed a RICO suit (i.e. for organized crime) against ACORN for voter fraud. The full complaint is here. Since stories…
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Why Americans love term limits
Howard Rich, head of the pro-term limit group U.S. Term Limits, has an op-ed in the USA TODAY on why term limits are popular, except among legislators.
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More on ACORN and Voter Fraud
As a followup to Jessica’s post on ACORN and Voter Fraud, here are some recent updates: The Tribune Review notes that investigations of ACORN could be coming to…
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Read More: More on ACORN and Voter FraudGovernment Accountability
Ghost voting still taking place in Pennsylvania House
Both Grassroots PA and Capitol Ideas have made note of yesterday’s PA House vote in which Republican leader Sam Smith noted some lawmakers were “voting” while they weren’t…
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Voter Beware
ACORN, a “community organizing” grassroots group, has been raising a few eyebrows lately. The group engages in activism, lobbying, get-out-the-vote drives, and voter registration. The organization’s activities almost always help…
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Down with the Senate?
Rep. Rich Grucela introduced a measure to eliminate the Pennsylvania Senate. Pennsylvania has functioned under a bi-cameral legislature since 1790, but Rep. Grucela is frustrated with…
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Update: State Spending Transparency
A reader emailed to ask if there are examples of states with online spending databases. Indeed states across the country are adopting transparency legislation while state officials and think tanks…
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Read More: Update: State Spending TransparencyGovernment Accountability
Constitutional Convention in IL gets a boost
The Illinois Constitutional Convention ballot question, discussed in a previous post, got a couple of boosts in the last week. First came news that the Cook County Assessor…
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Perzel’s Parking Authority
Here is a funny video in which “Manatee” declares his desire to run the Philadelphia Parking Authority, so that he can work as little as possible, hire all his…
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Failure of Reform: Who’s to Blame?
Brad Bumsted in the Tribune-Review reports on the inability of the General Assembly to pass reform legislation this session. The Senate is blaming the House for failing to act…
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Talking Free Markets with Karl Rove
I had the chance to hear Karl Rove speak at a conference hosted by Hillsdale College on “Economics and the 2008 Election.” Rove had some interesting things to say:…
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Must See TV: “The Call of the Entrepreneur”
The Fox Business Channel is featuring The Call of the Entrepreneur at the following times: • Saturday, September 27 5:00 – 6:00 PM EST / 2:00 – 3:00 PM…
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Bonus Ban(s) pass House State Government
After numerous complaints about the lack of action on reform bills (including from yours truly) the House State Government committee today voted to send two “bonus ban” bills…
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Election Protection – The Nation’s Largest Nonpartisan Voter Protection Coalition (Draft)
Election Protection – The Nation’s Largest Nonpartisan Voter Protection Coalition…
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