“You know, nasty little fellows such as yourself always get their comeuppance.”

“They do?”

Of course, this isn’t The Mummy and Rachel Weisz wasn’t really speaking to John Perzel, but he sure could have used the advice. To elaborate further on Mark’s post, the now former Pennsylvania House Speaker, John Perzel, met a long awaited demise today as he was replaced as House Speaker by Republican Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia.

Perzel was the master architect of the now infamous Pennsylvania payraise of 2005, in which our state legislators voted themselves an egragarious 16 to 54 percent pay raise for raising our taxes, driving more of our jobs away, and steadfastly running our state into the crapper. Most of the payraise conspirators met their maker at polls in last year’s May primary and November general elections, including former Senate President, Bob Jubilirer, and former Senate Majority Leader, Chip Brightbill. However, it was predicted, correctly so, that Perzel would skate by the voters wrath being that he represents a very liberal elitist district in Philadelphia. Perzel knew his constituency would keep him around and his arrogance knew no limits. But in an unexpected turn of events today, his penance was handed down.

Although the Democrats regained the majority in the State House, it was by a mere one seat. Perzel was insistent on remaining Speaker despite the one seat difference and was convinced he could get a Democrat to defect from supporting his opponent, Democrat William DeWeese. Perzel was correct, a Reading Democrat did cross sides to support him, but what he didn’t expect were the handful of Republicans that defected from him, refusing their support in the name of government reform. Being that a minimum of 50% of the vote is required to be elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House, neither Perzel nor DeWeese could garner the votes and so the compromise candidate was created and won.

And so what was dubbed a year and a half ago by former Bob Jubilirer Chief of Staff, Mike Long, as the “Stupid Mission” closes out 2006 with a colossal success. Most of the House and Senate leadership were either removed from their posts or kicked out of Harrisburg altogether and many of their payjacking pawns also paid the ultimate price for their dirty deeds.

Congratulations to all of us who made this possible. It was a job well done.

O’Brien new speaker of PA House.

A Republican from Philly the Speaker of the House of a Democratic Majority. Things in PA only get odder…

UPDATE: O’Brien will be shortly holding a press conference with two Democrats, likely to switch parties, which would be a devestating blow to Republicans who backed O’Brien over Perzel (who would’ve remained an R)

UPDATE: O’Brien did not switch parties, though its not sure whats going on with committees yet.

I think we can now officially say that it’s done, finished, kaput. It’s over.

The reports showed Rendell with a balance of $5.7 million, while Swann had only $318,777 on hand for the last two weeks of the race.http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15870822.htm

A lot of us knew from day one that Swann’s candidacy was doomed. He was chosen, not elected, to be our Republican candidate for this year’s governor’s race by the corrupt Republican political machine here in Pennsylvania. The party leaders under the guidance of National Republican Committeeman and convicted felon, Bob Asher, saw it fit to deny Pennsylvania Republicans our spring primary by annointing Swann on their own and muscling out the other candidates. He stood behind our equally corrupt Legislative leaders who lost their primaries in landslides to actual conservative candidates. Furthermore, he allowed his campaign to be run by a guy who completely blundered what was supposed to be a definite Republican State Senate seat pickup early last year.

Don’t get me wrong. Lynn Swann is a nice guy, but this was not his cup of tea. This isn’t California. It takes more than celebrity status to become Governor of Pennsylvania. It takes actual ideas and knowledge of the issues and a campaign with a strong grassroots effort, not butchered by a bunch of establishment hacks.

So, Pennsylvania can look forward to four more years of tax raising, nanny stater Ed Rendell. Thank God I’m moving out of the state next year. Pennsylvania is going to have a long road to recover from the coming mess that man will leave the state with.

This isn’t a race that has been on the radar really at all because I think everyone really underestimated the challenger. Republican Ron Saxton is challenging incumbent Ted Kulongoski to be Governor of Oregon. For most of the campaign season the polls looked pretty dismal for Saxton as he consistently trailed by double digits, but suddenly for the past month his popularity seems to be spreading like wildfire. The latest Zogby had him down by only 3 and a Riley Research poll from the end of September had him up by 2.

Like everyone else, I really didn’t pay attention to this race until now so I don’t know much about Saxton. I checked out his Web site and he looks pretty good.

This race is now a toss up. Good luck, Ron!

Just a note on the Tech game last night. The College Republicans were out in force. Sonny Perdue signs were prominently displayed everywhere. We sat near the student section and most had Jackets for Sonny Stickers. Sonny’s Democratic challenger Mark Taylor had no presence. Alex you should be proud.

I’ve been in Michigan the last few days and will be here most of the week. This weekend is spent in Detroit and lounging at my parent’s farmhouse about 40 minutes south in the middle-of-nowhere near Ohio. Throughout the coming week I’ll be working in Flint, Saginaw, and Lansing as well before heading back to Pennsylvania so I’ll be getting the grand tour of the state.

It’s been non-stop political ads on TV for both governor and senator. The Republicans are pouncing on the Democrats up here hard and the Democrats are taking no chances. Every fifteen minutes I see an ad for Jennifer Granholm or Dick De Vos, and Debbie Stabenow or Mike Bouchard. The Republicans are capitalizing on the massive layoffs going on throughout the state from The Big Three and Ford didn’t do the D’s any favor on Friday when they announced another 10,000.

There is potential, a lot of potential, here in Michigan for big Republican pickups. The Democrat Governor is very unpopular and polls have her and Republican challenger De Vos in a dead heat. Bouchard is trailing Stabenow still for the Senate but he has been gaining ground. The question is, will the people of Michigan seriously embrace change or will these heavily Democrat voters behave like those in my own city of Pittsburgh, like lambs to the slaughter, reelecting a failed governor and a do nothing Senator with a disdain for Slim Fast all because their arms might turn gangrenous and fall off if they even graze the Republican lever.

My prediction:

De Vos picks off Granholm in a very close race. Bouchard gives Stabenow a major run for her money but barely misses the brass ring.

The latest Zogby poll out for this week shows Swann cutting down Rendell’s double digit lead to 9.5% over the former Steeler. Coincidentally, the Swann campaign has finally started running TV ads over the past week so I’m sure that had something to do with it. With a little less than two months left until Election Day there is still plenty of time for Swann to pull off an upset win and be the first man in history to oust an incumbent Pennsylvania governor, but I still remain skeptical.

The most devastating piece of ammunition that Swann could be using has been left stored in the armoury. I am speaking of last year’s infamous pay raise, which resulted in 17 incumbent State legislators being ousted during the May primaries and another couple dozen State legislators retiring so that they would not have to face the wrath of the voters. Rendell supported and signed this pay raise, which was eventually repealed due to an onslaught of voter backlash, and yet, Swann has yet to open this gift from God.

The problem is he really can’t. He backed himself into a corner on this one. Not only did Swann continue to show his support for the Senate President and Senate Majority Leader, who orchestrated this pay raise, during their primaries (they both ended up being defeated in landslides by their more conservative challengers), Swann also stated publically that they should be able remain in their leadership positions until the end of the legislative session in December.

It is these types of blunders among others that I believe keeps Swann 10 points behind Rendell rather than 10 points up and sours his chances of having a historical win.

Gotta love a state where this man can be governor.

UPDATE: Oh yeah and he has bumper stickers like this…

The only thing that is keeping Republicans in power is that Democrats offer no viable alternative. Well and their own inability to lead as conservatives. John Kerry is using the first page of the Democratic playbook to accuse Republicans of…wait for it, voter intimidation and suppression.

An e-mail from Kerry will be sent to 100,000 Democratic donors Tuesday asking them to support U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland for governor of Ohio. The bulk of the e-mail criticizes Strickland’s opponent, GOP Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, for his dual role in 2004 as President Bush’s honorary Ohio campaign co-chairman and the state’s top election official.

“He used the power of his state office to try to intimidate Ohioans and suppress the Democratic vote,” Kerry says in the e-mail, according to a copy provided in advance.

Kerry, D-Massachusetts, conceded the election when he lost Ohio and its 20 electoral votes. A recount requested by minor-party candidates showed Bush won by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million cast. But Kerry’s e-mail says Blackwell “used his office to abuse our democracy and threaten basic voting rights.”

Is there any merit to the allegation?

Multiple lawsuits by outside groups were unsuccessful in challenging Ohio’s 2004 election. One case filed by the League of Women Voters is still in U.S. District Court in Toledo. It claims Ohio’s election system discriminates against minority voters.

OK so Democrats claim that Ken Blackwell, who happens to be black, intimidated black voters despite record turnout of black voters. This same tired argument is pathetic. Sadly Republicans in Washington are so inept at governing as conservatives that Democrats actually have a chance to take back the majority in Congress. What a shame.

UPDATE! William makes a great point in the comments.

The real response to these charges lies with William Anthony. Anthony is the Chairman of the Ohio Franklin County Democratic Party (as you might recall, Howard “The Scream” Dean cited Franklin County as one of the prime areas of supposed discrimination) and the Franklin County Elections Board (Dem hypocrisy alert: they decry Blackwell’s involvement with the Bush campaign but overlook Anthony’s chairmanship of the Dem Party in Franklin County).

Anthony testified before . He had this to say:

“Yes, Mr. Chairman, there were long lines to vote in Franklin County – in all of Franklin County. Some have alleged Republicans at the Board of Elections or Matt Damschroder himself intentionally caused these lines and that those precincts in predominantly African-American and-or Democrat precincts were deliberately targeted for a reduction in voting machines. I can assure you Mr. Chairman, both as a leader in the black community, Chairman of the local Democratic Party, and as Chairman of the Board of Elections that not one of these accusations are true. On Election Day, I spent several hours driving around the county in the rain and observed long lines in every part of the county: urban and suburban neighborhoods, black and white communities, Democrat and Republican precincts. These lines were the result of three things and these three things only. First, nearly one hundred thousand more people voted on Election Day 2004 than during 2000 – this is almost a 25% percent increase over the previous presidential election.”

Dems care about minorities only when they parrot their talking points, but when minorities like William Anthony speaks the truth, they ignore them.

Truth is relative (sarcasm intended).

From Politics1 (4th item)

Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey — the social conservative Republican challenging US Senator Lincoln Chafee in the GOP primary — is under fire for columns he wrote for the student newspaper when he attended Bowdoin College in the early 80’s. In his columns, Laffey made remarks such as: “I have never once seen a happy homosexual” and “I say let’s get those pinkos out of the music business and replace them with some tough conservatives.” The Providence Journal, which reported this story Saturday, received copies of the columns anonymously. When asked if he holds these views, Laffey answered “not now, nor then, or ever.” He explains the columns were “sophomoric political satire.” In other columns, Laffey discusses his conservative political views such as a desire for more individual freedoms, a smaller government, increased free trade, and a flat tax. He even admits in once column that his views made President Reagan “look leftist.” Laffey and Chafee face-off in what is expected to be a very close September 12 primary.

I guess buying a state jet and appointing your daughter to the Senate will get you the boot in Alaska.

Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, stung by accusations of arrogance and stubbornness, lost his bid for a second term Tuesday after polling last in a three-way GOP primary.

Sarah Palin, a former Wasilla mayor, won the Republican nomination for governor after capturing 51 percent of the vote. Former state legislator John Binkley came in second with 30 percent and Murkowski polled just 19 percent.

I am not sure of Sarah Palin’s conservative credentials but the Alaskan GOP was sure of Murkowski’s shortcomings. The BP pipeline shutdown didn’t help either. Palin will face Democrat Tony Knowles, a former two-term governor, in November.

My one time hope of ousting quite possibly the most incompetent governor in Pennsylvania history has slowly eroded away over the summer. While I have met Lynn Swann in person multiple times and believe him to be a decent man in his intentions, I can no longer deny that his gubernatorial bid has been one of the worst run campaigns I have ever witnessed, even worse than the Mike Fisher gubernatorial campaign of 2002, and that one was pretty bad.

The latest poll, released today, shows Rendell with a commanding 19 point lead over Swann. The Quinnipiac University survey has Rendell with a 57 to 38 percent lead among likely voters.

Rendell, a veteran - and prolific - fund-raiser, is also leading Swann in the money race. The governor has outraised Swann 4-to-1, with $13.7 million in his campaign account as of mid-June to Swann’s $3.2 million.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Swann has put his foot in his mouth many times in the form of television blunders and the hiring of too many stooges who are entrenched in the corrupt GOP in Harrisburg, which has turned many conservatives off to his candidacy. What’s really hurting him more than anything, though, is his campaign’s failure to communicate his vision to the people. A recent poll done by Quinnipiac (I can’t find it now, of course, to link it) found that 38% of voters didn’t know enough about Swann’s positions to form an opinion of him. This is actually an improvement from earlier in the summer when that number was over 50%. I don’t know how his campaign staff can not be attuned to this reality. Swann has a little over two months left and he and his staff better get cracking if they don’t want to suffer an embarrassing loss.

This is the first time in Pennsylvania history that we have an actual shot at knocking off an incumbent governor. It’s never happened before and doesn’t look like it will happen this time either. As I predicted earlier this year, it appears the corrupt State Republican Party has backed the wrong horse.

I just got home from the Cagle Victory Party. What a great event.

It was not even close. 12% up by last count. Around 10:00 (24% reported, Cagle up by 10%) we knew something was up. Cagle’s family was gathered up from the crowd. And then there it was on the monitors. Reed conceded.

The Georgia Lt. Governors race may turn on an issue that might seem strange to everyone outside Georgia. Heck this is strange or silly at best.

So here is the back story. Back in 1956 southern states, including Georgia, were segregated societies between black and white. I don’t need to rehash the history here. In Washington moves were being made to enforce the integration of schools throughout the South.

In protest the Georgia Legislature changed its flag to the one to the left. Noted with its Confederate Battle emblem, this flag flew above the state capital until 2001, when Democratic Governor Roy Barnes signed into law a bill changing the 1956 a compromised proposal for a new Georgia flag featuring all flags to fly over Georgia.

The new flag (right) sparked controversy, partly because it was passed quietly with no media attention. Enter the Flaggers. The Flaggers lead primarily by the Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans, vowed to get the flag changed back to the 1956 flag and punish Governor Barnes in the process.

The Flaggers galvanised rural voters sympathetic to their cause and helped elect Republican Sonny Purdue. In the 2002 election Purdue promised to bring the issue before the Georgia voters in a referendum. With The Flaggers help Purdue became the first Republican Governor elected in Georgia since Reconstruction.

Keeping his word Purdue put the issue before voters, except the 1956 flag was not an option. The Flaggers see this as being double-crossed. The Flaggers have vowed to take down Purdue in 2006 as they did Barnes. Wrapped up in the controversy is Ralph Reed, Republican candidate for Lt. Governor who served as head of the Georgia GOP and who is often credited with getting Purdue elected. It was Reed that brokered the unholy alliance between the Flaggers and Purdue. To the Flaggers Reed is as culpable as Purdue and is expected to receive their wrath.

In all honestly The Flaggers do not have nearly the power they had in 2002, because voters feel the issue was resolved with the referendum. The Flaggers still are a sizable group and could be the tipping point if they throw their support as they have indicated behind Casey Cagle, whom this blog has endorsedand who has not taken a stand on the issue.

Interesting note Georgia’s current flag (to the left) is similar to those prior to the 1956 flag. All are reminiscent of The First National Flag of the Confederacy.
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Some interesting notes are on the RealClearPolitics blog about two races that this blog has made endorsements in.

The first is about David McSweeney, running in Illinois’s 8th district against incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean:

IL-8: The good news for Republican challenger Dave McSweeney? He slightly outraised incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean last quarter, $604,000 to $548,000. The bad news? Bean is sitting on close to $3 million in the bank while McSweeney has less than a half million. Senator John McCain is in town for an event today that will raise another $125K for McSweeney.

The other interesting tidbit, of course, is on the GA Republican primary for Lt. Governor:

GA Lt. Gov: More good stuff from Baxter and Galloway at the AJC on the final hours of this dead heat race:

“Let’s ponder on [Matt] Towery’s contention that this race will be a 1,000-vote contest. If that’s so, then it won’t be over until Cobb, Cherokee and north Fulton counties weigh in.

Remember that it was Jared Thomas, as campaign manager for Tom Price, who pulled the upset of 2004 with a primary victory in the GOP race for the 6th Congressional District. Which covers exactly that territory. Thomas, of course, is now directing Reed’s campaign.

Tom Price is my Representative in Congress, and a pretty darn good one, at that (has voted with Flake against earmarks, has the right stance on immigration, etc). Too bad his former manager is now running Reed’s campaign.

To all Georgians: Read (or Reed… sorry bad pun) our posts on Ralph Reed’s lack of ethical integrity. I don’t care if you are a Socialist, if you’re a Democrat, or if you are voting Green or Libertarian in November… it is absolutely necessary that Ralph Reed not be allowed to have any elected position, in this state or anywhere else. You can also read here about Reed’s refusal to talk to media and answer questions. Electing someone to a statewide position whose claim to faim is exploiting devout Christians and engineering elections, all the while in cahoots with people like Jack Abramoff, is not right for Georgia.

Vote Casey Cagle for Lt. Governor in the Republican Primary tomorrow.

It appears only Ralph Reed signs are allowed at your local Georgia Waffle House (PDF)

I have a call into Don Balfour, VP of Advocasy for the Waffle House and state Senator from the 9th District, to verify if in fact he wrote this memo. On another note he was my neighbor when I was Gwennettian.

The “undecided” percentage has gone down, benefiting Reed more than Cagle. They are now tied at 43% for the Republican Lt. Governor primary. Peach Pundit has the polling data, as well as on the Democratic primary for Governor which appears to show that Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor has it in the bag (53-41, with only 6% undecided).

With just over a week to go until the Georgia Primary on July 18th, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland issued a restraining order blocking enfoecement of Georgia’s Voter ID law. The law requires voters to supply a valid photo ID before they can vote.

In a sharply worded ruling, Westmoreland said Friday that Georgia’s voter ID law “unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it” and would cause “irreparable harm.”

Governor Perdue has vowed to get the order stayed.

“We’re pleased it’s moving forward,” Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan said of the appeal. “We can’t for the life of us understand why the Democrats have been so hellbent on making it easier for dead people, felons and illegal immigrants to cast ballots in their primary.”

Prior to the new law Georgia voters could vote with various forms of ID including fishing licenses and highschool yearbook photos. The law has provisions for providing free photo ID cards to any voter who can not afford a state issued licens. As well the law allows voters to vote provisionaly if they show up to the polls without proper identification. Their votes will count once they are properly identified. The law does not apply to absentee ballots.

This is a last ditch effort by the left to maintain the vote manufacturing gravy train they have enjoyed for years in Georgia.

I am pleased to announce Save the GOP’s next endorsement for Casey Cagle for Georgia’s Lt. Governor.

Casey Cagle is a steadfast conservative - a successful business man and distinguished member of the Georgia Senate. He is with us on the issues across the board - he’s pro-life, pro-tort reform, and has enacted meaningful tax reform in Georgia as a State Senator. These tax measures have encouraged many companies to relocate to Georgia instead of neighboring states. Casey also helped enact the toughest illegal immigration laws in the country.

Georgia needs honest conservative leadership and Casey Cagle is the man for the job. Casey’s high profile opponent in the July 18th primary is Ralph Reed. Reed is a Washington insider who has very close ties to Jack Abramoff. Reed, a former lobbyist represents everything that is wrong in the GOP, and wrong for Georgia.

Casey Cagle espouses the ideals of true conservatives who value principal over power. Who stick to there core instead of cow-towing to the highest bidder. Casey Cagle is the Conservative Leader Georgians Trust.

Vote for Casey in the GOP Primary on July 18th.