30 percent turnout for the one of the most media publicized, change-promoted election in PA politics...
All incumbents of both the Republican and Democrat parties in Harrisburg were the targets of dissatisfaction with how state legislators conducted business in Harrisburg. The most egregious affront was a July 2005 pay raise offered by Senate and House leadership.
Dispite the deserved public outrage and calls for change of leadership and kicking out all incumbents, Governor Ed Rendell had NO OPPOSITION in the Primary. Why not?
Many incumbents faced no Primary challenge.
Overall the election results are indicative that the media can influence the voters as those areas with the heaviest blanketing of negative news produced the largest turnover of the power in election districts.
Voters unkind to incumbents
GOP’s top two senators ousted
The Tribune-Democrat
The voters have spoken. Indeed. Whether casting an eye toward a July 2005 legislative pay raise or simply making a statement that status quo in Harrisburg is not acceptable, those who went to the polls Tuesday – albeit relatively small in number – sent shock waves across the commonwealth.
If change in leadership is what they sought, that is what they will be getting in January. Among those taking a fall in statewide races in the name of voter backlash were:
n Sen. Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, considered by many one of the most powerful politicians in Pennsylvania and a prime sponsor of the ill-fated legislative pay grab. The 32-year veteran was soundly defeated by Blair County Commissioner John Eichelberger...
In another stunning upset in Cambria County, Scott Hunt, 23, a recent college graduate, defeated seasoned politician Joseph Veranese, an Upper Yoder Township supervisor, for the Republican nomination for the state House’s 72nd district seat.
Veranese carried the GOP committee’s endorsement. Hunt will face longtime Democrat incumbent Tom Yewcic of Jackson Township.
For those who predicted last summer that the pay raise – passed without public hearings or floor debate in the early hours before Legislature adjournment – would come back to haunt incumbents, the election apparently was sweet payback...
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/editorials/local_story_137143129.html
Voters' verdict: Harrisburg change necessary
By Alison Hawkes, For the Herald-Standard
05/18/2006
HARRISBURG - Election Day Tuesday was conclusive: Pennsylvanian voters want a change.
Not since 1978 during a massive series of indictments on public corruption have so many lawmakers lost their seats. Not since 1964 has a legislative leader toppled to defeat, and Tuesday brought down the two Senate Republican leaders.
Political analysts say the vote to remove at least 14 incumbents, along with 30 retirements, is historic and three other possible upsets are too close to call.
All of the primary upsets and retirements leave a huge cadre of lame duck lawmakers sitting it out until November. A power vacuum in the Senate may spur on a jockeying for control. And scores of sitting lawmakers are facing November challengers that may have them worried more than ever about keeping their political skins.
The upsets could very well impact the still unsettled property tax debate, and throw a wild card into state budget negotiations coming up in less than a month. With top Senate leaders on their way out, the chamber's Republican spot on the Gaming Control Board could change, possibly throwing a wrench into the approval of 14 slots licenses across the state.
Sen. Tommy Tomlison of Bucks County said it's too early to tell all the implications of a change in Senate leadership, or even when it would come. The Senate cancelled plans to return to session next week...
The sheer number of guaranteed newcomers next year - nearly one-fifth of the Legislature - makes the chances of reform in state government a real possibility. Political analysts say the vote to remove 17 incumbents, along with the 30 retirements, is historic.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party was gloating that all the Republican incumbent losses could bring them new seats in November, although the assessment seems unlikely for all but a few swing districts. The only southeastern lawmaker to lose was freshman Rep. Sue Cornell, whose Montgomery County district has the potential to switch to Democrat. In Bucks County, Rep. Matt Wright is facing a tough Democratic challenger in the fall in Chris King, and he knows it.
"He's a young bright guy and he works hard and he has some motivation behind him," said Wright, a pay raise supporter. "It will be a very, very difficult race - no doubt about it."
Democratic incumbents - including the two top House Democratic leaders, H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg) and Mike Veon of Beaver County - for the most part skirted by safely.
One of the surprise defeats was 20-year incumbent Frank LaGrotta, who was tossed out by 25-year-old law school graduate Jaret Gibbons in Lawrence County. A number of the incumbent upsets came from low-financed, political novices. LaGrotta said the thought of his losing was "nowhere on my radar screen." He hadn't faced a primary opponent since he was first elected in 1986...
http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16654439&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=480247&rfi=6
Defeats leave power vacuum in Pa. Senate GOP leadership By The Associated Press
Thursday, May 18, 2006
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - When voters kicked out the top two Republicans in the state Senate, they created a power vacuum that will likely lead to intense jockeying among ambitious GOP senators.
In the coming months, observers expect some GOP senators to audition for the jobs, giving floor speeches and helping their fellow lawmakers to advance pet legislation and fund re-election campaigns.
The defeat of Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer of Blair County and Majority Leader David J. Brightbill of Lebanon County in Tuesday's primary election shocked legislators, staffers and lobbyists...
In the Nov. 7 election, 14 Republican senators face challenges from Democrats. The parties normally elect their officers for the next two-year session right after the general election.
Some observers say there are no obvious successors to Brightbill and Jubelirer since many of the party's rising stars in recent years have gone elsewhere, like Congress.
Corman, Senate Republican policy chairman Joe Scarnati and Senate GOP whip Jeffrey E. Piccola — all seen as potential successors to the top GOP positions — declined to speculate about who will seek a promotion.
"It's really too soon to see who will emerge and go for that position," Scarnati, of Jefferson County, said. "But one thing's for certain: The Senate Republican caucus will survive and stay in the majority."
Republicans currently hold the majority in the Senate, 29-21.
They lost one seat Tuesday when a Democrat won a special election for Thompson's vacant Chester County seat — believed to be the first time a Democrat has held that seat since before the Civil War. The victory by Andrew Dinniman has given Democrats hope that they can seize the majority in November.
A rift in the GOP — as evidenced by Tuesday's defeat of at least 11 Republican legislators — and President Bush's low approval rating could mean trouble for the Republicans in November, said Sen. Robert J. Mellow, the chamber's Democratic leader from Lackawanna County.
"With an election like this, there could be a surprise or two," Mellow said.
A power shift could leave Mellow in line to become president pro tempore, a position he briefly held from 1992-94.
The president pro tempore appoints committee chairs and, along with the majority party floor leader, controls the flow of legislation and negotiates the final form of major initiatives with the governor and House of Representatives. Because of that seniority, legislators who hold that position are generally able to benefit their districts more so than rank-and-file senators.
Jubelirer and Brightbill, who will have served a combined 56 years in the Senate come November, each manage a staff of about a dozen aides — more than twice the size of most other senators. Also answering to them are about 100 lawyers, computer technicians, public relations staff, researchers and secretaries.
If anything, the Republicans will have to select leaders who appeal to the party's more conservative voters in Pennsylvania's central and western counties, where a backlash against last year's pay raise has erupted, some observers said...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/s_454439.html
