Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20151220

Passing stopgap measures to continue funding State Government and then working on the actual budget later. Then theres also negotiations on trying to figure out spending revenue, education funding, pensions, liquor that may or may not be stalled, so let me go to you, val, first. Whats going behind the scenes right now from what you hear . Well, in a scene reminiscent of high noon, the Republican Leaders in the house told the governor, well give you 24 hours to get your votes. That 24 hours was up yesterday. The governor says he has those votes. As we sit here at the time of this taping, theyre deciding on bringing that up for a vote today. Youll need almost every democrat, if not every democrat in the house, plus another 20 to 25 republicans to get an increase to the personal income tax up to about 3. 25 or so. And theyll run that probably today as we sit here. If they dont get that done, they dont have the votes for that, then theyll run another stopgap bill which will keep the government funded to the end of the year and keep Vital Social Services organizations funded and our schools funded, at least thats where the house is today. Now, the voters are starting to get a bit fed up, i think. Not a lot of impact, generally statewide, but also you have the holidays coming up, and im sure the lawmakers in harrisburg dont want to be sitting there trying to figure these things out during christmas, right . Well, you would have thought that they would have gotten to a conclusion before now, and its you know, its kind of i think what val just said is the right assessment of what the facts are. Its interesting, though, that the state senate, which is republicandominated, was able to cut a deal with the governor, saying, we didnt get everything we wanted, he didnt get everything he wanted. Lets continue this discussion into next year. And you cant get the house. I mean, the house comes to the party and says, okay, you go get the votes. If you want this, you go get the votes. Were not gonna participate in that process. I think its an unfortunate circumstance. I think voters i think this is why we see a guy like donald trump being so successful in i dont think he gets elected, but successful because voters are just frustrated that we send these folks into public republicans and democrats we send them there and they cant figure out how to get along cause theyre focused on reelection. Theyre not focused on governing. Thats exactly right. And they tend to be focused on their own narrow selfinterest. So for example, one Sticking Point in the house was in the pension reform part of it, they were gonna define new members going to the 401 k like plan. Mmhmm. They were defining new members as anyone who gets reelected. So a lot of members, and bipartisan, were like, wait a second, we dont want to lose our gravy train here. And what that does is to those of us just sort of out in the public, it leads us to question whos standing up for the common good. Bottom line, no one is right now. You have Crisis Centers closing, which is really bad. I have a notforprofit. Thank god were still able to do it, but its gonna get to a point we cant keep paying people, but we have to service exoffenders coming out of prison, kids that are medically fragile, autistic those type of things, and those things are happening where people cannot afford to keep going on. So my thing is the legislators need to get together. All my guys here said the right thing. Theyre exactly right about it, and they need to talk and compromise. They dont know how to do it because its all about them. Its what they want. Go ahead, george. But theres also, i think, the fact that youve got a new governor, many of the players on the republican side, particularly in the senate and house, are new. Jake corman is new. This is his first real hes been in the process, but hes not been the leader of the process. Keith reed is new. So youve got a lot of new players at this whole process thing and theres no relationships. Right. Theres no relationships. Thats the issue. Nobody talks. Theyre learning on the job. Did Governor Wolf try and get too much all at once and not waver until maybe now . Initially, he did. He has, in fairness, moved a little bit. I think what we have to understand about the dynamics here are that, you know, conservatives, and we see this at the national level. The 1. 1 trillion omnibus budget bill passed yesterday, where conservatives in congress got virtually nothing. And in every budget deal for the last 30 years in this country, the answer is always, the right has to compromise, but compromise always means the government gets bigger albeit at a small, slower pace. Right. So here we have this again in harrisburg where, yeah, the governor says, you have to compromise with me, but again, its taxes going up, its more regulations, its government getting bigger albeit at a smaller rate, and conservatives are saying, well, when is it the other way . When is, we want government to be smaller and well compromise with you, and just not have a government get smaller at a slower rate the same way . Thats why you see a donald trump taking off so well because the right has said, compromise always mean we lose. The arc of history, they say, bends towards justice. Well, to conservatives, the arc of history bends towards bigger and bigger government. We never seem to win that fight, and thats why youre seeing the debate now for the soul of the republican party. But in pennsylvania, weve had this wave republican governors for eight years, democratic governors for eight years, and we find ourselves as a state at the bottom of the pack in revenue growth, in job growth, and the things that make us competitive. Simply keeping taxes down and smaller governments not gonna change that dynamic. Weve got to find a way to grow this economy, which we havent done over the last two or three administrations in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, and so just saying smaller governments better thats not the answer. Well, and we have these things called elections that actually give a chance for the people to weigh in on that, right . So we have this is a unique situation because weve had competing mandates. Governor wolf was elected with a mandate and 60someoddpercent of the legislature was elected with a mandate not to raise taxes, largely because theyre in safe seats. So thats where the art of compromise comes in because youve got these competing mandates. Except the governor comes in and he says, i want this huge tax increase. I want to change pennsylvania fundamentally. And when they say, no, we werent elected to do that, he then attacks those legislators with mailers instead of trying to keep working toward compromise. That locked everyone in. It goes again, you guys, about communication. Nobodys sitting down and really talking because they dont have those relationships, and thats what happens. Like george said, theyre all new. They dont know how to do it. And then Governor Wolf has folks that really do not have relationship with legislators, either. Lets be clear about that. Thats important. That will help him cut those deals. But he has nobody, to me, backing him that. Thats how i feel as far as going out and talking to the legislators. Thats how you play the game. They dont understand this game, and its not gonna work, and youre not gonna have compromise until you sit your butts down and talk. I think thats right. Well, a lot of us knew what the deal was there to be made months ago, right . Correct. Youre absolutely right. And there was inexperience, especially on the part of the governor, i thought, and thats why we are where we are now. Youre absolutely right. If they do stopgaps, that would be kind of disappointing because they were talking about that a long time ago, too. Thats why we were already here. We were there. We were there this summer. They passed the bill that said, well keep the last years fiscal year budget in place and well talk about it later. That was vetoed. And the governors gonna have another chance to decide whether his wants a veto or not, but going back to the governor again, a few weeks ago, they came up with this framework and it was gonna be a sales tax and another 600 million for education, which most people agree on. And the governor, instead of and a pension reform bill, a watereddown pension reform bill and the governor, instead of taking a step back and letting that work its way through the process, decided to beat his chest in front of the cameras and say, im getting a great deal. So you have republicans saying to their leaders, well, what the heck . Wait a second. We dont like that then because he likes it. What he should have done is actually step back and say oh, im really getting hammered by these republicans. And that would have given the Republican Caucus a chance to say to their leaders, oh, you guys really beat him up a little bit. But it just shows an inexperience there. You guys said that hes inexperienced. These are adults in the room. These arent kids. Thats what politicians do. Politics is a contact sport. People make strategic decisions. Whether it was the right one, thats a strategic decision. What the governor, i think, has done, and i support him in doing this, saying, look, if i dont get a construct in terms of budget negotiations in the first year, then im gonna be locked into this structural deficit and keep kicking this can down the road, which is what we do in Everybody Knows we have a structural deficit. Everybody knows we got to have new revenues to fix that structural deficit, but we kick it down the road to next year. The latest budget in recent pennsylvania times was signed on december 23, 2003, by governor ed rendell, and whether or not they get a budget within that time, its gonna be pretty darn close this year. So thats what we have there. Thats how the democrats are. [ laughter ] Kathleen Kane apparently got porn, too. Prosecutor mark gilson made the claim during the bribery trial of a state lawmaker saying the Pennsylvania Attorney general also received racy emails in a scandal thats been perpetuated by kane herself. Now, a kane spokesperson disputes this, but we do know that kanes twin sister, ellen granahan, who works in the a. G. s office, did receive questionable emails herself, and yes, the plot thickens again and yes, were talking about this again on inside story. Again. Can we just get her off the stage, let her go, and move on . cause this is out of control. I mean, every other day, theres an issue with the attorney general. You know, cant she just resign, and cant we just move on and get somebody in there to do the job . Whats actually going on in the office . What kind of business are they really doing . Nothing. Before no, go ahead. Well, im concerned about this rush to remove attorney general kane, especially by this direct removal process only because, and this is not a defense of Kathleen Kane i hope not. But i will say that without this drama, we wouldnt have these questions about the state of our judiciary, which are serious questions. And im just concerned about that going on the back burner if we rush to remove her in this sort of superconstitutional way or extraconstitutional way, and you know, thereby subverting the will of 3. 1 million pennsylvanians. Its hardly a rush to judgment. Shes been indicted. Shes been disbarred. Its not an impeachment. Its not impeachment. It doesnt have to be. Its not extraconstitutional. Its within the constitution. Removals allowed. Now its a question of whether its allowed in this instance, but its within the constitution, and i guess itll be challenged. Its not a rush. This stuffs been going on and on. This process has exposed things going on that are not related to Kathleen Kane, particularly with the judiciary. The horse is out of the barn. Forget about Kathleen Kane. That issues gonna get resolved. I think everybodys tired of Kathleen Kane, but shes opened a door that has real problems associated with it. We have a Supreme Court justice who says, you know, my emails, i thought, were private. A lawyer thinking that something was private. Stuff gets out into the public, and its just male banter. This problem has its created a problem for Seth Williams here in philadelphia. Its created a problem for the Supreme Court justices. Its created a problem for judiciary all over the commonwealth. Kathleen kane, regardless of what her motivations were for it, opened that door and its now about more than just her. Thats right, and by the way, i mean, i feel like we in the media do a disservice to this by calling it porngate cause that almost, people think that its boys will be boys. Ive watched some of this stuff. Theres this video that was sent around called the amazing racist, and its so disturbing that people who are elected for their judgment were sending this kind of stuff around. I invite people to go online and look at it. I decided not to publish it because its that disturbing. Mm. All right. Its horrible. Anyone else . Ive begun to write an hbo miniseries based on Kathleen Kane. Its gonna be a big hit. You know, sam katz is actually doing a documentary. The kane mutiny. I know. Its gonna be good. I think itll be good. The last chapter has not been written, basically. Now, a south jersey democrat wants to close this nofly list loophole. There are currently no restrictions for people whose names appear on the federal nofly list to purchase a weapon. Freshman south jersey congressman Donald Norcross wants that loophole closed before christmas, which seems unlikely. There is a bill presented by new york congressman peter king that remains on the back burner that would do this. Everyone support legislation doing this . Even the aclu has concerns about the due process considerations of the nofly zone. How do you get on there . Do you get notice of it . Do you get a chance to contest it . And now youre gonna take away potentially the rights of american citizens who wind up on that nofly list . I have no objection to saying if youre not from the United States and youre on that list, you shouldnt be able to buy a gun. You probably shouldnt be able to buy one, anyway, in the United States, but american citizens ill give you an example. Ted kennedy found himself the subject of intense scrutiny at an airport before he had died because someone had used his name as an alias, so he had to go through intense investigation or search before he could get on an airplane. So to now tell american citizens that their Second Amendment rights could be taken away without due process is, at best, troubling. Even the aclu agrees with that. I just dont see what the harm is. Its yes, there are some people who are misidentified and subject to being on the nofly list. That gets resolved. I mean, thats a technicality that gets resolved. In this case, its absurd on the face of it, right, that a terrorist can buy guns in this country. Its absurd on the face of it. Except its a diversion from the real problem. The real problem let me give you an example. In san bernardino, the Obama Administration decides that they dont want to look at peoples social media because it could violate their privacy rights. Now, social media is where people are being recruited, where theyre being radicalized. We didnt look and we didnt find out that this woman who came from another country and was radical was spewing this type of stuff. We got to go. We got to go. More inside story when we come right back. Wow. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Back with inside story. Mayor nutter signs the ban the box bill, and a local columnist predicts disaster. The bill was an amendment to an existing philadelphia law which restricts what employers in the city can ask about a job applicants criminal history. Now employers cannot ask or research an applicants arrests or convictions beyond seven years. Philly. Com columnist john featherman, a former Republican Mayoral candidate, says this will just make it more difficult and expensive to do business in philadelphia and notes the law actually makes an exception for law enforcement. Do you agree with featherman . I agree that there could be additional costs that are associated with it, but i think it also we cant keep trying to deal with these really difficult social issues incrementally through legislation. I think the Business Community should come together with leaders and say, okay, how do we address the issue of reentry . I mean, we keep talking about what the costs will be. Every time i walk into a store, i see all those Little Things they put on the clothes, and i say, well, how much does it cost me for this security because we cant deal with these social issues in america . And so to me, thats the bigger issue. I dont think you can solve them by introducing, passing pieces of legislation. You got to get adults in a room and figure out, whats the solution . I think that is exactly right. My reaction to this was that is this really something we should be trying to solve via legislation . Or is it something that requires leadership . And that maybe government can set up incentives for businesses, whether using the tax code or what have you, for businesses to get involved in this. But ultimately, the leadership also has to come from the Business Community. Hes absolutely right. I hate agreeing with you guys, but theyre absolutely right. As a c. E. O. And stuff, that is more cost for you, but you also want to make sure your other employees are safe. Well, we deal with reentry, and so we do want these folks to get jobs, but just how you go about it. We keep piecemealing everything. You cant. Everything comes together, and, again, i hate agreeing with them, but i do. Make it unanimous, val. [ laughs ] i agree. And survey says. Yeah, i agree, but if i dont agree, im just saying i do. We know that. We know that. George is looking at me. But, you know, the Business Community has come together in philadelphia to do some great things like the intern program, which hires kids in high schools and gives them jobs, and, by the way, we need to expand that program this year. We could do it here. I think everyone agrees we need to find a way to mainstream people whove come out of the Justice System and get them jobs and back into society. I think george and everybody else is absolutely right here. The Business Community can find a way to do that. And you can do it. Weve done it where they come out exoffenders come out. We have them hooked up with a person to work with. We follow them for one year. We get them a job. We have an 89. 9 success rate. You can do it. Look at what we just did here. We just solved the problem. Thank you. It was really me. We should do the budget next. It would have been done like five minutes ago. Absolutely. Yeah, everyone goes off for the holidays. All right, well, plans for the jim kenney Big Block Party are under way. Rather than having a typical gala celebration for the New Philadelphia mayor as he takes office, kenney wants to hold a block partystyle event. There will be a food truck, live music, but its not gonna really be a block party because the events gonna be held inside at the Pennsylvania Convention center and only 1,500 people that kenney invites will be allowed to attend. So generally, given these plans, what do you think this says about the kenney mayorship . Hes a south philly guy, and of course a block party is right on time. And ill be there. Youll be invited . Yeah, i hope so. Please. Can you invite me . Except i do think this is smart public relations, right . Because its jimmy from the block having a block party. But youre right. Its not actually a block party. Its at the convention center. Its a party not unlike other inaugural parties. But its still different. Its different. Thats what hes trying to be different. Whats different about it is this sort of the way theyre spinning it. Exactly. I think when you look, i think it is an issue of being different and jim kenney trying to say, im going to be a different mayor. When you look at the diversity across all of not just racial diversity, but gender diversity, handicapped, disabled diversity, you know, i mean, he really has put together an amalgamation of an administration. I think this is a cappingoff of it. He may need to at the end of the day probably have to wind up inviting more than 1,500 people, but can you get me invited . You or larry. Will there be funnel cake, val . I dont know, if the mayor wants to invite the chairman of the chester country republican party, id be happy to come. Im in. You want diversity. Right. [ laughs ] ive interviewed kenney multiple times, but during the campaign, im waiting for him on the street, and he got out of a cab. I dont think ive ever seen a guy running for mayor jump out of a cab and come do an interview. Real diversity is a black republican being there. Mmhmm. Okay . Let me be clear. Our local dirty harry stands up for muslims. Upper darby police chief michael chitwood, who commonly refers to criminals as scumbags, held a rally outside a mosque to defend local muslims from political attacks. Says, theyre part of the Community Just like we are. Why arent more Community Leaders doing this . I love chitwood, man. First of all, i love him because in my previous life as a newspaper editor, he provided great copy. Sure. [ laughter ] but also, this is an example of leadership, of bringing communities together, and i wish more people would take these steps. But i think, i mean, because its it was unclear to me whether the rally was organized by the community or organized by the police chief. I think he was participating. It was outside of a mosque. But i think people in the Africanamerican Community and the Muslim Community feel, you know, why do i have to defend myself . Why do i have to come forward and profess my commitment to this society when ive done nothing wrong, my family doesnt do anything wrong, and so they feel that they now have to come forward and say, condemn this thing of terrorism and the people who commit it, i think people dont feel that they have an obligation to do that, and i dont think they should have an obligation to do that. My understanding is that chitwood and the Police Department have been working closely with the Muslim Community, and this was sort of their mutual comingout party, if you will, and thats why i liked it because it was it started with real communication between groups that often are at odds. And thats where i was at. I think that communication should be in private. Inside stories will be coming right up. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Inside stories of the week. We start with george. Gentrification is redefining cities like atlanta and washington be relocating africanamericans outside of the city. Gentrifications a huge challenge in the city of philadelphia. Im hopeful that mayorelect kenney and his administration will deal with it as a problem and manage it as opposed to simply relocate minorities outside the city of philadelphia. Thanks, george. Renee . Harrisburg has so many issues going on, and theres a big rumor about representative turzai not being the speaker anymore. And so the word on the street is that it could be possibly john taylor. That would be interesting for philadelphia because people do like john taylor. Okay. Thanks, renee. Larry. Sorry to bring us back to Kathleen Kane, but last week, the Inspector General of the department of justice contacted the special prosecutor, wants to see all the emails, with an eye out for the ones involving u. S. Attorneys, which Tony Williams called to everyones attention. This is a good thing because i dont trust anyone in the state to have a clean look at this thing. Thank you, larry. Val. First amendment is the bedrock of american rights, and its under attack on College Campuses all across the country. Seemingly spoiled College Students want safe speech zones and anything that offends them is deemed objectionable. A reporter went to Yale University and in 60 minutes, got 50 students to sign a petition at yale to abolish the first amendment, and thats scary stuff. Mm. Wow. Thank you all for joining us, our panelists. Thank you for watching, and happy holidays to all of you. Those of you who celebrate christmas, Merry Christmas to you, and well see you next week right here on inside story for the yearend edition. Ohh. Talk about all the big topics from 2015. Im matt odonnell. See you later. Im nydia han along with eva pilgrim. Coming up next on action news, a fiery crash in northeast philadelphia takes three lives. Were live with the latest on the investigation. An apology and sharp exchanges are in the air as the democrats star for the last time in 2015. The eagles need a win against the cardinals is to stay in the playoff picture. One big rival is gone, those stories and the exclusive accuweather sevenday forecast next on action news. Good afternoon it is sunday, december 20, im nydia han along with eva pilgrim. Heres some of the stories were following on action news. Haz mat crews and investigators are on the scene of a deadly Early Morning crash in holmesburg. A wilmington