Week a bill that was not allowed to go through. Its really john boehner versus chaka fattah, whos from our area, at this point saying democrats say we need more because that wouldve helped with maintenance and training. John boehner saying, lets dont just pack those ideas all into one bundle, because, in fact, we did not cut safety, we did not cut anything that wouldve mattered in this case. Whats your take on it . Well, you guys have to throw nancy pelosi in the mix, too because she immediately said you know, hinted fairly strongly that funding was at issue. Look, the funding over amtrak has been going on for 40 years. This isnt new. And there isnt any doubt that weve got lots of bridges that carry lots of people and freight that are badly in need of repair, built in the early 20th century, much less the 21st century. The fact of the matter is that theres a lot more that can be done for safety. The various technological devices have been implemented in other parts of the system but just not where the accident occurred. So what we need to do is to reevaluate the safety procedures on amtrak, on freight lines, as well, and get it right so that this is avoidable. And, of course, before the end of the year, as you mentioned, this positive train control device will stop a train from going so fast by the end of 2015, but it wasnt soon enough. Well, its taken a long time for that to be implemented. I wish i wish terry had been in congress, had been in washington, d. C. , on the day that the accident happened the night, the evening because what hes saying is common sense. Hes looking at the facts. And, actually, whats happening what upset me was the optics of and im gonna say this mostly democratic, mostly progressive pundits talking about how we need funding, how taking politicizing a tragedy when they hadnt even found the eighth victim yet there were people that were dying, that were being taken to hospitals. And right away, blame was being placed on a partisan basis saying, well, the g. O. P. Has stonewalled this funding, and theyre opposed to president obama, and they havent helped amtrak implement these controls the positive train control. So whether it turns out that the engineer is or is not to blame, whether it was a technical malfunction, we dont know, and we wont know for months, technically. But it certainly does bear asking is throwing money the issue, is trying to fund better bridges and highways always gonna be the issue . What is the real issue that it boils down to, on a bigger scale . Its what you do when you have the money. I mean, in this case, what we have learned is, one side of the tracks, going southbound, had a control system in place. The other side, going northbound, unfortunately, did not. And the c. E. O. Of amtrak has publicly said he did not know that. Thats an embarrassment. And they have taken blame. They are taking full responsibility. You know, new information is coming out almost hourly about this, but one thing you can generally say is that democrats have been much more enthusiastic about spending public money on Infrastructure Improvements. And republicans have been more reluctant, feeling constrained by sequestration, and thats just a fact. So, weve been saying, before we came on that often a tragedy will spur new spending and concern about infrastructure and i think thats probably gonna happen. Were gonna see the democrats make progress on their desire to spend more money on infrastructure. Because the public wind will be at their back . Absolutely. But you know what . In 2008, the Railroad Safety act was passed in reaction to that tragic accident in california, where 25 people were killed. And seven years down the line, that positive train control, those procedures that they were supposed to have implemented theyre still not in place. So you trigger this event. You want to have some kind of reaction to this horrible tragedy, but that doesnt necessary mean that its actually going to be placed into effect or implemented. The moneys important, but its also accountability. The money and the accountability have to go together for any government program. You can spend as much and i think all of us would agree, Infrastructure Improvements are essential they create jobs, its an important part of the economy. But once the infrastructure is there, accountability for operating it has to be maintained. And one of the things is, you have different options. People have to have the wherewithal to come together. Even corbett, who was very unpopular, helped pass a gas tax. Pennsylvania has the worst bridges in the country. There are things that democrats and republicans have come together in in other states something called p3s, which stand for publicprivate partnerships. Government cant just print money, although, in congress, we think they do. They can partner with private businesses, which republicans like, to raise money. So lets look at options. Lets do it. Whos gonna have the excuse me the cojones to take it on . And we, again, dont know if the engineer will be at fault. We just dont know so much. But lets just speak generically, not just about this accident. Should amtrak have besides training, should they have screening for sleep apnea issues . Should they have screening for mentalhealth issues . Should they have some system where they have in place, if one person has the ability to stop or start or speed up that train, or slow it down, and they dont, should there be some system for figuring out, as they do in the military, when someone is having a personal failure or issue . Theres a long list of things that amtrak couldve, shouldve, ought to have done in hindsight. Whether those are all costeffective remains to be seen. I think theres been a rush to judgment on the engineer, and technical issues remain to be disclosed as to what really happened here. Sure. And i think we all await with great interest the ultimate scientific report on what happened. All right, lets move on and talk about the philadelphia mayors race coming up in just a couple of days. Its been an interesting spring, and a lot of Big Decisions about to be made. A new poll shows that jim kenney appears to have pulled way ahead of the pack. 42 of people support him, according to this philly. Com poll. Only 15 each for Lynne Abraham and Hardy Williams. 14 undecided. And the rest of the pack has single digits. Small numbers for the remaining three. What do you make of this particular poll . Because other polls show different findings, of course, and some people dont even believe a poll is the right way to go because people really decide [ laughter ] im not looking at terry when i say that, but other people would say it really matters if you get the vote out, if you have seen a ballot, and whos at the top of the ballot. Well, i looked at the poll fairly carefully, as you might expect. I was asked to do that. And, you know, it looked reasonably sound to me. I might quibble over how they selected the people to be interviewed a bit. There may be some sense that i wouldve done it differently. But heres whats sort of stunning for me. By consensus, i think, we would all i hope my fellow panelists would agree that kenney has moved out into a lead. Earlier polls that i dont like to talk about partyoriented or interestgroup polls showed that to be the case. What stunned me and if it proves to be the case, it will be stunning is that it looks like jim kenney could win a plurality of the africanamerican vote. That would be stunning. And does that hinge on the fact that Hardy Williams stuck his neck out and said he would get rid of Police Commissioner ramsey . Some analysts are saying according to National Research founder adam geller, that was a big mistake. Dont get rid of the popular guy. I think it was a huge mistake, and i think it was kneejerk reaction to what had happened in baltimore and ferguson. And i think Anthony Williams was trying to make himself more palatable to a constituency that sees Police Brutality as a huge problem. But he targeted his his target was way off. I mean, chief ramsey has so much widespread support black, white, latino across the board. So to attack him and essentially saying, i wouldnt keep him on, it had the opposite effect. I dont think it engendered a lot of support in the africanamerican community, and i believe it diminished support across the board, perhaps, in nonafricanamerican communities who really support commissioner ramsey and what hes doing. Heres another point, though do you think that if jim kenney is, in fact, pulling out again, it depends which poll you look at is he peaking too early . Is the momentum that hes created, which has been interesting many people would say stunning, given the field of all these qualified people do you think its too soon . I do not. And i also think its not stunning, and heres why. Jim kenneys been elected citywide seven times. City council in philadelphia in greater philadelphia gets covered as if its the eagles. Anything they do, it seems like theres News Coverage on. People relate to jim kenney. Hes very hes like one of us, if you will. We can have a beer with him or something. I think hes running an amazing campaign. I dont feel that williams has defined himself beyond harrisburg, which is not popular, and of course not defined jim kenney. Jim kenney has defined jim kenney. The only thing im surprised about this poll is the margin. I dont think its that far. Jim kenney has run a Great Campaign and not least of which has been his rollout of endorsements, gradually, including the last one of the City Council President on the eve of the election. I think that has been masterful, and people ought to get credit for that planned rollout, just sort of Building Momentum as he went along. Conversely, the Williams Campaign has been a big disappointment, i think, to a lot of people. He came on originally as a charterschool advocate. I think a lot of people in the city wouldve welcome a broad debate on Charter Schools and their place in educational reform. Thats supposedly Anthony Williams passion. He shouldve latched onto that. He wouldve at least achieved some educational goals. He might still have lost, but at least he wouldve spread the ideas that he says he stands for, and i think its inexplicable why he didnt go with his strength and find himself in the situation hes in now. I think jans right. And another way to look at it i think it muddled his message as i think my colleague across the way would know more about than i do. The other thing, onto ramsey you cant rule out that internal polling showed him not doing well or as well as he would like to in the africanamerican community. So he comes out with the attack on ramsey, saying, ill fire him. But it appears like pandering, which is a problem. I understand that, but im merely pointing out that it could be that his own polling showed him losing increasingly as the weeks went by. And it was a rare misstep, i think, in his campaign, as well, because Anthony Williams comes off as an extremely capable, dedicated, ethical man, and this was just such a glaring misstep in his campaign, and i think its really hurt him. And also, last week, sam katz decided not to run for the race. It wouldnt have been for this primary, obviously. But was it unexpected that he wouldnt run . He was on the fence, he said. Was it too soon that he announced that he wouldnt run . Who did that help or hurt . It helped sam katz. Sam katz is probably as popular as hes ever been, among republicans, democrats independents. Hes certainly been all these parties, as well. But theres a modicum of credibility by announcing before the primary election. So now i think, when he puts out his position papers, whether it be on education, crime, economic development. Doesnt look like he has an axe to grind. Doesnt look like, yeah, well, you know, i didnt run because tony didnt win, or Something Like that. And hes turning into a Thacher Longstreth elder statesman with his series on philadelphia history, and maybe he doesnt want to be in politics anymore. Maybe he wants to have his impact in a different way. Isnt it nice sorry that he took a walk with his family or his wife, and it was about what really matters . Not to get sappy. I mean, its true. All right, while were talking election, 23 people running for city council, some of them atlarge positions. An interesting field. Again, 16 democrats. Four incumbents are going for five seats. Seven republicans, including two incumbents, going for two seats. What do you see . Any shakeup in the likely future for that . You know, most philadelphia voters can name some of the candidates running for mayor. I doubt that the majority of voters can name even one atlarge candidate for city council. Despite all the money spent despite the tv ads. These are important races. Council is a really Important Institution in the city of philadelphia, but its hard to get attention. I mean, only a couple of candidates are running tv ads. And so its extremely important. Our past two mayors have come from council. Yeah, but its really in the hands of the political organizations. Do you think those slate cards that get hand out by the consultants and the ward leaders and all the connections, you think that matters at all . A little bit, a little bit. Does it matter more than a half million of tv ads, as one of the candidates has spent a lot of his own money. Hes selfmade and has done well, obviously. Now has some name recognition. Youre saying thats not good not enough. What terry said. I think its these who am i gonna vote for . Im going to vote for mayor. Theres 23 people running. Should i vote for the incumbents or not . They ask their ward leaders. Yeah, and heres the card. Go into the booth. But there are some really wonderful candidates running on both sides of the aisle. Its sad. Were giving them more attention in this few minutes than they get overall in the entire campaign. And the same situation for pennsylvania Supreme Court. Yes weve got people running for three positions. Weve had some retirements forced retirements, if you will. I stop polling in those elections because i ended up with, oh, 75 of the people dont know anything about the candidates. But theyre not allowed to talk about the issues. Theyre not allowed to talk about the sexy stuff. The Supreme Court says they are, but a canon in this state says they cant. Exactly. This campaign is another example of why we should not elect judges. They should be appointed . As though we dont have enough negative examples already, this is one more example of a bad way to select judges. All right, well take a break. Inside story continues right after this. Stick around. 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. Im Lynne Abraham. When i became philadelphias da, child victims had to face a judge. A jury. The public. And testify eye to eye with their attackers. It wasnt right. So i got a constitutional amendment passed allowing children to testify remotely. Im running for mayor for the same reason our children should come first. Jim kenney and Tony Williams are fighting over Public Schools versus charters. I disagree. We have to improve education for all of our children. Welcome back to inside story. A new poll shows pennsylvania Governor Wolf has a 49 favorability rating. Thats fairly high. Whats interesting to me in the poll is 59 of the people still think the states going in the wrong direction, and 70 think their taxes are gonna go up. So bad news on two fronts, but they think the guy leading is doing well. What do you make of that, terry . I think, by and large, the governor has an agenda on education spending, which is popular with the voters, a shale tax, which is popular with the voters. I mean, it seems consistent. And, by the way, its actually slightly lower on the state moving in the wrong direction. So that got better. The numbers were in the 60s for the longest period of time. Theres a better sense of optimism, i think, among the voters. And my inside story ill get to that later has to do with the way republicans in the legislature are reacting to Governor Wolfs agenda. Is it because people think hes a nice guy . I mean, people do want a nice leader. Yeah. Likability matters. Likability matters tremendously, and hes done a good job of that. What is not as popular, i believe, and the polls show it is people think their taxes are gonna be raised. I mean, democrats, republicans rich, poor across the board. Almost across the board. And republicans, politically are certainly using that. Theres a lot of confusion over, im gonna lower your property tax, but im gonna raise your income and sales tax. What does that mean for me . People think their own taxes are gonna be raised. That is not popular. All right, and let us move on across the river. Governor Chris Christie has national interest, many believe. Some real looking into his financial spending not on the personal account but state money. He does get 360,000 to spend on food and drinks and entertainment costs, which certainly come with the job. He hasnt spent the whole amount, but people are arguing over 82,000 that was spent at some Football Games in his state. So, he did pay it back. His party said, maybe we dont want to have that as a tempest in a teapot. Do you think that that cleared it up, jan, or is there gonna be more intense scrutiny . He did spend most of the money, 80,000, at metlife stadium, which the party had to reimburse to right. At two Football Games. Because of the bad political hit. But regardless of that christies star is falling. I mean, a lot of it started with bridgegate. Christie says hes not responsible. Right. I think that could describe his whole attitude towards being governor hes not responsible. Its not his fault. Can i piggyback on what jan said . I think thats exactly it. He comes out being this maverick. Hes somebody im a takecontro