Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20160327 : vimarsana.com

Fights . If i was a republican, it would just say, if i can wait you out, i can win. Yeah. Yeah, thats what im saying. Absolutely, without a doubt. He didnt have a choice. His Democratic Caucus they were not gonna support him. Some of them were ready to jump on the other side of the aisle. He didnt want to be embarrassed about that, so why should i veto when my folks arent even supporting me . Bottom line is finally we got a budget so people can get some money, some hospitals can get the programs we initiated, what they had. You know, maybe notforprofits that lost staff can bring their staff back. There was a lot of hurting things. I mean, i have a notforprofit, and we really suffered people being laid off, those kinds of things. So its a good thing. Terry, lets talk about some of your numbers, though. Youve got a new poll out this week, and it would suggest that people were blaming the legislature, not the governor, that he had cover to keep going and saying, not my fault. Yeah. But i think my colleague is absolutely correct. His position at this point had become untenable. Yeah, the Legislature Took more of the heat. Remember, the governor still has the socalled bully pulpit. Mmhmm. He can go and talk about things that the voters do want. They want education spending. They favor a shale tax. They want the structural deficit taken care of. But they dont want an income tax hike, they dont want a sales tax hike. And thats the dilemma. But moving forward, the governor did, i think, the only thing he could have done. He now will say, and heres the point he has made its on the republicans. You bear the onus of this budget, not me. Do voters really look at it that way . Do they care . I dont think he was ever able to basically turn the stove up and have it get really hot for anybody. I mean, nonprofits were suffering, but it wasnt that explicit. School districts. School districts were suffering, but they were finding ways around it. Only two states didnt have a budget after a yearandahalf. Illinois, where theyve got more than one governor in jail, right, who was about to default on their debt. One of the worst states run you had to bring that up. You had to go there. Its like a hall of fame there, you know what i mean . And pennsylvania. Right. And the governor, though, why he jumped is what renee said. His own party was about to go to the other side. But heres a bigger point, i think. Look. Most residents of this state did not feel the pain. It was relatively limited. 75,000 or so state workers were on the job since the 2009 Supreme Court decision said, uhoh. You cant not pay the workers. So for most people, it was not kitchentable talk. They were not getting up debating the budget. Harold, let me run this by you. When you look at what theyve got at the end of the day, did anybody really win . The governor got 200 million more for education, an increase but not the 400 million that he wanted. He did not get the increase, things like the shale tax and the other taxes that he wanted. But republicans also did not get pension reform. They did not get the privatization of wine and liquor. So youre kind of like, well, after all that fighting, did anybody really get something they wanted . Well, i think the republican legislators won. They won this battle, and Governor Wolf made a number of tactical mistakes politically. One problem the bigger problem is that even though the polls showed that the public supported wolf, the legislators didnt fear that because they knew they had no real challengers in this upcoming election. Exactly. Youre right. So they had no real fear. To answer your question, the biggest losers probably were the schools. The school got more money but theyre still not at the point that they were before governor corbett cut their funding. The city schools in philadelphia actually would have done better with the budget that was before the legislature in december. They would have gotten 100 million more in that budget. Not to get but, you know, taxes are high enough. I mean, between real estate taxes and sales taxes and this tax and the city, this is anecdotal. I was driving from the midwest, from abilene, kansas to pennsylvania border 3 in tolls. From the pennsylvania border to here 30 in tolls. Yeah. 30 in tolls. 3 dollars across the country, the last 450 miles. Not a single time in modern history have we had a general tax hike in an election year. Right. 2003, 1991, 1983, 1977. They were all tax hike periods and they used the income tax. But guess what . Not in an evennumbered year. No, never. Not in an election year. Well, people may be taxed too much in pennsylvania, but the real problem is that you have a tax system that needs reforming. And to answer to the progressive income tax thats in pennsylvania, maybe you would have some of the inequity ended given how they worked on the budget, i dont think that thats ever gonna happen. It probably wont, but its what needs to happen. Lets move on and talk about some of the big races coming up within the next month. Mcginty, first up. She had been lagging, it seemed like, in polls. A little lackluster, but, boy, does she have some huge firepower behind us. Shes got casey came out and said he supported her, rendell is supporting her. Wolf. Emilys list wolf is supporting her. Emilys list had pledged 1 million focused on women voters, and this week, the dscc which means the guys in washington are paying attention theyre gonna show up with the money saying, were going to put in the money. Today, i saw an ad from the seiu. Shes got up a new ad and an interesting recalibration. Before, she was talking about everyone getting a fair shake. Now shes really trained on women. Women. And this has worked for emilys list in the past. When they focus on what they call their women vote campaign, its turned around a lot of races. Will this work for her here . Well, shes running a campaign very much like hillary clinton. Thats right. Shes literally imitating the clinton campaign. Sestak has a 17point lead. He is an indefatigable campaigner. He has met with 5 and 6 and 10 and 20 and 30 democrats all across the state for five years. He has worn out 20 pairs of sneakers. And he also has a niche defense, national security, from his days as admiral. But i think mcginty is doing, from her point of view, the best thing because the democratic electorate will be more female than male. Shes going after that segment of the electorate likely to vote, and only time will tell. Go ahead. Im sorry, renee. Its hard with women in pennsylvania, lets be clear, that are running. Sestak people love because hes like the president ial candidates. Hes not gonna hear what people say in washington. Hes gonna do his own thing, so his party is scared of him. And so emilys list yeah, they help, but how far will this help . Is she still lagging with women . Yes, as far as im concerned. And also, some people say, you know, hes really independent. Thats why the Party Leaders frankly, thats not the case. The inside story about joe sestak is that his personal style is pretty abrasive really rough on staff, changes a lot of staff, always turmoil around him. And i think at one level, these people honestly feel like governor rendell and some of the other people who are coming out, and bob casey, that he doesnt have the temperament to be a u. S. Senator. Kind of a ted cruz school of that he wont necessarily do what they need him to do. No, yeah, hes just not a really particularly nice guy. Yeah. Not a really nice guy. But in describing joe sestak, you were describing arlen specter. Oh oh. Good point. Thats interesting. Yeah, but there are 46 of pennsylvania democrats are undecided. So its still wide open. There is still room for mcginty to come back. I think so, too. I agree. You cannot rule that out. And again, emilys list, what theyve done in the past has been incredible. I want to get your quick take on sestaks new ad, ive got your six. Weve seen it with Broadcasting Companies to support veterans. Some people like it. Some people think its gimmicky. Was it the right move especially when shes targeting women, was it the right move for him . First of all, its a complete ripoff of the nonprofit organization. And Harrison Ford and other people talking about the veterans thing. I dont think its particularly and i think he looks like its a forced smile and all those sorts of things seem in it i dont think its particularly i think its one of those things which is in a conference room, somebody would say, thats a great idea. Why dont we just take and then when you see the execution, its not that effective. Okay, lets keep talking about ads and go on and talk about pat toomey. What is your latest sense of how strong he is in the polls . They have been closing a bit. Yeah. I mean, toomey has led most polls very narrowly. I think that toomeys biggest fear is whether the democrats get what we call a wave whether the democratic president ial candidate, likely to be hillary clinton, wins by eight, nine, 10 points. And what we have seen over the last couple of election cycles is new. The death of ticketsplitting, more straightparty voting. 80 to 90 of voters are now casting Straight Party votes. At least for the president of one party and then down the ballot, senate and congress. I think thats his great fear, that somehow the democrats sweep the state im not saying that will happen and then he gets taken out by a democratic wave. cause the democrats, really, are focused on his seat. Hes up with two ads today. Oh, yeah. Lets about this week. Oh, yeah. They want it bad. Lets talk about them. They both are focused at women. Hes clearly saying, okay, katie mcginty, if thats where youre going, lets go there. One focuses on the effort that he took after sandy hook to join with joe manchin and ask for more background checks. So, a woman saying, he stood up for more gun rights, but the second one, which is called support has the wife of a Police Officer saying, you were with us, and this is the line that jumps out in the ad as youve got pictures of people rioting, when rioters destroyed american cities, pat toomey stood strong with police and denounced the rioters when others wouldnt. Very trick thing when youre dealing with urban centers like philadelphia and pittsburgh where some people look at those pictures and think, people needed to riot. Was it a smart ad on the part of pat toomey . I think he thinks hes not gonna get that vote, probably, number one. Number two is i think it is tactically probably a really smart spot for him to be in. On the one hand, hes got the i can cross the aisle. I can work with democrats in the senate. Im a conservative economic, but ive got a compassionate part. Now hes kind of coming back to the trump part of the party. And i agree with brian 100 because hes saying, how much of that vote am i really gonna get . But i need to really outreach even more to more folks to do what i need to do to make it happen. Yeah, i think the fact that hes dialing back on what he said about not meeting with president obamas Supreme Court nominee shows that he feels that hes in trouble and he needs to get back to his base and not worry about what he probably wont get anyway, which is a strong turnout in his favor in those urban areas. Absolutely. Are you surprised not to see maybe the Republican Senate committee here, as well . Even though hes not in a contestive primary, he was up with ads early doing everything he could to try to create a background of inevitability. Now its getting a little tighter. If the dscc said to me, im gonna be there, i would start coming in, too. Yeah. It shows that they, too, feel hes very vulnerable. Yeah, he has about 10 million bucks correct. A much larger war chest. But youre right. The democrats cannot win the senate. They need five seats, if they dont win the presidency, without this race. This is gonna be one of the most highprofile senate races in the country. Tom smith and bob casey in 2012 spent 40 million. This race is gonna reach 50 million. Oh, absolutely. The money is gonna flood in, tam. And the nrsc will come in. Thats what i wanted to say. And dont think theyre not working right now. Yeah. Let me be real clear about that theres a time that will happen. Investing in infrastructure. Thats right. Investing in terms of voter targeting. Theres a lot of things going on. Lets quickly switch to the race for attorney general, the democratic primary. My goodness. Lots going on there. Josh shapiro is up with an ad. Hes got a lot of endorsements wolf, rendell, casey, planned parenthood. Zappala also has a lot the Building Trades here, county commissioners for 11 different places. Up with a new ad in which he shows sandra blake, walter rice, janay palmer really trying to make the argument that he is this civil rights Domestic Violence candidate. Yeah. And it was an interesting bid. Was it the right thing for him to do with some black leaders saying, hold on a moment. Were not sure the record holds up. I thought he was gonna photoshop himself into walking with dr. King, maybe, or something, you know . Right on the lincoln memorial, you know what i mean . I mean, somehow. How could he have been there . He was only 6 at the time, you know . You would go there. Yeah. Was it a bad idea . If you have John Dougherty and bob brady already trying to work on your behalf, let them do what they do. Did he need to do that ad . No, i think he felt he needed to do it. Whether we thought or not, he thought he needed to do it. Look. Heres the bigger narrative in my humble judgment. Zappalas running as the prosecutor, even though he hasnt been in a courtroom in 20, 25 years. Hes the prosecutor. He puts the bad guys behind bars. You got that . Josh shapiro not a courtroom guy, not a trial lawyer. Shapiro is gonna say, look, this is about reforming that office. Its a mess. Its disintegrated at the top. Yeah, 830 people in that office are doing their job, but it needs leadership, it needs a reform, it need administrative overhaul. Im the guy that can do that. Look what i did to montgomery county. You got those two different narratives going on. Yeah. Youre right. Which ones winning . Well zappala has the name i. D. Yes, he does. I mean, his father i mean, it seems like theres been a zappala on the ballot for 30, 40 years. In the west, he has. But on statewide, as well. So, people are familiar, i think, with ive seen that name before. But josh is an interesting guy. I dont know him well ive met him on a couple of different occasions but has been able to, seems like, really cross aisles and work with republicans on the other side. We said that before. He has always been able to cross the aisle. Yeah. East versus west. East versus west. Thats a big thing. Theres more People Living over here. Yeah. More people live here. Well, lets also mention that John Morganelli from northampton also got into it. Hes put up a video where hes talking to the camera. He also went to norristown to nip at shapiro, saying, youre mr. Goodygoody, good government. Actually, i think that youve been rewarding people who have donated to your campaign or who you think will. Right. Does this have any scratch . I mean, you watch philadelphia and this area closely. Is it gonna have any traction or no . I really dont know, you know . Because thats one of the races that people dont pay that much attention, too, to be frank with you. Thats right. Its not about who gets out there, people at the polls on election day. And the ads people really dont pay much attention the attorney general ads. And the fact that you, you know i mean, the amounts of money are kind of inconsequential. I dont blame morganelli for trying to do it. I dont blame him for going down to the courthouse steps and trying to say it, but to quote frank rizzo, you know, who am i gonna help . My enemies . Of course im gonna help my friends. In 2012, when obamacare carried the state by 5. 2 Percentage Points, bob casey won reelection by 9, Kathleen Kane led the ticket at 13. Thats right. Heres the point im trying to make. It was a democratic sweep. To go to your point, exactly. Theres not going to be a lot of attention in terms of the average voter to these elections. I hate to say that because they are important. All right, well, well take a short break and well come back to more inside story. 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. Welcome back to inside story. So, mayor kenney out with his soda tax plan. And now its interesting to watch the different sides maneuver to help him. Hes had jerry jordan come out, tweeting to the teachers why dont you sign up, say that youre in support of this plan . Youve also had Rodney Muhammad from the naacp saying, listen, this is something that we should support. But ed rendell goes on the radio this week and just says, ive never its not personal. Ive never been for sin taxes. Whats next doughnuts and hamburgers . Yeah. Seriously. And he also says yeah, well, and then he also says, you know, he thinks it would hurt poor people. Well, its interesting that they decided to go to the soda tax route again. And of course, the best route to fund something that you want to continue in perpetuity like prek is through the property tax. The problem is that philadelphias increased the property tax more than 20 since 2010. But if they did the property tax, they could derive the same amount of money, about 95 million a year, and a home that costs 130,000 would pay about 140 more per year. Mmhmm. The only reason they wont go that route is because poor people dont vote the way others do. Mmhmm. You know . And so the poor people, theyre gonna put this soda tax on you, and people who theyre afraid of upsetting, who pay property taxes, theyre leaving them alone. I agree 100 . And to me, we constantly go to the most Vulnerable People to do those type of things, which is not a good thing. I mean, the poor folks already are struggling, and then youre putting Something Else on top of that. And whats the logic of it . Seriously . How big a deal is it to rendell . I think it really hurts him because this is a really Popular Democratic mayor. Mmhmm. Probably the most successful, perceived to be, in the last 30, 40, 50 years, right . And hes saying, in his own way, you know, i just dont quite affable, but basically, you know, putting a harpoon through it. It really is what is the logic of it . Why not diets . I mean, people say aspartame is really bad for you. It is. Why not french fries . And i mean, as he to pick up on what the governor said rather than do a smart, more difficult thing, which is lets talk about property tax reform, lets talk about reforming government. Right. The abatement tax. Its like, hey, you know what . I got an idea. I voted against a twocent tax, but how about a threecent tax . Which is the case. And whos gonna give me a hard time . Yeah. And thats what you said now. Because its prek. Exactly. You know, the whole issue of prek is something thats difficult to achieve, as well. There are a lot of Childcare Centers in philadelphia, but they dont meet the Rating System of the keystone stars. And what kenney wants to do is to bring all these daycare centers, Childcare Centers up to standard so that they can actually educate small children, as well as provide a safe place for them to be when their parents are at work. But it takes time, it takes money to do that. Mmhmm. To move up from two stars to four stars in the keystone stars program, it takes years. Thats gonna be years. I look for places when i was putting my kids in places, there are not a lot. Right. There would be a lot of work to be done. Mmhmm. Exactly. All right. Lets take a turn and talk about your poll. As we end up here this morning, terry, look at the national race, april 26th, we would have thought, oh, my goodness. The primary will be past us. Now it could be important. And its looking like if john kasich can just hang on, this could be a good place for him. Yeah, hes only three Percentage Points behind. He made a big move. He does very well down here in the southeastern part of the state among republicans that are, you know, moderate to moderately conservative. And hes made a big move. And remember, he has said, im not going to idaho. Im not going to utah. Im not campaigning out in the southwest. Im gonna come into the northeast. Hes a neighboring state governor. Mckees rocks native. Plays up his pennsylvania roots. Has a fair amount of support among republican leaders. Thats right. Former governors. Yeah. You got bob asher, national committeeman, whos having events for him. I mean, this thing is its moving. He has a chance. Its moving. Now, he cant win the nomination on the first ballot. Oh, absolutely not. Mathematically, he will not be the nominee if its decided on the first ballot. But it doesnt look like anythings gonna be decided on the first ballot. Well, a couple things, too. What happens is, number one, is kasich, i think, is viable. In washington, he chaired the house budget committee. Hes a successful governor, hes a conservative but hes also a compassionate kind of guy when you see whats he done in ohio. We heard compassion and conservative before. Yeah. Exactly. But this guy will deliver on that. I think people view him as a conservative moderate. A guy who actually, youd think, id be proud to have him as the president of the united states. Pennsylvania, though, is gonna play a critical role. Of the 71 delegates, only 17 will go with whoever wins the top line. The other 54 you might have some fun in cleveland, sounds like, huh . Listen, im gonna have a lot of fun. Trust me. Youre gonna be in a back room, smoking cigars. Im gonna do whatever i can do. Lets hope its fun, not frightful. Another interesting thing out of your poll, looking at both hillary, at cruz, and trump, the people looked at, at the moment, as being the frontrunners, the voters say, we think that they could win, but i dont feel so good about them. Theyre negatives are really high. What does that mean . How many different ways can you say, this is the most ugly president ial election in modern history . You have to go back to the 19th century when Andrew Jackson was accused of murder for the duels that he fought. Right. We all know about jefferson and childbirth and all that. And look what happened to al smith when he ran for the presidency in 1928. The vicious anticatholicism that was about and even with john f. Kennedy in 1960 had a i mean, this is one of the ugliest, meanspirited, nasty campaigns that weve ever seen. All these candidates negatives as this continues will go up. You know, the voters might say, ill pick the least you know where im heading with this. Yeah. Or some people may not even come out and vote. Or stay home. Stay home. Thats the biggest problem for me people not coming out to vote. Well see. All right. Well, were going to take a short break and come back to our insiders inside stories of the week. Le 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. Welcome back. Time for our insiders inside stories of the week. Terry, well start with you. Well, get this. 94,000 voters as of last friday had switched to the Republican Party from democrat, independent, other parties switched to the Republican Party. Some democrats switched to do what . To vote for trump because they think that would help hillary in the general election. Others to vote for kasich and to vote for trump in our closed primary. 67,000 have switched to the democrats. We have not seen numbers like this in who know when . I could not find larger numbers of party switchers looking back through the registration data. Interesting. Renee. Im not switching. But what i do want to say ios that im excited cause philadelphia finally has a really good candidate to run for congressman against either fattah or dwight evans, and thats james jones. Hes been out there africanamerican republican ready, raising money, and we absolutely have a chance, for once, so go for it, james. Okay. Harold. Well, i wanted, first of all, to say happy easter to everyone. Mmhmm. And my inside story is that belgium is not the united states. France is not the united states. And this xenophobic rhetoric thats being thrown out there to suggest that we need to bar muslims from this country because of the terrorist attacks that occurred there are just wrong. I mean, we have a pluralistic society. Muslims are able to achieve as much success as anyone else in this country. And thats why we dont have the same type of terrorist attacks occurring here as those cell groups are doing in europe. All right. And well end with you, brian. A lot of talk about how ugly politics are, how meanspirited its getting. April 5th at noon at the girarddicarlo institute at Villanova School of law, theres gonna be a discussion with governor jon huntsman, moderated by a distinguished brian tierney. Anyway but governor jon huntsman, who chairs something called the no labels group, which is about lets find ways to Work Together which Joe Lieberman and some of those folks. I think itll be interesting discussion. And timely. Very timely. All right, well, thank you to all of you. Thank you for joining us. We hope that youre having a great weekend and enjoying your easter. And of course, we look forward to seeing you back here next week for inside story. Happy easter. Happy easter. Happy easter. . Im gray hall, coming up next, Houston Texas here they can. The villanova wildcats win a spot in the ncaa final four. Police capture another suspect in the bombings in paris and brussels. Around the world christians celebrate the resurrection well take you to those services and more. Next on action news. For years, i was a laboratory chemist, developing drugs to fight deadly diseases. As a scientist, i know theres more that washington can do to help families. Im running for congress to protect planned parenthood funding so more women get cancer screenings and treatment. To pass a ban on fracking in the Delaware River basin to preserve our clean water, and to always protect medicare and social security. Im Shaughnessy Naughton and i approve this message. It is march 27 im dprai gray hall. Nydia han is off. This is some of the stories were following