Are the two in doubledigit leads, but lets run through the entire list just to be fair to all of them. Phil murphy, jim johnson, john wisniewski, raymond lesniak, bill brennan, and mark zinna are the democrats on the slate. Kim guadagno, Jack Ciattarelli, steve rogers, joseph rullo, and hirsh singh are the republicans who would like to be the next governor. The libertarian candidates are not gonna be pictured, but well tell you they are peter rohrman. The green party has seth kaperdale, and the independent candidate is jon lancelot. What do you see as some of the differentials, and what may, in the end, make a difference . Voters are going to the polls on tuesday. Well, historically, new jersey has the opposite party of whoever won the white house tends to do well. Murphy certainly hes kind of corzine 2. 0, right . Hes a Goldman Sachs guy, a gazillionaire whos funding his own race. Weve seen this movie before. And the other key thing for murphy is hes from monmouth county. For republicans, thats a critical county to win, and hes from that county, so because of the population . What makes it critical . It is part of just like certain suburban counties of philadelphia are always important, certain counties here are really important for democrats to win. The same is over in new jersey. You tend to see that in the voting totals. So youd have to give murphy a bit of an edge at this point between the cash, et cetera, et cetera. He has spent 18 million, which outpaces all of his opponents on his team, you know, three to one, nearly. Hes a former ambassador to germany, but was heavily attacked in the primary, which did leave some interest in other candidates to some of the people out there. What do you think will happen . But i really think that hes trying to sort of say that, yes, im a rich guy. I was part of Goldman Sachs, but i do understand the issues and concerns that people have. Joe biden was in last week to sort of say, you know, i believe that he can understand the issues of the working man and working woman, and hes also agreed to abide by Campaign Finance limits for the general election in a way to say, look, i think that these rules matter, and i need to be a part of them. The person who has the highest total in the latest survey is the Lieutenant Governor, whos been the Lieutenant Governor now seven years, kim guadagno. Shes at 37 if you believe the polls. But do we think that another person whos been in office is gonna continue or are people trying to throw out everybody they know and start again . Well, thats why i think the elevation of murphy strikes me as a little tonedeaf, because if we learned anything from november, its that the electorate is up in arms, and theres a populist wave, and so going back to the corzine model just seems silly to me from a strategic standpoint. I agree with you, sharmain. He seems like a credible candidate and a smart guy, but running a Goldman Sachs guy in this environment seems very tonedeaf to me. And youre right. Guadagno has been around, but i think shes slightly ahead now largely due to name recognition. And they did have a debate, so its been hard for them, actually, with all the National Headlines happening out of washington, to even get a little traction and get some coverage, because its been taken off page one by d. C. Coverage. But now since theyve had a debate, the undecideds have narrowed dramatically, about nine points. That may help them, val. The race is tighter than the polling we had seen in the newspaper. Burlington county and the Republican Party always seems to pick the winner. Theyre with guadagno in this race. They have a good republican machine there. Shes attacking Jack Ciattarelli on taxes. That always does well in a republican primary. But i think its gonna tighten up. I agree with the comment about, you know, the irony of the Democratic Party having a frontrunner as a wall street executive from Goldman Sachs. Well see how that plays out. I dont want to handicap that race. I think guadagno wins that closely in the republican side. All right, back on this side of the river, philadelphia has a new District Attorneyelect, at least if you look at the number of registered voters seven to one democratic in the city and the democratic winner of the primary whos gonna be up for election in november, of course, against a republican, larry krasner, had an important meeting last week with john mcnesby, head of the fop. Theyve been a bit at loggerheads, because there were chants at several krasner rallies that were not complimentary to police, so krasner has asked if he can speak before police, and the head of the fop has certainly said you can have your chance. But theres been some ill will. Do you think its unfair, or do you think this is maybe a moment to heal things before it gets any further down the line toward november . This is a big test for krasner, whos basically a political unknown, whether he can be conciliatory and bring people together. The question about krasner is, is he an activist, or is he a politician who can forge coalitions . And the jurys out on that. You know, my other concern about krasner is hes never managed anything. We forget that being District Attorney is actually running a staff of some 600 lawyers and 50 million, and im just concerned that we get away im done with support ive said this before im done with supporting people who need onthejob training in politics. Like, we did that with kathleen kane. Howd that work out for us . Right. But we just talked about the fact that, you know, we want not to be tonedeaf about picking people who seem to be traditional type of candidates when we talked about new jersey. The same thing is true here. I mean, its obvious that he organized a really good team of people that he had worked with over the years to help him get elected at a time when everyone was saying, absolutely no way. He cant win. Mmhmm. And i give him credit for actually sitting down with the head of the fop. My understanding is that the meeting went really well, and he is gonna go before the fop and make his case. So, again, im glad to see someone, a new face, come in and hopefully youll help him, larry. But emotions run deep. Emotions run deep, because the day after the primary, mcnesby called krasner supporters parasites, and during the campaign, the chance at the krasner rallies not that krasner said this, but some of his supporters said, no good cop in a racist system their words. So theres some deep emotions. Well, first of all, krasner would not be where he is now other than george soros, who has no connection to philadelphia, dropping 1. 4 million into the campaign, okay . Thats what it is. This billionaire a mysterious billionaire brought this race for him. This guys probably the most antipolice candidate in the history, at least in modern history. He has said he wont prosecute minor crimes. Thats called the broken windows theory. It showed that it worked in new york city and other places, that you do enforce crimes, smaller crimes, and he says hell never go for the Death Penalty. So, im sure in this city, to be honest with you, you got d at the end of your name, hell get elected. But its a shame, because grossman, whos his opponent, was a d up until a few months ago. I guess it flipped. But this guy is an extremist, and hes backed by a billionaire who has no connection to the city. I think the important thing in this election is that he made all of those he made that case to the electorate. Its really up to them to really decide whether or not they are looking for someone new. The issue around the Death Penalty hes been absolutely clear as it relates to that, and i think the issue of having supporters scream horrible things i could certainly go back to the trump election and i could give you a litany of negative things that people have said that i dont think any of us would ultimately support. The issue is not that for the fop, and ive spoken to Many Police Officers and the fop this week. The issue is not that some supporters were saying some distasteful things about cops. Its that you have here a radical defense attorney who has cast aspersions on police and their credibility, who would turn philadelphia into chicago where police would know that the d. A. Doesnt back them up. So this goes beyond that. In beth grossman, we have a candidate we can get behind whos a sort of a traditional prosecutor, and shes gaining traction now over this. The republican candidate, right. In my capacity as the chairman of the Republican Party, ive gotten calls from democrat donors in the last two weeks, from fop officials, from even philadelphia ward leader democrat ward leaders who are disgusted by this choice. Id bet my house that he does not krasner does not get the the fop endorsement. And its and we are gonna have a and beth grossmans gonna give a real challenge to krasner. He was a defense attorney for 30 years and took on some black lives matter cases, some things that, you know, are not necessarily and not just that. It was extreme. But there is bipartisan agreement on a lot of his reforms like cashbail reform and even the Death Penalty. So im not sure hes that far extreme, but i agree with you guys in the sense that he ran against the d. A. s office. He didnt just run against seth williams. He ran against the d. A. s office and cast aspersions the citizen we published a letter from 12 that was signed by 12 former a. D. A. S. Theyre predicting that there will be a mass exodus of a. D. A. S because of the aspersions hes cast. Thats why hes got it in the general election, hes got to prove to be a healer, someone who brings people together. And in a city with seventoone democratic edge of registration, can a republican candidate win . Will enough ds jump on board as weve seen in National Politics where not everybody votes along party lines . Can enough people get behind another candidate . Would you be surprised . Its gonna be an election. I mean, thats the reason why we have them. Its gonna be an opportunity for both sides to say whether or not they can actually lead the office in a way that people feel is fair, whether its to those who are coming before it or for those who are looking for the d. A. s office to really support their efforts. And i think a lot of these are really great questions, and i believe that larrys gonna be able to answer them and win. Its gonna be interesting. All right, 17 months from now, well be talking about pennsylvanias gubernatorial race, and some people are already getting their ducks in a line, if you will, to possibly run. One of those is the house speaker, mike turzai, who did send a letter of intent and asking for backing from the republican state committee, as you will know. Mmhmm. So, now the question is, should he resign from his speakership, or should he continue in that role as he runs, which is his legal right at the moment . A poll show that most people in the state, at least the ones polled 58 thought he should step down and give the election his full interest, if thats, in fact, what he decides to do. What do you think, val . Well, thats a decision thats gonna be made by the Republican Caucus in harrisburg. I dont think he needs to resign. I think he can do both. I think it gives him a bully pulpit, and why should he give that up . He has a great record on holding the line on taxes, on defeating Governor Wolfs agenda to have tax increases on everything from diapers to Funeral Services and everything in between. Theres no reason why he should give up that role just because hes running for governor, but ultimately thats a decision thats gonna be made by the Republican Caucus. And other people want that job, too, possibly. State senator scott wagner, Allegheny County businessman paul mango, and former Lieutenant Governor jim cawley, maybe, in the offing for that job. All right, talk about the dnc, which came to our city last summer. The state appropriated 10 million in funds to help with some of the overriding costs. Its a very expensive thing to stage a convention, and our city did a beautiful job, by the way. But now theres some accountability questions. Where did the 10 million go . There had been some issues about possibly bonuses being given that were inappropriate. These are the questions that now are gonna go before a committee and be heard, and former governor ed rendell is agreeing to testify, if the words correct, or least speak to these question marks. What do you thinks gonna happen on that . Well, first of all, we know where the 10 million went. It was spent very quickly on the infrastructure that was needed to pull off the dnc. And i should say that the the very small group compared to other committees in other cities that put the dnc together did a fantastic job. We should pause at that. We should stipulate that. What happened here is a question of bad optics. This should have been a oneday story when the bonuses were announced. It looks bad to give the head of the committee a 310,000 bonus. But that really had nothing to do with the 10 million in state it was a separate pile of money. Separate bank accounts, separate everything. All the money that was spent by the state was put into a s it was for specific things that was spent and audited, and, look, if i was a republican or a democrat, if i was the governor, id be asking for these kind of show hearings. I get that part of it. The governors asking for it, so not just anybody. And i get it, and im sure the governor at one level Governor Wolf is probably so tired of hearing what a great guy ed rendell was, you know . He probably wouldnt mind kind of but at the same time, the state money was put into a and thats an important fact in a separate bank account for specific things, and that money was spent for those things. So this is other monies. And im not hearing a lot from the individuals who donated or the corporations who donated. Theyre not complaining. It seems to be other factors. I know, but david cohen, i think you know, gave a very strong statement saying that he had been involved, he had been responsible for helping with some of the fundraising, and certainly is a friend of ed rendell, certainly not someone who is not supportive, and said, you know, he was unaware of it, and he thought that the decision was made in a too small a group of people and that more people should have been brought in as a part of the decision, and if it had been up to him, he would not have made that decision. So, i do think there still is some concern about how the decision was made and whether or not it was the right decision. To give the bonuses. So it begs the question on a macro level should the state be giving funds to some of these big conventions and conferences in the first place . Are we past the point where the state should help with some of that and just get private monies to do it as they did when the pope came to visit . No, i dont have a problem with the state chipping in for that. Its good for the region, its good for our economy, it makes philadelphia look like an international city, so i dont have a problem with that. It was disturbing. Look, its nothing wrong with giving bonuses to people that work hard, but this looks to be a decision that was made by a very small group of people. It should be done on a contract in advance that if we have money left over and youve met these goals, then you get a bonus. To do this willynilly looks like, lets just give the rest of the money we have away without regard to taxpayers. They also gave some to charity and to other deserving books for the city schools. They gave to nonprofits, and also money to the city, as well. 500,000 back to the city. But i think this was all a question of tone. When this first became known, if governor rendell had just said, you know what . This wasnt transparent enough. We should have been more transparent about it, it would have been a oneday story, blip on the screen, and then its gone. Its another lesson in just sort of owning it. Owning it and then moving on. All right, were gonna take a break. Inside story continues right after this. Stick around. Inside story is presented by temple university. Remarkable change isnt easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. Explore temples impact. Visit temple. Edu impact. Welcome back to inside story. A bit of a controversy pennsylvania senator pat toomey is now a member of a 13member Senate Committee that is going to be reviewing changes to healthcare as they try to work out their new approach to affordable healthcare changing the obama version, of course. The question has become, is he an appropriate person to be on that committee, first of all, because is there a conflict of interest, is what critics are saying. He got a number of donations totaling millions from some of the healthcare entities, including hmos, as well as some people who did medicare and that kind of legislation. So is it, you know, the fox watching the henhouse here . I mean, is he objective enough . Lets hear what you think. I think hes totally objective. Look, theres not a u. S. Senator or congressman who hasnt gotten donations from pharma or Health Companies or whatever. So, i mean, thats kind of theyre part of that process. And i do want to say, too, we represent Health InsurersIndependence Blue Cross and amerihealth caritas. I do think, though, that in pat toomey, you have somebody kind of what he did on gun control, which is at the same time, he was this conservative guy who was able to find a way to kind of bridge the middle ground. And while theres problems with obamacare, the fact of the matter is, particularly in issues like medicaid and some of the medicaid expansion. I mean, i had a fella who came by my office, his name is joe mcgrath. He has parkinsons. His wife has cancer. His daughters 18, profoundly challenged. Mm. He said to me, brian, this shell have to be institutionalized. Its gonna cost the state more, the government more to do that than let her stay at home with us. So, its all the joe mcgraths of the world and their families and their daughters