#andy dinniman

[naturalgasnow]

Dear Mr. Dinniman; You're Full of It When It Comes to Pipeline Safety

Chester County resident Nick Romano challenges Senator Andy Dinniman's pipeline safety assertions pointing out they're short on facts and long on hyperbole.

[naturalgasnow]

Senator Andy Dinniman Uses Taxpayer Dollars to Harass Mariner East

Pennsylvania State Senator Andy Dinniman used taxpayer funds to hire a Delaware Riverkeeper law firm to help him fight the Mariner East before the state PUC

[ragingchicken]

Gubernatorial Candidates Release Statements on PASSHE Secession Legislation

Gubernatorial Candidates Release Statements on PASSHE Secession Legislation

The Raging Chicken Press reached out to all four Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls for thoughts and reactions on PASSHE secession legislation – SB 1275 – and have heard back from two of the candidates, Tom Wolf and Rob McCord.  In a statement sent to the Raging Chicken Press, Jeffrey Sheridan from the Wolf campaign stated:

“Tom Wolf knows many of the state-owned colleges and universities are…

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[ragingchicken]

PASSHE Secessionist Andy Dinniman Was Against Dismantling Higher Education Before He Was For It

PASSHE Secessionist Andy Dinniman Was Against Dismantling Higher Education Before He Was For It

Oh how times have changed for State Senator Andy Dinniman.  In 2011, Governor Tom Corbett proposed a 50 percent cut to the State System of Higher Education, which was later reduced to 18 percent – or roughly 82 million dollars.  The following year Governor Tom Corbett proposed cutting PASSHE for a second year in a row.  This time it was 20 percent.

In a Chester County Democrats email during that…

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[westchesterview]

May 17, primary elections, and the two-party system

What are primary elections for?  In theory they make a lot of sense.  Parties stand for different principles, and in the Tuesday May 17 primary election, Republican and Democratic voters will choose candidates to represent their principles.  Pennsylvania has closed primaries, that is, only R's can vote in the R primary and only D's vote in the D primary.  There is also a process (purposely made difficult) for smaller parties' candidates and candidates who have no party to get on the ballot.  In the November general election, all voters regardless of party--or more accurately, those voters who take the trouble to vote--will elect the candidates that they prefer. You can't vote "straight party" in a primary election because all candidates on your ballot are running to represent the same party. Suppose you are a registered Democrat.  All candidates on your primary ballot are Democrats, right?  Wrong! Through a bizarre and totally fictitious quirk, judicial and school board elections are supposed to be non-partisan.  Dream on!  All this means is that R's can "cross file" and get on the D ballot, and vice versa.  So in February, instead of one set of petitions, candidates often have two sets circulated, one to get on each ballot. What sense does this make?  To me, none at all.  Why should R's help choose a R to represent D principles in the general election?  Would it make sense for a party that represents 48% of the registered voters in the County to have 100% of the candidates for a given office on the November ballot?  No way, almost as bad as the ChesCo Court of Common Pleas, where non-Republicans hold 1 of 14 judgeships. Since we are blessed or cursed with a two-party system (candidates who are neither R's nor D's have basically no chance to be elected), the least we can do is to see that voters in November have a choice between a real D and a real R. In theory, for a judicial position, you can say, like one of the current candidates, that "This election is not about Republican or Democrat – it is about choosing candidates with the background and qualifications who will protect us and make good decisions."  Sure, like the Supreme Court, which almost always splits along ideological lines (as when it elected George Bush president by a 5-4 vote), and like lower court judges, who usually vote in line with the party which put them in office.  What this means is that you need to know before voting which are the D's and R's running for the judicial positions and school board.  See what your ballot looks like by downloading it at the County Voter Services site.   How can you tell the R's from the D's?  Any of these methods--or two in agreement, to be safe in case of doubt--should give your answer: 1) If you have received more than one mailer for a candidate, or see multiple yard signs, those are likely R's.  D's don't generally have the money and staff for that sort of thing in primaries.  When D's do have mailers and yard signs, those will generally identify them as D's, because they know they won't win the R primary anyhow; candidates who don't identify their parties are generally R's hoping D voters will think they are D's.  2) Red yard signs usually belong to R's; D's usually have signs more in the light to dark blue range.  But there are exceptions. 3) If you are a regular primary voter, your party will probably leave you a "sample ballot" showing their actual candidates. 4) Check the county party web sites for the R's and D's--they will tell  you who their candidates are. 5) Scrutinize candidates' web sites and Facebook pages.  See where the candidates work (e.g., there are some well-known West Chester firms that basically hire R's and then promote their political careers).  See who they associate themselves with (if a candidate posts a photo of herself "with candidates Tom Hogan, Bunny Welsh, Terri Clark, and Terence Farrell at the Old Court House," you can pretty well bet she's not a Democrat). 6) Look at the return address on any mailer you receive.  If it comes from the PA Democratic State Committee, that answers the question.   Or, if you get 3 mailers (as I have) from a candidate whose campaign address is given as 118 W Market Street Suite 300, you are dealing with the law firm of Buckley, Brion, McGuire, Morris & Sommer LLP, in which the Brion is the long-standing head of the Chester County R party (the firm represents--naturally in a totally objective and non-partisan manner--a number of local municipalities; the fact that they were instrumental this spring in excluding a D candidate from the West Goshen primary ballot is purely coincidental, of course). 7) Check with your party "greeter" or table of information outside the polls.  Whatever you pick up there, you can take into the polls. But if you're a R, you really don't need to worry about it, because D's don't usually cross file anyhow.  And if you're an Independent, you can't vote for primary candidates at all. The past few months we've seen school boards wrangling about budgets, taxes, employee compensation, unions, charter schools, sex education, and a host of issues, on all of which we all know what the two parties think.  Why should school boards be partisan?  Board members should be dedicated to advancing the cause of public education, not to party ideologies or resume-building, right? Dream on.  Many partisan political careers have started on school boards; there is no other earthly reason for some current school board members to be on a school board.  For example, a current school board member, also a county employee, is now running for a countywide position.  Nice teamwork! To cut off such careerism instead of serving the families and children who need education, state senator Andy Dinniman (D-19) in the 2009-10 session introduced Senate Bill 1086, reintroduced in January 2011 as Senate Bill 327 (download the text here) to remove school board positions from primary ballots.  Board candidates would just get the required signatures over the summer and face off in November.  Then the most qualified candidates, those with a commitment to advancing public education, might actually win, even--shocking in ChesCo's closely guarded insider system--not only Democrats but an occasional Independent! 

When will the politicians of the party that dominates in Harrisburg agree to depoliticize school boards in the interests of public education?  Dream on!

[westchesterview]

Rally against cutting public education, West Chester, 4/27/11

That was quite a rally this evening!   I'm guessing over 300 people were there--the biggest non-presidential rally I can recall in Chester County.  Supporters spread from the court house steps into the middle of High St. (blocked off to traffic, fortunately). State Senator Andy Dinniman (D-19) planned and moderated the hour-long event, with ten other speakers.  One of the highlights was the West Chester university students and staff marching up S. High St. to the rhythm of their marching band, carrying a mock coffin symbolizing the death of public education if it continues to bear the brunt of the threatened Corbett  cuts.

My own view is that the single-minded budget-slashers and proponents of non-public education have overreached in Harrisburg.  They have even managed a rare feat: to activate citizens who support public education, who believe government can benefit our lives, and who want to balance budget but not on the backs of the young and the vulnerable. Here are a few quotes and highlights (yes, I took notes): Senator Andy Dinniman: "The prisons will be filled as the schools are emptied" (he and several speakers noted that as education is cut, privatized state prisons would receive more funding, for 3 new privatized prisons at $40,000,000 each).  Quoting another source today: "It costs twice as much to send someone to the state pen as to Penn State" (half the state funding not only for the State System of Higher Ed but also for the affiliated universities, including Penn State, is on the block). The governor and state legislature will claim they didn't raise taxes but they are just kicking the tax burden along to property owners, who are often the least able to bear it. Redistribute the budget to emphasize the most important; tax Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction (as mentioned by many speakers) and smokeless tobacco.  "We're going to make sure that our university is treated with dignity and respect." Dr. Clifford Johnston (president WCU APSCUF) WCU faculty and staff are willing to negotiate a wage freeze, even though they have received no raise in 3 of the last 10 years, after 20 years of declining state support.  Education is the backbone of economic growth. Karen Cruickshank, President, Tredyffrin-Easttown School District   "The crisis in the funding of education threatens the future of public education as we know it today." "School districts are drowning in red ink." "Our young people are our future and they deserve our help." Donna Ross, member, PTO Council, WCASD: "Access to free public education is a right" (as several noted, it is in fact guaranteed by the PA constitution). West Chester Area School District has been preparing for restraint and cutting expenses; staff agreed to freeze salaries to help preserve the quality of education.  And now even more cuts are threatened.  Extended kindergarten for at-risk students would be cut, and teachers dismissed, and class size increased.  "We are not an agrarian society; science and math are not optional." "If we don't value education, we are doomed to perish in ignorance." "Educate, don't incarcerate." "Little Victor" Cozzone (3rd grade): "The governor wants to cut education.  Don't cut my education!" And other speakers, too many to summarize. The concluding words by Andy Dinniman summed it up: "In America the majority rules--if they are involved and active.  We believe in America's potential; we can still be a shining light on the hill..." with education.