WEEKLYPRESS.COM • UCREVIEW.COM •JULY 10, 2013 11


The UC Review and Weekly Press compile political news that affects voters each week on the city and state level to keep readers more abreast of local politics. If there’s an is- sue you would like included in this column, please email it to newsdesk@pressreview. net by the Monday, noontime deadline!


State Rep. James Roe-


buck, D-Phila., Democratic chairman of the House Edu- cation Committee, issued this statement on reports of a deal to arrange some of the funding needed to address the Philadelphia public schools’ $304 million defi cit:


“The devil will be in the details. I cautiously wel- come this limited agree- ment that could bring back roughly half of the 3,800


laid-off teachers and other staff who are key to our children’s education, but I will monitor the situation to ensure the state lives up to its part of the bargain. I am disappointed that teach- ers are being pressured for more concessions as part of the agreement, and it’s certainly unacceptable that teachers are being asked to give back 13 percent of their salaries. I am also very dis- appointed that the new state budget only restores $122 million of the nearly $1 bil- lion cut from K-12 education two years ago, a cut that was locked in by fl at fund- ing last year. I supported a Democratic budget amend- ment this year that would have restored about $300 million of those cuts as part of a plan to restore the entire amount over three years.”


State Rep. Vanessa Low- ery Brown, D-Phila., chair- woman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, will hold a public rally on voter ID Thursday. The rally will be held


from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. July 11 in the Capitol Rotunda to express continued outrage over the state’s voter ID law and to generate awareness for the upcoming court case, which begins July 15 in Harrisburg. Joining Brown and other members of the PLBC will be members of the NAACP, AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America and Service Em- ployees International Union. Serving as keynote speaker for the rally is the Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP. Brown said he is known for his stirring commentary


T ree days in June: How PA legis- lators fumbled governor’s agenda


continued from page 3 in the situation.


“It feels a little bit like bizarro world right now,” he said, with Democrats refusing to vote for more spending and the Republicans trying to convince them to do it. The hours ticked away on Sunday as Senate leaders became more open about their inten- tions to sit on the liquor bill until they received a transportation bill from the state House. With the House still completely stalled, a late effort by Corbett to get the state Senate to unilaterally act on the liquor bill was rebutted by leaders who lacked the votes to do so, even if they wanted to.


“I want the transportation,” said state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, as the last hopes for either bill were fading. “It creates tens of thousands of jobs. What can replace that?”


It all culminated in a comical exchange of press releases – never the best of negotiating strategies – with Corbett telling the Senate GOP to pass liquor and Scarnati telling the House to get their act together and pass the transportation bill. By then, the two comatose proposals were circling the drain. Turzai declared them dead


around 10 p.m. Sunday, as the state House fi nished the budget bill and adjourned for the night.


Amidst the failure to close on transportation and liquor, the $28.375-billion general ap-


propriations bill had gone through with little fanfare, seeing about fi ve hours of debate between both chambers.


Then it was time for Corbett to sign the budget bill, which he did at his fi rst public ap- pearance in Harrisburg in more than a week. Corbett, 0-3 on his ambitious agenda since a pension-reform push died early on, tipped his hat to lawmakers for delivering his third on-time budget. He said they had some unfi n- ished business to take up in the fall, but praised progress on the issues. About two dozen House members — no Senators — stood and applauded as Corbett put pen to paper to make the spending plan law. They looked on as he took questions from re- porters, declining to say he was disappointed. Corbett promised to keep working on his agenda through the 18 months of the session. “I think everybody here would like to have had them done,” Corbett said. “But it didn’t happen.”


Contact Boehm at Eric@PAIndependent.com and Daniels at Melissa@PAIndependent.com. Follow @PAIndependent on Twitter for more.


and fi ght for civil rights. Under his leadership, the NAACP developed a new voter registration and voter participation system, which resulted in registering more than 442,000 new voters in North Carolina. “Dr. Barber is one of this country’s strongest voter protection advocates, and I am pleased that he will be addressing our rally and supporting us in this very important issue,” Brown said. “Although Pennsyl- vania’s voter ID law was not implemented in the last election cycle, our work is far from over. We must continue to fi ght against this discriminatory law and make our voices heard until it is no longer law in our Commonwealth.”


Pennsylvania’s voter ID law was enacted in March 2012 and the law was chal- lenged. A judge barred enforcement of the law for the 2012 presidential elec- tion and the May primary, but next week’s trial will explore the law and its chal- lenge in more detail. The PLBC has been a


strong and solid voice op- posing the state’s voter ID law, which directly affects minority, low-income, se- nior and urban residents.


continued from page 6


Free Farmers’ Market pro- duce vouchers


U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania De- partment of Agriculture, will be distributed on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis and must be used before November 30. According to Helen Cooke, PCA’s assistant director for health and nutrition services, 8 to 10 (½-cup) servings of fruits and vegetables a day provide important vitamins, minerals, and fi ber that may help decrease the risk of chron- ic disease.


In 2012, 36,500 older Philadelphians used the free vouch- ers to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from local farm- ers’ markets. Additional funds will allow the program to serve 250 more seniors this year. For information on PCA’s services and programs, call the PCA Helpline at 215-765-9040 or visit www.pcaCares.org.


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