On Wednesday, not one of Pennsylvania’s so-called “conservative” Blue Dog Democrats voted to repeal Obamacare. U.S. Representatives Jason Altmire (PA 4), Mark Critz (PA 12) and Tim Holden (PA 17) all voted to keep Obamacare securely in place. This vote was notable since both Altmire and Holden had sought to distance themselves last year from their party by highlighting their refusal to vote for passage of Obamacare, campaigning as opponents of the law. Unfortunately, they refused to stand for its repeal when given the chance. [click to continue…]
You’ve seen it on the news, Rendell and Altmire at the press conference in Pittsburgh talking about the safe arrival of orphans from Haiti.
However the Post Gazette reports that there may be more to this story than meets the eye.
The early stages of efforts to rescue 54 Haitian orphans and bring them to Pittsburgh turned into a competition with political undertones, secret meetings and a possible foretaste of a coming congressional race.
Mary Beth Buchanan, the former U.S. attorney for Western Pennsylvania, opened a bid to extract the children and the sisters from Ben Avon who ran the BRESMA orphanage in Port-au-Prince. [...]
She said the organizer of the other rescue attempt, Leslie Merrill McCombs, a senior consultant for UPMC, phoned and grilled her for information, obtained a list of the children and ended up shipping medical supplies gathered as part of the Buchanan effort on the plane that carried Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Mr. Altmire.
However the successful rescue was organized, it had the effect of short-circuiting Ms. Buchanan’s effort and shifting attention to Mr. Altmire, a former UPMC lobbyist.
2 Political Junkies asked the question of Bram Reichbaum who was helping Buchanan with her rescue effort,
Bram Reichbaum of The Pittsburgh Comet blog was assisting Mary Beth Buchanan last night. I asked him (via email) if the two factions were working at cross purposes or if it’s just a matter of everyone attacking the problem from different angles with their own resources (which could maximize the chances of pulling off a rescue). Bram answered as follows:
It was DEFINITELY different channels and not cross-purposes. We definitely got the impression that some Dems weren’t thrilled with our attempts, but I never once got the impression either effort was screwing up the other one. If anyone succeeds in getting some aid thru it’ll all be worth it.
For the record though we didn’t know about what Jason Altmire was doing any more than he knew about our effort. Cong. Tim Murphy was our man on the inside, called us every hour or so.
(10/06/09) — U.S. Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04) speaks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about his ongoing efforts to make roads safer for older drivers. Congressman Altmire is the lead sponsor of the Older Driver and Pedestrian Safety and Roadway Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 3355), which would invest $500 million annually [...]
On Wednesday, not one of Pennsylvania’s so-called “conservative” Blue Dog Democrats voted to repeal Obamacare. U.S. Representatives Jason Altmire (PA 4), Mark Critz (PA 12) and Tim Holden (PA 17) all voted to keep Obamacare securely in place. This vote was notable since both Altmire and Holden had sought to distance themselves last year from their party by highlighting their refusal to vote for passage of Obamacare, campaigning as opponents of the law. Unfortunately, they refused to stand for its repeal when given the chance.
Cong. Tim Murphy was our man on the inside, called us every hour or so.
