Trib: Pippy’s seat to remain vacant

There will be no special election to fill the six months remaining in state Sen. John Pippy’s unexpired term, Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley announced on Tuesday.

The seat will remain vacant, and the successor for Pippy, R-Moon, will be chosen in the Nov. 6 general election.

Pippy, 41, resigned upon voting for the state budget on June 30 and went to work as CEO of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance.

Read the full article:

• www.triblive.com/news/2183960-74/election-pippy-special-cawley-state-holding-seat-session-weeks-ballot (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Tax Picture Gloomy In Tough Economy

"The stew is going bad, because of all sorts of ingredients that aren't working together," said Mt. Lebanon resident and taxpayer William Lewis.

The state shortfalls and projected increases in taxes across the board may end up driving Lewis, a 30-year resident of Mt. Lebanon, out of Allegheny County.

"We are facing a 40-50 percent increase in school taxes to pay for the $115+million high school, quadrupling of PSERS (state retirement fund) fees for schools ($5 million minimum), and underfunded municipal pension funds. There's underfunded retiree medical coverage for schools, more fees to pay for EPA sewer repairs, and the municipality is so strapped they have to borrow money to pay for street repair," Lewis said.

Mt. Lebanon parking authority can't keep up with debt payments, Allegheny County may have to reassess all properties. Now we are told the state withholding tax is going up. The average citizen cannot see any increase in services, yet all these costs keep going up and up. We were told casino revenue would lead to 'substantial reduction' in school taxes. I got a $191 reduction on a $6,000 school tax bill. That casino money was a bust," Lewis said.

Two state officials, however, say they support reductions in state spending before increasing taxes--Rep. Matt Smith (D-Mt. Lebanon) and Sen. John Pippy (R-Moon).

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/06-24-PA-budget-B

Pippy and Smith Are Tweeting

If you don't understand what the title of this posting means, then you haven't been using Twitter, the social networking and micro-blogging service that continues to grow in popularity.

State Senator John Pippy and State Representative Matt Smith have joined the Twitterverse to better communicate with their constituents. You can find Senator Pippy at www.twitter.com/SenatorPippy and Representative Smith at http://www.twitter.com/RepMattSmith.

Local Lawmakers: It's Time To Cut Spending

"We've got to reduce our spending, especially if this trend continues on the same track or gets worse in the spring," said Pennsylvania Sen. John Pippy (R-Moon). "Our overall economy is down. Spending is down, buying is down. Sales tax is down, and with job losses our state revenues are down. This is the second year of the downturn in our economy.

"I commend the governor on the tough cuts he's made so far, but we need to look to further reductions because a tax increase isn't something I would consider. I would also oppose any increase in the state's fuel tax. We've weathered this better than many of the larger states in the union. And I am happy we pushed to maintain the rainy day fund, so that it has grown to $750 million. It helps, but we have to look further at duplications in programming and make those cuts too," Pippy said.

Pennsylvania Rep Matt Smith (D-Mt. Lebanon) said he opposes tax increases in this economy and advocates elimination of most if not all of the $200 million accumulated in the legislative surplus.

The "rainy day" and "legislative" surplus funds are not the same. The legislative surplus has an additional $200 million, and has accumulated over a 10 to-15-year period, Smith said.

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/12-31-PA-budget-sidebar

Smith, Pippy and O'Donnell Endorsed by Post-Gazette

State Representative Matt Smith, State Senator John Pippy and Steve O'Donnell have been endorsed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in their races for the Pennsylvania State House, the Pennsylvania State Senate and United States House of Representatives.

Link: Smith In The 42nd: The House Freshman Is Off To A Bright Start

Link: Re-elect Pippy: The GOP Senator Has A Solid Grasp Of The Issues

Link: O'Donnell In The
18th: The Challenger Is A Better Choice For The Big Picture