I agree with the last line in the article. I too trust the people more than I trust the politicians.
PennLive.com: NewsFlash - Panel sets stage for debate over lieutenant governor's selection Panel sets stage for debate over lieutenant governor's selection
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) A Senate panel Tuesday endorsed a bill that would allow gubernatorial candidates to pick their running mates rather than being paired with the choice of Republican and Democratic voters in the primary election.
The bill, forwarded 6-5 by the State Government Committee, could if approved change the political landscape in next year's gubernatorial election and focus new attention on gaffes by Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll.
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Panel sets stage for debate over lieutenant governor's selection
11/15/2005, 5:24 p.m. ET
By PETER JACKSON
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Senate panel Tuesday endorsed a bill that would allow gubernatorial candidates to pick their running mates rather than being paired with the choice of Republican and Democratic voters in the primary election.
The bill, forwarded 6-5 by the State Government Committee, could if approved change the political landscape in next year's gubernatorial election — and focus new attention on gaffes by Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll.
Democrats opposed the measure, contending that it would disenfranchise voters and could make it more difficult for blacks to become lieutenant governor, while all but one of the Republican members supported the measure in a 6-5 vote.
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A similar bill died in committee last year, and aides to Republican majority leaders said any debate on the latest bill is still at least a couple weeks away.
The legislation would require gubernatorial nominees to name their running mates at least 90 days before the general election, and their decisions would be subject to party approval. Currently, candidates for lieutenant governor compete separately in the spring primary election and the winners are teamed with the nominees for governor in unified Republican and Democratic tickets in the fall.
While the state constitution specifies that voters cast a single vote for governor and lieutenant governor, the process of choosing nominees for lieutenant governor is spelled out in the state Election Code and can be more easily changed.
"I don't know of any (other) state in the nation that does it like ours," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Jake Corman, who has a bipartisan group of co-sponsors.
"It's a better way to set up the administration," said Corman, R-Centre.
The bill would have the most direct impact on Knoll, 75, a longtime statewide officeholder from western Pennsylvania who won a nine-way Democratic primary to become Gov. Ed Rendell's running mate in 2002.
Knoll has made national news twice in recent months — in July, when she showed up uninvited and handed out her business card at a funeral for a Marine killed in Iraq; and last month when, in her role as Senate president, sheintroduced an Amazon parrot visiting from the national Aviary in Pittsburgh that warbled "How much is that doggie in the window?" for stunned lawmakers. She also has publicly referred to Rendell as Edward G. Robinson, the late movie star.
This week, a challenger to Knoll emerged — Valerie McDonald Roberts, Allegheny County's recorder of deeds, who announced her candidacy this week. Still, Rendell has said he will support Knoll as his running mate in 2006.
"He has backed her publicly from the beginning, stated emphatically that she has done a good job as lieutenant governor and expects her to be his running mate," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. "Beyond that, what direction the campaign may take is purely speculation."
At the same time, Rendell has long supported the concept of allowing gubernatorial candidates to choose their running mates.
"In no way," said Ardo, "does this reflect on Catherine Baker Knoll's tenure as lieutenant governor."
Knoll's spokeswoman, Johnna A. Pro, said the lieutenant governor is taking no position on the bill but that "it deserves to be debated fully."
Sen. Anthony Williams of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the State Government Committee, said placing the decision of a running mate into the hands of politicians instead of voters would diminish the odds of blacks being selected.
"I trust the voters more than I trust the politicians," he said.
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