For a while last summer, it looked as if the state Republican Party might get almost everything it wanted — or at least a chance to find ammunition to use against the U.S. Senate campaign of Democrat Katie McGinty. That prospect prompted GOP staffer Paul Engelkemier to file a request under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law, seeking months of emails Ms. McGinty compiled as Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff.

Mr. Engelkemier made two right-to-know filings last year: a July 7 request for Ms. McGinty’s calendar and email from Jan. 20 through that date, and a July 22 request asking for emails and calendar entries logged since the earlier request. To obtain the emails, Mr. Engelkemier submitted more than 100 search terms, including phrases like “pension reform” and the names of state officials.

That produced over 15,000 pages of emails, the governor’s office says, each of which would have to be scanned for material deemed confidential under the law. But the attorney handling the request, Jessica Diaz, emailed Mr. Engelkemier that the process could begin on Aug. 24. After that, she wrote, “[a]ll records for one month (based on your order of preference) can be reviewed for exemption, redaction, and/​or release … every two weeks.”

Seven months later, the state GOP is still waiting. State law “has been completely abused … with an unconscionable seven-month delay,” Republicans said in a statement. “[T]he public deserves answers.”
The state GOP, though, has obtained only 71 pages of emails, 25 of which reproduced a marketing brochure.

Republicans suspect the Wolf administration is running out the clock: A court decision is unlikely until well after the Democratic primary. “We and the Office of Open Records have been in agreement,” said state GOP spokeswoman Megan Sweeney. “It raises questions about why this request has taken seven months.”

With less than 50 days until the primary election, we're widening our lead:
“Joe Sestak continues to lead the Democratic primary race for Senate, earning 33% of the vote. Katie McGinty has fallen into a more distant second (17%), followed by John Fetterman (15%).” – Harper Polling, 3/9/16

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign is holding fundraisers in Mexico on Wednesday, expanding its offshore money operation one day after the New Hampshire primary.

Two events hosted by the Clinton campaign treasurer Jose Villarreal will be held in Mexico City. Clinton herself will not be attending. One of the co-hosts of the fundraising dinner is Wal-Mart lobbyist Ivan Zapien, who relocated to Mexico with the company in 2015. Clinton served on the board of Wal-Mart from 1986-1992.

Overseas fundraisers are relatively common for leading presidential candidates, though Mexico City is not itself a common destination. Donors attending must assert that they are U.S. citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of the United States.http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/fundraising/268782-clinton-campaign-hosting-fundraisers-in-mexico

Hillary Clinton's Chinatown Tangle
Last June, Hillary Clinton's campaign gave back $7,000 to Chinese restaurant workers who contributed $1,000 apiece for a political fund-raiser. It was her campaign's token effort to stop a common campaign-finance abuse: the use of proxies by well-heeled donors trying to get around the $1,000 limit on campaign contributions. But however well intentioned, the effort points up the difficulty all of the presidential campaigns have in trying to police their political contributions.

The problem was that the low-paid restaurant workers did not seem capable of affording $1,000 donations — and thus, it appeared likely, may have been used as proxies by other big donors. Yet the Clinton campaign did not reimburse another 15 restaurant workers — including cooks, waiters, a dishwasher and cashier — who also wrote checks for the April 13 event in New York's Chinatown. Nor did it send back money from a garment worker and phone card clerk, not to mention 15 donors who had failed to list any occupations or register to vote.

Few Chinese-American workers in New York City's several Chinatowns will reveal how much they really make. At the same time, it is not uncommon to see waiters and dishwashers among other so called menial workers who are capable of paying for cars, plunking down large initial premiums for insurance policies or making sizable down payments on homes or apartments — in cash. The banks of Chinatown centered in Canal Street in Manhattan have combined deposits of $6 billion, behind only the ritzy Upper East Side ($8 billion) among New York City neighborhood.

That creates a particular problem in trying to figure out which donations are being funneled through proxies. Fund-raisers face pressure to gather large numbers of checks but have no responsibility to screen them. Fugitive businessman Norman Hsu drew attention to the $850,000 he bundled for Clinton because of some of the donations came from people of modest means.

Clinton: I’m the ‘most transparent public official in modern times’
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/271879-clinton-im-most-transparent-public-official-in-modern

Hillary Clinton says she's the "most transparent" public official of modern times, slamming critics of her email practices in a new interview.

Since a 2013 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, several Southwestern Pennsylvania communities have ended up meeting in local government buildings - like Penn Township's municipal complex tucked behind Fox's Pizza Den in Harrison City - sharply divided on where shale gas drillers should be allowed to frack wells.

The state's highest court overturned key parts of Act 13, the state's governing oil and gas law, and gave the power to local governments to control some aspects of shale drilling through zoning. Penn Township's zoning ordinance allows shale drilling across about half of the township, much of which is rural land. The ordinance is pending and could change, but it is in effect.

It's this mix of suburbia-meets-rural landscape that's at the heart of the drilling debate in Penn Township: Many residents who live in residential areas don't want drilling near their homes - fearful of what the activity could mean for their health, property values and way of life. Other residents want to lease their land to drillers.

Just one well pad in and Penn Township officials, residents and the drillers are struggling under the change. The public hearing is mostly filled with residents against the pad. Under township rules, residents who object can try to prove to the zoning board that the site would be harmful to the environment and their health and safety. Then, it could be a violation of the ordinance.