Checking the Balance

Be back soon

Have no fear, Checking the Balance will be updated again on Monday, December 1st.  Hope everyone has a good holiday!

I need a new agent

Yesterday, State lawmakers found out that they received a 2.8% raise in their salaries.

Pennsylvania is one of four states that grant lawmakers automatic cost-of-living raises, according to Morgan Cullen of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The clause was included in a 1995 pay-raise package that led then-House Majority Leader John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, to remark that members would never have to vote for raises for themselves again.

In 2005, they voted for a double-digit increase, a move that led to a voter uprising that saw dozens of lawmakers either retire under pressure or lose at the polls. Most of that law has been repealed.

The automatic increase remains.

I think this is the only job that gives pay increases for "bad years."  No surprise that Rep. John Perzel was the man behind the idea of bring automatic cost-of-living adjustments.  How does Perzel continue to get elected?  Oh wait, that's right, Perzel has manipulated the system for the last three decades, making sure he cashes in on every loop hole. 

In the same article, Gov. Ed Rendell says he's considering forgoing his pay increase.  Hopefully, the majority of lawmakers will get the idea that now is not exactly the time to be pocketing more taxpayer dollars. 

Self-serving privileges

According to this article, Rep. Bill DeWeese says being elected into a leadership position is a privilege.

DeWeese said he considers it a privilege to hold the leadership position and that the constituents of the 50th District will remain his priority at the budget table.

"I feel it is a high privilege to once again be asked to help lead our Democratic membership majority on the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives," he said.

That's great.  I'm thrilled that DeWeese recognizes how special it is to be on leadership, but I have a problem with his other quote.

"Our rural townships, small boroughs and cash-strapped fire departments will still have an outspoken voice at the budget table. There are 253 house and senate members and approximately only a dozen attend those sessions, and that's a vital opportunity when you're from a rural setting," he said.

DeWeese said he will be the only person representing western Pennsylvania during budget talks.

To me, DeWeese is telling us that he's in leadership for one reason, to protect his district.  This seems kind of shallow minded; shouldn't he have a focus on representing all of Pennsylvania's "rural townships and small boroughs?"

Integrity and whatever the opposite is

Golfer J.P. Hayes was disqualified from a PGA event after he turned himself in for a mistake on the golf course. 

During the second stage of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament last week in Texas, Hayes discovered that on two shots on one hole, he had unwittingly used a prototype golf ball not approved for competition by the United States Golf Association.

No one would have known. And a full-time spot on the PGA Tour in 2009 was on the line. But Hayes, honoring the tradition of a game where the players police themselves, turned himself in and was disqualified.

If only all sports policed themselves and stood up for their own personal conduct.  It's quite refreshing to see a story of someone owning up to their own mistakes, instead of the typical; 1) Player X is rumored to be taking performance enhancers. 2) Player X vehemently denies use. 3) Three months later, Player X admits to using, but claims that they were for recovery.  4) Ten years later, Player X admits to voluntarily using performance enhancers while he played.  

At least this shows that there is a little integrity left in the world.  Or is there...

On the flip side of the above story; we have a senior police officer in Tokyo, who's primary duty was enforcing DUI's, pulled over, for *drum roll please* drunken driving. 

A senior Tokyo police official tasked with keeping the city's roads clear of drunk drivers has been arrested for driving under the influence, police said on Tuesday.

The deputy inspector, on his way home from a camping site, was caught late on Monday after bumping into another car and veering off the road, said a police official in Ibaraki.

"He smelled of alcohol and he couldn't walk straight," the official said.

Local media said the arrested official had been in charge of a campaign to stop drunk driving, handing out stickers to bars and restaurants around the city.

Well, at least there's a little integrity left...

East coast bias

Western PA House Democrats weren't thrilled with yesterday's leadership elections.

"Allegheny County ended up with nobody" in leadership, Mr. Markosek said. "I'm disappointed."

"There is an imbalance geographically," said Rep. Paul Costa of Wilkins.

"Obviously I'm disappointed that Allegheny County didn't get someone in top leadership," said Mr. Costa. "I thought our caucus needed to go in a new direction and get as far away from Bonusgate as we could, but the majority of our colleagues didn't agree."

In the grand scheme of things, the geographic imbalance isn't that big of a deal, but I could see why Western leaders would be upset.

The whole situation is actually quite ironic as the only Western PA Democrat to hold a leadership position is Bill DeWeese, who is the "last" Democrat in office with some connection to Bonusgate. 

The DeWeese pick for Majority Whip still is befuddling to me.  I hope for the House Democrats sake that DeWeese isn't further connected to Bonusgate.  If he is, the Representatives who voted him into his leadership spots will be fully responsible and it will create a catastrophe. 

I very much question the decision to keep someone with such a cloudy future in front of him in such a prominent role.  

Still, imagine the outcry from Western PA Democrats had DeWeese lost the Whip post to Rep. Bill Keller.

Starting line-up

Here is the official line-up for your PA House leaders:

Democrats

• Majority Leader: Todd Eachus
• Speaker: Keith McCall
• Chairman of the Appropriations Committee: Dwight Evans
• Majority Whip: Bill DeWeese

Republicans

• Minority Leader: Sam Smith
• Chairman of the Appropriations Committee: Mario Civera
• Minority Whip: Mike Turzai

Indestructible

It's official, Rep. Bill DeWeese's political career is indestructible.  DeWeese managed to keep a leadership role by winning the Majority Whip. 

Embattled state representative Bill DeWeese has once again survived and retained a high-profile leadership position in the House Democratic caucus -- majority whip.

For some reason, I'm thinking DeWeese made a deal saying something along the lines that he'd pull out of the Majority Leader race, as long as he kept some leadership role. 

As expected, Rep. Todd Eachus took over the DeWeese's Majority Leader role, while Rep. Keith McCall was elected the House Speaker. 

More commentary to come...

Down the slippery slope

The ESPN network has won it's effort to televise the BCS college football games starting in 2011.  Another prime example of how college sports are only about money. 

As much as I like ESPN, they are becoming too powerful.  How long is it before they buy up the rights to every major sport?  If that were to happen, ESPN will be able to shape the sports world to their liking.  For the record, ESPN has contracts with MLB, NFL, NBA, College football, Men's and Women's college basketball, Nascar, UEFA soccer, the PGA and numerous others.  They used to have coverage of the NHL, but declined to renew their contract. 

By not covering the NHL, ESPN prevents the game from growing.  I'm sure if ESPN had some stake in the NHL, hockey would see a huge spike in interest.  The NHL is the current issue, but if this were to continue, ESPN could essentially eliminate whatever sport they wanted just by the way they shape their coverage

The waiting game

Waiting for the results of the leadership elections is like watching paint dry.  At least someone took some new shots at Rep. Bill DeWeese to help pass the time.

Rep. Bryan Lentz says DeWeese should go into exile.

"I wish he would follow the example of Cicero and go into exile," Lentz told The Inquirer. "I believe in redemption, but don't believe you reinvent yourself and continue doing the same things."

Before the elections, Lentz didn't have a comment about DeWeese, so this is a bold move.  At this point, I don't see how DeWeese can gather enough support to secure the Whip position.  But, I guess we'll know for sure pretty soon.

Missed Mark

Mark Cuban is one of my favorite person in sports.  I'm not a fan of his team, the Dallas Mavericks, but I appreciate when an owner is enthusiastically involved, strives to assemble a winning team and takes care of his team's fans.  Needless to say, I'm disappointed that Cuban has been charged with insider trading.

Perhaps, this is the reason why Cuban has been denied the chance to purchase another team, like the Cubs. 

A couple of other random stories.  The first one is sadly hilarious; Virtual affair leads to real divorce.

Amy Taylor filed for divorce when she discovered her husband cheating in Second Life - an online community where players adopt personas and mingle with others.

"I caught him cuddling a woman on a sofa in the game," Taylor told the South West News Service.

"It looked really affectionate. He confessed he'd been talking to this woman player in America for one or two weeks, and said our marriage was over and he didn't love me any more."

I don't have anything else to say about this except, WOW.

A couple weeks back, I was having a conversation with a few friends about the chances that we'd ever see a woman in Major League Baseball.  We came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be a problem as long as the woman was equally skilled as her male-counterparts.  Also, we figured the following positions would be the most-likely for a female to break into the bigs.

1. Relief pitcher- Minimal arm stress, adjustable workload
   
2. Second baseman- Short throw, relies on quickness instead of strength, contact hitter
   
3. Super utility player- Defensive ability, pinch runner, contact hitter

I bring this up today because the first steps have been taken as a Japanese professional baseball league drafted 16-year-old Eri Yoshida.  Yoshida will be the first female to ever play pro-ball alongside men in Japan.

It turns out that we overlooked a very obvious position: a knuckleball starting pitcher.

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan's first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

As a Red Sox fan, I'm ashamed that I didn't think of this, as Tim Wakefield (the longest tenured current Red Sox player) is the perfect model of a successful pitcher who got by without overwhelming power and instead perfected a single, career-making pitch.

We are still ways a way from having a woman player in the Majors, but this is a positive step forward.  I think that it will happen within the next 30 years.