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Hotel Information

This year, Legislative Day will be held at the Hyatt Regency Washington.  To reserve your room, call (888) 421-1442 by February 15, 2013 and mention "NPMA" to receive the group rate of $259 per night.  After February 15, rooms and the group rate are subject to availability.  

Questions?  Contact NPMA at (703) 352-NPMA (6762).

Have a division or pest management meeting announcement to share or questions about a meeting posted/mentioned?  Send info to info@ppmaonline.net  

Mark your calendar for the next PPMA Annual Conference on November 4 & 5, 2013 at the Best Western Premier Eden Resort in Lancaster, PA.

That big KA-BOOM you just heard was a mortar shell, launched by Attorney General Kathleen Kane, landing squarely on Governor Corbett's policy agenda, blowing his lottery privatization initiative to smithereens (regular readers might suspect we're foreshadowing the music video here; they would be correct).

And on St. Valentine's Day, no less. Kane said the proposed agreement with Camelot Global Services, the British firm that, in the end, was the sole private bidder to run the Pennsylvania Lottery, doesn't comply with the state constitution, lottery statutes or case law, and would usurp the authority of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. She stopped short of criticizing the grammar and punctuation.

Corbett said he was "deeply disappointed," and administration officials said their options include rewriting the contract to meet the attorney general's objections or appealing the decision to Commonwealth Court. Those who were opposed to lottery privatization all along - mostly D's, a few R's, and 64 percent of registered voters, according to a fresh Franklin & Marshall College poll - suggested a third option: forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.

Kane took particular umbrage with the gambit of promising benefits to people - seniors, in this case - based on an illegal contract, calling it "disingenuous." Corbett's comments earlier in the week pressuring Kane to speed up her decision might not have helped her demeanor, either. It reminded us of something our mother said whenever her offspring tried to coax a decision out of her a little too quickly: "If you need to know right this minute, then the answer is 'no.'"

So as the players change in the Office of Attorney General, it was close, but no cigar, for the Corbett administration. Was the deal really and truly unconstitutional, or was the decision political - a nod to the largely progressive supporters who got Ms. Kane elected? Her future encounters with The Guv may shed some light on that. However, to paraphrase Sigmund Freud, "Sometimes unconstitutionality is just unconstitutionality."

On the national stage, President Obama delivered his State of the Union address this week. He and the congressional Republicans signaled that there will be no kissing and making up anytime soon, Valentine's Day be damned. He outlined an uncompromising progressive agenda for his second term, and Senate Republicans blocked his nomination for secretary of defense for the time being. Maybe dinner and a movie would help patch things up?

This week's installment of We Can't Make This Up comes, once again, from the City of Harrisburg, where regular gadfly Bill Cluck lobbed a rare compliment toward Mayor Linda Thompson, congratulating her for the appointments she made to a board overseeing a new revolving loan fund program for the city. Some people might have said "thank you," but Thompson immediately got into Cluck's grille, accusing him of "character assassination," apparently for - gasp! - publicly asking questions in a public City Council meeting. Cluck then accused the mayor of being mentally ill. All while the city sits on $4.8 million in bills it can't pay, waiting for the Money Fairy to show up.

Thanks for the suggestion, Wayne LaPierre, but those testifying in Harrisburg this week on school safety didn't really warm up to the idea of arming school administrators and teachers. Something about teachers and administrators having other things to do in the educational process besides becoming certified firearms handlers. Apparently not every educator has the skill-set of kindergarten teacher Arnold Schwarzenegger. We wonder how Bill Cluck might assess Mr. LaPierre's mental capacities.

PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch seemed to make multiple appearances in all 67 counties, as well as at the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition's Transportation Summit, to stump for the governor's $1.8 billion transportation funding initiative. For the secretary's nicely written op-ed article on the importance of a well funded transportation system, check this out http://www.goerie.com/article/20130212/OPINION08/302129985/Barry-Schoch%3A-Pa-transportation-plan-will-create-jobs. For his remarks at the Transportation Summit, check the PCN program schedule. If you watch the entire program, you'll be rewarded with Congressman Bill Shuster's hopeful view of the transportation funding issue in Washington.

My goodness, it has been a busy week. Dave Patti of the PA Business Council, weighed in on Governor Corbett's proposed budget. Mostly, he likes it.

Not liking it quite so much were Republican State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, chairman of the House Human Services Committee, and the PA Mental Health Consumers Association, who said it doesn't to enough to address community-based health and human services needs.

Then there was Sen. Daylin Leach, who stopped by to discuss his proposal to legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania. And for some Doritos. OK, WE'RE KIDDING ABOUT THE DORITOS! Have a great week!