PA - Rendell calls for stiffer gun penalties

[Steven Mace]

Rendell calls for stiffer gun penalties

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

By James O'Toole, Politics Editor, Post-Gazette

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell yesterday called for stiffer mandatory sentences for crimes committed with guns.

Campaigning in Beaver County, the former Philadelphia mayor offered the firearms proposals as part of a broader discussion of measures to combat violent crime and terrorism.

Rendell is competing with Auditor General Bob Casey Jr. for the Democratic nomination to succeed Gov. Mark Schweiker. In November, the winner of their contest will face Attorney General Mike Fisher, the sole Republican.

Rendell generally praised the homeland security initiatives Schweiker proposed in his recent budget address and in other pronouncements since Sept. 11. He said the next governor should expand on them, pressing particularly for greater coordination between state and federal agencies to prepare for potential acts of terrorism.

To help local governments pay for new security measures, Rendell said he would ask the Legislature to empower counties to impose a $1-a-month surcharge on cellular phones. Current law allows counties to tax standard hard-wired phones to pay for 911 emergency centers. Rendell said the cellular phone levy could yield as much as $50 million annually for the state's 67 counties.

The former prosecutor proposed a menu of increases in minimum sentences for crimes committed with firearms, including a five-year minimum for any crime in which the perpetrator possessed a handgun.

Rendell said current state law specifies that minimum sentence only in cases in which a handgun is visible during commission of the crime. The change, he said, would bring the state into line with federal law.

Rendell also proposed an ascending scale of mandatory minimum sentences for more serious incidents of gun violence: 10 years for a crime in which a gun is fired; 10 years for possession of an assault weapon during a crime; 30 years for possession of a machine gun.

Rendell also repeated his earlier call for a limit on handgun purchases to one per month for individuals.

In a recent debate, Casey said that violent crime should be combated through tougher enforcement of existing laws rather than new legislation.

Casey spokesman Troy Colbert said, "Crime in Philadelphia skyrocketed under Ed Rendell and no amount of window dressing or a plan is going to change that fact."

In response, Dan Fee, Rendell's spokesman, said, "Ed Rendell won a reputation for fighting crime as a prosecutor and a mayor. Bob Casey has never taken a single criminal off the street or put a single policeman on the street."

Rendell offered his proposals after a campaign swing through Western Pennsylvania calculated to complement the heavy television advertising presence of his campaign in recent weeks.

Casey started the campaign with significantly better name recognition in this region than Rendell. Casey, son of the former governor, hopes to buttress his popularity in the western part of the state with the votes of Democrats with conservative views on gun control.

Rendell acknowledged that his views on new legislation were at odds with those of the National Rifle Association, but he pointed out that as mayor he cooperated with the NRA in a program to exploit existing law by shifting prosecutions of crimes involving firearms from state courts to federal courts, where penalties are more severe.

http://www.post-gazette.com/election/20020212rendell0212p3.asp

Steve Mace

[Steven Mace]

Rendell Wins Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Primary

May 21, 2002

— By David Morgan

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, a flamboyant liberal once dubbed "America's mayor" by former Vice President Al Gore, won the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania governor on Tuesday in one of the most closely watched contests of the U.S. election year.

Voters also went to the polls for party primary elections in two other states. In Arkansas, Sen. Tim Hutchinson appeared to have the Republican nod for his re-election bid. In Oregon, the two parties chose nominees for the race to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber.

But the main drama was the gubernatorial race in Pennsylvania, where Rendell led state Auditor General Robert Casey 56 percent to 44 percent with 90 percent of the votes counted, on a wave of heavy voter turnout in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Tuesday's poll capped a bitter gubernatorial contest that had shown all the hallmarks of a full-blown general election campaign, including more than 30,000 television advertisements and $30 million in combined spending.

Rendell, 58, a Jewish liberal who favors abortion rights and gun control, ran mainly on his record as the mayor who pulled the fifth-largest U.S. city from the brink of financial insolvency in the 1990s. Rendell also is former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Casey, 42, a socially conservative Roman Catholic, had the backing of the state Democratic Party hierarchy, organized labor, the National Rifle Association and abortion opponents. He owed much of his statewide name-recognition to his father, the late Gov. Robert Casey, whose own widespread popularity created a class of state voters called "Casey Democrats."

The race took on national interest because there was no incumbent. Gov. Mark Schweiker, elevated to the position when two-term Republican Tom Ridge became U.S. homeland security director last November, chose not to enter the race.

Party insiders believe the winner will have a good shot at delivering the governor's mansion back into the hands of Democrats after nearly eight years of Republican rule.

Standing in the way will be Republican Mike Fisher, the state attorney general, who had no primary opposition.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20020521_566.html

Steve Mace