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  PANO
  777 East Park Drive, Suite 300
  Harrisburg, PA 17111

  Telephone: 717-236-8584
  Fax: 717-236-8767

Elections and Civic Engagement

Voter Registration:  Did you know that most nonprofit charities are permitted to do voter registration? You must remain totally non-partisan but you can assist and encourage your clients/constituents to register to vote.  The deadline for voter registration is April 19 for the Primary and October 4 for the General Election, so it’s time to get started!

1/21/10 V3 Campaign Carries Nonprofits’ Message to the Candidates.  2010 is a gigantic election year in Pennsylvania. The Governor’s seat, 25 of 50 State Senators, and all 203 State House members are up for election. The “off-term election” is traditionally a referendum on the President’s stewardship of the economy. This year, there is no shortage of state issues to hold the public’s attention. Pennsylvania is facing a job-less recovery, budget deficits, service cuts, and tax increases. Local governments are so broke they are pinching their charities to pay pensioners, and there is no shortage of ethics indictments. The Memory of last year’s 101-day impasse is still a sore spot for the public. All of this is fueling an anti-incumbent fervor not seen in decades. What’s at stake: Majority in the House, leadership, committees and the state budget.

PANO is working on its list of budget process reforms, but we also have a new vehicle to carry the fight into new territory. It’s called the V3 Campaign. The V3 Campaign will make the voice of the nonprofit sector heard, its value realized, and its votes counted in every election in Pennsylvania. With V3 we can legally engage candidates for public office, put them on record, and hold them accountable when they tell us they support our causes. We have partners for this initiative, but we need your participation. Help us ask every candidate for public office in 2010 to outline their plans to strengthen the programs and organizations that improve the quality of life in our communities. Your work and the issues you care about can only be addressed if we stand together. The time is NOW!

Hear the V3 Campaign’s dynamic leader Robert Egger at PANO’s Annual Conference, April 6 in Harrisburg. www.pano.org/events.php.

11/19/08 State House Elects New Leaders; Changes for 2009. On Tuesday November 18 Democrats chose new leadership positions for the new two-year session to begin in January 2009. The State House of Representatives chose a new Speaker of the House Rep. Keith McCall, (D-Carbon). McCall replaces Dennis O'Brien, a Republican who was chosen by a Democrat controlled House to serve as Speaker in 2007-2008. For the second slot, Rep. Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) was elected to serve as House Majority Leader. To avoid a leadership battle, Rep. Bill DeWeese (D-Greene) chose to not seek another term as Democratic Leader, but chose to run for Majority Whip (third-ranking position) instead.

As of the November 4, 2008 general election, the Pennsylvania General Assembly remains split. Democrats will control the House by a 104-99 majority, while Republicans will control the Senate with a 29-20 majority. House Democrats won 6 Republican seats, and House Republicans won 4 Democrat seats, for a net gain of two seats for the Democrats, but lost one member of the House Democrat leadership (Rep. Dan Surra) in that election.

Rep Sam Smith (R) [incumbent] was elected by the Republican Caucus to serve as House Republican Leader (minority).

In the Senate, Republicans increased their majority for 2009 to 29 Republican Senators versus 20 Democrats. On November 4, Senate Democrats lost all of their contested races against Senate Republicans, including a loss against the recently deceased Republican Sen. Jim Rhoades. With the passing of Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll, Senator Joseph Scarnati (R-25) President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, became Lt. Governor. The State constitution permits him to hold both the Pro-Tempore position and the Lt. Governor’s position at the same time.

Also on November 4, Auditor General Jack Wagner received one of the highest overall vote totals, and winning margins, in PA history. Attorney General Tom Corbett was reelected, but by smaller margins, and Democrat Rob McCord was elected State Treasurer.

In addition, on 11/12/08 it was announced that the State Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf has resigned, and will be replaced by former State Representative Steve Stetler (D-York).

January 6, 2009 marks the date of the new 111th Congress. Two new members of Congress will represent Pennsylvania. Congressman English (R-Erie) lost his re-election bid on November 4 lost to relative newcomer Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper. Republican Glenn Thompson won the 5th District seat that had been vacated by Rep. John Peterson.

Phil English served on the House Ways & Means Committee, though in the minority party. Allyson Schwartz is the only other Pennsylvania member of Congress in the House Ways& Means Committee. It is unclear whether another member of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation will receive English’s seat in Ways & Means.

Over the coming weeks, charities are being encouraged to get to know their new legislators.

3/7/08 Presidential Primary Races to Pennsylvania: Senator Clinton’s victory in Tuesday’s Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island primary elections ensure that Pennsylvania’s vote on April 22 will play a crucial role in the race to the Presidency. For the next 48 days, all eyes will be on Pennsylvania, as the Clinton and Obama campaigns spend up to $1 million a week on television ads, and millions more on mail, radio, and get-out-the vote efforts.

Register to vote: The last day to register to vote, change your address, or change your party affiliation for Pennsylvania’s primary is March 24. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is April 15. Complete a voter registration form go to https://ssl.capwiz.com/pano/e4/nvra/?action=form&state=PA.  For more information go to www.dos.state.pa.us/bcel

The Primary Project: The Primary Project is a national effort to make the needs and impact of the nonprofit sector part of the national dialogue by educating candidates and the public about the sector. Spearheaded by the Nonprofit Congress and the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits (NHCN), the Primary Project is educating presidential candidates in New Hampshire. NHCN is coordinating events and 'bird dogging' (encouraging people to show up at candidate events and ask questions about the nonprofit sector) between diverse groups of nonprofit leaders and the presidential candidates. For the candidate questions go to http://www.nonprofitcongress.org/files/Candidate%20Questions.pdf.  For more information go to http://www.nonprofitcongress.org/?q=primary.

The V3 Campaign: The V3 Campaign, launched in January 2008, aims to make the voice of the nonprofit sector heard, its value realized, and its votes counted in EVERY election in America by Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2017. The V3 Campaign asks candidates in any higher office, to provide details about their experience with and plans for strengthening the nonprofit sector if they are elected. V3 then collects the candidate’s answers, posts the replies and tracks the accomplishments.

For more information visit http://www.v3campaign.org/
Voice: http://www.v3campaign.org/voice 
Vote: http://www.v3campaign.org/vote
Value: http://www.v3campaign.org/value.

1/30/08 Primary Project Founder, Robert Egger, Launches V3 Campaign for Nonprofit Engagement. The V3 website will cover all elections for higher office across America--providing any interested organization, association, volunteer group or citizen with the tools they need to legally engage candidates in dialogue about the socioeconomic importance of the nonprofit sector. Charities are urged to send questions to Presidential candidates in 2008. Ask them what their personal and professional experience has been with nonprofits, and how they would partner with and strengthen nonprofits to achieve their vision.  V3 will make the voice of the nonprofit sector heard, its value realized, and its votes counted in EVERY election in America (Mayor, State Legislature, Congress, Senate and the Presidency).by Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2017.  YOUR work, the issues YOU care about, will only be addressed when we stand together.  For more information visit http://www.v3campaign.org/.    The time is NOW. 

8/29/07 Egger-Eisenberg Square-off in the Great Charity Electioneering Debates. Somewhere between the Lincoln-Douglas debates and “Celebrity Deathmatch” is the Egger-Eisenberg Charity Electioneering Debates. Consequences for the sector are profound. These are not the same-old tired issues, hashed out in a board meeting, by risk-averse leaders fueled more by inertia than by innovation. On the contrary, this may be the most interesting philosophical debate to face our sector in over a decade.

7/10/07 State House Passes Bill to move 2008 Primary Election Date to February 12.  On July 10, the PA House of Representatives took its first step toward moving-up the date for Pennsylvania’s Presidential Primary election by passing HB289 by a vote of 117-85.  The Readshaw bill would make the second Tuesday in February the Primary Election date during Presidential election years, thus moving the 2008 date from April 22 to February 12.  It is hoped that by moving the Primary election date, Pennsylvania will become a more important player in the national electoral process.  According the Representative Readshaw (D-Allegheny) "If the competition for convention delegates is essentially over by the time Pennsylvania's primary rolls around, the need of the candidates to come here is greatly reduced and the impact of the voters of the Commonwealth on the major parties' choice of presidential nominees will almost certainly be zero."  The bill now moves to the PA Senate, but it is not expected to be considered until after summer recess.


Read excerpts of Robert Egger's speech from PANO's 2007 Conference. 
 

See photos from
PANO's Nonprofit Advocacy Day

Click here for our index of legislative issues including election results.

PANO's Legislative Action Center: This page includes links to legislation PANO is tracking, information on elected officials, government agencies, media contacts, voter registration and more.


None of the information on the PANO Website should be deemed legal advice or should be acted upon without prior consultation with appropriate professional advisors.

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Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations 777 East Park Drive, Suite 300 Harrisburg, PA 17111