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REGION’S BUSINESS

PHILADELPHIA EDITION

A JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS

FUTURE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY

LOOKS TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE If the Republican Party plans to turn itself around, it’s time to listen to the young folks.

WHY CHRISTIE’S CAMPAIGN IS IN THE SPOTLIGHT KATHLEEN KANE’S MEDIA HONEYMOON IS OVER

5 SEPTEMBER 2013

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CONTENTS

Young Republicans 15 Hold Key For GOP

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How Health Care Costs Are Being Reduced Thanks To Energy National Media Is Examining Christie’s Potential

12

YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

13

Media Honeymoon Coming To End For Kathleen Kane

18

Drexel Professor Pushing For Video Games Jobs In City

28

Wrong Solutions For Reducing Legislature

Independence Media Corp.

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Xerox Repurposing Tech For Video Imaging, Analytics

16

Charter School Offering Tech Focus

17

‘Big Idea’ Thinking Crucial In Beginning

PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER James D. McDonald ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rich Coleman CONTRIBUTORS Brandon Baker, Eric Boehm, Charlie Gerow, Don Lee, Juliana Reyes, Matt Stringer, Melissa Daniels, Terry Madonna, Michael Young, Carol Curley, Susan L. Pena PROOFREADER Denise Gerstenfield ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Larry Smallacombe DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Deirdre Affel

Copyright 2013 Independence Media Corp. All rights reserved. Use of material within without express permission of publisher is prohibited.

Region’s Business is published weekly on Thursdays and online at www.regionsbusiness.com.

The published makes no representations or warranties regarding the advertising appearing in its pages or its websites.

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

TRANSPORTATION

End-Of-Summer Gas Prices Lower Than Previous Two Years The Federal Energy Information Administration recently released a report that shows gas has been cheaper: “The U.S. national average retail price for regular gasoline has fallen 13 cents per gallon below the apparent summer peak of $3.68 per gallon, reached on July 22.

“Monday, August 26, it was $3.55 per gallon, despite an increase in crude oil prices since early July.

“At $3.55 per gallon, the average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline is 19 cents below last year’s price at that time and 3 cents below the level in 2011 leading into the holiday weekend.”

According to the American Automobile Association, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Pennsylvania was $3.63 as of August 30.

Bike Share Program Coming To City In Fall 2014, Details Released The Uwishunu blog reports that a bike sharing program will officially come to Philadelphia and be established by the end of summer 2014.

The service area will be deployed in concentric zones, with Center City core locations developed first, followed by the neighborhoods of Philadelphia.

The initial rollout will be 150 to 200 stations with 1500 to 2000 sharable bikes.

The anticipated ridership is around 500,000 trips annually by 2015, with local use growing over the first six years of operations to nearly 2.5 million trips per year.

The cost will be free within the first 30 minutes of usage and users paying a metered rate after that.

Bike share users will be able to pick up a bike from one pod and then return it to another pod somewhere else in the city.

So far, the planned service area spans from the Delaware River in the east, into West Philadelphia, and from the Navy Yard in South Philly through Center City and to North Philadelphia and Temple University’s main campus.

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5 SEPTEMBER 2013

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Reflects On Joan Krajewski “I met Joan Krajewski in the early 1980s through then Councilman John Anderson. They were great friends and over the years I came to know her as straightforward and honest, sometimes brutally so, and a real friend who gave me help and guidance. She was a person whose word you could really trust. I very much admired her record of service to the City and in particular how she served her constituents in the 6th Council District who will miss her. I extend my condolences to her family and friends. All of us will miss her deeply.”

SMALL BUSINESS

Deadline Extended For DEP Grants The Department of Environmental Protection announced that the deadline for Pennsylvania small-business owners to apply for DEP’s Small Business Advantage Grants has been extended to Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Businesses can apply for 50 percent matching funds of up to $9,500 to adopt or acquire energy-efficient or pollutionprevention equipment or procedures.

Applicants must be a for-profit corporation, LLC, partnership, sole proprietorship or other legal entity with 100 or fewer full-time employees, and must be located in Pennsylvania.

TECHNOLOGY

Chester County Business Awarded Downingtown-based Softmart, a supplier of technology solutions for business, government, education and healthcare environments, was awarded the Platinum Level Operational Excellence Award for delivering “market-leading operational excellence” in supporting Microsoft technology over the past year.

“Microsoft solutions have served as the cornerstone of our success for over twenty-five years,” said Guy Cicconi, president & CEO of Softmart.

Urban Remix Plan Foresees Greener 46th Street Station Area

BY MATT STRINGER The area around the 46th Street station on the Market-Frankford Line, a currently underdeveloped district that includes the future site of the Philadelphia Police Department headquarters, is receiving some much-needed help in redesigning and making over the area around the transit hub in West Philadelphia from the Community Design Collaborative (CDC).

The CDC’s “Urban Remix” plan encourages more density near the station and foresees a mixed-use development project at the corner of Farragut and Market streets. The area is now a vacant lot but was occupied COMMUNITY DESIGN COLLABORATIVE last year by a New York Fried Chicken station into a green, eco-friendly transit and a Donuts Plus in a building that was demolished along with several con- hub. That is in addition to the Walnut Hill Community Farm, which took an demned homes.

In addition, new streets will be proposed 11,580-square-foot vacant lot next to the north of Market Street to create more station and turned it into an urban farm connection and community in an area that produces fresh, healthy produce. It that features isolated “superblocks.” The is also the site of community entrepreplan recommends setting back develop- neurship programming.

Recommendations and renderings from ment to the property edge, particularly between 46th and 49th Streets both north the Urban Remix plan have been incorpoand south of the El, to create greener rated into the Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s new University Southwest streetscapes and public gathering areas.

The most exciting part of the CDC’s District Plan.

This article was originally published redevelopment plan might be a new linear park at the 46th Street station to on the Philadelphia Real Estate Blog at capture storm water and welcome tran- blog.PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com. sit users, in essence transforming the

Restaurant Planned For Kimmel Center Jose Garces is opening a new restaurant in the Kimmel Center along Spruce Street, taking over the space where the gift shop used to reside. The restaurant will have its own entrance off Spruce Street and feature floor-to-ceiling windows meant to enliven the building’s dull facade and break up its current monotony.

The restaurant, to be called Volver, is said to include a main dining room and champagne and caviar lounge, plus a smaller 25- to 30-seat room for more intimate affairs.

This article was originally published on the Philadelphia Real Estate Blog at blog.PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com.

EDUCATION

Corbett Says State Will Apply For $52.5M Education Grant Gov. Tom Corbett announced Thursday, August 29, that Pennsylvania is eligible and will apply for up to $52.5 million through the federal Race to the TopEarly Learning Challenge Grant program.

“As part of the state’s overall education system, high-quality early education programs can improve student school readiness and achievement,” Gov. Corbett said.

“Pennsylvania is a national leader in providing early education opportunities for our youngest citizens and this grant will help us further improve and expand our quality programs.”

In anticipation of the grant, the governor directed the departments of Education and Public Welfare to work with the early learning community to write the state’s grant application.

“It is important that this grant application be guided by the comments and suggestions of local educators who work with our children every day and not dictated by Harrisburg,” Gov. Corbett said.

The 2013-14 state budget recently signed into law by Gov. Corbett increased funding for Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance by $6.4 million.

The grant application will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in mid-October, and award announcements are expected in December.

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5 SEPTEMBER 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

WEEKLY BRIEFING

FUNDING

PLCB Donates To Underage Alcohol Prevention Programs In an effort to address underage and irresponsible alcohol consumption, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, PLCB, announced Tuesday, September 3, that it has awarded $2.14 million to 61 municipalities, community groups, schools, universities and law enforcement agencies through the Alcohol Education Grant Program.

The PLCB grants help fund prevention programs focused on underage and college-age alcohol consumption and support related law-enforcement activities.

Of the 61 grants awarded, 24 will fund community law-enforcement efforts, 16 will go to communities and nonprofit organizations for initiatives, one will fund various programs at a school district and 20 will help colleges and universities develop strategies to reduce underage and dangerous alcohol use.

RESTAURANTS

Judge Sides With Chickie’s And Pete’s In Crabfries Lawsuit In a ruling handed down late last month, a federal judge determined that a Philadelphia pizza shop, Tony’s Place, had infringed on Chickie’s and Pete’s trademarked Crabfries by placing a picture of a crab on their menus and ads next to the word “fries,” the Daily News reports.

However, the judge denied Chickie’s and Pete’s claims of unjust enrichment, which would have allowed the chain to seek restitution against Tony’s Place, located on Frankford Avenue near Stirling Street in Mayfair.

Tony’s Place, whose parent company is Dominic Inc., had previously been sued for trademark infringement by Chickie’s and Pete’s in 2000 for using “crab” and “crab fries” in relation to its seasoned french fries.

Tony’s Place agreed to stop using the words as part of a settlement agreement in 2002, according to court documents.

JOBS

How Health Care Costs Are Being Reduced At Hospitals With Intensive Care for Energy

Neuner readings from the heat recovery boiler at the two story tall Combustion Turbine building

BY SUSAN L. PEÑA If there’s one thing that just about everyone in the United States can agree on, it’s that the cost of health care has to go down.

So when a large hospital system can save millions of dollars in energy costs, that’s welcome news. And so is the fact that reducing those costs by installing a combined heat and power (CHP) system (also called a cogeneration system) can also be much easier on the environment by cutting down on emissions.

Geisinger Health System, based in Danville with facilities located throughout Pennsylvania, installed a cogeneration plant in its 2.6 million-square-foot main campus in Danville in 2010, with the help of ZF Energy Development LLC, an industrial energy utility and solutions company based in Wayne.

To their already extensive central plant, Geisinger added, among other elements, a combustion turbine to make electricity and a waste heat recovery boiler, from which steam is extracted, according to John Zabilowicz, ZF Energy’s COO. Combining chilled water storage, electric and steam boilers and conventional chillers, Geisinger can continuously save energy costs by monitoring the lowest energy prices and adapting the system to take advantage of them.

Alan Neuner, Geisinger’s Vice President of Facilities, said the initial cost of the cogeneration project was $5.3 million, but because the hospital received a Pa. Department of Environmental Protection Green Energy Works Grant of $2.25 million and a PPL Act 129 Grant of $500,000, the net cost was only $2.55 million.

So far, the annual savings from using the new system is $2.2 million and the return on investment was 14 months.

These figures were confirmed by an independent analyst hired by Geisinger, Zabilowicz said.

“They have added about 500,000 square feet of hospital space, and they’ve reduced the cost of energy from $3 per square foot to about $1.69 per square foot—a 45 percent reduction.

KEYSTONEEDGE.COM

“(Cogeneration) is not just saving the hospital money, but it’s lowering the per-bed costs; it spreads over the whole economic equation for your facility. . . The money can be redirected toward retaining staff, for example.”

In addition to cost savings, the cogeneration system at Geisinger has cut down significantly on emissions.

Neuner, in a presentation he gave at the American Society for Healthcare Engineering Conference this year, said the CO2 reduction is about 62,131 tons per year; NOx (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) reduction is 95.93 tons per year; SO2 is 451.93 tons per year; and mercury is 5.23 tons per year.

“It’s not just about lowering costs, but fulfilling our mission” to improve the health of the community, Neuner said.

Geisinger is planning to replace the central plant at its Wyoming facility, Neuner said. Again, ZF Energy will do the consulting, as well as provide its patented Economic Power Dispatcher System, an automated controller that monitors market costs.

Zabilowicz said his company ran the prototype of this controller when it helped the Reading Hospital and Medical Center (now Reading Health System) to set up its cogeneration system in 2008.

According to sources from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2007 there were 3,040 large hospital buildings in the United States. As of last year, 202 of these had CHP systems in place—less than 10 percent.

The EPA also said that hospitals use more than 8 percent of all energy sources, and 1.4 percent of the electricity generated. Hospitals spend more than $8 billion annually on energy.

“They are among the most energy-intensive buildings in the United States,” said Gary McNeill, the EPA’s CHP Partnership communications director.

MCNeill said the agency’s Energy Star CHP Award has been targeted toward the healthcare sector during its first round of awards, to raise awareness of the importance of hospitals’ reducing energy costs and emissions.

This article originally appeared on Keystone Edge at KeystoneEdge.com.

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5 SEPTEMBER 2013

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WEEKLY BREIFING EXECUTIVE BOOKSHELF

WHO TO FOLLOW

@smallbiztrends

Anita Campbell Anita Campbell is the CEO of Small Business Trends and is considered one of the most influential women in entrepreneurship. She is constantly aggregating relevant news items from sources all over, making her a great Twitter user.

RT @smallbiztrends: Why Do Good Ideas Fail: Success Tips Learned From Mediocre Products http:// bit.ly/17DEya8 RT @smallbiztrends: Zen and the Art of Startup Naming - Businessweek http://bit.ly/17iBLNe

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The Leadership Contract explains why leadership, and leadership culture, is the only real differentiator between the organizations that thrive and those that fall behind.

This book explains how to establish a leadership contract that is fully understood and agreed upon by business leaders to ensure the success of their company, using four essential terms and conditions.

RESTAURANT ROUNDUP

MUST-HAVE APP

Pulse Whether using an iPhone or Android device, having a well-rounded news app is a good idea in order to easily read up on the headlines that are relevant to you personally.

There are many different apps that can do this, but Pulse is definitely in the top tier for news apps, if only for the wonderful presentation.

When you first sign into the app, you pick the news sources that are important to you and Pulse will suggest other sources based on your interests.

Once it’s all set up, it literally becomes a one-stop app for all the news that’s important to you, with scrolling images and snippets of information if you want to simply scan the headlines.

It’s a free app and worth the time for news junkies.

Triangle Tavern Sees New Life On The Horizon Passyunk Post reports that the defunct Triangle Tavern, located in South Philadelphia at 1338 S. 10th St., may be seeing new life.

A liquor license application popped up in the window of Triangle Tavern and the Post reports that the pending license transfer shows David Frank and Stephen Simons are behind the purchase of the license.

Mr. Frank and Mr. Simons are the minds behind Royal Tavern, Khyber Pass Pub, Cantina Los Caballitos and Cantina Dos Segundos. So far there hasn’t been any official word on how the new space will be used.

Q&A

5 SEPTEMBER 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

MICHAEL ARMENTO’S HAND IN

BUILDING PHILADELPHIA

Since founding Torcon’s Philadelphia office at the Navy Yard in 2006, Michael Armento has been busy. He has been responsible for over 3.5 million square feet of completed local projects exceeding well over $850 million in construction costs. Mr. Armento set aside some time to speak about Torcon’s projects in Philadelphia and what sets them apart from other construction companies.

What’s the elevator pitch for Torcon, Inc.?

We are a construction company that’s been around for almost 50 years, we were founded in 1965. We are a company that does manual volume of about 500 million, we employ about 200 people, we have a bonding capacity of about $600 million. Our market sectors are primarily pharm, healthcare, higher ed and commercial construction.

What does Torcon bring to the table that other area firms don’t?

I think there a couple of things. If you look at our size and compare Torcon to some of largest local regional, and even national level firms, from a resources standpoint, we have as much to offer as any one of our competitors. And what I mean by that is our financial capability is just as good as anyone we compete with. In terms of technical resources or things such as building information modeling, we are on par if not in advance of most of our competitors. But most importantly we offer something that many of our competitors can not offer, which is an ability for the client to be able to contact ownership of the company directly, Ben and Joe Torcivia. They reside in the Red Bank [NJ] office and if there is ever a client that wants to go to the top of the organization, they can do that in one phone call by contacting either Ben or Joe. It’s a very easy process.

What’s key to the success of Torcon in Philadelphia specifically?

Myself and John DeFazio, who manages this office, both come from the Philly construction market and have been in Philadelphia construction for all of our careers. What we knew was important years ago when we opened was that we had to staff this office with employees who were Philadephia based, who understand the Philadelphia construction market. This is a very parochial city and it goes a long way when we can say to a client or potential client that the people we are assigning to your project all come from the Philadelphia market and understand construction business in Philadelphia.

Torcon.com

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BUSINESS AND POLITICS

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Gun Company Moving To PA After NY Restricts

BY MELISSA DANIELS HARRISBURG — When it comes to job creation, one state’s loss is another state’s gain.

Kahr Firearms Group, a gun manufacturer, is moving its corporate headquarters from downstate New York to a 620-acre plot in Pike County, in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania.

The move comes after New York earlier this year passed the SAFE Act, banning sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Kahr Spokeswoman Sheryl Gallup said the company was mulling an expansion in New York before the legislation, but then found Pennsylvania’s gun laws “less restrictive.”

The Kahr headquarters will move into a business park in Blooming Grove, one that the Pike County Economic Development Authority has looked to fill for the past 10 to 15 years.

The economy of Pike County, on Pennsylvania’s eastern border about 75 miles from New York City, used to thrive on tourism and second homes.

Post-recession, though, those industries are lagging.

Pike County has a 9.1 percent unemployment rate among its 57,000 residents, one of the highest in the state, according to July figures.

“When we see an opportunity for a company such as

Kahr coming into Pike County, we see it coming to offset that unemployment rate,” said Pike County Commissioner Matt Osterberg.

Kahr’s decision, though stemming from extenuating circumstances, was solidified with a local tax incentive.

Mr. Osterberg said Kahr will receive a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance package along with the $2 million purchase price.

The program, called LERTA, gives businesses partial property tax exemptions on building improvements.

The business still pays its full property tax bill on the pre-improvement assessed value of the land, but exemptions apply to the increased value, resulting in a lower tax bill for five years after the improvements.

Mr. Osterberg said predominantly rural Pike doesn’t have as much public infrastructure as other places, and businesses doing renovations may provide new water, sewer or gas setups.

“This is one way we can give them a little bit of a carrot, a little bit of an incentive,” said Mr. Osterberg. “I’m just glad they’re here.”

Steve Kratz, spokesman for the Department of Community and Economic Development, confirmed the state gave no financial awards nor met with Kahr before the announcement.

The first step in creating Kahr’s Pennsylvania headquarters will involve construction, which could start later this year.

Pike County Management and research-and-development teams will work first, with manufacturing operations coming next.

Kahr will begin the move with a 10-person corporate staff in the new location, though eventual employment may be somewhere between 100 and 200 new jobs, the Associated Press says.

“We’re looking for a more friendly environment for our business,” Frank Harris, Kahr’s vice president for sales and marketing, said, according to the AP. “Maybe we could have stayed here and built a plant, but the way the bill was passed left us feeling there were a lot of uncertainties going forward.”

Pennsylvania has no such bans on assault weapon or high magazine sales.

This article was originally published on Pennsylvania Independent at PAIndependent.com.

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POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

13

National Media Examining Christie’s Potential

Charlie Gerow is CEO of Quantum Communications, a Harrisburg-based public relations and issue advocacy firm.

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

Labor Day has been the traditional kickoff of political campaigns. So it’s not surprising that a lot of attention is directed at the governor of our neighbors to the east.

But it’s not so much the governor’s re-election campaign, which has been in high gear for months, that’s drawing the interest. It’s the broader implications of his re-election on his widely presumed ambition for a Pennsylvania Avenue address.

So the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial contest is being viewed by the national media as a litmus test of Chris Christie’s electability.

If the Guv’ can win by wide margins in the bluest of states, the argument goes, he can cement a new coalition of Republicans and independents that will win the White House in 2016. I’ve already done enough interviews on the subject to fill a briefcase and I don’t even live in the Garden State.

The national media also sees Christie as symbolic of the growing divide within the Republican Party. They highlight some discomfort among some conservatives over the Governor’s embrace of Barack Obama during Hurricane Sandy and his occasional departure from conservative policy orthodoxy. They note that some more pragmatic operatives in the party see his model of economic conservatism and social moderation as a more electable formula, especially in areas that have trended strongly Democratic in recent national elections.

Ultimately, it may not be philosophy or pragmatism that determines whether Governor Christie gets on the national ticket or ultimately elected. Personal factors (including his size, an issue not many are willing to discuss publicly)

will play a huge role in determining if the Guv is viewed as “presidential timber.” And Chris Christie has personality.

It’s not surprising that he generates a lot of attention and buzz. Governor Christie is--in many respects-- larger than life. His personality is his charm, even when it manifests itself as a little too “earthy.” A big part of his appeal is that he’s not viewed as a typical politician. That’s because he doesn’t often sound like a politician.

He’s a man who says what’s on his mind without much filter. He calls it the way he sees it.

There’s a small anthology of Chris Christie quotes (my personal favorite is his admonition to sunbather’s awaiting the hurricane to “get the hell off the beach”) that grows steadily. The most recent addition was his reference to a tabloid sports reporter as a “complete idiot” and “self-consumed, underpaid reporter.” Hey, he was defending Buddy Ryan’s son at the time so he gets a pass on that one, right?

But, as is often the case, his greatest asset may also be his biggest liability. Many in the political chatter class have expressed serious concern about what Governor Christie might say next.

There’s a natural tendency for those in the spotlight to stay there by trumping what they just did or said. What Christie might do for an encore is what scares some of the political pros.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently mused, “He has shown he isn’t above trading playground insults with a newspaper. But shouldn’t he be?”

That remains to be seen, as does the question of whether or not those dustups work for him politically. By most reckoning, right now they are.

A recent Quinnipiac poll showed Governor

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Christie trailing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, but by barely more than the margin of error. He had significantly higher favorable ratings than she did and he held a double digit lead when tested against Vice President Joe Biden.

Christie has some hurdles to clear. Governor Tom Kean got more than 70% of the vote in his re-election effort nearly 30 years ago. If that’s the standard by which Gov. Christie will be judged, it’s a very high bar considering that no Republican, including the governor himself, has gotten more than 50% of the vote since. And the minefield of national cattle shows, caucuses and primaries that will follow his gubernatorial re-election is formidable. No Garden Stater has successfully navigated that course since Woodrow Wilson a century ago.

If Christie wins re-election by a sizeable if not gigantic margin he’ll have a lot going for him not the least of which will be the fact that his way, no matter how idiosyncratic or unconventional, wins--and wins convincingly in tough territory.

His blunt talk and his prowess at grabbing a problem, figuring out a common-sense solution and bringing people together to get the job done will be viewed as a winning combination for a party in serious need of national victories.

Winning is what will carry the day. Nobody knows that better than Chris Christie. “I am in this business to WIN,” he told the Republican National Committee this summer.

If he can prove himself a big winner, even some who do not agree with him on philosophy or care for his style will give him a much closer look. Winning in 2016 is the one unifying theme in every faction of the party.

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5 SEPTEMBER 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Media Honeymoon Coming To An End For Kathleen Kane

Eric Boehm is bureau chief for PA Independent, a project of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

HARRISBURG – Attorney General Kathleen Kane ran on the promise to be “a prosecutor, not a politician.”

But now that she has thrust herself into the middle of some of the biggest political issues in the state, that promise will start to ring hollow if she is not careful.

Kane has been a darling of the state’s political media since her election last year. Since winning the post — becoming the first woman and Democrat ever elected as AG in Pennsylvania — her star has shined all the brighter.

It’s not hard to see why. She is smart, attractive and ambitious, not afraid of taking on the Republican-controlled state government and Gov. Tom Corbett in particular.

Less than two months after taking office, she blocked the Corbett administration’s attempt to privatize the state lottery — after Corbett’s plan was opposed by a public sector union that helped bankroll her election in 2012.

Next, she announced that she would not defend the state’s law banning gay marriage.

But the way she made that announcement – on a campaign-like trip to Independence Mall in Philadelphia — seemed designed put her own political profile ahead of the job she is

being paid to do by the taxpayers of the state.

It has worked, on one level.

Kane was the subject of a Washington Post piece that went so far as to suggest she could run for president in 2020 or 2024, citing an article from EMILYs List, a group that helps elect Democratic women.

But while Kane has made herself available for interviews with the national press on several occasions, she has done a poor job of being available to media in Harrisburg. Calls to her office frequently go unreturned. Last month, she skipped out early on an editorial board meeting with the Harrisburg PatriotNews, according to several attendees. And she recently canceled a radio interview with Harrisburg’s local NPR station.

She handled the media the same way during her campaign. In September, she canceled a scheduled appearance at the Pennsylvania Press Club’s monthly luncheon, something no candidate for high office had done before.

But the most damaging hit to Kane’s shiny, newly elected veneer came late last month, when news broke that she had hired her sister to run a new Child Predator Unit within the attorney general’s office. Kane’s sister already

worked within the office, but the new gig came with a $14,000 bump in salary.

Kane says another official in the office was in charge of the hiring, and anyway her sister was the most qualified person for the job.

Both of those things may turn out to be true, but the move sure smells like typical Harrisburg patronage politics.

There are other issues below the surface.

The promised probe of Gov. Corbett’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case has yet to materialize. Kane told the PatriotNews last week there was no end date for the investigation and it could take “until 2015.”

Unless Kane moves quickly, it seems the issue will be pushed well into Corbett’s re-election year of 2014. And if that happens, there will be no other way to look at it except as a political maneuver to hurt the governor.

That’s what a lot of people in Harrisburg already think it is, but Kane can have the benefit of the doubt by releasing her findings sooner rather than later. You’d be hard pressed to find another attorney general who has been as active in political issues as Kane has been.

But the honeymoon is coming to an end, and there are questions she should be answering.

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2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

15

Xerox Repurposing Its Tech For Video Imaging, Analytics

BY BRANDON BAKER Xerox’s latest project may just epitomize what it means to be an “innovator”.

After realizing its printing technologies weren’t going to propel it forward in a digital age, it acquired IT company Affiliated Computer Services in February 2010, a company that has aided in the repurposing of its imageprocessing technology — read: scanning technology — for transportation analytics.

Or, in simpler terms, they’ve taken what they’ve always been good at, and found a way to adapt.

“What we’ve done, is taken our historical Xerox technologies and redirected that to video imaging and video processing — computer-vision capabilities,” said Ken Milhalyov, government and Ken Milhalyov, Government and Transportation CIO of Xerox Innovation Group. SUBMITTED transportation CIO of Xerox Innovation Group.

“There are a number of businesses ACS has that rely on camera systems in the field, and now we’ve applied ourselves to analyzing which it is currently in talks with, which stations the images and providing information and improving business based have the most traffic. For buses, Mr. Milhalyov said it can be used to analyze which routes are most on those analytics.”

Xerox, which is based in Connecticut and efficient. Currently, it is partnered with SEPTA for employs 140,000 worldwide — 1,500 in Pennsyl- the processing and management of the yet-to-come vania — will use its video-imaging technology in a NPT fare system.

And, for highways, its Automatic License Plate three-tiered system: parking, public transportation Recognition technology aims to eliminate unnecesand tolls.

He said the technology can capably scan a city for sary and congestion-inducing toll booths. Accordparking occupancy, allowing for parking authori- ing to TRIP, a national transportation research ties to better understand which areas are low- group, driving on congested Philadelphia roads comes at a cost of $3.4 billion each year for comoccupancy, so as to accordingly adjust prices.

“So, for example, if your current occupancy is in muters. an area that’s 50 percent, you may want to encourStill, Mr. Milhalyov noted, this technology’s effiage people to park there so that you raise the occu- ciency largely depends on the state’s willingness to pancy,” Mr. Milhalyov said. “One number we always install cameras on highways.

Xerox’s parking technology has thus far only talk about is that 30 percent of traffic in a core downtown area is just people looking for parking.” been implemented in L.A. Future plans for impleFor public transportation, this same technology mentation in Philadelphia and other metropolitan extends to fare collection: Xerox can tell SEPTA, regions has yet to be determined.

Steadily, but almost quietly, Philadelphia has become a hotspot for entrepreneurs.

The combination of great ideas, available capital and a welcoming environment have set the stage to make 2013 a breakout year for innovation and new businesses.

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DIARY OF A STARTUP

LifeVest Prepared To Face Growing Healthcare Needs

MaST Community Charter School’s Summer Camp Offers ‘STREAM’ Focuses

Jon Cooper, founder and CEO of wellness stock-market startup LifeVest, explains in his latest “Diary” update what makes his company’s approach to healthcare so unique.

In his words: “If the only instrument you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

Until now, the over-reliance on a few ineffective variations of a single tool has been the “answer” to a huge and growing problem.

Consider this: If left unaddressed, rising healthcare expenses will destroy 20 percent of shareholder value in the next 10 years.

For the average Fortune 500 company, that’s more than $1 billion in market cap. That’s massive. In fact, so massive that for the third year in a row, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s annual CFO survey listed healthcare expense as the single-greatest challenge facing businesses, considerably ahead of revenue growth, cash flow and competition.

So, what is the industry doing to address this? The short answer is, “Not enough.”

You can treat the symptoms for temporary relief or the disease for permanent relief. The healthcare industry has come a long way in treating the symptoms. We have introduced tiered networks, high-deductible plans, co-insurance, price transparency tools, etc., all in an effort to incentivize better decision-making about how much care to receive, and where to receive it, while also transferring some of the burden of rising healthcare costs onto employees.

What remains fundamentally unaddressed is the actual underlying problem: poor health habits. Yet, the number of wellness programs on the market rank in the 100s. Despite the vast number, they remain fairly undifferentiated, moving from trend to trend.

Recently, the flavor of the month is video games and cartoons for health. (The irony is not lost on me.) While 99 percent of large businesses (200 or more employees) offer a wellness program, and spend more than $500 per employee on wellness, traditional wellness programs have been so ineffective at addressing rising healthcare costs that wellness strategy rarely reaches the C-suite, and at many organizations is merely considered a perk alongside benefits like pet insurance and tuition reimbursement.

What does all this mean for a startup like LifeVest?

A few things. For one, we have a rare opportunity to address the greatest challenge facing U.S. businesses while also addressing a major societal challenge: improving people’s health.

Also, quite remarkably, by relentlessly focusing on creating measurable Return on Health Investment (ROHI) through improved health, and by basing everything we do on peerreviewed research, we are strikingly differentiated.

Finally, by taking a market-based approach to maximize impact and efficiency, we are really well positioned to disrupt this $6 billion industry to deliver better health at a lower cost.

Students at MaST Community Charter School’s STREAM Summer Camp did activities like LEGO Robotics, Wii Fitness and bridge building.

TECHNICALLY PHLLY

BY JULIANA REYES The latest city schools budget fight is threatening many STEM programs. Quietly others have gone about their work.

This summer, students took to MaST Community Charter School‘s HD video studio to become meteorologists and report on an ongoing hurricane.

It was just one of the activities that the 80 student participants of MaST’s inaugural twoweek STREAM Summer Camp could choose.

MaST, which stands for Mathematics, Science and Technology, is a K-12 school located in the Somerton section of the Northeast and has a heavy focus on what it calls STREAM, or science, technology, robotics, engineering, arts and math, said CEO John Swoyer. (Consider that another alteration to STEM, as you’ve also likely seen STEAM, which adds ‘arts’ to the mix.)

It offers a 3D printing and modeling class, gives iPads to each of its high school students and has more than 1,200 computers. Philadelphia Magazine gave it a nod in 2011 as one of Philly’s best schools, emphasizing its technology bent. Its waiting list jumped from more than 1,800 to more than 5,600 students in the last two years, Swoyer said.

The summer camp, geared toward students in kindergarten to seventh grade, aimed to sample MaST’s STREAM curriculum, with activities like building and testing LEGO robots, playing virtual soccer or baseball and bridge building.

An average day at the camp, Swoyer said, might involve “using the iPad to learn about geography using Google Earth, competing against other students to see who could build the tallest skyscraper using books and completing science experiments like drilling into the center of a layered cupcake to understand what the Earth’s core is made of.”

The camp, which cost $50 for a half day and $100 for a whole day, was open to MaST students this time around but hopes to expand attendance to other students next summer, Swoyer said.

This article was originally published on Technically Philly at Technical.ly/Philly.

2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

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‘Big Idea’ Thinking Is Crucial In Beginning

Carol Curley WG’81 is Managing Director of Golden Seeds and active angel investor.

This article was published on the Wharton Entrepreneurship Blog at http://beacon.wharton. upenn.edu/

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

A team of Big Idea finalists presents to a panel of faculty and alumni judges, and to fellow members of the MBA Class of 2015.

CREDIT: TOMMY LEONARDI

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the “Big Idea Innovation Tournament”, a pre-term exercise for the incoming 2015 MBA class at the Wharton School.

The incoming students were asked to come up with a “big idea” on the topic of climate change and then present those ideas first to fellow students and then to a panel of alumni and faculty judges.

Students were given a very limited amount of time to come up with their ideas and formulate a presentation.

For the final presentations, the student teams were given two minutes and five powerpoint slides to discuss their concept and convince the judges as to both the impact and the feasibility of their idea.

The judging panel, on which I had the privilege to sit, then had the very difficult task of picking the winner from ideas ranging from managing energy usage, conserving water and our other scarce resources as well as measuring the carbon footprint of the foods we consume.

As an angel investor, I am often asked what I look for in an entrepreneur or founder team.

The qualities that come to mind such as a big idea, real passion for the mission, understanding of both the overall market and competitive landscape as well as the ability to communicate and work as a team, were all demonstrated last week by this group of very talented incoming M.B.A. students.

Whether or not any of the “Big Idea” teams move forward to try and commercialize their innovative ideas, the skills they have learned in this exercise and those that will follow over the next two years will position them well for their next step.

There has been a lot of conversation as to whether an MBA is relevant, especially for those individuals considering the startup world.

In a recent WSJ Blog entitled “Why M.B.A. isn’t good enough anymore” , the authors posit that disruption will be required for those M.B.A programs that hope to survive.

As a proud alum of the Wharton School ( albeit a student there in a time long before Huntsman Hall and YouTube!) I have seen my alma mater respond to the ever changing landscape and would hope that all the entrepreneurs I have the opportunity to invest in bring to their companies the excitement, passion and “big idea” thinking that I witnessed in Philadelphia last month.

CREDIT: TOMMY LEONARDI

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2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

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Drexel Professor Pushing For Video Games In Philly

BY BRANDON BAKER

to change this fact, started in 2008 after he realized that his use of video games to learn about psychology Twelve-year-old Frank Lee could feel his heart flutter was less about the study of the mind, and more about when he first sat down more than three decades ago his passion for video-game technology. His program to play Pong on his Atari 2600. It’s a feeling he today was the inaugural game-design curriculum at Drexel.

“This is a growing industry with high-paying jobs, describes as nothing but “magic.”

In April, that same “magic” manifested in the form and we have some of the top game universities in the of a 27-story display of “Pong” on University City’s Cira nation, but what’s happening for me specifically, is I see students graduate here and go off to Seattle for Centre — developed, of course, by Mr. Lee. A slightly unconventional “capital seeker,” Mr. Lee, Microsoft Studios, to be paid $100,000 or more,” Mr. today an associate professor of digital media at Drexel Lee said. “We’re basically sending students to other University, co-founded Drexel University’s game-design states, which is troubling, because we have all of the program in 2008 in an effort to establish a foothold right materials in Greater Philadelphia.”

To further jumpstart the industry in Philadelphia, in Philadelphia with the video games industry. It’s an industry set to grow by nine percent this year to $76 Mr. Lee contributed to the 2009-launched Video Game billion, according to Business Insights market research. Growth Initiative, a collection of game entrepreneurs, “The gaming industry is just huge — it dwarfs every city officials and academics who have tried to nurture other form of the entertainment industry, and it will the industry’s growth in Philadelphia by lobbying major only grow,” Mr. Lee said. “So with such an industry, game companies like Electronic Arts and Crytek to which was still growing by double digits during the open branches in the region.

“For whatever reason, that was a tough sell — probrecession, Philadelphia — and Pennsylvania — still doesn’t have a presence. Or at least, our presence is ably because the best way to get a company to establish an office is through tax incentives,” Mr. Lee said. minimal.”

Mr. Lee’s Drexel Game Design Program is a Top “The bottom-up approach I’m trying more recently, is 10-ranked video game program in the country that aims encouraging small independent game companies in

Frank Lee, associate professor of digital media at Drexel University

the mobile space. … So, for example, ‘Angry Birds’ is something my students could make.”

Despite efforts, the VGI has thus far failed to cement tax incentives into the state budget, but Mr. Lee insists the initiative will try again in the coming year.

“The fact that Philadelphia has zero involvement in [a multi-billion-dollar industry] should be a wake-up call to anyone who’s interested in growing Philadelphia’s economy,” Mr. Lee said. “And since we don’t have a games industry, we can only grow from here.”

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The Inaugural Marcum Innovator of the Year Awards will honor businesses of all sizes that are pioneering new advancements in the fields of Health/Biotech, Technology, Business Management, and Energy. Three winners will be named in each category, based on company size.

Tell us about your break-through innovation and what makes your company a leader in our region by visiting our website – www.marcumllp.com/innovator. Submissions must be received by September 15, 2013.

Winners will be announced at a Gala Awards Ceremony at the Franklin Institute on November 14, 2013. Don’t miss out on this spectacular opportunity to join our region’s business leaders in recognizing and celebrating the spirit of innovation in and around Philadelphia.

For complete details including nomination criteria, please call Jacki Hallinan at 484.270.2715.

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YOUNG REPUBLICANS: WILL THEY TURN THE GOP AROUND? “Closed-minded.”

“Rigid.”

“Old-fashioned.” “Racist.”

This is how young voters view the Republican party, according to a College Republicans survey.

And it’s precisely those young voters that will ultimately shift the Republican party strategy moving forward.

STORY BY MELISSA DANIELS ILLUSTRATION BY DON LEE

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BY THE NUMBERS

67%

Under-40 Republicans that think the party needs to reconsider some policy positions, according to Pew Research

THE PERSON WHO AGREES WITH YOU 80 PERCENT OF THE TIME IS A FRIEND AND ALLY — NOT A 20 PERCENT TRAITOR. —PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

56%

Over-40 Republicans that think the party needs to reconsider some policy positions

64%

Under-40 Republicans that believe more women nominees would help the GOP fare better in elections President Ronald Reagan was able to win the youth vote in 1984, with 59 percent support from voters under 30.

When the College Republicans asked young voters how they would describe the GOP, the results were damning.

Closed-minded. Rigid. Old-fashioned, and racist.

Not the best starting point for a party whose future will inevitably depend on winning over younger generations.

The report — cutely titled “Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation” — concluded that Republicans can win over young voters if they change approach, through election strategy, messaging tactics and policy positions.

Here in Pennsylvania, that change is an undercurrent to the establishment.

Dan Soltesz, a legislator’s chief of staff from a small suburb outside of Pittsburgh, is the Pennsylvania chair for Young Republicans National Federation. Part of his role means sitting on the executive board for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. And he also heads up the state’s Young Republicans efforts for outreach and campaigning, whether that’s for candidates here or in border states.

The hope is that the message of fiscal responsibility and limited government may attract those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who are concerned about the country’s economy.

As Mr. Soltesz puts it, that’s the genera-

tion who will be responsible for the bill.

“We are just much more focused on those issues because it directly affects us,” he said. “We see our younger members coming out of college and it’s tough for them to find jobs.”

Specific to Pennsylvania, issues like pension reform and lowering the corporate net income tax are Republican agenda items that ring true with Mr. Soltesz and his cohorts.

“That’s something that is going to reach out to those younger people right now, with the economy continuing to be slow,” Soltesz said.

“I’ve heard this from elected officials, ‘We need to reach out to young people because we are the party that’s going to be offering them a future.’”

Yet when it comes to getting those messages to resonate with other young voters, this is where that Republican stereotype complicates things for the party.

With an attitude that the Republican Party is out-of-touch, younger voters may not even consider the policy perspectives on the table, or the merits they may provide.

It’s not unheard of for the younger generation to support the GOP, despite the conclusions from recent elections.

FLICKR.COM/FRESHCONSERVATIVE

Republicans have won the youth vote in the past: Ronald Reagan, for example, received support from 59 percent of voters under 30 in 1984, according to the College Republicans report. But to win it again, it may take a bigger tent, one that appeals to more voters.

As President Reagan put it: “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.”

Mr. Soltesz agrees this is the way to open up the party. Younger generations may have more moderate views on issues like marijuana legalization or same-sex marriage.

Social issues resonate differently with older and younger generations — and having an open mind about it may keep the party from chasing people away, Mr. Soltesz said.

“We definitely need to make sure we’re more inclusive, and we’re never shoving people out,” Mr. Soltesz said. “I think that’s got to be one of our primary goals.”

A central piece of this puzzle is diversity, an issue that resonates far more with younger Republicans than the older wing of the party, according to recent research.

Pew Research found a majority of Republican voters of all ages think the party could be more successful in national elections with more women and minor-

46%

Over-40 Republicans that believe more women nominees would help the GOP fare better in elections

38%

Under-40 Republicans that believe their congressional delegation hasn’t compromised enough with Democrats

25%

Over-40 Republicans that believe their congressional delegation hasn’t compromised enough with Democrats

59%

Under-30 voters that supported Ronald Reagan in 1984, according to a College Republicans report

22 ity candidates, a view held by a larger share of voters 18 to 39.

About 64 percent of voters in that age group think more women nominees would help the GOP fare better in national elections, compared to 46 percent of voters 40 or older who share that view.

And about 68 percent of younger Republican voters think more racial and ethnic minorities would help the party, versus 49 percent of those 40 and older.

As Republicans look to 2014 as an opportunity to take control of the U.S. Senate, candidate choices will be crucial in whether the party is successful.

Recent history shows voters are increasingly open to supporting congressional candidates who don’t fit political stereotypes: In 2011, Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., became the first Republican to join the Congressional Black Caucus since 1997, and the current Congress has 20 female senators, the most in the nation’s history. Four are Republicans.

Justin Murff, a Virginia-based Republican strategist, is a former director with the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. Getting more women and minorities elected will be key to the party’s success, he said. But that goes hand-in-hand with diversifying the

5 SEPTEMBER 2013

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party’s base.

The time for that is now, Mr. Murff said, as the Hispanic electorate is steadily growing and will be for the next couple decades.

And with a congressional focus on immigration reform, it could be an opportunity for the party to relate to a different group.

“There’s a lot of Hispanics out there that have conservative values, but they don’t know those are Republican values,” he said.

“The GOP hasn’t done a very good job of reaching out. But there is a need for that, and the younger generation realizes that.”

Mr. Murff, who believes the young Republican will “be responsible for the revitalization of the Republican party,” said the GOP needs to take a page out of the Democrats book about social media.

After all, that’s where the discussions are — and where young voters who are undecided about their political beliefs may have the chance to read something firsthand.

Mr. Soltesz agrees.

“I think Democrats, they’ve just had an edge so far on getting the message heard by young people first,” he said.

“They’re just doing a better job at reaching them, period, let alone what

that message is.”

Once sent, though, the message must resonate. Soltesz said he thinks the party would do well to suggest solutions to the policies it opposes, offering suggestions instead of just criticism.

“You can’t just sit there and say ‘Everything’s wrong,’” he said. “If you say, ‘This might be wrong but we think if we do it this way, it’s gonna work,’ that’s an outreach plan that’ll work across the board.”

With all this generational change afoot, policy evolution is somewhat inevitable. Pew found that about 67 percent of under-40 Republicans think the party needs to reconsider some policy positions, as compared to 56 percent of Republicans 40 or older.

Thirty-eight percent of younger Republicans said their congressional delegation hadn’t compromised enough with Democrats, compared with 25 percent of over-40 Republicans.

Whether the Republican Party takes its cues from the younger iteration may depend on how much they think those voters will turn out, and how active they become. According to Pew, about a third of the party’s voters are younger than 40.

But it’s those voters who seem to have a more open mind about how welcoming the party is to those with different backgrounds. According to Pew’s research, about 45 percent of younger Republicans say the party is not “tolerant and open to all groups of people,” compared to 32 percent of older Republicans who share that view.

Murff puts it simply: “The reality is that, yeah, the days of the GOP being the party of old, rich white men has got to go.”

Here in Pennsylvania, Mr. Soltesz said his group of young Republicans is a diverse batch — from a union contractor to a public relations expert, and an equal ratio of males and females on his executive board. But as far as state and national candidates go, any brandnew-GOP has yet to show up knocking on the voter’s doors.

One obvious example: the Pennsylvania Republican Party has no female representatives at the national level.

Inside the state Capitol, the House Republican caucus has slightly more women than the Democrat caucus though the figures are comparable — about 19 percent of the Republican caucus is women, compared to 17 percent on the Democratic side, accounting for the 19-seat edge held by the GOP majority.

I THINK DEMOCRACTS, THEY’VE JUST HAD AN EDGE SO FAR ON GETTING THE MESSAGE HEARD

BY YOUNG PEOPLE FIRST. THEY’RE JUST DOING A BETTER JOB AT REACHING THEM, PERIOD, LET ALONE WHAT THE MESSAGE IS.’ —DAN SOLTESZ, PENNSYLVANIA CHAIR FOR YOUNG REPUBLICANS NATIONAL FEDERATION

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[YOUNG REPUBLICANS] WANT TO SEE A MORE DIVERSE FORUM OF CANDIDATES. THAT BEING SAID, WE ALSO WANT TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE BEING HONEST ... THEY HAVE TO BE A GOOD CANDIDATE. —DAN SOLTESZ

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are pictured during the Iowa GOP/Fox News Debate at the CY Stephens Auditorium in Ames, Iowa, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011.

FLICKR.COM/IOWAPOLITICS

In the Senate, three female senators in the Republican Party compare with five across the aisle, making up 11 percent of the caucus versus about 22 percent.

In total, 17.8 percent of the Pennsylvania General Assembly are women, per the Center for Women and Politics at Chatham University.

Younger candidates, too, could play a role.

Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, ran for his state House state when he was in his mid-20s. Five years into serving, Christiana said he felt his youth gave him an edge.

“The constituents feel you’re a fresh face, you’re full of energy and you’re going there to prove something,” he said. “I never felt I was discouraged because of my age, I was always encouraged.”

Rep. Christiana said he hopes to see more women and minority candidates run in Pennsylvania, and for higher office. But he cautions against changing the party’s principles in order to become more popular.

Rep. Christiana said he believes young people will follow the jobs, and support getting the government out of their personal lives, sentiments that couple free market principles held by the Republican Party.

“I’m not interested in watering down the principles for the Republican Party,” Rep. Christiana said. “I just think we need the face of the Republican Party to be more diverse than it has been in the past.”

But as the report from the College Republicans concludes, having a diverse group of candidates is about more than just fitting a checklist.

“To shed the brand of being old-fashioned, the GOP need not just find young candidates who can make pop culture references with ease,” the report said.

“Instead, candidates need to be able to show that they understand the problems young people face when it comes to economic opportunity and have a plan to break down the barriers that are standing in their way.”

Mr. Soltesz, too, cautions against picking candidates just because they might fit a demographic the party’s lacking.

“Young Republicans as a whole, we want to see a more diverse forum of candidates,” he said. “That being said, we also want to make sure people are being

honest … they have to be a good candidate.”

Dana Brown, executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics at Chatham University, said the Pew results are good news, because state parties may eventually choose more diverse candidates in response to voters’ desires.

In the past, parties, or even prospective female candidates themselves, may have held off out of fear of the “sexist voter” bias. But Brown’s research and others in the field show that’s not true, she said.

“When women do run for seats,” she said, “they tend to win or lose at the same rates as men.”

They also fundraise just as well as men, she said.

Despite this, picking non-traditional candidates may still be a slow change. The GOP, just like the Democrats, have to contend with closed primaries in Pennsylvania that typically see higher turnout from older, more traditional wings of the party — and the candidate selection process typically keeps that in mind, Brown said.

“Right now, as parties control a number of the nominating and gatekeeping aspects for candidate selection, it’ll still be a challenge to see some major changes quickly,” Ms. Brown said.

So while Republicans may continue to look to the party to break the mold, it is still likely to take some time — at least until these young Republicans, and young Democrats, for that matter, are calling the shots.

For Mr. Soltesz, that’s right around the corner. Members will play an active role in grassroots and on-the-ground campaigning. This year, his party members will be heading to Virginia, where there’s a governor race, and border states will be coming into Pennsylvania to campaign for Gov. Tom Corbett and other Republicans next year, too.

Then in a few more cycles, it’s those volunteers who’ll be running the show.

“We look ahead,” he said, “and we think about who will be our rock stars in the Republican Party.”

A shorter version of this story was originally published on Pennsylvania Independent at PAIndependent.com.

Melissa Daniels is the Bureau Chief at Pennsylvania Independent.

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OPINION

Right Problem, Wrong Solution For Reducing Legislature

G. Terry Madonna is director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College.

Michael Young is managing partner of Michael Young Strategic Research

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

Pennsylvania may be, as one wit put it, “the place where all good reforms go to die,” but this well-deserved characterization of the Keystone state doesn’t mean reform proposals are scarce.

It’s just that few of them ever get adopted.

As Winston Churchill might have described state reform efforts: never have so many produced so little so often.

The latest example is the various proposals introduced that would reduce the size of the Pennsylvania legislature. So far in the current session, three bills have been introduced that would trim the size of the state House (now 203 members), the state Senate (now 50 members) or both the House and the Senate.

The most widely discussed is House Speaker Sam Smith’s proposal (HB 1234) which would reduce the size of the House from 203 to 153.

But Berks County Democratic Senator Judy Schwank would cut the House even deeper to 121 members while shrinking the state Senate to 40 members (SB 336).

And Beaver County Republican Senator Elder Vogel while likewise cutting the House to 121 would downside the Senate to 30 members (SB 324).

Proposals reducing the size of the Pennsylvania legislature are not rare. In the past 50 years dozens of them have been introduced.

Few if any legislative session since the late 1960’s has lacked at least one bill to downsize the General Assembly.

Most of these legislative downsizing proposals argued that the legislature is either too big to be efficient or costs too much to maintain.

Indeed, the General Assembly is second largest in the country and expends an estimated $300 million annually.

So, advocating a smaller legislature has become the political equivalent of baseball, motherhood and apple pie. Moreover, it speaks to our abiding frustration with government and politicians. Maybe we can’t actually do anything to make them behave better — but at least we can fix it so we have fewer of them.

We all will feel a little better floating these doomed proposals around. And what’s wrong with that?

Actually there is much wrong with it.

For example, much has been made of the potential savings of a smaller legislature, but the reality is that we could abolish the legislature entirely and only save about one percent of the state’s current $28 billiondollar budget.

Worse, perhaps, reducing the House could actually increase the public’s alienation from government.

Currently each House member represents about 60,000 people creating districts small enough so that people can actually know and interact with their representative. In an increasingly large and remote government this is no trivial benefit.

So reducing the size of the legislature will neither save an enormous amount Governor William Warren Scranton addresses the Pennsylvania of money nor restore the Legislature FLICKR.COM/PENNSTATESPECIAL public’s confidence in government. The proposed reform is actually Yet not one received so much as a reprianother one of those feel-good reforms we mand much less a severe penalty. Related is have become too fond of recently. the lack of a gift ban. Currently, legislators It promises much, would deliver little may accept gifts of any value as long as the and takes our mind off the real reforms that gift is reported. should be enacted.

Even Congress, no paragon of ethical Fortunately there are several that behavior, limits gifts. Pennsylvania does not would really help. Consider just these — giving some truth to the hoary maxim three: that Pennsylvanians enter politics not to do good but to do well.

Staff reforms — Currently, the General Campaign Finance Laws — PennsylAssembly employs around 3,000 people. vania effectively has no campaign finance Some reformers estimate the legislature restrictions, except to ban direct union and employs at least twice as many workers as corporate contributions. necessary to perform the legitimate work of An individual or a political action the legislature. committee may contribute any amount of Much worse than the staffing bloat, money to any state or local candidate for however, is the way personnel is orgaany office. Moreover, the recipient of an unlimited contribution can basically use nized — by partisan caucus leading to it for virtually any purpose, subject to a the kind of corruption uncovered in the legal definition so broad — “to influence an notorious “bonus-gate” public corrupelection” — as to permit expenditures for tion convictions. almost any purpose.

The obvious downside can be avoided Though contributions must be reportsimply by organizing most legislative staffers into a non-partisan, nonpolitical central ed, the campaign finance laws would be operation such as the congressional budget laughable, if they did not matter so much. office (CBO) or the Library of Congress.

Arguably they alone are responsible for Many legislative staffers are professionmore state corruption than any other factor. als, but too many are political. Why not apply civil service to many of them similar None of these reforms are the slick, glitzy to the employees in the executive branch? “feel good” proposals likely to dominate news coverage or grab headlines. What Ethics reform — Legislative ethics rules they do represent, however, are workable and procedures are completely ineffective reforms that would restore a measure of in sanctioning unethical behavior. public trust and respect for state governLegislators have no fear of being disciplined for illegal or unethical behavior. In ment. recent decades at least 30 legislators have Can we afford to do less in the presbeen prosecuted successfully for various ent climate of voter cynicism, anger and legal and ethical lapses. alienation?

5 SEPTEMBER 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

OPINION

29

COMMENTARY FROM ACROSS THE WEB

Taking Advantage Of The Uninformed

New Tactics Needed To Win War On Poverty

Just as it takes two to tango, consumer transactions that leave the consumer the worse for wear require two parties: an uninformed, unsuspecting individual and another person or company willing to take advantage of the situation.

In this case, the uninformed are property owners in Bucks and Montgomery counties who pay outlandish sums to private companies to obtain copies of their property deeds. In fact, these documents are available from the counties for far less.

Bucks provides copies of deeds for 50 cents a page; most deeds end up costing between $2.50 and $4. Montco charges a flat $10.50 for a deed. Contrast that with the $83 a Wilmington-based outfit known as Property Transfer Services charges for a deed and a “property profile.” Another company, Harrisburg-based Local Records Office, says it will provide you with a deed for an $89 “processing fee.”

And where do companies like this get the deed information? They request it from the county governments!

Both of these firms mailed letters to local homeowners this summer advising of the importance of having a property deed while referencing an official-sounding “compliance response date.”

We should point out what these companies do is not illegal; no one has been charged with criminal activity.

Our advice to property owners and consumers receiving these types of solicitations is to be wary, wary, wary.

Bucks County has begun sending out warning letters to recent home buyers about “misleading and confusing” correspondence from private companies about property deeds. That’s good, but individual property owners still have a responsibility to protect themselves. A quick phone call to the courthouse in Doylestown or Norristown will confirm that copies of deeds are available at little cost, no expensive middle man required.

As a great nation, the United States set out to eliminate human misery in the 1960s. But after 50 years and trillions of dollars, poverty seems to be winning the War on Poverty.

One reason is that welfare programs remove the incentive to find and keep a job.

While a job is the best way out of poverty, for some welfare pays better, according to an updated study by the conservative Cato Institute.

The study documents what will be a surprise to almost nobody.

Asked which of eight reasons was most responsible for the continuing problem of poverty, 24 percent of respondents to an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey earlier this summer said “too much government welfare that prevents initiative.”

That was the top answer. Only 4 percent said “too little funding.”

The fact is, the government is very generous when it comes to taking care of the poor.

In Pennsylvania and 34 other states, welfare programs in aggregate pay more than minimum wage, the Cato study found.

A lot more.

Why bother working? Between food stamps, welfare, Medicaid and other programs, living on the dole in Pennsylvania is the equivalent of earning $14.34 an hour — nearly double the minimum wage of $7.25.

Welfare is a valuable safety net intended to provide temporary aid to people who find themselves down on their luck. Americans support that.

However, welfare is economically toxic in the long run.

The nation spends hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars to finance a war that, in the long run, promotes poverty and dependence. Perhaps it is time for a new strategy.

BUCKS COUNTY COURIER TIMES

3 SEPTEMBER 2013

DELAWARE COUNTY TIMES

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BY THE NUMBERS

90%

Employees from the US and Australia report working during non-business hours, according to a survey from Jive Software

61

37%

Grants awarded by the Pennsylvania Liquour Control Board to address underage and irresponsible alcohol consumption

US employees who work more than 10 hours per week during their “off-time,” compared to 27 percent of Australian employees

$2.1M

Awarded to 61 municipalities, community groups, schools, universities and law enforcement agencies through the Alcohol Education Grant Program

63%

Employees in the US, Great Britain and Australia said that if they had 10 more hours in any given week, they would spend more time with family and friends

43%

US, Australian and British employees reported they would spend more time exercising if they had 10 more hours in any given week

50%

US employees reported devoting some time to doing work while on vacation

24

Grants will fund community law-enforcement efforts

$3.55

Average national price of gas at the end of summer driving season, a two-year low, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration

$3.68

Highest average national gas price recorded this summer, reached on July 22

$3.59

Average national price of gas as of September 3, 2013, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report

$3.61

Average national price of gas last month

$3.82

Average national price of gas last year

16

Grants will fund communities and non-profit organizations for initiatives

20

Grants will fund college and university programs aimed at reducing underage and alcohol use

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