Veon emerges as a lobbyist
Mike Veon entered the phone booth after his Election Day defeat and two months later has emerged as a snuff lobbyist. That means he’ll still roam the Capitol halls, as he did for 22 years, only this time we may actually know less about what he is up to.
But you can better be sure there’ll be signs. Like if Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed 36-cent tax on smokeless tobacco is suddenly puffed out, there will be the footprints of Veon.
Veon said this week (on his way to a fundraiser to clear out campaign debt) that he hopes all his experience here “will at least allow people to return my phone calls and sit down with me.”
Sure. Especially if he still has something to offer.
The former Beaver County lawmaker is forbidden from lobbying the House for one year. But he said he will still be a fundraiser for Democratic candidates, if asked to do so. He said point blank that he is going to be helping Rep. Dwight Evans, the House Appropriations Committee chairman, run for mayor of Philadelphia this year.
“I’m sure I’ll be raising money for individual candidates,” said Veon. “If [state Democratic chairman] T.J. Rooney asked me to be helpful I would be. If Ed Rendell asked me to be helpful I would be. If Bill DeWeese asked me to helpful I would be, and there are a number of other folks who I’m sure will ask me to be helpful in fundraising and I’ll take them on a case by case basis.”
Also he’s still apparently offering “advice and counsel” to his “friends,” and specifically named DeWeese, DeWeese’s chief of staff Michael Manzo, Rooney and Rendell.
“They are my friends in addition to my colleagues and my hope is over time on matters of politics and matters of legislative strategy some of them will find my advice useful,” said Veon.
So let’s get this straight. Veon is not allowed to lobby his political friends in the House but he can give them “advice” and raise money for their campaigns. And this is all happening behind closed doors.
There’s usually a learning curve when entering a new career. But from day one Veon just may be the most effective lobbyist in Harrisburg.
Humble Pie
Rendell was happily watching the Penn State-Ohio State basketball game Wednesday night in Philly when at 7:55 he got a call from a state trooper cluing him into the fact that hundreds of motorists were stranded on I-78 for six hours already.
He’s not been a happy camper since.
Rendell said he routinely gets calls from Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency for accidents as minor as oil spills – but somehow no one in the chain of command warned him about what he later declared a state of emergency.
All told, people were stuck out there for nearly 24 hours. Rendell mobilized the National Guard right to distribute MREs, water, and fuel right after he found out.
Rendell tossed out a lot of condemnations of state agency response: “totally unacceptable,” “significant mistakes in judgment,” “an almost total breakdown in communication.”
“Everyone on the state response was a state employee so I am to blame for this,” said a humble Rendell. “I apologize to every motorist stranded …”
Rendell said he has launched an investigation. Will any heads roll?
Perhaps the unasked question is why Rendell never turned the channel during the game to check out the weather.
Cupid’s icy arrow
Anyone trying to drop into a state liquor store late Wednesday to buy a little booze for a Valentine’s Day celebration was sorely sobered.
Stores across the state apparently closed early at 4 p.m. because of the weather. Valentine’s Day is one higher-selling days of the year for the state system.
But PLCB spokeswoman Francesco Chapman said they are “ready to help people who are trying to make up for lost time.”
Bottoms up, you procrastinators.
Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or at ahawkes@calkins-media.com