The LuLac Edition #37, June 27th, 2006

PICTURE INDEX........This was in the running to be Tom Ridge's official portrait but the Ex Gov's wife stepped in. Jim Fitzgerald, Tom Ridge and David Yonki pose outside the WARM studios circa 1999 after an interview at the station. The next picture features Colorado Democratic Leadership Council CEO Jim Gibson hosting us on a visit to Denver one year ago this week. From left to right is Gibson, Mary Ann Yonki, David Yonki and Bonnie Gilbert from the Denver Post. Lynn Swann is featured in a photo with two real (apparently very healthy looking) Pennsylvanians, and Governor Tom Ridge and his wife Michelle officially unveil his portrait in the Capitol as his in laws look on.


SWANN BUSES ACROSS THE STATE.... Lynn Swann, candidate for governor, plans to spend the Fourth of July holiday on a bus tour of what his spokesman calls "the real Pennsylvania."
On Thursday, in Harrisburg, Swann will board a converted motor coach - 39 feet long, with its own bathroom and office, and shrink-wrapped in a giant campaign ad - to begin a nine-day road trip that represents his first extended foray into retail campaigning. By the time he returns home to Pittsburgh, Swann expects to have met with Pennsylvanians in dozens of settings - and gain some traction in his run against Ed Rendell.

BUDGET NEARING ITS CONCLUSION/ON TIME/MAYBE..A $25 billion-plus state budget and several other pieces of unfinished business awaited lawmakers' attention as they returned to the Capitol on Monday for what they hoped would be the last week before recessing for the summer. Aides to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and the Republican-controlled Legislature say budget negotiations are progressing nicely , with both sides working toward a final agreement before Saturday, when the new fiscal year begins. If that happens, it would be the first budget finalized before July 1 since Rendell took office in 2003.

COMMENTARIES................Wilkes Barre Twp. now wants to look into an Immigration ordinance for its government. Keep in mind that these are the same people who opposed construction of the arena even though they gained the most financially. No word yet if the officials are considering a wall near Joe Palooka's monument to keep the Mexicans at bay...Andrea Yates, the woman who killed her 5 babies a few years ago is back in the news and the only question I have on it is "why?????"......................The Times Leader has a new publisher. Rich Connor who was the hard nosed leader back in the late seventies and eighties when Capitol Cities owned the paper. Look for Connor's group to give the Times Shamrock people a very competitive newspaper challenge.

THE CITIZENSHIP TEST...............As we head toward the Fourth of July, here's a neat link to a citienship test. http://games.toast.net/independence/page1.asp. In the interest of full disclosure, I got 28 out of 30 correct.

NEXT TIME..............A Philadelphia News columnist talks about Hazleton's Mayor Barletta and the top 50 conservative rock and roll songs of all time.