PASSHE Institutions Merging

[iupgroundhog]

Mastriano is killing it in rural PA. Suburban conservatives aren't fans. Shapiro is almost as liberal as Mastriano is conservative, but my God to get anything done in politics you have to work with the other side. I feel like we keep electing people whose attitude only exacerbates the gridlock.

Don't blame me, I'm registered independent.

Given his crazy Christian Nationalist messaging, I won't be surprised if some borderline anti-Semitic stuff comes from his team, probably something along the lines of Shapiro can't be for Christian values because he's not Christian.

If you want PA to have some semblance of sanity (it's teetering on the edge of crazy right now), as long as the legislature is Republican-dominated, gridlock is a good thing. The state senate has been in R's hands for 30 years straight. In the last 30 years, the Assembly has been Republican for all but 3 sessions. That dominance is probably not going to change in '22.

When Tom Cornett was Governor there was no gridlock because all 3 (Governor, Senate, Assembly) were Republican. Under that scenario, everybody knows what happened to the PASSHE, education in general, and the fiscal picture of PA. PA cannot elect a right-wing lunatic as Governor or things will get very bad. That's an understatement.

What freaks me out about this election is the movement on both sides toward the extremes. For the record, I am not in PA so I don't see all these ads. I consider myself a radical centrist; however, I am a Democrat. I thought Conor Lamb was a budding superstar. Like a DemocraticTom Ridge. He lost by 33 points to Fetterman.

My take on this is that it's very hard for centrist ideas to make it through the media and the internet and still be appealing to people - to get people excited. This trend is going to go nationwide. I think it is not good.

Ok, to make this about football, what position did Fetterman play at Albright College?

[IUPNation]

Mastriano is killing it in rural PA. Suburban conservatives aren't fans. Shapiro is almost as liberal as Mastriano is conservative, but my God to get anything done in politics you have to work with the other side. I feel like we keep electing people whose attitude only exacerbates the gridlock.

Don't blame me, I'm registered independent.

Given his crazy Christian Nationalist messaging, I won't be surprised if some borderline anti-Semitic stuff comes from his team, probably something along the lines of Shapiro can't be for Christian values because he's not Christian.

[iupgroundhog]

I think with the slate of Republican candidates you are going to see low turnout in the "T" among Republicans. Just a guess. Check back with me in 6 months.

[ironmaniup]

I think with the slate of Republican candidates you are going to see low turnout in the "T" among Republicans. Just a guess. Check back with me in 6 months.

I don't think the candidates will matter, if we have $6 gas in August, another rise in interest rates, more unfettered immigration, and a low stock market, they show up for the senate race. And if we have anything like the food shortages or rolling blackouts some people are predicting, they'll come out in droves to vote against democrats,even in the burbs. Of course if things stabilize, they won't - we'll see what happens.

[Bart]

I heard Philadelphia and the suburbs had 10% turnout for this election.

[IUPNation]

I think with the slate of Republican candidates you are going to see low turnout in the "T" among Republicans. Just a guess. Check back with me in 6 months.

[IUPNation]

I don't think the candidates will matter, if we have $6 gas in August, another rise in interest rates, more unfettered immigration, and a low stock market, they show up for the senate race. And if we have anything like the food shortages or rolling blackouts some people are predicting, they'll come out in droves to vote against democrats,even in the burbs. Of course if things stabilize, they won't - we'll see what happens.

[IUPNation]

I heard Philadelphia and the suburbs had 10% turnout for this election.

[Bart]

Sims came in 2nd, which was decent showing. It would have been interesting to see him as Lt. Governor. I guess you didn't vote for Bloom grad Barletta for Governor or the son of Bloom's former president McCormick for senator. Some real characters with Bloom connections, but that's politics.

[Fightingscot82]

Don't forget, McCormick's dad was president of Bloomsburg and the first chancellor of PASSHE.

[Ship69]

Mastriano is killing it in rural PA. Suburban conservatives aren't fans. Shapiro is almost as liberal as Mastriano is conservative, but my God to get anything done in politics you have to work with the other side. I feel like we keep electing people whose attitude only exacerbates the gridlock.

Don't blame me, I'm registered independent.

Given his crazy Christian Nationalist messaging, I won't be surprised if some borderline anti-Semitic stuff comes from his team, probably something along the lines of Shapiro can't be for Christian values because he's not Christian.

Don't think I agree that Shapiro is almost as liberal as Mastriano is conservative. I live in Franklin County and can tell you Mastriano is beyond right-wing conservative, and not in a good way. I can see Shapiro trying to cross the aisle to an extent. With Mastriano, especially with some of the other bomb throwers in Republican-dominated legislature, it would be scorched earth. Mastriano has actually called DeSantis an "amateur" when it comes to executing hard-right Republican policies and he's not a friend of public education (would like the Bible taught in public schools), so you could probably kiss PASSHE goodbye. I don't think I can overemphasize how important it is for him to be defeated.

[IUPNation]

Sims came in 2nd, which was decent showing. It would have been interesting to see him as Lt. Governor. I guess you didn't vote for Bloom grad Barletta for Governor or the son of Bloom's former president McCormick for senator. Some real characters with Bloom connections, but that's politics.

[Fightingscot82]

PA state senator Scott Martin (also a HOF Millersville football player) has introduced a bill that would allow PA legislators who sit on the PASSHE board to vote via proxy. Further removing direct invested oversight from PASSHE. WTF

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs...type=B&bn=0933

[EastStroud13]

What freaks me out about this election is the movement on both sides toward the extremes. For the record, I am not in PA so I don't see all these ads. I consider myself a radical centrist; however, I am a Democrat. I thought Conor Lamb was a budding superstar. Like a DemocraticTom Ridge. He lost by 33 points to Fetterman.

My take on this is that it's very hard for centrist ideas to make it through the media and the internet and still be appealing to people - to get people excited. This trend is going to go nationwide. I think it is not good.

The only way to fix this is election reform. Winner-take-all is what leads to polarization. Realistically, Lamb and Fetterman should be members of different parties, one representing the center and one representing the left. But the hard turn of the GOP to the far right has forced the Democratic Party into an absurdly large coalition where nobody can really represent everyone.

I think this is by design by the center wing of the Democratic Party. They are betting that a wider tent gives them more potential support for the candidates that they want, like Lamb. This would allow them to stay in power without having to make any hard stances. I think this is a miscalculation, people are unhappy and want firm action. This is why Lamb got crushed in the election, even though he collected all the endorsements. People see the GOP willing to go to war, and they want their politicians to be able to do the same.

If the Democratic Party really wanted to kill the far-right's chances of holding power, they would be pushing election reform to ranked choice as their #1 issue. They have been remarkably silent about it. I think that speaks volumes about their priorities.

[only1]

Money.com (formerly Money Magazine) came out with the college ratings for 2022. Some consider these the most accurate ratings as it pertains to cost and ROI. They only rank the top 623 schools. Passhe has 5:
West Chester - 228
SRU - 410
Bloomsburg - 453
Millersville - 569
Kutztown - 573

Interestingly enough:
PSU Main - 485
Duquesne - 446
Kent State - 568
Pitt - 354
WVU - 520
Bowling Green - 576

This is out of nearly 3,000 colleges across the USA.

https://money.com/best-colleges/

I guess my point is this - there is so much bashing within our state about the PASSHE System that it is like a whining facebook site. The truth is there was/is and will be good value in the system. All I hear about is student loans and repayment/forgiveness. What parents ought to do is sit their kids down and have a hard discussion about the cost of education and ROI. Passhe is very defendable in this regard.
Full disclosure - I am a 1987 SRU grad.