After doing some digging and taking a survey of the people in my personal daily routine I have come up with a variety of questions for you keeping in line with your agenda & accomplishments and questions from the average Joe general public in Delaware County. The thrust of the interviews we are putting together about our public servants is to inform our 125,000 homeowners of your plan, plans and accomplishments. The more facts people have the easier it is for them to make decisions, vote, get involved or just have an educated opinion. We don’t have a political or religious platform of any kind so there will be no lean to this editorial. Just the facts for the people!

DCM: I understand that you have a strong focus to make government more responsible and responsive to the public’s needs. If one of my readers has a question or needs help finding the right people or person to help them with issues they feel are the responsibility of the government, how would you suggest they spend there efforts to get action or answers?

GOV Ed Rendell: Depends on what government. The easiest way to do it is to access their state rep. that’s the first line of contact and the one that is closest to the people. That’s something they should avail themselves of and many people do. In terms of the state government and administration I think you can mostly do this online. Basically everything we do, department by department, is available for review on-line. We are a very transparent government. The website is www.pa.gov . If the website fails you, please just write to me at the capital even though those letters don’t always get to me. I have a correspondence staff and they are very good. If someone writes in about the roads needing repair in their area then the staff won’t bother sending it to me they’ll send it to directly to PennDot and someone from PennDot will get back to them. So that’s another vehicle for people who don’t have access to the Internet.

DCM: You have helped Pennsylvania go from one of the nine states failing to fund pre-kindergarten to one of the national leaders. How important do you think it is to focus on early childhood education?

GOV Ed Rendell: I think it’s crucial. It makes common sense. If children don’t get off to a good start and don’t learn how to read well and socialize well then sometimes they fall so far behind by the 3rd grade that they get increasingly frustrated. It’s crucial that we have quality preschool education. And I’m glad to say President Obama highlighted our Pre-K Counts program in a speech he made. He highlighted it as a model for other states. We also received a ranking in Education Weekly, indicating we had the fastest early childhood achievement gains in the entire country - also good news. The science of education makes it clear that if we give kids a quality Pre-kindergarten experience as 3 and 4 year olds, give them access to a full day kindergarten when they’re five and six years old, and then have smaller class sizes in Kindergarten through 3rd grade and make tutoring available after school if kids fall behind then that’s going to build a sound foundation that will lead to success all the way through 12th grade.

DCM: How did you feel about Tennessee and Delaware beating out Pennsylvania for the race for the top funding?

GOV Ed Rendell: I’m not that worried. There’s 4.2 billion dollars of money available for Race to the Top and only 600 million was awarded. So that means 3.6 billion - more than 80% of the money - is still available and that won’t be awarded until September. We ranked 7th among 43 states that applied for this funding. Only 2 grants have been given out - with that kind of money available and given our ranking of 7th I’m reasonably certain we will get a grant.

DCM: What is the status of the Child Care Works funding in your budget? (Subsidy for childcare for people who are qualified but there is no money.)

GOV Ed Rendell: The status of Child Care Works is that there will be level funding this year. The problem is it’s so successful, there’s a waiting list. We can’t accommodate everybody on the waiting list and like so many other things it’s a victim of the recession. In fact, even though we have one of the healthiest economies in the country we’re still hurting. This year our revenue projection was very conservative and it indicates we’ll have a projected shortfall of 800-900 million. But this is still better than New Jersey with a projected shortfall of 11 billion, or New York with a projected shortfall of 9 billion.

DCM: Why did you lower Pre -K counts by 68 slots/children in your current budget? GOV Ed Rendell: Same thing - all a question about not having enough revenue. But when you compare what PA has done with cuts and what other states have made, we’re doing very well.

DCM: You were expecting to save nearly $800 million in statewide property tax from gaming revenues in 08/09… have we seen that become fact?

GOV Ed Rendell: Oh yeah, in fact we shot passed that dramatically. In fact gaming is one of the strongest parts of our economy right now. It’s up 29% from what we had in the first quarter of last year and we’re getting even higher slots revenue every year. 125,000 seniors have seen property taxes eliminated and another 250,000 cut by at least half as a result.

DCM: With table games (blackjack) now allowed at Pennsylvania casinos, and given the success of Harrah’s Chester, how will that affect the local economy?

GOV Ed Rendell: Certainly property tax benefits – seniors first and foremost, the rest of us not as much as the seniors but our property taxes have been held down. Table games are more labor intensive than slots so we’ll see increased jobs created from that as well.

DCM: Can you explain briefly what the “Growing Greener to Environmental Investment Package” is and how our readers could possibly get involved cleaning up our local rivers and parks, preserving open space and farm lands or revitalizing abandoned industrial sites?

GOV Ed Rendell: Growing Greener has been enormously successful. A good deal of that money has been spent in last 3 or 4 years to preserve open spaces. The best way readers can get involved is to join environmental groups like Penn Future and other groups - they do terrific work. They can be pains in our rear ends but that’s because they’re very good in their advocacy efforts and they need help. Citizens can help the environment at every level by looking at Penn Future and other organizations.

DCM: Some time ago I was told that “The Delaware Valley Area” has one of the largest senior populations in the US. Have the PACE and PACENET program improvements actually helped older people with there drug prescriptions?

GOV Ed Rendell: We have added almost 100,000 seniors to the drug programs. We were at about 207,000 when I became governor and we’re over 300,000 now. That’s because we expanded the eligibility by raising the income level limits. We’ve expanded the income levels and added revenue from the lottery. It’s still the best program in the country - better than Medicare Part B because it has no donut holes. We stay with you all the way through your extensions no matter what it costs. There’s no time that they can be dropped. There’s still additional slots so people should absolutely get an application form from their State Reps office or any state building or public library or go online and figure out if they’re eligible or not.

DCM Ed Rendell: You have worked hard to implement commonsense political reform in PA; you have cut wasteful spending, strived to improve efficiency and attempted to get everyone to work for progress as a team-not on party line teams. As a Boss I find it easy to see where changes need to be made, but getting everyone on the same page to implement them is not so easy. Do you feel you have accomplished much over your tenure in this area?

GOV Ed Rendell: Well you know we are very partisan in Harrisburg and we’re very ideological and it hurts our overall ability to serve the people as well as we should. Having said that, if you look back on what we’ve done on the environment, on energy, we were just ranked by the Pugh Center as third in the country for states with the highest amounts of green energy jobs. Look at what we’ve done on energy, on the environment, on education, on the stimulus plan and you’ll see we’re one of the healthiest states even in this recession. We expanded many programs. Our legislature has done a lot for the state. In the end, after all the party bickering we’ve still managed to do positive things for PA and we’ve moved in the right direction because we’ve done very important things, positive things. Our administration alone has trimmed government spending from its everyday operations by 1¾ billion dollars since 2002. That’s an awesome achievement. How many businesses or non-profits can say the same?

DCM: Looking forward to the election, who would you say would be best suited to continue that TEAM WORK agenda?

GOV Ed Rendell: I feel very lucky. We have six candidates and they are all people who have the ability to work across party lines and continue the momentum Pennsylvania has been experiencing. The people in Pennsylvania are fortunate to have such good candidates. The campaigns haven’t gotten very far yet, but there are a lot of good choices. Tom Corbin is a good Attorney General; we have worked together in the past even though he’s a Republican and I’m a Democrat. I’ve worked with all the Democrats: Jack Wagner as Auditor General has come up with a lot of ways to save money. Tony Williams is as bright as there is in the Senate. Joe Hoeffel in his role as Montgomery County Commissioner has worked with us on tremendous environmental gains. Last but not least is Dan Onorato, with whom I’ve collaborated on economic development projects and mass transit, which is very important for a candidate as well.

DCM: When I interview people to work here at the magazine I am looking for a good fit for my company. I review their work history, responsibilities from previous employment; whether they followed through with assigned tasks and finished them in a timely manner. I also do a criminal background check and a drug test. Knowing the needs of the job at hand, how would you suggest average Joe general public in Delaware County should approach hiring someone to fill your position?

GOV Ed Rendell: Very hard - the TV ads are the main source of info and 30 seconds and you don’t get much info in thirty seconds. But if you’re an interested voter the most important thing is to go on the candidate’s websites and read as much as you can read, then go online and ask them specific questions and see if the campaign responds.

DCM: When you ran for DA and won on the platform that you were new to the political scene and not tainted by political corruption. Being from Delaware County, I have been present for and aware of your political career. In general it appears you pull no punches, and answer questions directly. Do you feel tainted, frustrated or changed by the political scene?

GOV Ed Rendell: I don’t necessarily think I’ve changed, but the political process has changed for the worse. In our country everything is so much more partisan and hostile and everyone is interested in getting a leg up on the other side instead of doing what’s right for the people. They have a conservative or other type of ideology and they never differ from that. The influence of special interest groups and the money from businesses is far greater now than 30 years ago. There’s few areas where its improved, its gotten worse and I fear for our country unless someone can get the bull by the horns and say we have to move, to stop being so ideological.

DCM: I would like to clarify a few points of contention between my Dad and myself. I am pretty sure you were giving kudos to Bush for the attempt but not the program of Privatization of Social Security. Do you support privatization on Social Security? Yes or No?

GOV Ed Rendell: I would have done what Al Gore proposed in the 2000 election. Let the government, if you want them to, keep paying into Social Security. Allow the government to make the investments for you because it would have been from a greater pool of money and you would make greater gains. Or you could invest your own money and the government would match that investment. But we shouldn’t screw around with social security. Because the problem is - think of what would have happened if we had privatized social security and people wanted to cash in because they were retiring in 2009. They would have lost their money and then they would have complained to their Congressman and we would have to bail out all the people who lost money in the stock market because they didn’t have money left in their retirement plan. There is a place for government to help people to invest, but Social Security has to remain inviolate.

DCM: The other thing we argue over is Act 72, I think it will bring money from gambling to our schools and lower our taxes. My Dad says that most schools are not eligible for the money from this program? I have a feeling we are both wrong to a degree. Could you clarify Act 72 for us?

GOV Ed Rendell: Gaming money does not go directly to School Districts. They don’t keep it. They have to distribute it to the citizens. What helps schools is increases in education funding from the general fund. Schools are getting 4 billion more today than they were before I became Governor. The first money helps keep property taxes down, but the gaming money always goes to individuals.

DCM: How can an average Joe get the facts on a bill or proposal that might affect them without getting misinformation or the opinion of the person delivering the information?

GOV Ed Rendell: The only answer is to read the bill. If you read the executive summary of a bill, you have to understand someone produces it, and that person usually has a position on the bill. So its best to read the black letter itself and that’s available on the website of the House or the Senate, depending on whose bill it is.

DCM: So far in your career you have served the community as:
• 2nd lieutenant, U.S. Army Reserve 1968 to 1974
• A democrat,
• District attorney in Philadelphia, 1978 – 1985
• 121st Mayor of Philadelphia, 1992 – 2000
• A member of the Democratic Governors Association executive committee,
• General chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000
presidential election,
• Chairman of the National Governors Association
• 45th Governor of Pennsylvania 2003 – current

DCM: I am sure you hear this a lot… what do you have planned next for yourself? A book? A Vacation with Marjorie? Senate? President?

GOV Ed Rendell: What am I doing next? I don’t know – I’ve got 9½ months left. I’ve got a lot of things to get done and I am concentrating on that. When my time is over in January I’ll take a deep breath and relax and look around. I teach one semester a year and I want to keep on teaching. I want to keep doing sports television and I’m also writing a book. I know I’ll be doing those things but as far as everything else goes, I don’t know.

DCM: Many people feel that President Obama, having achieved so much already in his tenure as president may not run again after his 4 years are up. The question here is if President Obama asked you to take a job on his team would you accept it after you leave this office and spend the last 2 (maybe 6) years working with the president?

GOV Ed Rendell: I mean I don’t want to say no in the sense that you never say ‘never’ about anything. But I don’t think it’s likely to happen or something I’m looking to do. I’ve been in government for over 32 years and I’m not sure if I want to stay involved in a full time level. But I’m not going to close the door on any opportunity - I won’t do that.

DCM: How do you handle the perception of your Philly Phavoritism from so many PA residents?

GOV Ed Rendell: You don’t handle it. Most people will think what they want to think. Local politicians like to blame their ineptitude on the fact that they say I give all the money to Philadelphia. That’s incorrect – Philadelphia has gotten less money per capita than other areas. For example, Allegheny County has gotten half a trillion dollars more than Philly since I’ve been Governor, but you can’t convince people from all the counties that that’s true, but I have the facts to prove it.

DCM: What do you think about the Eagles trading Donovan to the Redskins, a team in our division that we will play twice?

GOV Ed Rendell: I wouldn’t have done it. It makes the Redskins a much stronger team. I also think we’re all grousing about Donovan. He’s a top-flight quarterback and I think we won’t realize what we had until he’s gone. I really think the only reason the Eagles traded him to the Redskins was that they felt they had to rebuild. They won’t say that out loud, but they wanted to rebuild and it’s going to take a couple of years for us to get back in contention. We won’t automatically be a Super Bowl contender - those days are over. We’ll be in the middle of the pack for the next few years while we rebuild.

DCM: Do you think Kevin Kolb or Mike Vick will be the starter by mid season in 2010?

GOV Ed Rendell: I think the Eagles are determined to give Kevin Kolb a chance for the entire season and Vick will only get a chance if Kolb gets hurt.