>> governor wolf and the republican-controlled legislature are not exactly acting like best buds these days. let's get the inside story. good morning, everyone. it is sunday, october 11, 2015. i'm matt o'donnell. thanks for joining us here on "inside story." let's meet our insiders of the week. george burrell to my right here, the nonprofit executive and attorney. good morning, george. renee amoore, g.o.p. state official. >> good morning. >> good morning, renee. sharmain matlock-turner, nonprofit executive. >> good morning. >> good morning, sharmain. and jeff jubelirer, communications executive. >> hey, matt. >> hello, jeff. all right, so the pennsylvania budget impasse has crossed that 100-day mark. it's now 102-odd days. governor wolf offered the republican legislature a compromise budget, backing off on his proposal to increase the state sales tax. the p.a. house soundly rejected his revised spending plan. the vote was 127-73.

nine democrats joined republicans in voting against it -- basically, the leadership saying state residents are not in the mood for any tax increases. gonna ask all of you -- jump in -- was anyone surprised by wolf backing down on the sales tax or the republicans flat-out rejecting his proposed budget, his revised budget? >> no and no. >> that's me -- no and no. >> [ laughs ] no and no. >> i'm not surprised at all. that's the bottom line. the house and the senate are not gonna do that. they didn't run on that. they ran on no taxes, and they don't want to have any primaries, let me be clear. >> but the governor said from the beginning that he was willing to compromise on some of the issues, and if there were other ways to try to get at the right amount of income and the right amount of resources for education, he was gonna do that. so he had put a compromise on the table before the vote in hopes that there would be at least some movement, i think, by the legislatures. it's obvious that public voting kept them from being able to compromise at all. >> there was movement -- nine

democrats went with the rs. that was movement. >> but i think the nine democrats going with the rs is irrelevant. they don't want to vote on a vote that they knew was going to go down and put themselves at risk. i don't really think the governor backed down. i think that what the governor's saying, "we need to have a new structure for the discussion and the debate about budgets." it's got to include new revenue. it's got to include funding for public education. and i think when the sun sets, i think the republicans are gonna move closer to the governor. i think we're gonna see the liquor-store issue come back into the fray. but the governor understands. i think he's right -- you have to have a new structure for budgeting in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. otherwise, you're going to have the same discussion again next year. you're gonna have a one-time fix 'cause everybody's got to put more money in for education. you have a one-time fix. you'll be back here again next year. and the good thing about the governor is i don't think he has his eye on reelection. >> well, at least -- i mean, he's only in his first year. >> most politicians go from day one. >> right, absolutely. they're sort of thinking ahead. >> let's be clear, too -- the nine democrats, though, were all

from southwestern pennsylvania. shale tax is not flying in western pennsylvania. that's where coal is still very big. the other thing is you still need -- and i do agree with my democratic counterparts here in the sense of we need new revenue. how do we get to new revenue? republicans are for more money for schools, too. >> don't touch me, jeff. >> sorry. >> [ laughs ] >> she looks like she's gonna hit me. but the thing is, i do think and agree with george that you will see some movement on liquor, modernization of our state stores, and pensions. can we get to a point -- it's just common sense -- were new employees -- we don't get defined benefits. you get 401(k)s. >> what we do need across the board -- broader-range taxes. the idea that we're talking about doing one-time fixes again, going after poor people and working people with sin taxes -- is what we used to call them -- doing more around gaming, doing more around, you know, taxing alcohol. and i just think that, in the end, if we don't ultimately get

to the table and try to put something that is more board-based, whether it's a part of the sales tax or whether it's the personal income tax or whether it's the shale tax, you're gonna be at this every single year, and we're gonna be constantly just picking and choosing the worst kind of poor taxes that are gonna hurt poor people. >> not-for-profits are laying off people. not-for-profits are thinking they're gonna have to close. i spoke to a woman that has a not-for-profit. she put up her own house, she's not even being paid, so that her staff will be paid and that people will get services. this is real serious. people tell me, "oh, later it's gonna get worse." it's bad now. >> along those lines, renee, i was gonna mention that philadelphia schools, for one, are having to borrow extra money because they were supposed to get $400 million of state funds. it's not coming. they're borrowing $250 million. catholic schools were supposed to get books from the state. a lot of schools have been telling me, "hey, the books are not there." the kids are sitting in class without them. so the heat keeps turning on more and more. quinnipiac university poll --

wolf's approval rating at 41%. the budget impasse, the longest one in recent times -- 176 days in 2003. we're getting closer and closer to that. so at what point do you see both sides coming together and maybe wolf saying to the republicans, "all right, let's do some of these stopgap bills so that we can get some money out there"? >> well, that's what i'm worried about, that, at the end, the pressure is gonna be on to do a three-month. >> that's right. >> and then you do another three-month and then another three-month and then we start to look like washington. what we need to, you know -- and, you know -- and i know the pressure's gonna be on for that. but i do hope that the legislature, both the democrats and the republicans, will finally get together around this. everybody agrees that education is critical for the health of our state. >> but i don't think the governor's going to get there. he's not gonna do stopgap without some commitment on the other issues, have real discussion on the other issues. i think the governor has dug in. he continues -- his favorable has retained itself through this

process. everybody does not like legislative bodies these days. and i think the governor's dug in, and i think he's right. >> and what's sad is, i think there's a little bit more -- even though people are protesting -- there was a school protest, kids got out of school on thursday -- it's a little bit more of what you said, sharmain, which is i think there's a sense of nothing works, harrisburg is now washington, d.c., and you're not seeing the visceral negativity in terms of the whole state. schools have borrowed nearly $350 million. $11 million of that has to come back in interest. but you're not seeing yet, you know, schools necessarily closing. you're seeing the rhetoric, but i think people have given up. >> well, the bottom line, though, is that the house, the senate, the governor, people aren't talking. until they really have a seat at the table and really sit down and have a serious discussion on this, it's not gonna be solved. i hear what you're saying. you know, people are voting different ways, that way. but until they come together and

talk, i mean really talk -- i've seen them have meetings, but they're not really talking and saying, "let's work this out." you know why? because back in the day, you had politicians that didn't like each other, but they would come to the table and talk. then they would go have a beer together, whatever. these folks just don't like each other. >> there's wider chasm between both sides. >> they're not negotiating. >> they're still not talking. >> 176 days was 2003. that brings you up to nearly christmas, right? >> mm-hmm. >> do you think that we could have something done before the end of this year with this? >> stopgap. >> that's what it's gonna probably have to come to. >> i think, as bad as it is, wolf, at the end of the day, his hands are tied. he doesn't have the votes. >> exactly. and that's why it's important about having those votes. >> and the way the districts are shaped, the republicans aren't gonna lose reelection unless it's a primary. >> right. >> you can't override a veto. >> right, right. they can't override a veto. >> the governor's the governor. >> right, and some of the democrats are saying that, you know, they're gonna start putting pressure on to try to see if they can get voters out for the november election to see

whether or not that sort of shows the sense that they can begin to do turnout for this. there are three, you know, state supreme court races that are up and that they want to put pressure there, but we'll see whether or not that has an impact. >> people aren't talking about elections. >> and the thing you said, george, people are fed up with legislatures, "oh, but i love my legislator!" >> right. >> right? >> that's right. >> that's the way it works with congress, too. >> what everybody there is concerned about is the next election. and for republicans, they're concerned about the primary elections. they're not concerned about their general. they're concerned about primary challenges. >> all right, let's move on to the joe biden chronicles. politico ran a story saying that the vice president was the one, he was the one, who leaked that beau biden's dying wish was for his father to run for president. biden's office was very upset with the story and called it "offensive." the first democratic presidential debate is on tuesday. cnn says joe biden may attend if

he is, in fact, running for president by then. if he does decide to not run, wouldn't this be the biggest deflation of a trial balloon you've seen in recent political history? [ laughter ] the buildup has been just so much. >> i don't know. he's a democrat. ask them. [ laughter ] >> george is thinking about it. >> i can tell. >> i think the bigger issue for me is, i really do hope that that story's not true, because it would be a huge contradiction of who joe biden has been and represented. it's one thing to take advantage of sympathy. it's another thing to perpetuate it for your own benefit. so i really do hope that's not true. and i believe it's not. i think joe biden's a man of integrity. but i think that he understood, though he floated this big balloon, that he was well behind not just in money, but primary elections, unlike the general elections, are about state by state by state and organization. and secretary clinton has most

of those organizations locked down. >> but the thought is maybe there's an implosion, you take the carcass... >> exactly, well, i think it happened at a time when -- and i don't necessarily believe the story about leaking this story. and i agree with george -- i really hope that that was not the case. but i do think that the pressure and push came on at a time when people were starting to get really nervous about mrs. clinton and sort of saying, you know, "is there something else? is there something that's gonna come out on the e-mails? is there an issue that we haven't seen yet?" and we need a strong-enough person who maybe needs to step in now. at least at this point, it appears as if, you know, everything is sort of out there and there's nothing that's sort of there there at this point that's getting people really super concerned. >> there is no rush. yes, it's important to have the structure in the state. come tuesday, he doesn't participate in the debate, well, he can decide six months from now, he could decide three months from now. i'm not saying that's a good move strategically. the other thing's that's been

interesting, there's been a super pac of draft biden. and they had a -- really, a beautiful, in my opinion, advertisement on that biden's camp asked to be pulled -- and it's been pulled since -- that spoke about him in terms of his love for family. >> it was actually taken from one of his speeches that he delivered and, again, he didn't, you know... >> he didn't authorize it. it's a separate group. >> yeah, but it talked about losing his wife and his daughter back in '72, another great family tragedy that he's had to endure. >> i think the great one, mr. steven colbert, he had the show where biden said several weeks ago, "it's got to be in the heart. it's got to be in the gut." and he sort of led there, that maybe, if you're not all-in, you can't do it. >> well, biden is smart. he's smart. he doesn't have anything to lose. >> sure. >> so he's sitting out and he's waiting. >> let's say he runs. some have asked, "well, what is the reason for him running? what is your story? why do you want to run for president?" what do you think his answer would be? >> well, i think he's gonna certainly say that he's had a level of experience. >> four more years of obama. >> right, he's gonna have to

defend obama. i mean, i think if you saw this week that hillary started sort of moving away on a couple of clear policy issues i think very specifically. i'm sure that those are her positions. but i think also, if joe biden gets in, she begins to distance herself and he has to be in a position to sort of defend some of those, as well. so, no, he's gonna have to defend the administration, which says to me that still he could stay out for a long period of time and just have people continue to ask him and he doesn't have to defend anything. >> that may be his style, also. >> i really don't think he can stay out a long period of time and hope to win. it just doesn't work. >> sure. >> the math just doesn't work. and i actually think he runs more independently even of the president. i think he's gonna run on the fact, "i've got a history in the senate, i've got a history of working on both sides of the aisles, i've got a history now of having run the government." i think he's gonna run on a joe biden message. >> but i do think he's gonna run. >> you do? >> yes, i do. >> i don't. >> mayor's race. philadelphia mayor's race.

now, three weeks from tuesday is election day. >> it is? >> i know. it's been a very silent race. front-runner jim kenney got the endorsement of governor wolf, a fellow democrat this past week. that was republican nominee melissa murray bailey. i've been talking to the candidates, doing some things on facebook, talking about some of the issues, but generally, it's been a very silent campaign, 'cause, for one thing, you haven't seen anything on tv in terms of ads. throw anything out there you want to about the mayor's race at this point. three weeks and two days. >> we're being quiet, also, so you can tell. >> well, what i'm gonna say, i was a part of a group of civic organizations that held the first debate. and i was glad to say that tamala edwards was our questioner. and it really focused in on issues. and i've been to several different forums where the candidates have been and they've been talking about issues. i think, certainly, there hasn't been a lot of publicity around it, but i think that has really sort of led people to sort of dig in on some of the things they care about -- this whole question around the port and what's going to happen there and whether or not there's a

real strategy there. governor wolf came out this week and said that he will have money available to work with the city to try to expand the port. there's been a lot of conversation around poverty, a lot of conversation around education. so i do think that the issues are there. whether or not it's going to have anything at all to do with turnout, i think, is another question. but i do think those of us who care about what the future of the city is looking like, the candidates are making themselves available for that conversation. >> the candidates are definitely available, but people aren't really getting out and really hearing, you know, everything about what's going on. it's just no excitement in it. people are just like, "i don't care." that's what i'm hearing. >> i think jeff said this earlier, "people, they don't believe the political process makes any difference in their lives." i agree that they're talking about the issues, but nobody's talking about, "this is what i'm gonna do and this is the outcome it's going to produce." everybody keeps saying we have to address poverty, poverty's gotten worse over the last 20 years, not better. you know, african-american businesses haven't grown in scale over the last 20 -- i mean, so people are just

frustrated with the political process. >> and that's what i said. they just don't know what else to do, so they're not doing anything. people are feeling overwhelmed. >> we have to take a break. we're gonna, among other things, remember jerry mondesire, former panelist here at "inside story," when we come back. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge.

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>> archbishop charles chaput offered a crowd estimate for the papal mass late last month -- 900,000 people. other estimates offered by various experts have been lower, some below 200,000, and many wonder why chaput didn't offer any evidence and claimed 900,000 people can't even fit along the ben franklin parkway anyway. so i ask you, the insiders, why are we always so -- and part of the problem 'cause we're talking about it -- why are we always so focused on crowd estimates? >> it's like in elections. everyone's like, "who's in the lead?" it's a horse race. and you know what? you said it, matt. everyone plays it up, the cities play it up, the convention and tourism industry plays it up, because it helps in other conventions and things to talk about economic impact. and there is a direct correlation in this case because many people came. there were families. they didn't stay in the city. they came in on buses. they left on buses. it was never gonna match

one-to-one. but what's a few 100,000 people here and there? >> but a million people, i'm sure, paid attention to it. i mean, i think the question is around the numbers is around economic impact. were people eating in restaurants? were they staying in hotels? when you talk about whether or not people paid attention and whether they were downtown or watching on tv or listening on the radio, everyone i talk to, and even people in washington and new york, were also doing the same thing. it was clearly the conversation for the week. and i do think it had an impact. >> but at the end of the day, i thought that the events all came off well, but there were too many complaints. so there was a mixed reaction. i think down the line, historically, it will be fine. but right now, there were too many complaints, and people made the numbers the issue, and they're still talking about it. >> well, the thing is it was all about the message. we need to focus on the message, not, you know, what the pope was bringing, you know, how the city came together. you know, people -- you didn't hear all the murdered this and murdered that. it's about the message and what happened and what did he leave behind?

and you're right -- people are still talking about that and that's a good thing. the numbers -- all right. it didn't happen. move on. you got the dnc coming. be happy. >> it was good for the shore. >> remember wilt chamberlain's game where he scored 100 points? a million people were at that game. >> right. >> even though they sold like 15,000 tickets, right? >> i was there. >> were you? [ laughter ] it was in hershey. >> yeah, right. >> i was with george. >> so, the funeral for j. whyatt mondesire takes place on wednesday at the bright hope baptist church in north philadelphia at 11:00 a.m. mondesire was a reporter at the inquirer, went on to be a publisher at the philadelphia sun. he founded the philadelphia association of black journalists, led the philadelphia naacp, and he served as a panelist right here on "inside story." over the course of his life, we remember a person who was laser-focused on his views, on helping minorities, the poor, the disabled, people who found themselves in imperfect situations. he was their champion. and we also always remember his cowboy hats. i know he wasn't wearing one right there. george, you want to offer some thoughts?

>> well, my thoughts, and for sharmain and me and bill miller and gussie clark and marian tasco and chuit's not a , family. we spent social time together and all of that, but for me, my fondest recollection -- i do things that remind me of people that are important to me. for example, i wear cuffs on all of my pants because john anderson wore cuffs on his pants. jerry mondesire's the first person i ever saw -- we played racquetball every tuesday and thursday -- ever saw who put his shoes on before he put his pants on. [ laughter ] i, for more than a decade, put my shoes on before i put my pants on 'cause it reminds me of jerry mondesire. >> oh, wow. >> renee? >> i mean -- >> i'm sorry -- sharmain. >> that's okay. i mean, jerry was just such a special person. and -- but he was -- he was funny. he was -- he could push. he could laugh. he could, you know, make you think about very interesting things. but one of the things i was thinking about this week of the

many memories that i have, is the time that we decided that we wanted to march on the committee of 70. we called it the chicken-sandwich-gate. we had a new elected official who had just won election. we'd been working hard to get young people to want to run for office. and the committee of 70 called her out because she gave out some chicken sandwiches. and so jerry and i and others got on the phone and said, "okay, we're gonna go march on the committee of 70. we're not gonna let her first story be about whether or not she gave sandwiches to a group of people at the polling places. and so he was willing to take on big fights, but he was also willing to take on small fights, too. >> that's right. >> renee? >> i called jerry my black cowboy because of his hat. >> he's from brooklyn, not texas. >> he's my cowboy. he was my cowboy, 'cause how many black men do you see walking around with those hats? but he, to me, my word for jerry is commitment and his passion for people and to do the right

thing. and no matter whether you liked it or not, he didn't care. he was gonna get it done. he was like, "it's gonna be my way." >> mm-hmm. jeff? >> quickly, in the stetson hat, to me, i think of the nike swoosh. it will forever be associated with jerry. you should see that -- just that shadow. very quickly -- i don't have the same type of history, but what i remember is jerry was always so complimentary. my father was an elected republican office in the state and would probably not see eye-to-eye on some issues with jerry, but he never forgot to tell me every time we were together here on the panel and elsewhere how they worked together, how there were issues that they could come together on, that they could always have a conversation. and it's just really nice in this day and age of dysfunction to know that as passionate as he was, he wanted to work. and you said, he got things done. >> yes, he did. >> thanks for your memories. and we'll take a moment right now to silently remember j. whyatt mondesire, who died at the age of 65 this week.

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge. >> inside stories of the week, we start with george. >> this week i attended the salvation army luncheon, where renee was the mc, but they recognized dr. ellyn jo waller on the subject of human trafficking. in philadelphia, that's a huge issue that none of us hear much about it in the political dialogue, and it's something that we ought to pay attention to. it's a really serious problem. >> thanks, george. renee? >> yeah, i want to talk about city council and the school district. they're having their meeting october 14th. the appropriation's chaired by wilson goode. and the bottom line is, they're gonna give that $25 million that's supposed to come out to them, and they're gonna get it and they'll get it soon. that's from a good source i got that. >> thank you, renee. sharmain? >> this week, a young woman named keisha jenkins was brutally murdered in north

philadelphia. and it became, i think, a conversation, not just because of the brutality of the murder, but because she was a transgender woman of color. hundreds of people came out yesterday for a rally to talk about the importance of this issue. i hope that the police will find out who did this and i hope that we'll all understand the importance of being tolerant for people who are different than maybe we are. >> thank you, sharmain. jeff? >> this week we saw that the leading candidate to replace john boehner for speaker of the house quickly withdrew, causing all kinds of dysfunction among the republican party as to who's gonna try to unify and put an umbrella around it. something good's happened recently that hasn't gotten much attention. something called "the gibson resolution." what it does is it has brought republicans into the fold about the conversation on the need to act on climate change -- an issue that generally has a right wing and a left wing. three of our congressmen from pennsylvania -- pat meehan, ryan costello, and mike fitzpatrick -- signed on to that. pennsylvania southeastern

republicans coming across moderate -- maybe they can act on this issue. good for them. >> okay. thanks to our insiders, and thank you for watching. i'm matt o'donnell. that's "inside story" for this sunday. we'll see you next week. i'll see you monday morning for action news beginning at 4:30 a.m. folks, it's columbus day. >> wow. >> we'll see you then. >> wow. [ laughter ] >> i'm nydia han along with eva pilgrim. >> coming up next on "action news," two men land in the hospital, one man critical after a parking lot assault. the boy shot to death by a cleveland police officer stirs new anger. a female terrorist tries to set off a suicide bombing in israel as violence escalates

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