>> i'm monica malpass. on "inside story," how will the aftermath of the blizzard impact local and national politicians? let's get the inside story. ♪ good morning. i'm monica malpass, and welcome to "inside story." let's meet our insider for this week, and they are terry madonna, f&m pollster. welcome to you. glad to have you. ed turzanski, foreign-policy analyst. good morning, ed. nia meeks, communications executive. hello. and jeff jubelirer, communications executive, as well. thanks for being here, everybody. well, we survived 22.4 inches of snow, the fourth-largest storm in philadelphia history, but let's see how people feel like the city, the state, and new jersey did in this monster snowstorm, as far as roads go, schools, electrical outages, just clearing the way and keeping people safe, most importantly. what's your take on it? >> remarkably well, for the most part, and i think that the kenney administration is off to

a good start. >> mm-hmm. >> i had a friend from mayfair call me and say, "i didn't believe it. we had snow as high as buses, and they sent trucks in with front-loaders removing snow so the avenue could open up." >> right. so, in effect, schools really were only out the monday. they were back on tuesday. that's good news for most school parents, anyway. and they really were able to clear a path and not have any deaths, injuries, to speak of, or real delays. >> the one thing about the city -- first of all, we know any major snowstorm usually comes around january, february, really early in a new mayor's tenure, so that's the main test. but when you have small streets -- and in philadelphia, we have scores of them. south philadelphia, there are still areas that were paralyzed for a while. north philadelphia, manayunk, roxborough, some of the usual, but what people took heart in is at least there seemed like there was a plan, and they didn't feel like they were purposefully being left behind. i don't know whether we can do some sort of rotation, like, the next snowstorm. all of north philadelphia gets plowed. next one, all of south philadelphia gets plowed.

>> take turns. >> exactly. >> maybe it helped that the new mayor is from one of these small-street areas and he said to people, "let's start being nice. if you park in somebody's space, i don't want to hear about it. don't do that." >> yeah, but look at kenney's first month. a police officer gets ambushed, and he has a storm, and, overall, i think the score, the ratings, would be pretty for high for that. the one problem in the state was who knows, actually, how many trucks and cars that were stuck on the pennsylvania turnpike... >> 500, they say. >> ...up in somerset, and the turnpike commission has promised a thorough investigation, and i've ridden that turnpike many times. i mean, those hills... you're smiling. >> i'm from there. >> ...are beyond treacherous, and you can understand how you get a couple hundred trucks and the fact that when they get stalled and they're not easy to move. >> 30 hours in the bus for the young ladies from the temple gymnastics team. that was rough. >> but i agree. i think the folks involved in that at all levels did a commendable job.

>> all right. over to new jersey. how's chris christie gonna fare from not showing up very quickly? he did finally come at the end, and, you know, certainly speak to the people of his state, and it looked like he's helping out. but he had said early on a couple of things that are so quotable. we're gonna have to talk about, "do i need to bring my mop?" you know, calling one of the mayors, the one in north wildwood, "crazy," acting like it's below him, almost, to come to a snowstorm. >> terrible optics. it doesn't matter that he's not literally the one with the mop, so to speak. you have to be there. and he walked it back, but it's too late. it's just who he is. he cannot help himself, when he gets criticized, to jump off. and this is a tremendous -- i think folks in new hampshire would have forgiven him for being in jersey. again, he's not the emergency personnel, he's not in the control room, but just being there. >> he said, "i run a staff of 60,000. they can handle it." and i get that intellectually. >> but at the time of sandy, when mitt romney really needed him, he said, "no, no, no. politics be damned.

i have to be here." >> and that bought him a lot of good will. >> he should have gone back to new jersey. he's below 7% in new hampshire. he's clearly -- he's clearly -- >> but you know what? he's stronger than the storm. just remember that. he's stronger than the storm. >> all right. let's talk about politics on the poll level. the franklin & marshall poll had some fascinating findings, and you're gonna tell us more, and everybody can weigh in, of course. first of all, let's find out how folks think, in general, that the state is doing -- state of pennsylvania. 7 out of 10 now say it's on the wrong track and they have a lot of blame to give. so, here's that statistic. most of them hold the state legislature, 52%, to blame and only blame the governor about 32%. do you think that that's telling that the governor gets one bad mark but the legislature two? >> well, short version of this -- 7 of 10 -- it's a record in my poll -- state on the wrong track. and then they don't cite, what, the economy, education? they cite government and politicians. how many different ways can you spell "dysfunction"? >> right. i saw another graphic -- sorry to interrupt, terry -- but only 15% thought that the state

was doing excellent or a good job in the legislature. i would like to meet those 15%. i can't even find 2% when i talk to folks. >> the governor does better, but, remember, he has the bully pulpit. he's elected from a statewide -- >> structurally. >> yeah, exactly. plus he's been in campaign mode. when a governor comes in to philadelphia, you interview him, right? >> right. >> but if a lawmaker says something -- "okay." you know, you may pick it up. >> terry, here's a question. of the people who say the legislature's terrible... >> right. >> ...how many think their legislator is terrible? >> yeah, well, guess what. >> they want to throw all the other folks out except their own? >> no, no, but it's closer now than ever. it used to be 50%, 55% said, "we'll keep our own lawmaker." now we're down into the high 30s, so that is changing. >> but when you're looking at wolf's statistics, they're dropping kind of fast, considering he's still in the honeymoon. >> that and the budget issue now -- right. >> his job performance is pretty much, at the end of the first year, where a guy named tom corbett was and where a guy named ed rendell. it is common for governors in

their first year to have a tough time. every governor from milton shapp -- they come back at the end of the second into the third. corbett didn't rebound. rendell did -- went on to a big victory. and we'll have to see about governor wolf, who's been -- >> but isn't it interesting that wolf, on the one hand, jeff, was elected as a reformer, if you will -- sort of an anti-corbett, somebody that's gonna get it done, a businessman? he knows how to make people come together and get that deal signed at the end of the day. and now we sort of, for different reasons, have dissatisfaction with him, as well. >> yeah, and that's amongst democrats as well as republicans. at the end of the day, schools are starving, nonprofit organizations are starving, and they're not gonna say, "well" -- they can say, "we believe what governor wolf wants, but at the end of the day, he's got to come to the table and provide funds, as well." >> but you have to remember, at the same time, the republicans in the house reached 120. >> mm-hmm. >> no par-- i mean, you have to go back to eisenhower to find 120 lawmakers from either chamber. republicans picked up three seats in the senate.

so, what was going on was that at the legislative level, the republicans had big gains. >> right. >> wolf wins with a popular agenda -- "let's do a shale tax, let's increase education spending" -- and the polarization -- "uh-oh. what do we have here?" two groups at the opposite end of the poles. >> well, wolf also shot for the moon. i mean, he went to the upper edge. >> right, and he stayed there for a long time. >> and he stayed there, and that's why, to jeff's point, his own party said, "wait a minute. that's not going to make it possible for us to get to..." >> because it's about legislating and not understanding how you have to -- you have to make the deals. you have to do the cuts. >> but they did. >> but you also have a bunch of people in there who they're always determined to put the >> well, remember that the two houses -- the house and senate don't agree with each other, either, and these are republicans. >> not at all. not at all. >> it's dysfunction, as terry said, with a capital "d," and the districts are so gerrymandered. >> they had a framework budget that was a compromise. the senate republicans agreed to it, the governor agreed it, and the house, which is more conservative than the senate,

did not. >> what might help wolf and as a reset this year, 2016, the dnc is coming to philadelphia. and when you get all that energy and all of the democrats coming back, there tends to be a reshifting, so depending on what happens, he could ride some additional energy. he possibly could. >> get more polarized? [ laughter ] >> we have to hope not. and, by the way, tom ridge, the only one who had higher marks at the end of year one, so it's not everybody. it's just very common. all right. let's talk about other confidence in elected officials, and we're talking attorney general kathleen kane again and some movement this past week again as many forces try to force her out. are we getting any closer? she did say that she believes still impeachment the only vehicle, legally, to get her out, but they are throwing it back to the supreme court. if the supreme court rules that her law license must be reinstated, there's gonna be a different outcome in the legislature. these committees are not willing, i guess, to stick their neck out. is that what the deal is, nia? >> they don't want to stick their neck out right now. they'd rather wait for the process, and at least you could say, "well, it was fair and we did everything that we could. now we can go for it."

and then you don't have to worry about any partisan repercussions, et cetera. trust their are democrats on their side, like, "mm, she really needs to go," and they need to have some sort of cover. absolutely. >> monica, the supreme court makeup now, with eakin on suspension, is 5-to-1 democrat. if they come out and say her law license should remain suspended, republicans have cover. >> right. >> exactly. >> yeah. and i think it's gonna be hard for democrats. >> remember, there's two processes going on. the senate, under article 6 in the pennsylvania constitution, could remove her. the governor actually removes her. >> right. it hasn't been used in a century -- that unknown law. >> that's right -- 1891. >> but he could technically. >> exactly. they've said, "we're not moving forward because the reason they have for doing this is that she has a suspended law license," going back to jeff's point. if the supreme court were to give her back her license, then you couldn't do that. but this week, a house committee said, "okay. we're gonna -- the senate, the house should look at impeachment." >> right. >> they didn't go much further than that, so we have two

processes going on. >> and they're trying to run out the clock. >> and then she has to file to run for a second term. >> she's trying to run out the clock, they're trying to run out the clock, and it's almost like a quasi-deal. they're like, "okay, depending on the timing, maybe we can just let this ride." >> and all of this because she's been accused of, of course, obstructing justice and doing other things as she was leaking some documents, allegedly, from a grand jury. that has yet to be proven. she says she's not guilty, so we'll see what happens, but, again, who's running the show in the meantime? who's doing the work for the people in the state of pennsylvania on a law basis? >> so, she has had some high-profile people, among them ed rendell, who have said, "well, now, listen. she doesn't do the litigating. she doesn't direct," and i don't think that dog hunts. i don't think that'll work. >> four top deputies have testified that she can't do her job. >> absolutely. >> now, basically, people who've been long-term employees, top deputies in the attorney general's office. >> so, they don't have any ax to grind, you're saying. they're just describing the job description. >> but the chief of staff, the top guy, has said she can.

so, we've got, internally, within the attorney general's office, all this confusion, and the question -- >> she's just about the most unsympathetic figure in terms of how she's conducted herself through all this. and her own party is looking at her, saying, "will you please go away, because you're going to kill our chances of retaining this seat?" >> and hillary clinton is gonna want her to go away, as well. let's be real about that. >> we've got repercussions up and down the ladder. >> bill will not be coming back for her like he did in her first campaign who are claiming -- >> look at the people who are going to run against her -- a very popular county commissioner down here, josh shapiro, from montgomery county. a high-profile d.a. from allegheny county, stephen zappala, whose father was what? yeah, a supreme court justice -- i think chief justice. and then john morganelli, another longtime-serving d.a. from northampton. it's not like she's gonna get this nomination easily. >> and the supreme court decision weeks and months away yet, so we have a little while before it's decided. >> we have plenty of time to talk about it on your show. [ laughter ]

>> which we will. all right. also speaking of elected officials, we talked about governor christie and the flak that he took. do you think he paid a price in new hampshire -- let's talk presidential politics with a local spin -- because he didn't go back so quickly and show his state that he was all over the blizzard? do you think, in fact, that it's gonna cost him? >> no, not in new hampshire. he'll rise or fall on other merits when it comes to that. >> how will he do in new hampshire, then? [ laughter ] >> well, he -- no. we already see that john kasich looks like he's moved into second place, and... rubio may actually enjoy some buoyancy out of this last debate and depending on what happens in iowa. you have to think christie had a very narrow path, and it really does look as if it's collapsed. >> but he was riding on new hampshire -- not so much iowa. new hampshire was it, and to the point of rising, he's matzo right now. >> let's look at a couple of graphics we have showing the latest on the democratic side.

hillary clinton weighing in at about 46%, bernie sanders among the highest numbers he's seen, at 29%. that's what voters currently believe. she does hold the lead, of course. and then on the republican side, donald trump is still in the top. he is the frontrunner, at 24%, even though he didn't debate in that final debate. he had his own separate event, if you will. how do you think that played to people, though? do viewers take that as the guy, you know, was unnerved by a reporter and didn't have the leadership skills to stand up and go to the debate? >> no. i don't think that has anything -- in the poll that we did, if you take a look at pennsylvania, it looks like the national polls. i mean, think about it. hillary clinton has a sizable lead nationally. she has a sizable lead here. bernie sanders is up 11 points since the october poll i did for abc6. okay. what's happened nationally? sanders has closed the gap. yeah. and let's go to the national poll. >> is it gonna be enough to unnerve her and do what happened the last go-'round? >> no. hillary clinton is very popular.

she has the scranton roots. her dad was born in scranton. he played football for penn state. she has lots of support down here in the southeast -- rendell. you can go through the list of people who've raised money for her. she's very popular. she beat obama in our state in the 2008 primary by 10 points. she's clearly in good shape to win. >> all right. let's talk about who has fared well or not well in iowa and new hampshire but still went on to win the white house. they certainly all didn't nail it, you know? bill clinton didn't, actually. >> ronald reagan. >> right. of course. >> ronald reagan. >> so, do they matter? is it gonna matter what happens there? >> iowa, no. new hampshire, maybe a little, because i think what we could see in new hampshire is who's the alternative? if we see trump or cruz come out of iowa, which is what we think's gonna happen -- one or the other -- and then trump looks likely in new hampshire. but if you see who comes in second, what new hampshire -- remember, in new hampshire, independents -- independents can vote in new hampshire, and it's a true election. they have to go to the ballot, unlike iowa, which is unrepresentative.

>> one thing to look at -- there's 150 fbi agents looking in to hillary clinton -- not just the e-mails, but now they're starting to look into the foundation and the question of whether her position as secretary of state influenced the fates of the foundation with foreign donors. >> interesting. >> that is a big deal. director comey is probably a bigger threat to hillary than bernie sanders. >> all right. let's talk more. we'll take a break, and "inside story" continues for you right after this. stick around. >> "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.

>> welcome back to "inside story." an interesting decision by the u.s. supreme court. the original decision in 2012 said that juveniles who have been given a life sentence -- they can have that looked at and perhaps reconsidered, and now they've rule that it can even be retroactively looked at for reconsideration since they did a crime in their young years. that could affect 400 juvenile offenders who are now adults in most cases, even murder cases, and some people are saying that that's a good thing, to give them a second chance in case it didn't, you know, appear to be a fair outcome in the get-go. others are saying it's not fair because they perhaps took a life. in the one case, a 17-year-old i read about, aaron phillips, was stealing a wallet, knocked over, pushed over, an elderly gentleman he stole the wallet

from, according to what i read, and the gentleman had a heart attack and died, and he got charged with murder and went down for that. so, is this a fair situation? do you like the retroactive application? >> i do like the retroactive application, 'cause what you can do is go back and look at all the circumstances behind the case and look at where that person is now. i mean, even for boys, we know scientifically and medically, boys -- their brain stem does not completely attach until about 22. >> if ever. >> i'm saying. so, really, there are circumstances that we should consider fully. i'm not saying let a bunch of murderers, cold-blooded, go out, but there are many circumstances that really need a closer examination, and let's not forget sometimes people are accused and convicted, and they didn't do the crime. >> what's the downside of this? >> victims. we always must remember victim and victim advocates. every -- it doesn't -- yeah. please just give them a chance to be heard in court to say what is the impact on whatever crime. it depends. it depends on the situation. >> individual case. >> it's all about balance. >> of course. give a little shout-out to

marsha levick, too, of the juvenile law center who helped argue the case in front of the u.s. supreme court. she's local and deserves a lot of credit for her work. >> all right. let's move on and talk about taxis and uber and lyft in philadelphia, and this is a big debate. you can sort of see both sides. uber charges about half, often, of what a local taxi service can charge. the taxis and also, by the way, the ppa are not that thrilled about it. in fact, they're pursuing it with lobbyists to try to push their agenda and get a bill passed to prevent uber and lyft, another company, from getting legalized in philadelphia. what's the right way to go here? because it's unfair, i guess, on the one hand. the taxis do pay all these fees -- $2,000 a year for an assessment. two times a year, they get an inspection. they have to pay for that. that money goes to the ppa, which is why they're sort of together. they don't want to lose all those fees. i get it. but people want to go the cheapest way. >> we're talking about a disruptive service that's coming in, and we talk about these millennials and younger folks coming. they don't understand why i have to just do a taxi when i can do this other service, an app, and where the taxis have lost out -- 1 in 6, roughly, in the city

have some sort of disability. the taxis -- i think it might be 7 to 15 wheelchair-accessible taxis in this entire city, whereas you can have an uber or a lyft driver that will be more customizable, so if you're looking at your marketplace, the taxis have been slow. they have been basically dinosaurs, and they're costly. uber, lyft -- innovation, moving it faster. >> will this make the taxis more competitive? >> it should. it should. but it hasn't. >> as long as the assessments are done across the board or they take those away, they've got to even the playing field, for sure. it's not fair to the taxi drivers, on the one hand, but, please -- everybody wants to get there quickly and cheaply. >> will the taxi service increase, as she points out? will they make the innovation that's necessary? >> that's what they should be fighting for. >> well, they can't because they've got this huge regulatory and tax burden. >> an onerous -- >> and as someone who is a multimillennial, 'cause i'm in my second millennium... [ laughter ] ...uber's great. it's fantastic. it's the market delivering quality service at a price point

that really satisfies the needs of people. all of this is about the heavy-handed government taxing people in ways that you don't even recognize. >> right. >> that's why they're pushing back. >> the new mayor, by the way, supports the possibility of having uber legalized. but here's the thing -- does it bother you that philadelphia parking authority, the paa, can hire a lobbyist and be part of this? it seems sort of like it's something that benefits them if they keep it going. >> it's infuriating. >> well, welcome to the real world. >> right. right. if peco was paying a lobbyist to -- or the puc, excuse me -- paying someone and colluding with peco... >> that would be a problem. >> ...that would be a problem. >> but, you know -- >> why isn't anybody up in arms about this? >> they are, and here's one thing that we're not talking about. in the bill that's currently, i think, sitting i forget where, but it has a chance. it's passed 48-2 in the senate. there is a 1% tax on ride-sharing services that would go to -- who needs that money? >> the schools. >> the philadelphia schools, estimated, by uber, nonetheless, of $30 million over 10 years

down the drain. how dare we not -- excuse me -- you know, have that opportunity to raise money?! what are we telling -- what is philadelphia telling harrisburg by fighting this and saying, "no, we don't want to help ourselves"? >> so long as uber stays safe, and i say this -- i'm speaking to various women. the thing that freaks people out are those off cases where a woman gets a rare -- one of the share services and there's been an attack. >> right, like in washington state, i think, and a couple of them. >> there've been in washington state and in california, other places. so, as long as we don't have one of those situations happening here, they're gonna have a strong case. should that happen here, that will derail a lot of things, 'cause they'll come back and say, "hey, at least our people -- there's a repercu-- i mean, there's some sort of place that you can go for it." absolutely. but with uber, maybe not so much. you take your life in your own hands. >> my head is spinning here. [ laughter ] >> all right. >> i think it's very good, but, you know, you look at both sides. it's not an easy -- >> it's not easy. all right. to be continued. inside stories of the week coming your way next. stick around.

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged in to the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge. >> time for inside stories of the week, and let's start with ed. >> monica, the italian government covered statues in public because visiting the iranian president said these naked images offend him and islam. then he ordered the french not to serve wine at a state dinner. president hollande canceled the dinner. that is how you deal with a boorish guest who tries to tell you how to run your home and what values to have. monsieur president, well done. vive la france. >> all right. thank you. terry. >> i can't top that, but imagine this -- the democratic governor of the state, tom wolf, has indicated that he will campaign for republicans as well as democrats through the state legislature as long as they are

"reasonable and responsible." now, what that means, no one knows for sure, but it can't make some democratic leaders in this state very happy. >> i can't imagine. all right. jeff. >> the one group that we didn't talk about that could be as unpopular as a whole than attorney general kathleen kane are pennsylvania judges, given porngate and all the news we're seeing about the -- the awful stuff we're seeing. there's gonna be a ballot question on the election this year that's gonna enable pennsylvanians to vote whether or not they want to allow judges to serve up to age 75. sounds reasonable, right? not this year. don't see it happening. >> all right. nia. >> well, hillary clinton, when she came to philadelphia for a fundraiser, made a real point of going to mother bethel a.m.e. church to meet with african-american ministers. you could look at it and say, "well, why that church? it's not the biggest. it might only be the most known around the city. however, the a.m.e.s are getting ready to celebrate their bicentennial, and one thing that brought everyone's focus into the african-american -- i mean african methodist episcopal

church was the slaughter that happened in charleston, south carolina. hillary clinton needs to win south carolina, and she needs to win with african-americans. it was a smart move on her part. >> all right. and, quickly, iowa caucuses tomorrow. let's see what you think. any surprises? one word? two words? no surprise here? >> likely trump. >> okay, and clinton. uh-huh. >> trump and -- i don't know. we'll see about clinton. >> oh, okay. bernie sanders might rise up. >> remember michele bachmann. [ laughter ] >> i'll hedge -- cruz or trump. >> all right. that's it for today. we'll see you next week. have a good one. i'm nydia han along with gray hall. >> coming up next on "action news," new details about an early morning fight outside a philadelphia bar that ended with an attack an several police officers. a fatal shooting in west philadelphia, the target was a man sitting inside his car. a vital link over the schuylkill river will close to drivers so they can make much

needed repairs. those stories and more next on "action news." good afternos

sunday, january 31 i'm nydia han in an along with gray hall. >> here's some of the stories we're following on "action news." crews rushed a man to the hospital overnight after being found beaten and unconscious on the streets of west philadelphia. the race