>> less than 10 days out from the pennsylvania primary, and a lot of races are getting heated. let's get the inside story. good morning, and welcome to "inside story." i'm tamala edwards. let's introduce you to the panel. we'll start with journalist larry platt. good morning. >> good morning. >> executive brian tierney. >> morning. >> communications exec nia meeks. >> good morning. >> and columnist christine flowers. >> hi. >> finally we are in the window of it almost being our turn to finally get our primaries. all the polling, all the money. let's start with the pennsylvania senate race, looking at the democratic side. katie mcginty taking in almost $2 million. you turn on the tv, you see ads from her all the time. you're taking a look right now at pat toomey, who is the incumbent, and joe sestak, who is running against mcginty. if you take a look at his ads, they're on, the two of them --

mcginty, sestak, mcginty, sestak. he, sestak, has thus far seemed to be ahead of her. he got the inquirer endorsement, but she has a lot of money. the president, the vice president, a number of people coming out on her side. at this moment, how does it look to you in terms of who is going to eke this out come primary day? >> i think it's going to be mcginty. i think sestak this past week made another mistake when he used the word -- note to guys, if you're running against women, don't use the word "prostitution" in any of your criticisms. >> in any form. >> yeah, it's just not a really -- find a different word. >> exactly. >> when i think of calling her a prostitute, let me think of a different word. >> wait, let me explain. he did not call mcginty a prostitute. in talking to an edit board, he was talking about the process and said part of his fallout with the democratic party is he had been told to fall in line, do it our way, or else, and that he felt the way the campaign was going when you dealt with washington was prostituting yourself. "sure, i'll do what you say." >> he was implying her campaign was. >> right, was willing to take this money.

>> it's just not a good word choice. it's not a good word choice. it's not a good word choice. >> and that at a time where there's an energy level that's sort of "ehh" right now. but then you have at the top of the ticket, a female who's looking to win the nomination for the democratic nomination for the presidency, and then here you are down ticket -- you don't want to open up that window. you don't want to have charges of possible sexism. you don't want anything to rock that boat right here and right now. >> how much are rank-and-file people talking about this? it happened, it was a twitter spat, her campaign fired back, and then i didn't hear a lot about it. >> no, i think this is a sort of chattering class issue. i've said from the beginning that i thought joe sestak was gonna win this thing. joe sestak is not a well-liked guy. he's a difficult guy. and the democratic party establishment early on came out against him for largely those personal reasons and the fact that he's bucked the establishment line. >> but in this election season, people like that. >> that's right. the zeitgeist might want a sort of angry crusader, and that's joe sestak.

>> but, you know, and, tam, i love what larry said. this is the chattering class thing, but it's also -- it is p.c. i mean, just because a female is running top of the ticket and she's supposed to be -- she's sort of like the front-runner, we shouldn't be walking on eggshells about every single word or comment that we make. when i heard that word "prostituting," and i only heard it when i read a column about it because it was kind of -- you know, it really wasn't news, i didn't think of it as, "oh, he's calling her, you know, st. mary magdalene." i just said "prostituting" has been used as a word for lobbyists, for those people who feed into the zeitgeist, the money. so i really -- i think we're making much ado about nothing. >> if you look at the ads that she is running and that are being run on her behalf, it's very much, "it's your turn," aimed at women, those women votes. >> absolutely. >> is that really gonna work in this cycle? is it getting energy? it's hard for me to gauge if women are being energized by this. >> i haven't seen a lot of

energy across the board. let me just say that first and foremost. but i go back to this opportunity that a lot of women are looking at to "make history" if they send hillary clinton definitively across the finish line and say, "this is our candidate," and you can do it across the board. pennsylvania has not sent a female as a u.s. senator ever. so if you're really pushing -- >> and it didn't work so well for attorney general. >> no, we got that. but what i'm saying is if you are trying to push that history, why would you take the chance, if you're sestak, to rile up a really quiet beast where women outnumber men when it comes to voters? why would you do that in this particular cycle? i mean, it's just that -- if that's the little thing that's gonna get you excited and over the edge, why take that chance? >> but then again, from the other perspective, why would we be treating women as babies? that, oh, we're gonna get so upset because a word was used incorrectly, or we're being disrespected. to me, it doesn't matter what kind of language you use. if you want -- if you're

fighting to be the first female senator from the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, don't get tied up and bogged down in these tiny, little niceties. >> i will point out in a lot of races, women have been behind, and there was a moment where somebody said something that you might think was small, and turned the race. >> todd akin. >> people will wonder, "was that the moment if it goes her way?" >> this doesn't rise to that level, i don't think. >> no, it doesn't. >> and the thing is to get any part of an electorate riled up, you need a candidate that that niche gets enthused about. and so far, mcginty has not caught fire. she has not been an impressive, charismatic candidate on the stump. >> which candidate has been, though? >> this past week helped her. >> yeah, absolutely. >> well, getting down to the wire, i'm sure we'll hear from them quite a bit. and speaking of hearing from them, we want to let you know in this space, 11:00, next weekend, jim gardner will be moderating a debate for the three democratic candidates. you will see katie mcginty, joe sestak, and john fetterman

all debating the issues. so be sure you check that out. let's go on to the next race that's gotten a lot of attention -- attorney general. now, anthony hardy williams and jim kenney didn't seem to be so friendly at the end of the mayoral primary last year. but we see them in an ad called "we agree." and what they seem to be agreeing on is steve zappala, saying, "we think he's the best candidate." we saw johnny doc, we saw bob brady come out and say, "we're supporting him." and now here comes the vanguard. at the same time, you've got josh shapiro, the hometown guy. the president, the governor, darrell clarke, who runs city council, eight city council members -- you know, you really -- it's like which direction, the battle of the endorsements? it is enough for a guy from western pa to have the people that we have coming out now? should josh shapiro be worried? when we first started talking about him, everybody thought josh was a shoo-in. is it still that way? >> well, let's just say this -- out in western pennsylvania, they go with their hometown guy regardless, right? it's only when you get to southeastern pennsylvania, you get the spats and the splits and

what have you. so anything that could possibly splinter josh shapiro's support here or just splinter the southeastern pennsylvania support is a dangerous thing because philadelphia people do not do as well in the western part of the state. so that being said, it also has to do with interior spats that are going on with the political process and who's where and, "i didn't like what you did over here." and all of that's playing out right here, right now. at the end of the day, everybody wants to be kingmaker. and this is that opportunity, and they're doing it through this particular race. >> plus, zappala -- it's a name in western pennsylvania that has been known for many, many years. grandfather, father i believe on the supreme court. i mean, this is a great name. and what are the great optics for a western pennsylvanian to get the mayor of the city of philadelphia, you know, endorsing him. >> yeah, although i think nia's right. both the kenney and clarke endorsement has nothing to do really with shapiro or zappala. it has to do with the sort of

subterranean battle about who's the mayor, who's the shadow mayor, and the power distribution in philadelphia. >> but do you think the guys in western pennsylvania know that? >> no, i think that's true. so, politically, yeah, if i'm zappala, i'm, like, ecstatic. but i also think that just to gauge who the front-runner is, all you had to do was watch the debate. and at the debate, both guys -- zappala and morganelli -- were attacking shapiro, so that said to me shapiro -- it's his to lose if even marginally. >> and shapiro has been able to be a strong democrat and, at the same time, seem to have incredible appeal across the aisle. and the real thing is down in a primary situation -- does mayor kenney get you many workers on the street? i don't really think so. will the labor support behind him help? yes, that would help. >> and does it look like john rafferty, who's racking up d.a. endorsements across the country, and across the state... >> yeah, without a doubt. >> and in that matchup with shapiro, how does that look to you? or zappala. or morganelli. >> it depends on the top of the

ticket, of course, and how big that is, and if you've got trump and cruz versus kasich, things like that, but i think you'd have to give rafferty the edge. >> all right, let's go on to another race that sort of surprised us in terms of the primary getting a little hot. that's the 8th congressional district -- steve santarsiero and shaughnessy naughton. it's a little bit hard to explain. they're going after each other but with so much fire over whether or not he authored gun legislation. is he lying about his record? the overall question is -- are two -- who's going to win, and are they carving each other up for the republicans? >> yes. [ laughter ] i mean, seriously, this is gonna be a fitzpatrick race more likely that not. and where we are right now, when you start to get into the weeds and the nuances, it's just like, okay, just throw something up against the wall and see if something sticks. and that's really where it is. at the end of the day, you're saying, "does this person support this type of legislation?" versus "is this person honest?" and that's really what the rub is -- can i get them on the honesty tip? but i really don't see the incumbent losing this one. >> all right, well, let's move

on and take a look at -- i think we've talked about those three topics looking at that race. let's talk about something -- well, no, actually, i want to backtrack and talk about the presidential because we've got the primary coming here. is any of this going to matter when we look at trump and hillary, both of whom are far out ahead in terms of the polling? any surprises that you're expecting for the tuesday morning here when we have our primary? >> well, i'm a kasich guy, and i just keep thinking about that old "saturday night live" sketch when they had jon lovitz playing dukakis in '88, and there's a debate with george herbert walker bush, and dana carvey does herbert walker bush. and then dukakis just says, "i can't believe i'm losing to this guy." i got to think that that's kasich, who's actually done stuff and run stuff, looking at trump and saying, "i can't believe i'm losing to this guy." there was a poll that said that kasich was gonna -- at one point, it was like 33-30 trump. but now it looks like he's fallen if you believe the polls. so, i don't know.

it's mind-boggling. >> but bernie, who -- 27,000 people in new york in the middle of new york city coming out. any chance he could surprise her here or no? >> no. >> doesn't seem to be that kind of a state, whereas for kasich, it is a state that plays. kasich is in the tom ridge, dick thornburgh, moderate to conservative republican, somebody who's actually done something. those operations to the extent they exist are gonna be behind kasich, so i think he has a good chance of taking a stand. >> can i just take a little deviation here? we've been talking about the republicans and how it's sort of like the p.t. barnum's circus and the debates and crazy. i just want to thank the democrats for sort of balancing it out the other night with the democratic debate because when bernie and hillary went against each other, it became personal. and it became a marco rubio, pants, you know, donald trump kind of moment when they were going back and forth about it. so, i think that while before we talked about the democrats as the adults in the room with the policy wonks and the respect, i

think that they're getting down into the dirt and weeds, too. and i think the republicans can be smiling a little bit. >> i think some republican ad makers were happy they had some material. >> you now what? to some extent -- just a final thought on this. there's a little bit of lamentation about, "i can't believe this process has gotten so ugly." to some extent, isn't it a great thing about american politics? you know what i mean? maybe this is a moment of rebirth. >> and a historical thing -- it's always been ugly in american politics. but i think the best candidate we'll see that'll do the best is donald duck -- just sayin'. [ laughter ] >> at the rate it's going, he might end up on the ticket out of cleveland. let's turn to a serious topic -- the macarthur foundation giving $3.5 million. they did this across the country. they picked out a number of cities. philadelphia got the most money. the idea is reforming the prison system. we have almost 8,000 people in our overcrowded prisons, and they said, "let's do some things differently. can you cut your numbers by a third over three years?" they're coming at it from a number of different areas. can you do diversion? get people into different programs, not arrest them, give them citations, mental health, better defense, any number of

things, not cash bail, let them do something else. assess them -- could they go home and promise to come back? is this a good idea? we've heard talk about it, but this looks like it will really move it forward, revamping our prison system. >> we have incarceration rates that are higher than the average. we have in one category of people when they're first arrested, an average of 94 days before they get bail. that's four times the national average. i think it's wonderful that the macarthur foundation, a wonderfully respected institution, comes in with some other support and doesn't have a government answer. it's more let's try this, let's try counseling. let's give it a shot. >> and you know what's really wonderful about this -- and kudos to the city of philadelphia for actually landing this grant because that's exceptional, number 1. but number 2, that it gives a thoughtful opportunity to step back and say, "okay, how can we really impact things?" we know when we see prison overcrowding, it's really indicative of a lot of other social ails -- the schools that aren't working, the jobs that aren't there, et cetera, et cetera. we can go down the board. if we look at prison and incarceration as an opportunity

truly to reform people, truly to say this is not just about punitive and just sticking people away so we don't have to deal with them anymore, but how do we get them back into society in a real way? >> you know, larry, we heard people talk about a lot of these ideas for the longest time, and it seems as though you could never get the money do this. and across the board, across political parties, across administrations, and it looks like they're finally getting the money to do it. >> and this is a real opportunity, i think, and it's an opportunity for reform, as nia says, but also systemic reform because one of the problems with the criminal-justice system now is there are so many agencies and so little communication between them. so having a laser-like focus on finding efficiencies in the system is actually the least sexy part of this but could have the biggest impact. >> now, they didn't talk about the thing that's become hot in the press, which is media, which is community and police relations. they kind of left that out. is that a glaring omission, or if they can work on these other

things, that'll take care of itself? >> i think you got to focus in on this. this seems like a doable project with a $3.5 million grant, and the other things are being addressed, but i think are broader and bigger and more endemic. >> speaking of addressing things, commissioner ross came before city council, and he said, "i got a problem. i got the lowest rates of the number of officers i've had in 22 years. let's do this -- let's raise the age from 19 to 22 and get rid of the college requirements. you don't have to have 60 hours of college credit." is that a good idea? >> you know, on an earlier panel a couple years ago or last year, i liked the idea -- ramsey's idea of having the 60 college credits. i thought that that was extremely important. but unfortunately, you have to be pragmatic now and look at what's happening on the police force. they're at their lowest staffing levels in years. and if you can in some way guarantee the quality of the individuals without insisting on an educational pedigree, i think you should do it. and i also think that we should be kinder to our police officers, because they're just

not willing to enlist. >> the reason for this is in large part the drop program, which even rendell several years ago said was one of the worst ideas he ever had. we've spent almost $300 million urging people to retire early, and that's what's happening. that's really what it is. and politicians resign for a day and come back in and get their pension. it's the craziest thing. >> but we also don't have a developed pipeline, either, for those officers. if we had the pipeline, you have plenty of young people out here that could have actually pursued this, but they're not being recruited earlier on. if we started that process and started those relations -- back to police-community relations -- yeah, we can do it. >> all right, well, we'll take a quick break and come right back to "inside story." >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact.

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almost all new income goes to the top 1%. my plan -- make wall street banks and the ultrarich pay their fair share of taxes, provide living wages for working people, ensure equal pay for women. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message because together, we can make a political revolution and create an economy and democracy that works for all and not just the powerful few. ♪ >> welcome back to "inside story." let's talk atlantic city -- two competing ideas. steve sweeney has said, "okay, we're not gonna take you over in the next couple of minutes. we'll give you to the end of the summer, atlantic city, if you will agree to some set things." meanwhile, prieto over in the house is saying, "no, i want a two-year program." christie's saying, "you guys figure it out and come to me." who's gonna win? >> i think christie will because comments -- let's step back for second. atlantic city had 30 years of the exclusive right to gambling on the entire east coast from the mid '70s to 2006.

and they blew it because of basically small "c" corruption. i mean, the schools -- there's 10 students to every 1 teacher there. in radnor township, there's 13 students to every 1. they have principals, assistant principals. they have lifeguards who have pensions after working just for the summer. the party's over. and the fact that the city that is the closest to philadelphia that has all of these things going for it, nobody wants to invest or live there because of the corruption. so it's time to pull the band-aid off and say, "party's over, guys. we can't afford to pay everybody all this money. there's no money left." and that's the real issue behind it. >> i agree with everything you just said. the other thing is that they also didn't have the foresight to market the proximity to the ocean, which is the one thing that they have a monopoly on. but the other thing that scares me is that i think this takeover might be unconstitutional [chuckles] according to the new jersey state constitution. so i don't know what jersey does if it's ruled unconstitutional. >> spend millions and millions of dollars in court that they

don't have, and that's usually what ends up happening. >> but do you think by the end of the summer, they've gone sweeney's way, or do you think prieto wins out? even though his majority leader is going with sweeney. >> yeah, your guess is as good as mine. >> all right, let's talk about something else. the pennsylvania house had a vote taking up child sex abuse, and it passed. boy, did it pass -- 180 to 15. no more statute of limitations, and they've raised the age in which you can raise a case from 30 until your 50th birthday. a lot of people saying this is a victory for people who were abused as children. should it pass the senate? >> you know -- >> tam -- i'm sorry. i was just jumping in. there's a lot of appetite right now to do reform when it comes to sexual-abuse victims. we saw that a couple years ago to making sure that if you were a school teacher in the public schools, that you would not be passed along and cutting that out. however, this particular law is not as comprehensive as a lot of advocates would like, so there is really the rub. are we going to end up doing more damage than we are to do good? >> plus, tam -- >> would it tank institutions like the catholic church? >> it's gonna tank institutions because in other jurisdictions

where they've opened the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits, they have bankrupted the church and other private institutions. but i want to make one mention of this. this law -- this bill is extremely unfair to victims of public institutions because this law is not applicable retroactively to individuals who were abused by public-school teachers and coaches and the jerry sanduskys. >> so you could see your friend who went to catholic school get redressed, but you don't. >> absolutely. and it's a very emotional move. >> and there's many more students in public schools than there are in catholic schools. >> is it something that they're liable to go back and fix? or no, they just push this through and say, "look, we did something"? >> stewart greenleaf hopefully is going to be much more focused. this is an emotional moment. this is a spotlight moment, you know, academy award. you need to be more focused on this because it's not -- there's no equality across the boards on this. >> what do you say to somebody who says, "i know it's not completely everybody, but i'd love to see some kids get something. let's pass something"? >> we're talking about people

who have until the age of 50 to file civil lawsuits. memories lapse, witnesses die, records are gone. where's the due process in that? we have statutes of limitations for a reason. >> fix it for everyone then. fix it for the public-school kids, too. why should a larger group of kids -- 2/3, 3/4 of kids -- who have been abused in public schools not have the option? i mean, i don't get the theory that somehow while we're taking care of one out of four or one out of five, and the other 80% are left behind. >> in 2014, 6 kids were abused in catholic institutions -- horrible. between 2008 and 2015, 160, 170 children were abused in public institutions. how does this impact that? >> we'll let you have the last word on that. we'll take a break and come back to our insiders' inside stories of the week. ♪

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge,

it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact. >> welcome back to "inside story." inside stories of the week -- larry, we'll start with you. >> tam, about 1,200 citizens of philadelphia at thephiladelphiacitizen.org signed our petition to abolish the city commissioner's office after the corruption of anthony clark. but now former councilwoman marian tasco has come out also in favor of abolishing the city commissioner's office, and she's a former commissioner. so hopefully, this is starting to get some momentum. >> that's interesting. brian. >> two quick ones. congratulations to governor wolf, mayor kenney for keeping aramark -- client of mine -- world headquarters here in philadelphia. would have been a tremendous loss to the city. also, state gop chairman, longtime, rob gleason retiring. rumors are the new state gop chairman is gonna be none other than our own val digiorgio, our inside story person. >> will be interesting. >> he's not talking, but that's the rumors. >> let's go on over to nia. >> well, you know, we just got

finished with tax day, but a lot of nonprofits around the commonwealth are a little bit nervous because they had counted on a lot of educational improvement tax credits from last time around. but when we had the budget stalemate, a lot of that money got tied up, and some people really took a hit. so, here we are again. a year ago this time, we were actually putting more money into that program. now folks are wondering whether they'll see any of that money this time around with another budget stalemate on the... >> all right, we'll end with you, christine. >> tam, the phrase "philadelphia lawyer" has two connotations. one is a great practitioner, and the other is a shifty practitioner. and a man this week passed away who exemplifies the first connotation -- the great practitioner -- joe foster. he was an attorney in philadelphia in the olden days with the gentlemen's handshake. 60 years with the same law firm. and he was a former chancellor of the bar association. we have lost a truly great man, and may he rest in peace. >> all right, all great inside stories. and we want to remind you in this space next weekend, you

will see at 11:00 jim gardner moderating the pennsylvania democratic senatorial primary. katie mcginty, joe sestak, john fetterman all answering the big questions. so make sure you tune in and hear what they have to say ahead of the pa primary. thank you for joining us. we hope you've had a great weekend, and we'll see you back here next week on "inside story." ♪ i'm nydia han along with gray hall. coming up next on "action news" at noon, developing a man is in custody after three people are shot and killed inside a north philadelphia home. plus, police release new information about the death of a four-year-old girl. her father admitted to pulling the trigger. survivors are speaking out about being pulled from a burning apartment buildings in

south jersey. those stories next on "action news." ief in a flash. how's that for picture perfect? well... "perfect" might be a slight exaggeration. swing by walgreens for flonase that helps block six allergic substances, not just one. walgreens. at the corner of happy and healthy.

sunday, april 17 i'm nydia han along with gray hall. here's some of the stories we're following on "action