>> a philadelphia politician who at one point looked like a sure thing to become the next mayor could be heading to jail. "inside story" starts right now. good morning, everyone. i'm matt o'donnell. it is sunday, june 26, 2016. let's get right into "inside story" and meet our insiders of the week. sharmain matlock-turner joins us, a non-profit executive. good morning, sharmain. >> good morning, matt. >> ed turzanski, foreign policy analyst. hey, ed. >> good morning, matt. >> g. terry madonna from the franklin & marshall college poll. >> matt. >> good morning, terry. and jeff jubelirer, communications executive. >> morning, matt. >> hey, jeff. philadelphia congressman chaka fattah will be sentenced in october for his conviction in a federal racketeering trial. the jury found him guilty on all 23 counts in a scheme where fattah tried to pay off an illegal $1 million campaign loan. fattah was known as a family man, a tireless fighter for the underprivileged.

he expanded college education for those who could not afford it, and he was basically the jeb bush in 2007 mayoral campaign. everyone just assumed he was gonna win, and michael nutter, of course, did. he served in congress for 21 years and has already resigned his seat, but he could lose even more than that. hindsight, obviously, 20/20, all the time, ed. but if there was a deal on the table, and we can only assume there was, why wouldn't mr. fattah have taken it? >> so, we haven't had the benefit of hearing from him, but here are two possibilities. the first is -- he thought he could get away with it, whatever lapse of judgment led him to this course of action that put him in the dock. maybe he thought that there's not a chance one or two jurors won't have some doubt in their mind, and i'll walk away. the second possibility, and this happens from time to time, people just find themselves in a high-pressure situation and they stop thinking.

and they're paralyzed by fear. and he's considering everything that he would have to lose if he gave up. maybe somebody's whispering in his ear that he can fight this and win. maybe he talked himself into this, but one of those two is a possibility. either way, it's like a greek tragedy. this is the sort of thing where supporters look at him, and people who may not have been supporters but thought there's no way he'd get caught up in something like this, everybody looks and says, "this is extraordinary." >> sharmain, you live in what was his congressional district. your thoughts? >> yeah, i mean, it's a very sad situation. i think most of the voters there made their choice in the primary to say, "you know what? we think it's time to move on," but i haven't seen anybody cheering or any kind of joy from something like this. many of us knew him as a young man just getting started in politics, and the energy and

vision that he had. i mean, the work that he did around gear up and a lot of the other programs were very, very important and very successful. i mean, to come from the 2nd congressional district and get a nationwide program around education is really, really hard to do in congress. and so the idea that this has happened, you know, most people are really, really sad. and i do want to thank him for resigning right away. i think it had to happen. i think it would have been a mistake for him to wait until october for there to be a shadow over the democratic convention, as well as just the idea that it's really time to move on. >> terry. >> yeah, well, moving forward, governor wolf has 10 days to announce a date for a special election to fill out his term, which ends in january of next year, and, you know, 60 days -- you can't do it within a 60-day period, but it could be a special election during the presidential election november 8th, but then the

person would no sooner take office and then, you know, have to presumably relinquish it, although we don't know that yet. but here's what's interesting. there's no primary. the ward leaders would get to pick the nominees for their respective parties. and we'll have to see if representative evans, who won the democratic primary, is likely to be -- >> you would think that that would be the case, right? dwight evans, given he won the primary, to have a pretty good chance winning a special election... >> yeah, if he could become the nominee. you would assume that common sense would rule. >> sure. [ laughs ] >> and in politics, you can never say that that would be the case. >> the 2nd congressional district, i believe, and terry will correct me if i'm wrong, is the most democratic congressional district in the united states of america. >> if not, it's like second. >> or second. second, yeah. but what's sad, as well, is philadelphia again -- if you look at the editorial cartoons over the past week, the long

line of, frankly, democratic members of congress, city council, state legislators -- and both sides. both sides there. >> i was gonna say both sides. we could talk a little bit about this pennsylvania supreme court. >> absolutely. >> it's not like, "okay, this is the party," okay? this is not a party issue. >> so, you're right. but there is a reputation, or a lasting impression, of they can't get it together. >> will he go to jail? >> yes. >> he doesn't have a criminal record, as far as i know. >> well, i do think that one of the things that could certainly help him is that he did resign right away and that he will have some time to try to get the judge to look at his record prior to '07. but i do think it's gonna be really, really hard at this point for him not to get some time. >> yeah. >> and by the way, i'm not sure if he would have kept his pension regardless, but if he had been driven out, if they had expelled him, he would have lost his -- >> before his resignation date that he'd set... >> he would have lost his

pension. so i do think, though, that given the number of counts and also, judges will tend to look at an elected official and say, "you should have known even better." >> yeah. >> so they'll make -- that's right. they'll make an example. >> look -- typically, people will get reduced sentences or get put on probation if they play a part in the prosecution, assisting the prosecution. in other words, testifying against the defendant, in this case. and that was not the situation with fattah. >> no mercy. >> no. >> and you're looking at the national -- not only that. i agree with ed. in the national environment, you have the former governor of virginia bob mcdonnell, who is going to be sentenced in the meantime, as well, who, ostensibly, the crimes that he committed were not as egregious in the court of law as the ones that congressman fattah was convicted of. and mcdonnell's due for some tough sentencing, and judge bartle has a reputation of being fair but tough.

>> that's right. >> okay, and we'll be covering the special election when it's announced and also his sentencing coming up in october. guess what's due in four days? hmm? anyone want to guess? >> oh, the pennsylvania budget? >> the pennsylvania budget. wow. the current one wasn't even passed until two months ago, okay? this is a 12-month budget. it was nine months late. it was the latest in state history. governor wolf has said he's much more encouraged dealing with the legislature this time around. they did agree on state liquor reform, right? only a month ago -- well, let me ask you this, terry. can a democratic governor and a republican legislature form an agreement on a budget in a matter of four days and pass it? >> uh, i'm not going to say in four days, but certainly within a week, two weeks. here's the situation. the governor originally asked for a 10% hike over the current budget. 10%. you want to put it another way? $2 billion. he has now said, "i'm giving up any hope of getting an income tax hike or a sales tax hike."

they're now talking about a spend less than $1 billion increase and multiple niche taxes to pay for them. you know, you could go into an airport, one of the international airports and find some slot machines. you could have some internet gaming going on. and there are a bunch of other taxes that they're looking at. and the majority leader david reed from indiana county this week said, "we're only hundreds of millions apart." >> oh. >> now, in harrisburg terms, when you're talking about a $30 billion budget, that's chump change. >> isn't expanding casino gambling the equivalent of in football, you punt the ball? >> [ chuckles ] >> well, i mean, i think it gets back to the fact that, you know, for some reason or other, and ed will probably tell me what it is, we cannot figure out that broad-based taxes where everybody pays a little bit more into the pot really makes sense. we cannot get that message across, and so we end up in the place where we -- sin taxes, more gaming.

there's more discussion, again, about taxing cigarettes some more. >> vice taxes. >> vice taxes. i mean, the whole idea is to get those who, a lot of times, can least afford to continue to pay into the coffers. >> since i've gotten the battlefield promotion, i'm the oracle of the table, thanks to sharmain. >> you have the floor, ed. >> thank you. perhaps the problem isn't so much that we don't want to have the broad-based discussion about taxation. it's that we also can't have the same discussion about spending. >> right. >> and you start to get into the guts of this multi-billion-dollar budget, and start parsing this, taking it apart. everyone's got a little bit of something they want to hide, they'd rather not discuss. and i agree that it is bad form over the long-term to just keep on adding vice taxes as a way of trying to fix a core budgetary spending problem. >> but that's what exactly

happening the state and in the city of philadelphia. >> and we know. >> we have a spending problem now. >> and a big part of it is pensions. we still have a big pension problem both locally and at the state level, and now we're getting a report out about social security and medicare, right, terry? this week. >> i mean, we've got really big budget problems at all levels of government, and we're saying we can't do anything about them. >> here's an analogy, matt. >> all right. >> but we are gonna regulate fantasy football. so, draftkings, thank you. fanduel, thank you. >> but because they probably are trying to figure out a way to tax it, right? >> of course they are. >> but, you know, sharmain makes the point on -- >> let jeff finish. >> but the same token, it's always -- we were talking about it before we began today -- is there's always a fear. people are afraid to put up the tough votes. they won't put up the pension votes. >> look -- 110 lawmakers in the house do not have an opponent in the general election. >> who cares? >> we're not talking -- >> right. >> and here's the problem. through artful and sometimes legal gerrymandering,

most of them are in very safe districts representing people in a case of republicans who are much more conservative than they used to be, democrats now literally an urban-based party in the state, much more liberal, and neither the twain shall meet. and so republicans were elected on a no tax hike pledge. i'm not defending them. i'm merely saying you have to look at that, and there's no way, and it'll -- we have not had an income or a sales tax hike in an election year in which lawmakers were on the ballot in modern history. you hear that? >> well, and sharmain talks about the pension problem. and nationally, we know this as the blue state problem. you have blue states, democratic states, where they're very generous to public workers, give them these pensions, don't appropriate the monies to fund them, and then allow the problem to grow to such proportion that, in the end, you've got to do

something. >> or you hope you hit the jackpot in the stock market to cover up the difference. >> one final point. >> yeah. >> not only the governor say, "i'm giving up on $2 billion and the two big taxes," but he's also dropped by $100 million what he wants for the schools. he's down to $250 million, and he wants, you know, $35 million, $50 million. you got special education. and they'll finesse those. there will be an education spending in the budget, an increase in the budget, but it will not satisfy most of the school districts. >> their deadline is thursday night. we'll see what happens. moving real quickly -- philadelphia magazine, for the first time in the magazine's history, has decided to endorse a presidential candidate, and that candidate is hillary clinton. basically, the magazine says because she's not donald trump. they say they really don't even -- you know, she's a flawed candidate, they say, but because her name is not donald trump, they're gonna go with her. on the other hand, republican congressman ryan costello of chester county says he's not even going to the rnc in cleveland because it's

more important for him to stay in his own district. this is the most important meeting on the republican calendar, and costello says he doesn't want to go. >> jeff, what do you think that says about what's going on? >> there's no way in heck i want to be caught on camera and on social media and all the hashtags that say "nevertrump" with a picture of ryan costello and his opponent in the 6th congressional district, mr. parrish, saying, "this is gonna be a tight race." if hillary knocks trump off big time in pennsylvania, mr. costello could be in trouble. he's not alone. he's gonna give it to our panelist, by the way. val digiorgio will now be going to cleveland in his stead, a real party grassroots activist. >> and maybe a future chair of the state republican party. >> oh, you think so? >> but listen, we're talking about it. i understand he had to make that call. you read between the lines. >> sharmain predicted long ago that hillary clinton would be the nominee. >> mm-hmm. >> you will eventually be right, i think. >> right. >> but the magazine's saying "because she's not donald trump." >> yeah, but i did read the article, and i thought that was

a little tongue-in-cheek. i mean, they did talk about the fact that she has experience. they also talked about the fact that her positive numbers when she is not running are so much better. so that when she's actually in the job doing the job, she's been getting a lot of, you know, very high marks. it's for some reason or other, i don't know whether or not we're still trying to come to grips with women who are running for office and how we ultimately are communicating in the election -- >> what if she's just a bad candidate? >> or whether it's, you know, something that comes across in her personality, i don't -- i don't think that's she a bad candidate. >> nobody trusts her, including her supporters. >> oh, that is not true... >> her trustworthiness is down the tubes. there are more e-mails that came out this week that she hid. >> it's not 100%. >> it's not 100%, but her own people -- >> you're saying that nobody -- >> bernie sanders supporters don't even trust her. >> ed, you were gonna make a comment -- jump in here. what were you gonna say? >> love you. >> i was gonna say that -- >> you, too. >> just this week, the man who set up the server that she used to keep her e-mails away from

not just public scrutiny but the requirements of federal law that they be preserved, he pleaded the fifth, right? >> sharmain, i'm sorry. we got to go to break. we can't get your comment in. i know you want it in. we got to go to a break. we'll be right back. >> "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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>> we're back with "inside story" on this sunday morning. four gun control measures fail in the senate, and then democrats hold a sit-in in congress that basically lasts almost an entire day. two of the measures were proposed by republicans, two by democrats. now, the protesting lawmakers who sat on the house floor for about 24 hours are incensed that congress will not act even after the worst mass shooting in u.s. history. so, while lawmakers are battling over legislation, the rest of america wonders this -- why does a country that is so prosperous and democratic and free have such an obsession with guns, and why is it much more violent than other similar democratic nations? jeff, i'll ask you that, this weighted question. >> no problem, matt! look, watch me deflect. what is sad in terms of legislatively, is you have votes of like 53-47, 47-53, and bills that if you -- you have get through the end to read what is

different about them. and what is discouraging is, it had to do with -- in terms of -- i think everyone could agree we need stronger background checks and the terrorists, or alleged terrorists, on no-fly lists should not have access to guns. the question is -- do you defer and say, "you get your gun first, and then we check you out in terms of if you're on the list," which is what the republicans, in essence, proposed, or the democrats are saying, "no, you don't get a gun," and you're threatening, according to republicans, at least many republicans, their due process or their civil liberties. i would be on the side of democrats on this as it relates to -- as long as there's due process before. >> yeah, but see, that's part of the problem. and that's some of the complaints. look. pennsylvanians -- and i've done polls for channel 6 on what the attitudes of pennsylvanians are towards it. they want gun control, universal background checks -- >> even as an nra state that we are? >> yeah. universal background checks, federal law. we have a state law already. federal law, with -- buy them over the internet? nope. background check.

go to gun shows, background check. this is federal. 88%, a majority of pennsylvanians in 16 years in which i've asked this question, want change in gun laws, favor change gun laws. mental health issue? background check. the problem is trying to -- here's the problem in a sense. if the nra says, "if you make one little change, it leads to confiscation of all guns," and then on the other side, there are people who just don't want to keep -- you know, they want the terrorists list. they want the no-fly list. but they also want to get rid of all guns. and so each are in their respective corners, and there's no middle ground. you know who's stuck in that middle ground? one u.s. senator named pat toomey. >> pat toomey. >> sharmain. >> right, well, i just think that, you know, people are sick and tired of being sick and tired, which is what, i think, ultimately happened in congress this week with congressman lewis and others. i mean, the fact that you can't even get this moved --

i'm a believer. i don't understand why we need ak-47-type guns, period, to be sold. i want to know why we can't go back to the 10-year ban that we had on assault weapons. but the idea that we're not even talking about that, we're talking about background checks and making sure that people who on terrorist lists can't get guns, it's just absolutely outrageous. so, you know, is the decorum of the house -- was that disturbed? yes. but america is disturbed by this issue. we have the majority of people who want this done, and we just can't seem to get to it. >> ed, wrap this up. >> i want to go to what terry said. pat toomey and joe manchin tried to come together to do something common sensical. >> they did. >> they had a very difficult time, and what you saw in the house this week -- first of all, when they took over the house, they started fundraising off it. >> right. >> paul ryan came out and said, "here are the flyers. they're fundraising off this." senate passes, or puts forward, measures that are extremes that both sides know won't pass, and in the meantime, pat toomey and joe manchin are in the middle

saying, "we want to do the responsible thing." >> governor wolf wants big money to fight opioid addiction. he's asking the legislature for $34 million to try and get people to stop getting addicted to things like heroin, which, you know, obviously is an illegal drug, but also oxycontin, percocet, prescription drugs like that. and a recent pbs special asked this question that i think a lot of people don't ask. why wasn't there such a wave of compassion for drug addicts when blacks were addicted to crack back in the 1990s? anyone want to answer that question? >> well, i would think -- >> why is it different now, is the question. >> i think because of the geographic distribution of this, you know, the fact that you've got legal drugs that are being abused, that wind up being a gateway to illegal drugs, to much more damaging drugs over time. so i think that may be a reason. >> much more widespread. i mean, we're talking about a

virtual epidemic. it also, by the way, affects the african american community -- this problem -- as well as the white community. it affects all communities, and i'm gonna save my inside story to get into another aspect of this. >> right, but i do have to say that this question has been asked in the african american community. i was there in harrisburg working in the legislature when the crack epidemic hit, and we were trying to pass legislation for mothers who were addicted to crack to be able to go into halfway houses with their children. and the kind of negative response and how nasty people were was primarily because of people of color. i think we're seeing it more widespread. no one that i know of is not sympathetic. but i think it reminds us that drug addiction, no matter how it happens, is a really horrible thing. >> amen. >> and we need to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to try to help people who have it. >> great comment. >> inside stories of the week coming up.

>> "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. >> inside stories of the week. we start with sharmain. >> yes, school is out, matt, and a lot of young people in philadelphia are out looking for work, so i want to say to all the employers out there, if you're looking for a teen this summer, give me a call. 215-851-1701. we want to get every teen in philadelphia who is looking for a job, a job. again, give me a call! 215-851-1701. >> thanks, sharmain. ed. >> matt, this week, the british people voted to leave the european union. it caused quite a stir. the interesting thing is -- the pollsters were absolutely wrong in assessing what the people were going to do. with all due respect to terry, every once in a while, pollsters

get it wrong, but especially on issues where people are rising in anger. and it's not just in europe. it's here in the united states. you got to be very careful about trying to measure the true pulse of the people. >> thanks, ed. terry. >> we were talking about opioid abuse. a rare moment of bipartisanship broke out in the pennsylvania legislature where republican and democratic leaders urge governor wolf to call a special session of the legislature to deal with opioid abuse. imagine that -- they're on the same page. the governor's gonna call this special election for the fall, the house is moving several pieces of legislation now. i think, to go back to sharmain's point, we're gonna see some movement in an effort to stop that horrible situation. >> thanks, terry. jeff. >> more bipartisanship. legislation, this past week, to prohibit discrimination against the lgbt community in housing and employment passed. sponsor? republican from lehigh county, pat browne. pennsylvania is moving into the 21st century, and republicans are joining democrats, and it's a good thing.

>> that's "inside story" for this week. we thank you for joining us. we'll see you next week, and i'll see you monday morning on "action news" at 4:30 a.m. have a great sunday. >> i'm nydia hanny and long -- i'm nydia han a long with gray hall. kenny chesney apologizes after telling a crowd that a delaware county officer had died after being shot seven times. a week of highs for sixers ben simmons has turned into a

day of mourning. we're getting a look flood ravaged west virginia. those stories next on "action news." selfies are cool.

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