Rendell

Former Gov. Edward G. Rendell will appear in court Monday on behalf of a former Democratic legislator who is fighting charges that he directed taxpayer-paid employees to do political tasks to help win elections. Rendell will be a character witness for ex-Rep. Steve Stetler, said his spokeswoman, Kirstin Snow. The trial began last Monday in Dauphin County Court. Stetler, 62, of York County, is the last of 25 people charged by the state Attorney General's Office in a five-year investigation into corruption in the state Legislature.

I THINK Mitt Romney and Ed Rendell have a deal; I think Mitt's helping Ed sell books.   There are two reasons I think this. One, Romney owes Rendell, for a variety of things I'll get to. Two, everything Rendell does these days seems to be about selling books. Let's start with the obvious setup over the past weekend. The Romney campaign schedules a stop at a Wawa in Quakertown. Rendell shows up ahead of Romney at the same Wawa. Romney diverts to a different Wawa.

Mitt Romney's small-town bus tour of swing states rolled across Pennsylvania on Saturday, allowing the Republican presidential candidate to campaign as the champion of the middle class in picturesque, everyday American settings. But first Romney dodged a group of about 250 Democratic protesters, led by former Gov. Ed Rendell, by diverting from a scheduled stop at a Quakertown Wawa to another Wawa three miles away. The abrupt schedule change gave a taste of the fight ahead in what is likely to be a close presidential campaign, where every move is contested by one side or the other.

A Wawa in Bucks County will be the site of dueling ex-governors Saturday as a visit by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be preceded by a counter-event led by Pennsylvania's ambassador of hoagies, Ed Rendell. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, will make a brief 12:40 p.m. stop at the Wawa at 1960 John Fries Highway in Quakertown as part of his six-state bus tour to tell voters that, according to Romney, "President Obama has offered no hope for the future, and he has left American families to bear the burden of his failed policies.

David Arquette this weekend became a man, in his own words, after undergoing a bar mitzvah ceremony at Jerusalem's most holy Western Wall. A few days later, he made that most adult, dread decision: to make official his breakup with estranged wife Courteney Cox, TMZ reports. Filed Tuesday, on the couple's 12-year anniversary, in Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, David's divorce papers cite the catchall "irreconcilable differences. " The forms are dated March 23, which means David held onto them for three months before making his move.

One possible reason for our current employment woes may be that Ed Rendell holds every conceivable job. Law partner, Penn professor, sports columnist, MSNBC commentator, Eagles analyst, energy adviser, professional speaker, board member, and, for a few weeks earlier this year, potential chairman of The Inquirer and Daily News. Now, the former governor has written a book, A Nation of Wusses , although written may be too taxing a verb. Dictated seems more likely.

While driving home from a business trip, I was appalled to hear former governor Edward Rendell interviewed on "The Sean Hannity Show. " The topic of Michael Vick came up, and Rendell was asked what he thinks of him. He immediately responded, "I love Michael Vick," noting not only his athletic prowess but that he is "a fine young man. " Most outlandishly, Rendell asked who among us has not made "a mistake"? In Rendell's eyes, savagery against innocent, defenseless, precious domestic animals, taking sadistic glee in their torture and slaughter, is not a fatal character flaw, but rather a "mistake" that can be washed away after the passage of a short period of time.

Former Gov.Ed Rendell on June 5 will release an autobiography wrapped in a political manifesto about what he calls the "Wussification of America. " The book, A Nation of Wusses: How America's Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great, is classic Rendell. He marvels at his own clever political instincts, complains about the attention of the media and waxes wonkish on issues he holds dear, such as investing in the nation's infrastructure of roads and bridges. Some highlights: No Rendell book would be complete without a few bawdy bits.

President Obama should "man up" and take a stand on same-sex marriage, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell advised Tuesday on MSNBC, predicting that no political harm would come from supporting it. "If he believes in it, he should say he's for it," Rendell said later in an interview with The Inquirer. "If he's going to do it eventually, he should do it now. Say his piece. Too many people in public life are afraid to say what they believe. " Obama has said that he opposes legalizing same-sex marriage, but that his view is "evolving" and that he supports equal civil rights for gay couples.

Give Ed Rendell a break. Yes, the Treasury Department is investigating the speaking fees received by the former Pennsylvania governor on behalf of an Iranian exile group that's on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. Rendell told the New York Times he had received about $150,000 for seven or eight speeches that called for taking the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, off the list (even though he clearly knew little about the organization). But why is Treasury targeting only Rendell?