Rendell: PA Residents Not Ready For Refrigeration
February 19, 2008 –
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell stirred controversy Sunday when, in a meeting with editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he opined that some Pennsylvanians were "simply not ready" for the electric refrigeration of food and beverages. "You've got people here... who are used to salting and digging cellars to keep their perishables," he said in remarks reported in yesterday's Post-Gazette. "They just are simply not ready to use refrigerators for this sort of thing."
 Rendell's comments immediately drew negative response. "For someone of Ed Rendell's stature to imply that the people of this state aren't sophisticated enough to store their food in refrigerators is flat-out wrong," said Uniontown Mayor Ed Fike. "It's a retrograde attitude." Lynn Swann, who lost to Rendell in Pennsylvania's 2006 gubernatorial campaign, agreed, calling the statements "unnecessary, and certainly insensitive. To say that there are still Pennsylvanians who would rather salt than refrigerate is a real embarrassment."
Rendell, however, defended the comments. "What's so frustrating about this is that in this business, if you give an honest answer, you get skewered for it," he said by telephone from Harrisburg this morning. "But I truly believe that a sizable percentage of people here–maybe five percent or so–still take a dim view of refrigeration. And, for that matter, indoor plumbing." State Representative Dwight Evans (D-Phila) sided with the governor. "Ed Rendell's just making a very obvious statement," he said last night. "He's commenting on a food-storage reality not just of Pennsylvania, but all of America."
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Campbell Facilities Found Empty
February 12, 2008 –
Camden officials were stunned to learn yesterday that the Campbell Soup Company had, with no warning, moved elsewhere–with offices emptied, production facilities stilled, and distribution trucks nowhere in sight. "What they've done is absolutely shameful," said Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, shaking her head. "We knew they weren't thrilled to be in Camden–but to scurry out of here like that is a disgrace."
 The move was discovered early Monday as police drove past the company's headquarters on 1 Campbell Place. "The area was suspiciously quiet–no cars, no people, nothing–so we stopped and had a look," said officer Marcus Jackson. After he and his partner forced their way into the building, they were stunned to find "dust and stuff all over the place. It seemed like they'd been gone for weeks." According to chief inspector Armando Reyes, who responded to Jackson's call, "We did a building-to-building search, and it was the same everywhere–all technical components removed, papers scattered everywhere. It was spooky."
Campbell had recently pledged its loyalty to the city with plans for a state-of-the art, 110-acre office park. "We're committed to Camden," Anthony Sanzio, the company's director of communications, said of the plans in January. "We want to stay." But Campbell officials now allege that Sanzio was being less than forthcoming. "That whole office park thing was just a ruse to get us to look the other way," said councilman Frank Moran. "Looking back, we probably should've known. But all the same, it was a pretty gutless thing to do." Faison angrily agreed. "For a company of their civic stature to do this is, quite frankly, unacceptable. They're going to get an earful when we find out where they went."
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