Is it only four months since November?

Four months later, and the November elections seem a long time ago, indeed. Anyone heard from Nancy Pelosi or Christine O’Donnell lately? And what kind of money could you have gotten that New Jersey and Wisconsin would lead an assault on public unions?

The biggest surprise in PA is that there’s been no surprise. Tom Corbett as a candidate was earnest, a little boring, and talked about cutting spending and keeping down taxes. Tom Corbett …

Government belongs in spirits business … or does it?

Bible thumpers, where are you when we need you?

This could be the new rallying cry of about 4,000 PA liquor store clerks who are members of United Food and Commercial Workers LU 1776.  These people could lose their family-sustaining jobs if the Republican-controlled legislature and Republican Governor Tom Corbett have their way.

Privatizing liquor stores will not reduce the cost of government and, in fact, after making a one-time killing on the sale of …

Words “economic development” most abused, overused, misused

“Economic development.”

These may be the most abused, overused and misused words in the English language, at least in the U.S.

There was a time (back in the mid-Seventies) when they were spoken at a whisper level.   Didn’t want to tick off execs at the large factories.  To them, those words meant you were bringing in another company to compete for job skills, maybe even force wages up.

These words took new meaning in the …

Corbett budget features deep education cuts, tax breaks to encourage job growth #pabudget

Note: The Governor’s Budget Dashboard /em/p
pGov. Tom Corbett delivered his first budget proposal Tuesday, calling for deep cuts in education spending, government spending and economic development programs. The budget also slashes business taxes and proposes a number of targeted tax credits to encourage growth./p
pCorbett also announced that his lieutenant governor will head up a task force to study the issue of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region./p
pCorbett told the joint session of the General Assembly that his budget address had two underlying messages./p
p“One: We have to spend less. Because we have less to spend,” Corbett said. “Two: We must tax no more. Because the people have no more to give.”/p
pstrongPublic Education Spending/strong/p
pThe $27.3 billion budget proposal seeks to close a projected $4 billion deficit, driven in part by the loss of $1 billion in federal stimulus spending that the state funneled to public education./p
pCorbett proposed spending a total of a href="http://pahousegop.com/fundingbyarea.aspx" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://pahousegop.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fpahousegop.com%2Ffundingbyarea.aspx','%245.23+billion')"$5.23 billion/a on the state’s 500 school districts. This represents a decrease of $550 million from last year’s education spending. All of that decrease comes from the temporary federal funding, so Pennsylvania is actually spending more from the general fund on public education. This also means that school districts can expect to see their state subsidies shrink by at least five percent and as much as 10.5 percent. Special education funding remains level at $1.02 billion./p
pIn an effort to minimize or avoid hikes in school property taxes to make up for the state budget cuts, Corbett called upon school employees to accept a pay freeze./p
p“I’m calling on the employees of our public schools – administrators, teachers, support workers, everyone – to hold the line,” Corbett said. “If it means a pay freeze, trust me, you’ll have plenty of company out there to keep you warm.”/p
pCorbett also said that he believes district residents should be allowed to vote in a referendum on any property tax increase, though that would require a change in the state law as well./p
pThe budget also eliminates funding for specific programs including accountability block grants, Science: It’s Elementary and Science in Motion. Pre-K Counts, Headstart and public libraries will also see funding cuts./p
pstrongHigher Education Spending/strong/p
pNext on the chopping block was higher education funding. Under the budget proposal, the State System of Higher Education, representing the 14 state-owned universities, would see a 53 percent reduction in state funding and the four state-related schools (Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Lincoln) would see similar reductions. Community Colleges face reductions totaling 10 percent or $212 million. The proposal also cuts off any funding to non-state universities. Additionally, the budget makes deep cuts to the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, reducing money available for student grants and loans./p
pCorbett made general statements about “rethinking” state spending on higher education, but did not discuss specific reform proposals. He noted that tuitions have continued to rise in spite of state subsidies./p
p“When it comes to higher education we should do the same thing that we do in basic education: the dollars should follow the student,” Corbett said. “It’s their money.”/p
pstrongPublic Welfare/strong/p
pThe budget proposal does increase spending for the Department of Public Welfare by $607 million. The increase is supplemented by a transfer of $247 million from the Tobacco fund. Administrative line items at DPW would see an across-the-board five percent decrease. The budget proposal definitively cuts the a href="../2011/03/adultbasic-healthcare-ends-for-thousands-of-low-income-participants/"adultBasic program/a, zeroing out the line item. The budget also proposes cuts in programs for child autism services, County Child Welfare services, and cash assistance to low income families./p
pstrongPublic Employee Wages/strong/p
pCorbett then moved on to state employee salaries. His budget calls for a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/03/pennsylvania_gov_tom_corbetts_1.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pennlive.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pennlive.com%2Fmidstate%2Findex.ssf%2F2011%2F03%2Fpennsylvania_gov_tom_corbetts_1.html','eliminating+approximately+1%2C000+currently+vacant+positions+and+laying+off+another+500+employees')">eliminating approximately 1,000 currently vacant positions and laying off another 500 employees. In his address he called for freezing the salaries of the remaining state employees and increasing employee contributions to health insurance benefits. He noted that private sector workers have seen their wages stagnate during the recession while state employees received raises.

The contracts for 17 of the state’s 19 unions expire this year. Corbett seemed eager to …

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett Budget Proposal – #pa2012.com 2011 Tweet log : 03 08 2011

pa2012.com will be Tweeting, Posting, and Discussing from Harrisburg during the State budget address

For as it happens updates and discussions on the Budget address by PA Gov. Corbett, connect to our Twitter feed at http://Twitter.com/pa2012news and from Facebook (search pa2012.com). We will also be publishing here as the day goes on.

Stay tuned.

Ed.

Philadelphia’s mayoral race: An Estrogen Infusion?

There are a lot of things that could cripple pHer name recognition is shaky, even in her native South Philly, where up until about a week ago, she had been gathering petition signatures for a seat on City Council. A district seat. And an at-large seat. As a Democrat./p
pNow that she’s a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/city/20110303_Mayoral_hopeful___Time_for_a_woman_.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fcity%2F20110303_Mayoral_hopeful___Time_for_a_woman_.html','cut+a+deal+with+the+city%E2%80%99s+anemic+GOP+leadership')"cut a deal with the city’s anemic GOP leadership/a, there’s a forthcoming “R” behind her name – in a town where Dems outnumber Republicans 6-1. And let’s be clear, the record of success among party-switchers here is blotchy./p
pArlen Specter, the most famed Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat, swapped affiliations when politically expedient but barely shifted his outlook. In the end, he overstayed his welcome and voters gave him the boot./p
pSam Katz, too, has been alternately a Democrat and a Republican – and 0-3 in his quest for the second floor office at Billy Penn’s home at Broad and Market streets./p
pState Rep. Vanessa Brown a href="http://www.seventy.org/Downloads/Election_Returns_&_Data/2004_General/Official_04%20Phila_County_%20Results_for_%20State_House%20_and%20_Senate.pdf" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.seventy.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seventy.org%2FDownloads%2FElection_Returns_%26amp%3B_Data%2F2004_General%2FOfficial_04%2520Phila_County_%2520Results_for_%2520State_House%2520_and%2520_Senate.pdf','slid+into+the+GOP+camp+for+a+hot+second')">slid into the GOP camp for a hot second when she challenged Tommy Blackwell for the seat she now holds, but wound up winning as a Democrat. And her West Philadelphia district is a whole lot smaller – and more forgiving.

Loyalty still counts for something here and jumping ship – in this case, pulling up stakes from Democratic City Committee, where Brown has been a …

PBPC, PennFuture offer progressive budget plan

Two progressive organizations called upon Gov. Tom Corbett and the General Assembly to consider an alternative budget blueprint ahead of the governor’s budget address Tuesday. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (PBPC) and PennFuture issued a set of proposals that includes a mix of targeted tax increases and increases in spending to encourage more job growth.

“Pennsylvania should spend every tax dollar wisely and effectively, but we don’t want to see a budget that sets …

adultBasic HealthCare ends for thousands of low-income participants…

midnight due to lack of funding.

Participants at the rally shared their stories about living with the adultBasic benefit. The program cost the state $163 million and ended up on the budget chopping block as the state faces a $4 billion deficit. Gov. Tom Corbett pUnder adultBasic, low-income adults not eligible for other government health benefits could receive basic health coverage for $36 per month. This year the annual income limit was $21,660. Since 2005, Blue Cross and Blue Shield subsidized the program, but they ended those payments at the end of this year./p
pAthena Ford an organizer for a href="http://www.pahealthaccess.org/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pahealthaccess.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pahealthaccess.org%2F','Pa.+Health+Access+Network')"Pa. Health Access Network/a, which organized the rally, said that the rally was about giving a voice to the 42,000 people who lost their coverage at midnight. That figure does not include nearly a href="http://www.pennbpc.org/adultbasic-enrollment-county-january-2011" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pennbpc.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pennbpc.org%2Fadultbasic-enrollment-county-january-2011','half+a+million+people')">half a million people on waiting the waiting list to enroll.

“We need Gov. Corbett to hear us when we tell him that Special Care is not a solution,” Ford …

Will Corbett budget mean higher local taxes?

Supporters of massive state budget cuts forget that often the costs are shifted to the local tax base, meaning little relief for taxpayers.