Independent reviews of Obama's claims of job created by the stimulus bill show that the government is making up numbers. As Rep. Joe Wilson so aptly said it, "You lie!"
From Watchdog.org:
Just how big is the stimulus package? Well for one, it has doubled the size of the House of Representatives, according to recovery.gov, which says that funds were distributed to 440 congressional districts that do not exist.
According to data retrieved from recovery.gov, nearly $6.4 billion was used to “create or save” just under 30,000 jobs in these phantom congressional districts–almost $225,000 per job. The Web site operates on an $84 million budget and is tasked with monitoring the distribution of the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress–which, for the record, counts 435 members–in early 2009.
It's clear you can't trust anything coming from the Obama Ministry of Propaganda or the state-run media that should be reporting on the most corrupt and deceptive administration ever.
Chutzpa: 1. unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall. 2. audacity; nerve.
File this under chutzpa in the dictionary.
ACORN has sued the federal government demanding that it give back taxpayer dollars to the corrupt agency that Congress voted to deny it earlier this year.
From POLITICO:
ACORN claims that the legislation was of "malicious and punitive intent." The suit also claims Congress violated the Fifth Amendment by skirting due process before doling out the punishment of the funding cut. OMB Director Peter Orszag and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are listed as co-defendants in the suit.
This is what America has come to in the Age of Obama. Criminals are suing the government demanding that taxpayers continue to fund their corrupt ways.
Economist and author Allen W. Smith is on tour to promote his book, "THE BIG LIE: How Our Government Hoodwinked the Public, Emptied the Social Security Trust Fund, and caused The Great Economic Collapse"
Gerlach: PA budget impasse a 'national embarrassment'
Jim Gerlach, a Republican candidate for governor, said on Thursday that Pennsylvania's broken budget process has become a national embarrassment.
On the 100th day of the state's budget impasse, Gerlach said this would never happen if he was sitting in the governor's mansion.
"We do not need to waste any more time playing political games and pointing fingers," Gerlach said in a written statement. "This dysfunctional process has resulted in a 100-day delay in enacting a budget. The Harrisburg culture of putting self-interest ahead of the public interest must end. The families of Pennsylvania understand the importance of paying your bills on time and not spending more than you can afford. For far too long Harrisburg has ignored these basic principles.
"That's why I was the first candidate for governor to propose moving to a a two-year budget cycle to cut costs, increase accountability and avoid the annual budget soap opera, which for the last seven years has resulted in increased government spending and higher taxes. And we must stop rewarding politicians in Harrisburg for failure. If the state cannot meet the Constitutional requirement of enacting a budget by July 1st of each year, then the Governor, his Cabinet and lawmakers should lose a day's pay for every day the fail to pass a budget."
In September, Gerlach released a 17-point "Pledge to Pennsylvania" that is a contract to protect taxpayers and send a very clear message that the days of rewarding failure, ignoring runaway spending and tolerating a lack of accountability in Harrisburg are over.
The entire "Pledge to Pennsylvania" is available at his campaign Web site, www.gerlachforpa.com
Brad Bumsted, the outstanding state capitol reporter for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has been writing a lot lately about the costly "per diems" being collected by Pennsylvania legislators as they work to pass a state budget.
In addition to their regular salary, state lawmakers collect a $158 daily allowance for showing up in Harrisburg and with the state budget impasse going on for three months, lawmakers have been raking in the bucks.
From a new column by Bumsted:
Even when they are not voting on the House floor, most state legislators collect per diems worth $158 for food and lodging.
Those per diems may be for committee hearings, when they are summoned by the speaker or caucus leader, or just for staying an extra day in Harrisburg and working in their offices.
Some of them spent a lot of days in their offices over the past few months.
House and Senate members of both parties, about 170 in all, racked up $532,000 in per diems in July and August during the first two months of the ongoing budget impasse. It's money taxpayers would not have had to shell out if the budget had been completed on July 1, as required by law. And that's a conservative figure because some lawmakers didn't submit their per diems yet.
The situation is growing out of control now that Gov. Ed Rendell wants the Legislature to stay in Harrisburg until a budget is passed.
That prompted Bumstead to consider alternatives to "per diems," including the possibility of Pennsylvania taxpayers taking in lawmakers "like signing up for a foreign exchange student."
Rendell, Legislature keep digging a deeper hole for PA
The first rule of holes: When you're in one, stop digging.
While Gov. Ed Rendell and the Pennsylvania Legislature are still trying to figure out what to do about last year's $3.25 billion budget deficit, Pennsylvania is facing another financial disaster for 2009-10.
Revenue collections for the first three months of the new fiscal year have fallen short of projections. That's a fancy way of saying Pennsylvania is headed for another fiscal crisis -- even while elected officials struggle to get the state out of the mess they created last year.
Pennsylvania collected $2.1 billion in General Fund revenue in September, which was $118.6 million, or 5.5 percent, less than anticipated, according to Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler. Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $5.3 billion, which is $140.6 million, or 2.6 percent, below estimate, Stetler reported.
Tax revenues from the state's two biggest sources of income fell short for the third consecutive month of the new fiscal year, adding to the 12-month decline in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
From the Department of Revenue's September Collection Report:
Sales tax receipts totaled $633.4 million for September, $38.8 million below estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $2 billion, which is $52.2 million, or 2.5 percent, less than anticipated.
Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in September was $835.4 million, $69.5 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $2.2 billion, which is $97.9 million, or 4.3 percent, below estimate.
The only bright spot is September's corporation tax revenue collections of $403.9 million, which was $5.6 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $541.4 million, which is $7.3 million, or 1.4 percent, above estimate.
More from the Revenue Department:
Other General Fund revenue figures for the month included $59.1 million in inheritance tax, $3.4 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $181.6 million, which is $6.1 million below estimate.
Realty transfer tax was $23.5 million for September, $1.5 million below estimate, bringing the total to $82.2 million for the year, which is $3.7 million less than anticipated.
Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes totaled $85.4 million for the month, $7.2 million below estimate and bringing the year-to-date total to $259.4 million, which is $1.2 million above estimate.
Non-tax revenue totaled $9.8 million for the month, $3.7 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $52.1 million, which is $10.8 million above estimate.
Click on the link below to view the full September report:
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul will be making a return appearance on The Daily Show Tuesday, Sept. 29 to talk about his latest book, "End The Fed," which challenges the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve.
From www.CampaignForLiberty.com:
The Congressman's latest release recently entered the New York Times' bestseller list at number six, mirroring the success of his previous book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto."
"End The Fed," has served as a rallying point for supporters of Paul's bill, H.R. 1207 The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, meant to shed light on the practices of the nation's central bank. Last week, the House Financial Services Committee held hearings on bringing more transparency to the Fed, this development came after increased support and a super-majority sponsorship of the bill in Congress.
The success of Congressman Paul's book and the "Audit The Fed" movement has given him a greater platform to spread his message of sound money and economic stability to the public, which seems to be growing ever more receptive since the economic crisis of last year.
The episode will air on Tuesday at 11:00 pm EDT, and again Wednesday at 7:00 pm EDT.
The Commonwealth Foundation has launched a new Web site and public service campaign called BankruptingPA to educate taxpayers about "wild and unaccountable government spending."
The Foundation is looking for feedback to help it choose the most effective message and imagery to make this effort as successful as possible, says Commonwealth Foundation CEO Matthew J. Brouillette.
Visit the new Web site at www.BankruptingPA.com, click on the "VOTE" buttons n the right side of the page and leave comments or criticisms.
"Time is of the essence. Please help us ensure BankruptingPA is successful," Brouillette adds.
Left unchecked, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid plan to run up higher deficits over the next 10 years than all American presidents and Congress have incurred in the last 230 years.
From DefeatTheDebt.com:
Think America is "Unsinkable?"
Every year, the government spends hundreds of billions of dollars it doesn't have, and we sink deeper and deeper into debt. We cannot afford to go down with this ship.
The national debt will grow by more than $9 trillion, according to an August 2009 report by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
How much is $9 trillion, or even $1 trillion? Confronted with enormous numbers like millions, billions and trillions, it's helpful to use comparisons with other contexts. For example, one million seconds will pass in just 12 days. One billion seconds is almost 32 years. And one trillion seconds? That’s 31,688 years. One trillion dollars is a lot of money, and over the next decade the US federal government will borrow that sum nine times over — more than $9 trillion.
In the next 10 years, the federal government will borrow trillions of dollars for spending it cannot afford. But the American people will eventually have to pay the price for this irresponsible borrowing.
The federal deficit for the current fiscal year is four times higher than it was under George W. Bush. And keep in mind that Democrats have controlled Congress since 2007 and have approved record spending and record debt since then.
Under Barack Obama, the national debt will reach astronomical and unsustainable levels as the U.S. heads toward bankruptcy and national suicide.
A non-partisan group called Defeat the Debt has launched a public service campaign to inform Americans how serious the debt problem is. Here is the first of three articles on the subject:
How Much is a Trillion Dollars?
The national debt is larger than ever before, and experts predict it will only continue to expand.
The national debt will grow by more than $9 trillion, according to an August 2009 report by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
In July of 2009, the Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation released their analysis of America's Affordable Health Choices Act. They estimated the bill would add an additional net deficit of $1.042 trillion over the next decade. In January of 2008, Social Security's unfunded liabilities were estimated at $6.6 trillion, and Medicare unfunded liabilities totaled more than $36.3 trillion, according to the GAO's Fiscal Year 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government. In addition to our current national debt of more than $11.6 trillion, our future obligations to Social Security and Medicare total $43 trillion.
How much is $9 trillion, or even $1 trillion? Confronted with enormous numbers like millions, billions and trillions, it's helpful to use comparisons with other contexts. For example, one million seconds will pass in just 12 days. One billion seconds is almost 32 years. And one trillion seconds? That's 31,688 years. One trillion dollars is a lot of money, and over the next decade the US federal government will borrow that sum nine times over — more than $9 trillion.
In the next 10 years, the federal government will borrow trillions of dollars for spending it cannot afford. But the American people will eventually have to pay the price for this irresponsible borrowing.
We all know about the $3.25 billion deficit Gov. Ed Rendell ran up in the General Fund budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, but Pennsylvania is drowning in red ink when you take into account all other state and local debt.
The Commonwealth Foundation has a terrific post at its Web site about the state of "Debtsylvania."
Pennsylvanians owe $115 billion in state and local government debt, according to the Foundation, which reviewed spending from 2002 to 2008.
No surprise here, but the debt has skyrocketed during the tenure of Gov. Rendell.
"Under Governor Rendell, total state general obligation debt outstanding has increased from $6.8 billion to a projected $9.5 billion with his 2009-10 budget proposal, a 40% increase in seven years," The Foundation says.
To read the full report visit The Commonwealth Foundation Web site.
A Central Pennsylvania television station recently calculated that the Pennsylvania Legislature is burning through $50,000 a day in taxpayer money every day it convenes since the June 30 fiscal year deadline.
And what is the most expensive state legislature in the country doing with its time (other than debating the budget, of course)?
Pennsylvanians can take comfort in knowing that while their elected representatives couldn't cobble together a cohesive state budget by deadline, they nevertheless were dutifully at work attending to pressing public matters.
Among some lawmakers' priorities: a resolution on the Borough of Dushore's 150th anniversary and legislation on county park police training requirements.
Then there's that crucial legislation from Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, which bans the forced implantation of computer chips in humans. What a relief!
Maybe this crew should draft legislation banning the replacement of state representatives with cyborgs. With regard to some, it's difficult to differentiate the human beings -- those capable of intelligent problem-solving -- from what appear to be preprogrammed robots at work on the assembly line at the Susquehanna Sausage Factory.
Now, it doesn't require an awful lot of intelligence, artificial or otherwise, to figure out that a growing multibillion-dollar state deficit, looming for months, would demand considerably more focus in state budgeting this year. And yet, once again, the clock ran out without a fiscal accord in hand.
Thus began the backroom dealing, with Gov. Ed Rendell's 16 percent income-tax hike in the balance. And, ultimately, the adoption of a state budget that will be handed to the public as a done deal.
This, sadly, is what passes in Pennsylvania as "representative government."
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Gov. Ed Rendell wants to raise your taxes.
The same governor who signed the second biggest income tax hike in state history when he first took office in 2003 wants to raise the state's personal income tax again.
It seems Gov. Rendell has spent all of the money the first tax hike brought in, so he'd like you (the few Pennsylvania residents who still have a job) to send more of your paycheck to him so he can spend it before he leaves office at the end of 2010.
Some good early reaction to Rendell's idiotic plan to raise taxes during a recession from conservative bloggers.
Governor Rendell announced today that to satisfy his appetite for more spending, he would like to increase Pennsylvania's Personal Income Tax (PIT) by 0.5 percentage points - to 3.57%.
As we announced yesterday, a PIT increase would cost thousands of Pennsylvania jobs.
Our updated analysis reveals that Rendell's latest proposed increase would cost 24,000 Pennsylvanians their jobs. This is on top of those jobs already lost during the current recession.
The movie "Hangover" continues to top the box office charts, and here in Harrisburg Governor Ed Rendell's pursuit of a new state budget is about as, well, juvenile.
Like the schoolyard bully given a wedgie, the governor is threatening to take the budget ball and hide in his room until he again gets his way. And he's willing to stay there until at least Labor Day, or so he says.
Yep, that's the latest from Rendell. Give me what I want or nobody gets anything. That is his response to legislative Republicans who have refused to roll over and give him new taxes, and who are insisting that the state trim the budget and spend within our means.
I don't call him "Rundown Rendell" for nothing. Fast Eddie continues to try to destroy the state of Pennsylvania with his old tired "tax and spend" philosophy. His latest idea: a 16% personal income tax increase. Another liberal-genius way to lose tens of thousands of Pennsylvania jobs that Pennsylvania doesn't have to lose to begin with.
With one month to go in the current fiscal year, Pennsylvania's General Fund budget is $2.8 billion in the red.
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue released the May tax revenue numbers today and the state's bottom line is not looking so good.
Pennsylvania collected $1.6 billion in General Fund revenue in May, which was $287.5 million, or 15.1 percent, less than anticipated, according to Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler. Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $23.3 billion, which is $2.8 billion, or 10.9 percent, below estimate, Stetler reported.
Gov. Ed Rendell, who signed the deficit budget last July knowing it would never come close to balancing, now projects a deficit of $3.2 billion by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.
Here's the blow-by-blow breakdown from the Revenue Department:
Sales tax receipts totaled $607.4 million for May, $106.4 million below estimate. Sales tax collections, year-to-date, total $7.5 billion, which is $527.7 million, or 6.6 percent, less than anticipated.
Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in May was $721.4 million, $55.7 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $9.4 billion, which is $1.1 billion, or 10.4 percent, below estimate.
May corporation tax revenue of $81.6 million was $38.8 million below estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $4.4 billion, which is $531.4 million, or 10.7 percent, below estimate.
Other General Fund revenue figures for the month included $65.3 million in inheritance tax, $10.8 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $704.5 million, which is $94.4 million below estimate.
Realty transfer tax was $18.6 million for May, $12.2 million below estimate, bringing the total to $267.3 million for the year, which is $105.2 million less than anticipated.
Other General Fund tax revenue including cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes totaled $83.3 million for the month, $10.4 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $958.2 million, which is $21.2 million below estimate.
Imagine if Pennsylvania voters had the power of initiative and referendum, like their counterparts in California do. Gov. Ed Rendell's disastrous fiscal policies could have been stopped six years ago before Rendell ruined the state's economy with tax increases and record deficit spending.
Gov. Ed Rendell imposed a hiring freeze last fall to help deal with the state's massive budget deficit. The ban has been violated at least 100 times, including by Rendell himself.
Rendell also imposed a ban on out-of-state travel. That's been violated too.
The latest example of government workers taking expensive trips was uncovered by a Pittsburgh television station.
From the station's Web site:
A Team 4 investigation finds pension fund employees staying at five-star resorts in London, Paris and even Monte Carlo -- and the way they're paying for these trips is raising concern with top state officials.
Earlier this year, Team 4's Paul Van Osdol found state employees spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on trips after Gov. Ed Rendell ordered a travel ban.
Officials of the two big state pension funds say they've been able to get around the travel ban because taxpayers are not paying for most of their trips. Instead, the investment managers hired by the state are covering the cost.
Here's the catch: The state employees traveling to these exotic places are the same people whose job it is to keep an eye on the money managers paying for the trips.
Read the full story, "Team 4 Investigates: Pa. Pension Workers Taking Lavish Trips," or watch the actuall report at the station's Web site.
A new report says more Pennsylvanians are struggling to survive economically.
From an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
One in five Pennsylvania households do not make enough money to meet basic needs even though many live above the federal poverty level, according to a study released Monday.
"It's not a lack of work effort that's a problem," Diana M. Pearce, director of the Center for Women's Welfare at the University of Washington, said during a telephone news conference. "It's the lack of adequate wages."
Pearce is author of "Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Pennsylvania," a study conducted in cooperation with the nonprofit PathWays PA for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
The report found that twice as many of the state's 3.4 million households are having a hard time making ends meet compared to data based on the federal standard for poverty. Just one in 10 households in the state lives in poverty, according to the federal standard.
How can this be?
Hasn't Gov. Ed Rendell increased state spending by $8 billion since he took office in 2003? Isn't he a Democrat and don't Democrats help the little people?
Where did all that money go?
How else can we deal with rising poverty except spend more money? That's what Ed Rendell has been saying and doing for the past 6 years. That's what Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats keep saying.
I'm confused. I'm beginning to lose faith in Democratic politicians. I can't believe they've misled us all these years. I can't believe they waste our tax dollars on pork projects that don't benefit working people. I'm not voting for Rendell again.
Newspaper calls for criminal investigation of Rendell deal
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is calling for a criminal investigation of Gov. Ed Rendell's latest "play-to-play" scheme, this one involving the awarding of a no-bid state contract to a law firm that contributed generously to Rendell's 2006 re-election campaign.
From the editorial:
A troubling trail has been exposed that has all the appearances of a pay-to-play scheme and a quid pro quo involving Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
The Wall Street Journal documents campaign contributions to Mr. Rendell between February and October 2006 of more than $90,000 from attorney F. Kenneth Bailey. In August 2006, Mr. Bailey's law firm -- Bailey Perrin Bailey LLP of Houston, Texas -- was awarded a lucrative no-bid contingency fee contract to represent Pennsylvania in a lawsuit against Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
In a case that state Attorney General Tom Corbett thought lacked merit, the Rendell administration alleges Janssen improperly marketed a drug for off-label use.
Rendell has awarded more than $1 billion in no-bid contracts to politically-connected firms during his six years as governor. Too much taxpayer money is changing hands without any accountability.
From the Tribune-Review:
Gov. Ed Rendell denies any impropriety. But the smoke on this one is dense. It behooves the U.S. Department of Justice to see if there's any fire.
Have you opened your 401(k) statement lately? Don't bother. You've lost most of your money in the collapse of the U.S. economy over the past six months -- unless you're a government worker in Pennsylvania.
You can't lose because the taxpayers are obligated to pay your entire pension regardless of how much of that money is lost in investments.
What's so special about state workers, you say? Why should you bail them out?
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is wondering the same thing. The newspaper concludes in an editorial that state workers should have the same type of retirement plan as those in private industry. When the market goes up, everyone benefits. When the market goes down, everybody shares the pain equally.
The state must renegotiate existing public-sector pensions to make them defined-contribution plans and establish a unified statewide retirement system for public employees, the newspaper argues.
Otherwise, Pennsylvania residents will see huge jumps in property taxes to cover the costs of guaranteed lifetime pensions for state workers.
Read the full editorial, "The pensions crisis: Only one solution," at the newspaper's Web site.
Gov. Ed Rendell has violated his own hiring freeze -- again.
Reporter Charles Thompson of the Harrisburg Patriot-News has confirmed that Rendell has hired has hired an attorney from Philadelphia to fill a vacancy in the Office of General Counsel -- the solicitor's office for state government.
Since when are lawyers considered essential personnel?
The latest case of "do as I say, not as I do" is a familiar one. The hire is a politically-connected friend or colleague of Rendell and the pay is at least $100,000.
It's the four time Rendell has done this since he imposed a hiring freeze in light of the $2.3 billion budget deficit he put the state into by years of uncontrolled spending.
All total, 110 people have been hired by the Rendell administration since the governor ordered the "hiring freeze."
You see why it's so hard to take this guy seriously.
From Thompson's story:
General Counsel Barbara Adams announced via e-mail this week that she has hired Patrick Lord as an executive deputy general counsel, effective April 13.
Chuck Ardo, press secretary to Gov. Ed Rendell, said Lord has been hired as a replacement for Nora Winkelman, who has moved on to work as chief counsel for the House Democratic Caucus.
Lord has "many but not all of her duties while also assuming many new duties for which the office has a need," Ardo said, adding the administration has not filled 14 attorney positions vacated since the statewide hiring freeze took effect in September.
The March tax revenue numbers are in and Pennsylvania continues to hemorrhage red ink under Gov. Ed Rendell.
With three full months left in the current fiscal year, the state has already spent $1.6 billion more than it took in. (Rendell projects the deficit will reach $2.3 billion by the end of June.)
Pennsylvania collected $3.9 billion in General Fund revenue during March, $334.6 million, or 7.9 percent, less than anticipated, according to Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $18.7 billion, which is $1.6 billion, or 7.9 percent, below estimate, Stetler says.
March is usually the biggest tax collection month of the year, but nothing could slow the runaway train of deficit spending under Rendell and the current Legislature.
Here's the monthly recap from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue:
Sales tax receipts totaled $589.2 million for March, $51 million below estimate. Sales tax collections, year-to-date, total $6.2 billion, which is $350.4 million, or 5.4 percent, less than anticipated.
Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in March was $763.6 million, $59.8 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $7.2 billion, which is $376.5 million, or 5 percent, below estimate.
March corporation tax revenue of $2.3 billion was $192.5 million below estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $3.9 billion, which is $366.7 million, or 8.7 percent, below estimate.
Other General Fund revenue figures for the month included $66.7 million in inheritance tax, $10.5 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $569.6 million, which is $74.9 million below estimate.
Realty transfer tax was $17.4 million for March, $13.4 million below estimate, bringing the total to $230.3 million for the year, which is $79.7 million less than anticipated.
Other General Fund tax revenue including cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes totaled $102.1 million for the month, $16.2 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $785.8 million, which is $9.1 million below estimate.
Non-tax revenue totaled $14.1 million for the month, $23.6 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to -$76.4 million, which is $350.6 million below estimate.
In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $184.1 million for the month, $14 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $1.9 billion, which is $109 million, or 5.5 percent, below estimate.
The Gaming Fund received $54.9 million in unrestricted revenues for March. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $434.2 million. Gaming Fund receipts include taxes, fees and interest. Of the total for the month, $56.8 million was collected in state taxes for property tax relief, bringing the year-to-date total to $434.3 million.
Other gaming-related revenues collected for March included $6.7 million for the Local Share Assessment, for a net total of $50.2 million for the year; $8.3 million for the Economic Development and Tourism Fund, for a year-to-date total of $63.9 million; and $20 million for the Race Horse Development Fund, bringing the total for the year to $153.3 million.
Auditor General to review PA 'fire sale' of state office building
Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner is reviewing the Pennsylvania Department of General Service's agreement to sell the State Office Building in Pittsburgh for $4.6 million, claiming the purchase price amounts to a "fire sale."
The Department of General Services announced Tuesday it was selling the 16-story structure to River Vue Associates LP of Canonsburg.
"I continue to believe this is the worst possible deal for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania," Wagner said in a statement. "It makes no sense for the commonwealth to sell this prized asset -- the signature building of state government in Western Pennsylvania -- for the lowest possible price during the most depressed real-estate market in decades."
Department of General Services Secretary James P. Creedon countered that selling the Pittsburgh State Office Building is in the best interest of taxpayers.
Creedon said he welcomes the audit from Wagner's office.
"We have discussed this decision and engaged in the process to sell the Pittsburgh State Office Building publicly for more than two years," Creedon said in a statement. "While the auditor general seemed to only become interested in this topic during the last month, he is welcome to review any and all of our material and we will fully cooperate with him in that review."
Creedon says the decision to sell the 50-year-old building was based on many factors, including "significant annual operating costs and the substantial costs necessary to rehabilitate the structure."
Engineering estimates show that nearly $65 million in state funds would be needed to thoroughly rehabilitate the building, Creedon said.
The state will save $14 million by selling the building and moving state employees into leased space in downtown Pittsburgh, Creedon said.
Wagner isn't buying it.
"The land alone is worth more than the sale price," Wagner said in a press release, adding that the state has agreed to purchase the City of Pittsburgh's Municipal Courts Building, which is one-fifth the size of the State Office Building and is situated in a less desirable location, under the Liberty Bridge and next to the Allegheny County Jail, for $9 million.
The State Office Building sale is a bad deal, Wagner argues, because "there would not be enough profits from the sale to offset moving expenses and pay for the first year of leases at multiple locations in downtown Pittsburgh, saddling taxpayers with an additional spending burden."
Postmaster General John Potter told Congress today the U.S. Postal Service will run out of money this year without help from the government.
The Postal Service lost $2.8 billion last year and expects a bigger loss this year, Potter said. The agency is projecting a $6 billion loss in 2010.
How the hell do you lose that much money when you're a government monopoly?
Potter is asking Congress for permission to cut Saturday mail delivery to save $3.5 billion, but it still doesn't get the Postal Service out of the red. Maybe Potter can hire some of the executives at AIG.
If you need any further proof that the government can't do its most basic jobs, look no further than the Postal Service.
So of course, Barack Obama wants the government to do more, including taking over the health system in this country.
Picture yourself waiting in line to see a doctor just like you wait in line to buy stamps.
As America slides deeper and deeper into recession, 27 million small business owners want President Barack Obama to answer one question at his press conference Tuesday.
Why are you allowing Fortune 500 firms to participate in government economic stimulus contracting programs designated for small businesses?
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have been released, which found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses around the world.
A recent investigative story by the Washington Post found up to 38.5 percent of all federal small business contracts were actually going to Fortune 500 firms alone.
The president of SEIU Local 668, the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, has a few choice words for Gov. Ed Rendell, who earlier this week gave state workers an ultimatum: Find ways to reduce costs or face furloughs and/or layoffs.
Kathy Jellison said in a statement that the governor is "negotiating though the press" and "not being honest with taxpayers."
Jellison said the union has "repeatedly given (Rendell) suggestions on ways to cut the budget, and he has ignored all of our ideas. Instead, he wants to focus on the most extreme option - laying off workers."
State workers are upset with Rendell because he has awarded more than $1 billion in outside contracts since he became governor in 2003. "Many of those contracts cover work that had been done by state employees," Jellison says.
"The first thing the governor can do to stop wasteful spending in the state budget," Jellison said, "is to cut out some of the private contracts he has given to outside companies to do work that our members can do better and at a lower cost."
While Rendell is threatening to implement a system of "rolling furloughs" to reduce personnel costs, the union wants the state to offer early retirement options to workers.
News item: The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is spending more than $173,000 to improve employee manners — making sure clerks say "hello," "thank you" and "come again" to customers.
I don't know about you, but I'd put up with rude sales clerk if we could purchase liquor cheaper.
Since the liquor store system is a monopoly in Pennsylvania and proceeds go into state coffers, I think we can safely point to this as another example of how government wastes our money.
From the Tribune-Review article:
Eric Epstein, a Harrisburg activist and founder of RockTheCapital.org, a voter education project, called the idea "a demented interpretation of happy hour."
"It's a sad state of affairs when you have to train people to be kind and courteous," he said.
Moderate Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana is among a growing number of Congressional Democrats who are voicing opposition to the massive spending plans proposed by President Obama and fellow Democrats.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Bayh says the $410 billion Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 is full of wasteful spending.
"The Senate should reject this bill," Bayh writes. "If we do not, President Barack Obama should veto it."
From Bayh's column:
"The bloated omnibus requires sacrifice from no one, least of all the government. It only exacerbates the problem and hastens the day of reckoning. Voters rightly demanded change in November's election, but this approach to spending represents business as usual in Washington, not the voters' mandate.
Now is the time to win back the confidence and trust of the American people. Congress should vote "no" on this omnibus and show working families across the country that we are as committed to living within our means as they are.
Bayh says Congress has to stop contributing to the nation's economic woes by continuing to overspend.
"The economic downturn requires new policies, not more of the same," Bayh writes. "Our nation's current fiscal imbalance is unprecedented, unsustainable and, if unaddressed, a major threat to our currency and our economic vitality. The national debt now exceeds $10 trillion. This is almost double what it was just eight years ago, and the debt is growing at a rate of about $1 million a minute."
With four months to go in the current fiscal year, Pennsylvania has already spent $1.3 billion more than it has taken in.
The fiscal hole Gov. Ed Rendell and the Pennsylvania Legislature started digging last July keeps getting deeper.
Pennsylvania collected $1.5 billion in General Fund revenue in February, $196.8 million, or 11.6 percent, less than anticipated, according to the Department of Revenue.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $14.8 billion, which is $1.3 billion, or 7.9 percent, below estimate, says Acting Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler.
The numbers are down across the board:
* Sales tax receipts totaled $561.2 million for February, $60.9 million below estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $5.6 billion, which is $299.4 million, or 5.1 percent, less than anticipated.
* Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in February was $742.7 million, $40.8 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $6.4 billion, which is $316.7 million, or 4.7 percent, below estimate.
* February corporation tax revenue of $62.9 million was $21 million below estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $1.5 billion, which is $173.9 million, or 10.2 percent, below estimate.
* Other General Fund revenue figures for the month included $53 million in inheritance tax, $17.5 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $502.9 million, which is $64.4 million below estimate.
* Realty transfer tax was $12 million for February, $11.5 million below estimate, bringing the total to $212.9 million for the year, which is $66.3 million less than anticipated.
* Other General Fund tax revenue including cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes totaled $76.4 million for the month, $4.3 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $683.8 million, which is $25.2 million below estimate.
* Non-tax revenue totaled -- $5.8 million for the month, $40.8 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to -- $90.6 million, which is $327.1 million below estimate.
The Department of Revenue report is full of gloomy statistics:
* In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $146.6 million for the month, $22.5 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $1.7 billion, which is $95 million, or 5.3 percent, below estimate.
* The Gaming Fund received $49.1 million in unrestricted revenues for February. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $379.2 million. Gaming Fund receipts include taxes, fees and interest. Of the total for the month, $48.9 million was collected in state taxes for property tax relief, bringing the year-to-date total to $377.6 million.
* Other gaming-related revenues collected for February included $5.7 million for the Local Share Assessment, for a net total of $43.5 million for the year; $7.2 million for the Economic Development and Tourism Fund, for a year-to-date total of $55.5 million; and $17.2 million for the Race Horse Development Fund, bringing the total for the year to $133.3 million.
The current fiscal year ends June 30 and Rendell has predicted the deficit will grow to $2.3 billion by then.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement on President Barack Obama signing the stimulus bill:
"Americans looking for jobs and struggling to pay bills will be disappointed by the spending package written by Congressional Democrats and signed by President Obama today. The transparency and bipartisanship that President Obama promised the American people was sacrificed to pass a pork-laden bill without any public review or meaningful Republican support.
"In these difficult economic times, it is imperative that Republicans and Democrats work together to create new jobs and grow the economy. Instead, Congressional Democrats worked behind closed doors to write legislation that will fall short of creating the promised new jobs, but will guarantee a larger debt burden on our children and grandchildren.
"Republicans are unified in our disagreement with Congressional Democrat leaders and President Obama on this bill. It all comes down to this - the Democrat plan focuses on putting Americans on the public dole, while the Republican plan focuses on putting America back to work.
"The Republican Party stands ready to work together in a bipartisan manner with the Democrat leaders in Congress and the President. Hopefully they will learn from the mistakes in this bill and be interested in true bipartisan efforts in the future."
The Center for Public Integrity has launched a new blog called The Daily Watchdog, which will compile investigative reports from around Washington, D.C. -- from the Government Accountability Office to Inspectors General to Congressional oversight committees.
"We'll be compiling these (often-overlooked) investigative reports, so you don't have to go searching for them," the Center said in announcing the new site. "The Daily Watchdog is your go-to resource for the latest results of important federal investigations."
Be sure to bookmark the site and check it often. The Democrats are back in power in Washington, but I'm afraid little has changed.
Newspaper: Rendell must come clean on 'pay-to-play'
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says in an editorial today that a grand jury investigation may be warranted to investigate Gov. Ed Rendell and key members of his administration in what may be a pay-to-play scheme that directed a no-bid contract to a politically-connected firm.
The editorial is based on reporting by The Harrisburg Patriot-News involving a contract the Rendell administration awarded to Deloitte Consulting and its affiliates. The Patriot-News obtained a draft report of an audit conducted by Auditor General Jack Wagner, a Democrat.
From the editorial in the Pittsburgh paper:
The Wagner audit suggests the Rendell administration engaged in vendor favoritism and improperly employed no-bid contracts.
Furthermore, the auditor general says Deloitte, a financial consulting firm, benefited from inside information and questions another one of those funny job creation/job retention grants in which only one beneficiary -- Deloitte -- is apparent.
And then there are allegations of conflicts of interest involving the dealings of Rendell acolytes with the firm.
Among the objections voiced by Republicans to the Obama/Pelosi stimulus: "the bill isn't temporary because it calls for a permanent expansion of government that could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal budget every year."
Read a transcript of the full GOP response by following the link below:
Gerlach opposes largest spending increase in U.S. history
The House of Representatives just voted 246-183 to approve Barack Obama's $787 billion "stimulus" plan, without a single Republican supporting the massive pork bill.
The 1,071-page bill goes to the Senate, where Democrats will approve it with the help of the three RINOs (Republican In Name Only), including Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District, voted against the biggest federal spending increase in U.S. history and said the bill is so massive that Washington could send a check for more than $10,000 to every family of four in the 6th District.
I live in the 6th District and I'd love to get my hands on a check for $10,000.
From a press release issued by Gerlach's office:
"Instead of getting checks from Washington, generations to come will be giving more of their hard-earned paychecks to the federal government to pay for this spending plan that tops $1.1 trillion when debt costs are added," Gerlach said. "It's fitting that this bill is being rammed through the House on Friday the 13th because it's truly a nightmare for our children and grandchildren who will be stuck paying off the mountain of debt. What started out as a process to get Americans working again degenerated into a big-government spending spree.
"Some have tried to claim that this legislation is crucial to rebuilding our roads, bridges, and highways and giving a boost to our public transit systems. However, just 3.5 percent of the $787 billion will be spent on highway and bridge projects. And nearly twice as much -- $15 billion -- will be spent on giving $1,000 tax breaks to individuals who do not pay a penny in federal income tax as will be spent on public transit -- $8.4 billion. With spending priorities like that, it's no wonder that nearly 60 percent of the people in a Jan. 23 Rasmussen Poll feared too much government spending would occur in the next two years.
"I understand that this is a time of extreme economic uncertainty and that we have an obligation to work on policies that help American workers collect paychecks instead of pink slips. However, I am confident that most of my constituents are just as puzzled as I am about how many jobs will be created by spending $650 million on digital television converter box coupons."
"Congress has missed an historic opportunity to roll up our sleeves and work together with President Obama on a bipartisan bill. Republican proposals to ease the tax burden of the unemployed by eliminating the federal income tax on unemployment benefits were brushed aside. And legislation that I have sponsored to reward American companies that provide health insurance and retirement benefits to workers and keep their headquarters on U.S. soil was never considered."
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and his crack economic team couldn't find much fat to trim from state spending, which now tops $60 billion a year.
In announcing his $29 billion 2009-10 General Fund budget last week, the governor proposed $750 million in additional spending despite the fact the state is headed toward a $2.3 billion deficit by June.
Instead of making much-needed cuts in spending, the governor came up all sorts of schemes to increase revenue, including legalizing video poker machines and raising tobacco taxes.
The Commonwealth Foundation, an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational institute based in Harrisburg, has stepped in to help the governor make some cuts.
"There are billions of dollars in wasteful spending that must be cut immediately in order to restore Pennsylvania's fiscal and economic health," Matthew J. Brouillette, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, said in announcing the release of a new report, "Government on a Diet: Spending Tips 2009."
The report offers suggestions on how the governor and Legislature can eliminate $5 billion in "unhealthy state government spending that is impeding prosperity and burdening taxpayers."
From a statement issued by Brouillette:
"We can reduce state spending without jeopardizing our most vulnerable citizens. We want the citizens of Pennsylvania to be more aware of how state government is misspending their hard-earned tax dollars, and we hope lawmakers use this report as a guide for ending the economically destructive tax-borrow-and-spend approach."
The report, co-authored by Nathan Benefield and Elizabeth Bryan, identifies wasteful spending on non-core state government functions, including: corporate welfare, "Yellow Pages government" and self-service government.
Examples include:
1. $75 million in tax credits for Hollywood executives to produce films, including $5.7 million in credits for "Zach & Miri Make a Porno." 2. $225,000 for a parade in Philadelphia. 3. $200,000 to restore golf courses.
To obtain a copy of the 24-page report, visit the Commonwealth Foundation Web site or call 717-671-1901
A group of House Republicans introduced a package of bills today to end "pay-to-play" politics in Pennsylvania.
The bills are aimed squarely at Gov. Ed Rendell, who has awarded more than $1 billion worth of no-bid contracts to politically connected firms during his six years as governor.
From a press release issued by the GOP lawmakers:
"The recent allegations of corruption against Blagojevich, the swirling situation surrounding the award of millions of dollars in no-bid legal services contracts by Governor Ed Rendell to his old law firm, and now the information that Deloitte Touche has turned the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) into its own satellite office compel all Pennsylvanians to be concerned about the manner in which the public dollars are being spent," said state Rep. Douglas Reichley. "The disclosures over the last year of possible favoritism in awarding contracts leads us to worry that Pennsylvania is not immune to the perception that it’s not what you can do but who you know that gets you preferential treatment in government contracts. Pennsylvania needs laws in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever occur in our state."
During his six years in office, Rendell has taken advantage of a weak state law to give preferential consideration to former associates in his former law firm and campaign contributors who have received lucrative contracts for state services without any competitive bidding.
And this from an article in today's edition of The Harrisburg Patriot-News by reporter Jan Murphy:
House Republicans, reacting to state Auditor General Jack Wagner's preliminary audit findings on questionable practices that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in technology contracts for Deloitte, called for state contract reform and a criminal investigation.
At a Capitol news conference, state Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, outlined a list of bills aimed at ending what they describe as "pay-to-play politics in Pennsylvania" and afterward urged Attorney General Tom Corbett to investigate whether improprieties occurred involving Deloitte's work on state contracts as well as Gov. Ed Rendell's administration's failure to cooperate with auditors.
A report in today's edition of The Patriot-News shares findings from Wagner's preliminary audit that cites allegations ranging from vendor favoritism to no-bid contracts, along with concerns about the agencies' secrecy surrounding documents that led to Deloitte landing state contracts.
Read "House Republicans call for contract reform, criminal investigation" at The Patriot-News Web site.
Rendell budget 'loaded with unrealistic expectations'
Gov. Ed Rendell's call to spend $29 billion in the coming fiscal year is not getting good reviews from GOP lawmakers.
State Rep. Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery) says the governor's budget address is "loaded with unrealistic expectations."
Mensch issued the following statement in response to the governor's budget address delivered Wednesday to a joint session of the House and Senate:
"I am very disappointed with the budget proposal that has been put in front of my colleagues and me. In the past six years, the state budget has been expanded by double the rate of inflation. If it had only been grown by strictly the rate of inflation, we would be showing a surplus right now. You must ask yourself the question, are you getting a better government in return for all of the expanded spending?"
"Despite the words uttered in the budget address that this is somehow representing a cut in the budget, it is in fact a spending increase of $707 million, or about 2.5 percent. This is not the time for Pennsylvania's governor to be proposing spending increases. We should only be talking about spending freezes and spending reductions, through removing operational inefficiencies."
"A prime example of one of the problems in this budget is with the proposed closing of the Scotland School for Veterans' Children. Closing the school will save about 1/200 of 1 percent of the budget. Let's leave the kids alone. There are other, more obvious and more effective areas that need our attention, like Department of Public Welfare (DPW) and its 18,000 employees. DPW is the largest department in the state, and I won't accept that we can't find some inefficiency there to cut and help reduce our budget by I'd guess hundreds of millions of dollars."
"And raising the possibility of legalizing video poker and taxing the receipts to help students pay for higher education is yet another classic case of our governor offering unrealistic expectations to our families and college students. Pennsylvania residents are still waiting for the realization of the 2004 promise of property tax relief from slot machine gambling. If the object is to legalize video poker, then let's get it done. If the goal is to fund education, then we need to develop genuine, workable ideas on how to provide this help to families."
"Imagine if we cut all government spending back to the level of two years ago, this would effectively eliminate the deficit we now face. I realize this is a tough decision, but it is a realistic level of spending that the Commonwealth and its residents can afford."
Lowman Henry's initial reaction to Gov. Ed Rendell's 2009-10 budget: "Rendell has proven when it comes to the state budget he has no conscience."
Henry is appalled that Rendell wants to eliminate funding for the Scotland School for veterans' children in Franklin County.
"Governor, how low can you go? Using the children of veterans, many of them orphaned, as pawns in your budget game is about as pathetic a move as I have ever seen," Henry writes.
Rendell spoke of shared pain in his new budget, but aren't there other areas in the bloated state budget that should be cut first?
Henry lists a few places to cut: Money for soccer stadiums, money to produce soft core porn films, money for Rendell cronies at SEPTA, and tax dollars for Rendell's former law firm.
"This is only the first shot in what will be a long battle by Rendell to fight for his big government spending agenda," Henry writes. "Look for more of the helpless and needy to find their state benefits stripped away as the governor seeks to turn up the pressure on the legislature to inflict yet another job crushing tax hike on we the people of Penn's woods."
Another month, another depressing tax collection report from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
Acting Secretary of Revenue Stephen H. Stetler announced Monday that Pennsylvania collected $2.2 billion in General Fund revenue in January, which was $261.7 million, or 10.7 percent, less than anticipated.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $13.3 billion, which is $1.1 billion, or 7.5 percent, below estimate, Stetler announced.
With five months left in the 2008-09 fiscal year, Pennsylvania may have to revise its projected deficit yet again. The most recent guess by Gov. Ed Rendell is that the state will finish the fiscal year with a $2.3 billion deficit.
A few highlights (or should I say lowlights) from the January revenue report:
* Sales tax receipts totaled $799.6 million for January, $55.9 million below estimate. Sales tax collections, year-to-date, total $5 billion, which is $238.5 million, or 4.5 percent, less than anticipated.
* Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in January was $1.1 billion, $141.2 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $5.7 billion, which is $275.9 million, or 4.6 percent, below estimate.
* January corporation tax revenue of $103.3 million was $18.1 million below estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $1.5 billion, which is $152.8 million, or 9.4 percent, below estimate.
For a Republican perspective on the massive budget debt under Gov. Ed Rendell, check out recent posts containing information from Rep. Sam Rohrer (R-Berks) and Rep. Curt Schroder (R-Chester).
Here's a perfect example of how massive Pennsylvania government has grown, especially in the past six years under Gov. Ed Rendell.
Auditor General Jack Wagner announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, through its county assistance offices, failed to make proper Medicaid eligibility determinations on more than 1,600 Medicaid applicants between January 2005 and March 2008, resulting in $3.3 million in improper payments made on behalf of ineligible recipients.
"A dollar wasted is a dollar that could have gone to help a truly needy person receive the medical assistance he or she deserves," Wagner said in a statement. "With the commonwealth facing widening budget deficits, the Department of Public Welfare must do all that it can to monitor the state's Medicaid program, to make sure all funds are being spent efficiently, effectively, and for their intended purpose. I strongly urge DPW to take immediate steps to tighten its administration and oversight of this vitally important program to ensure that people who are eligible for Medicaid benefits will be able to receive every dollar they're entitled to for their care."
PA businesses: 'Government cannot tax its way back to prosperity'
The Pennsylvania Business Council, representing organizations whose members employ most of the state's 5 million private-sector workers, weighs in on the state's current fiscal crisis.
Business leaders are worried that Harrisburg politicians will resort to higher taxes to dig themselves out of the financial hole they had a hand in creating.
"We can't have 1991 all over again when the government tried to tax its way back to prosperity," said David N. Taylor, executive director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association. "Increasing business taxes or business fees to pay for General Fund spending will only exacerbate the economic downturn and cost more jobs. We must get a handle on spending." In 1991, the state turned a $1 billion deficit into $3 billion of spending and new taxes. Most of that new tax burden fell on Pennsylvania's business community making Pennsylvania less competitive and less able to retain and attract jobs to the state."
You know I'm going to enjoy any editorial that begins with the words: 'The swaggering arrogance of Gov. Ed Rendell' ... and The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review doesn't disappoint with a commentary on Rendell's sweetheart deal for ousted state Rep. Dan Surra.
Surra, a longtime Rendell ally, was tossed by the voters in Elk and Clearfield counties in November, but wasn't out of work for long. Despite a hiring freeze imposed by Gov. Rendell himself, the gov found a job for Surra, who is now helping promote tourism at an annual salary of $95,000.
From the Tribune-Review editorial:
Fast Eddie said his hiring freeze didn't apply to him since he granted himself exceptions. He also told reporters to "get off your butts" and go up to a state woodlands area to ask the people there about Mr. Surra.
Such imperiousness as Pennsylvania faces a $2.3 billion budget deficit, layoffs of state workers and possible tax increases is despicable.
Surra had been the House Democratic Caucus administrator. And as Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, reminds, Surra voted for the 2005 legislative pay-jacking, to increase taxes and for Rendell's bloated budgets.
Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner has faulted the Department of General Services for "weak leadership, incomplete record-keeping and little accountability" in how 16,000 state vehicles were being assigned and maintained.
"With the commonwealth facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, DGS must seize the wheel and take control of Pennsylvania's vehicle fleet, to save taxpayer dollars and to ensure the public that the privilege of operating a state vehicle is not being abused," Wagner said in releasing his findings.
Wagner said reforms must address three main deficiencies: program decentralization, lack of proper documentation, and lack of transparency.
He recommended eight steps that DGS should take to improve leadership and accountability.
Follow the link below to read more about the state's mismanagement of 16,637 vehicles. It's your money.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting today that Pennsylvania's fiscal picture has significantly worsened, with the General Fund budget deficit now projected to reach $2.3 billion by June 30.
Gov. Ed Rendell announced at a press conference that continuing job losses and other bad economic news from the ongoing recession have reduced state revenues such as personal income taxes and sales taxes, according to reporter Tom Barnes.
The budget deficit has been a moving target since Rendell first acknowledge last fall that the state's budget was in the red.
Rendell's previous estimates that the deficit would reach $1.6 billion was replaced by another guess that it could top $1.9 billion, Barnes reports.
Rendell now says the deficit will reach at least $2.3 billion, according to Barnes, who says Rendell disclosed two additional steps to erase the added $700 million in deficit.
The first is a handout from the federal government to cover the state's out-of-control Medicaid spending.
Rendell anticipates the state's allocation of federal aid for Medicaid to be more than the previous $900 million over two years -- perhaps as much as $2 billion to $4 billion over a three-year period, Barnes writes.
Secondly, Rendell wants the Legislature to give back $175 million of its current $200 million "budget reserve" that it has been hording in recent years, Barnes say.
Rendell may also propose layoffs or unpaid furloughs for state workers in fiscal 2009-10, which starts July 1, according to Barnes.
Don't you think Rendell wishes he had some of that $8 billion he squandered over the past eight years? That would cover the state's deficit and then some. Can we lay off Ed Rendell for the last two years of his term? And sending the Legislature home would save taxpayers $300 million a year. Anybody have a better idea?
And you wonder why Pennsylvania is facing a potential $2 billion budget shortfall?
Gov. Ed Rendell continues to defend the hiring of political crony Dan Surra to a $95,000 patronage job despite a hiring freeze that has left 5,000 other state jobs unfilled.
Rendell himself admitted this week that the state's General Fund deficit will likely reach $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion by the the end of June. Republican lawmakers say the deficit could top $2.1 billion.
"Everyone has to understand that what has happened leaves us no option," Rendell said this week. "We're going to have to cut virtually every program that there is."
But giving a $95,000-a-year-job to an ousted state lawmaker is not among the cuts Rendell is willing to make.
Reporter Brad Bumstead has more on Rendell's hypocrisy and "Go to hell" attitude toward Pennsylvania taxpayers in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
From Bumstead's article:
"Let me stress, I reserved the right when I announced the hiring freeze to make exceptions," Rendell told reporters while visiting the Pennsylvania Farm Show. During a speech at the farm show, he boosted his predicted budget deficit for 2008-09 from $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion.
Rendell said he did not create a special job for Surra, but he acknowledged the DCNR job was not posted and others weren't considered.
The Democratic governor's decision to hire Surra, a Democrat who failed to win re-election to the state House of Representatives in November, has been universally panned by the state's newspapers.
THORNS to Gov. Ed Rendell for creating a job for a former state legislator, violating a hiring freeze imposed during the current state budget crisis ... Rendell also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget to help offset a projected $1.7 billion shortfall this fiscal year. Creating a job for an ousted legislator in this fiscally-stressed environment was a slap in the face to state taxpayers. The governor should know better.
Pennsylvania tourism officials are trying to maximize the state's hold on Groundhog Day with the debut of a new Web site, www.groundhogdreams.com
Be warned: The site takes forever to load. And how this site is supposed to attract tourists to Pennsylvania is beyond me. But then again, I'm one of those people who has a hard time justifying spending other people's money especially tax dollars on a ridiculous Web site.
Let's just say the Rendell administration's latest waste of taxpayer money on "groundhog dreams" will probably give you nightmares.
(Apparently I'm not the only one who feels that way. Check out this post -- We spent taxpayer money on this #@!$? -- at POLICY BLOG
To see the original state press release, follow the link below:
Mention the words "hiring freeze" or "layoffs" to union members and they develop a heightened sense of fiscal responsibility.
Faced with the prospect of losing public sector jobs if the state's fiscal crisis deepens, the union representing 20,000 Pennsylvania human services employees has come up with suggestions to save taxpayers millions of dollars.
The union is upset that Gov. Ed Rendell won't sit down and listen to its ideas. Instead Rendell has imposed a hiring freeze on most state jobs.
The quickest way to save money, argues SEIU Local 668, is to end private contracts.
"It is time for this administration to open the books and disclose the huge amounts of taxpayer money being wasted on private contractors," said union president Kathy Jellison. "Our members can do this work more efficiently -- and at a lower cost to the taxpayers. There is no justification for these private contracts, when our members can do a better job and have more experience at providing the same services. We believe this is why vital human services have not been fully funded in Pennsylvania."
I'm confused. Isn't the state turning to private contractors to save money?
It sounds like the union workers are turning on the hand that has fed them for the past six years.
Read the union's full press release at the link below:
While nearly every corner of Pennsylvania is hurting during the current economic decline, the pain has not reached the Pennsylvania Legislature, concludes The Mercury in an editorial published in today's edition.
The Legislature not only spent $316 million on itself last year, but it has managed to siphon off more than $200 million in taxpayer dollars in private legislative accounts.
Those numbers are sobering considering that Pennsylvania has spent $658 million more than it took in as of Nov. 30. The projected budget deficit is between $1.6 billion to $2 billion by next spring.
From The Mercury's editorial:
How can state lawmakers possibly justify keeping that much money in the bank when services are being cut across the board, when the city of Philadelphia is closing libraries and swimming pools used by children, and when places like Pottstown are forced to make decisions on cutting economic development and fire protection?
Pennsylvania stands out in its inefficiency and wasteful spending within state government. Nearly all other states return their legislative surpluses to the general fund at year's end. That's in any year.
In a year like this when spending is being slashed in municipal, county, and state-funded services, there is no excuse for the Legislature sitting on a surplus.
No excuse except the one we hear too often — because that's the way things are done here.
For the past two Sundays, Eric Heyl, a columnist for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, has been urging readers of the newspaper to clip a coupon at the end of his column and send it off to Harrisburg.
Heyl wants members of the Pennsylvania Legislature, among the highest paid in the nation, to take a 5 percent pay cut in light of the state's massive budget deficit, which is projected at $1.6 billion to $2 billion. (Nearly every member of the Legislature voted in favor of Gov. Ed Rendell's $28.3 billion budget despite warnings that it would bleed red ink before the fiscal year is out.)
While some lawmakers have volunteered to give back the 2.8 percent cost-of-living pay rise that kicked in Dec. 1, Heyl said they need to go further and take a salary cut.
The coupon reads as follows:
YES! I want more than political posturing from my elected state officials.
Quit patting yourselves on the back for not accepting your COLA and show people you're really willing to sacrifice. Take a 5 percent pay cut like your brethren lawmakers in Florida.
Then roll up your sleeves, get to work, and save the people you work for -- that would include me -- some real money.
Do I have your pledge that you will start by cutting some of the $300 million budgeted this year just to operate the state House and Senate?
I expect a response at your earliest convenience.
Heyl got the idea for the pay cut request after a reader informed him that Florida state legislators volunteered to reduce their salaries.
Florida legislators earn about $31,000 annually, Heyl writes. The base salary for Pennsylvania lawmakers is $78,315 if they accept the COLA, $76,313 if they decline it, Heyl says.Read Hey's initial column, "Send this coupon to your legislator," here.
Read Heyl's follow-up column, "Not too late to send this coupon to legislators," here.
Amazing when Gov. Ed Rendell signed the $28.3 billion General Fund budget back in July he had no inkling that it would sink the state into a huge fiscal hole.
The red ink is flowing to the tune of $658 million so far and is expected to top $1.6 billion by the end of the fiscal year in June 2009.
For more on Rendell's budget shenanigans, check out "Rendell's wicked game" by Matthew J. Brouillette posted at the Capital Domes blog on the Central Penn Business Journal Web site.
Gov. Ed Rendell has spent months going over the state budget and has come up with $439 million in proposed cuts to stem the massive red ink pouring from the 2008-09 General Fund budget.
The current budget deficit has already topped $658 million in just the first five months of the fiscal year. Projections have the deficit reaching $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year in June 2009.
At a recent press conference the governor asked for help in finding more cuts.
Eric Epstein, coordinator of RocktheCapital.org, a Harrisburg-based reform group, has answered the call. Epstein has released a list of $313 million that can be cut in state spending without impacting Pennsylvania residents.
Among the cuts:
Liquidate non-lapsing, leadership accounts $241.5 million
Eliminate Public Service Announcements by lawmakers: $1.35 million in annual savings
Reduce PHEAA funding by the amount spent on "lobbying fees": $1 million
For the full list, click here. Also visit RocktheCapital.org for more on the group's efforts to reform state government.
Gov. Ed Rendell must be running out of fingers to plug the leaks in the budget dike he and Pennsylvania legislators created this year.
Just five months into the current fiscal year, officials are reporting a $658 million deficit in the state's General Fund budget. If the current trend continues, the state would be facing a deficit of $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year.
Acting Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler reported Monday that Pennsylvania collected $1.6 billion in General Fund revenue in November -- $93.1 million, or 5.4 percent, less than anticipated.
It is the fifth month in a row the state took in less than it spent.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $9 billion, which is $657.9 million, or 6.8 percent, below estimate, according to Stetler.
"In light of the economic downturn that is affecting state revenues across the nation, Gov. Rendell asked staff to identify additional spending cuts on top of the $311 million identified in September," Budget Secretary Mary Soderberg said in a written statement, adding that Pennsylvania is weathering the "economic storm better than many states."
The tax revenue news is bad across the board.
From the monthly recap of tax revenues released by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue:
Sales tax receipts totaled $648.3 million for November, $24.7 million below estimate. Sales tax collections, year-to-date, total $3.6 billion, which is $115.8 million, or 3.1 percent, less than anticipated.
Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in November was $765.1 million, $4.2 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $3.8 billion, which is $76.6 million, or 2 percent, below estimate.
November corporation tax revenue of $51.2 million was $28.6 million below estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $815.7 million, which is $149.5 million, or 15.5 percent, below estimate.
Other General Fund revenue figures for the month included $60.3 million in inheritance tax, $1.8 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $330.6 million, which is $24.3 million below estimate.
Realty transfer tax was $24.3 million for November, $4.3 million below estimate, bringing the total to $157.2 million for the year, which is $27.7 million less than anticipated.
Other General Fund tax revenue including cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes totaled $93.7 million for the month, $2 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $443.7 million, which is $10.8 million below estimate.
Non-tax revenue totaled -$2.1 million for the month, $27.6 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to -$124 million, which is $253.3 million below estimate.
In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $256.9 million for the month, $43.2 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $1 billion, which is $112.5 million, or 9.8 percent, below estimate.
Republican lawmakers, including Mike Turzai, Curt Schroder and Sam Rohrer warned Rendell and their colleagues during the budget debate in June and July that the $28.3 billion General Fund budget would lead to massive deficits.
Teachers, government workers line up for pension bailout
The very last line in a story The Associated Press moved this week about the hit pension funds for teachers and state workers have taken in the recent stock market collapse should make every Pennsylvania taxpayer cringe.
"... state tax revenues for the current year are running hundreds of millions of dollars below expectations, and the decline in pension fund investments raises the likelihood taxpayers will have to pump in billions more to balance the retirement funds even without a cost of living adjustment," The Associated Press writes.
Pump billions more to balance the retirement funds?
Where do you think these billions will be coming from?
Pennsylvania taxpayers better get ready to dig deeper into their wallets.
There's a comment at the end of the article posted at The Mercury Web site from a woman who asks about the fairness of bailing out public sector workers when private sectors have to suffer.
Here's the comment:
"My husband and I have also posted high losses in our retirement (investments) fund (a fund which we had to save because we had no retirement fund). Who is going to bail us out, like we are expected to bail out the teachers and government workers??? We are 69 years old and have paid taxes all our lives and now we are expected to pay more taxes to bolster these pensions. It doesn't seem quite fair."
Below is the first press release from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. I hope it will be the first of many to come as Pennsylvania ushers in a new era of openness and accountability in government.
OPEN RECORDS OFFICE SETS RIGHT-TO-KNOW FEE STRUCTURE
HARRISBURG -- Citizens will pay between 10 cents and 25 cents per page for public records under a fee structure established by the new Office of Open Records, Executive Director Terry Mutchler announced Monday.
"The fee structure established by our office is a reasonable way to ensure citizens have meaningful access to the records of their government and that public bodies are able to recoup the actual cost of the copies," Mutchler said.
The Right-To-Know law, signed by Gov. Edward G. Rendell on February 14, 2008, established the Office of Open Records to implement and enforce the Act. The law, which fully becomes effective January 1, 2009, charged the Office of Open Records with establishing fees pursuant to a right-to-know request.
Under the fee structure, a Commonwealth or Local Agency will be permitted to charge only the actual cost of reproduction for blue-prints, color copies, odd-sized materials and downloading records to computerized discs.
An agency may not charge citizens for the time it takes to determine whether the record is a public record. An agency may not charge for searching or retrieving the documents. An agency also may not charge staff time or salary for complying with a right-to-know request, and an agency is precluded from charging fees to redact, or black out, information that is exempt under the law.
"Nationally, duplication fees are one of the most abused areas of any government access law and, quite often, high fees are just another way to deny citizens access to their government," Mutchler said. "This fee structure guards against that."
Citizens also can choose to inspect records rather than obtain copies, under the law.
The Office of Open Records encouraged Judicial and Legislative agencies, which can set their own fees, to adopt the fee structure set by the Office of Open Records to promote uniformity throughout the Commonwealth.
The complete fee structure and information related to the Office of Open Records and the new law can be found at http://openrecords.state.pa.us
The Wall Street Journal has published an excellent op-ed column by Steve Malanga, a senior editor at the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, about how states got themselves into a fiscal mess.
Are you listening, Ed Rendell?
Pennsylvania has run up a budget deficit of $565 million just four months into the current fiscal year. State lawmakers predict a deficit of $2.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year.
How did we get into this mess? When times were good, Gov. Rendell proposed budgets that increased spending at twice the rate of inflation. Since Rendell took office in 2003, state spending has risen by more than $7 billion. Rendell also borrowed another $3 billion.
Now that times are tough, tax revenues are shrinking dramatically. Rendell has proposed $300 million in cuts from administrative spending, but that won't put much of a dent in a $2.5 billion deficit.
Rendell isn't alone in screwing up his state's bottom line.
From Malanga's column:
From the end of the last recession in 2003 until this year, states collectively boosted general-fund budgets by an annual average of some 6.4%. In just 2006 and 2007 alone they added about $100 billion. During the period from 2003-2008, states also took on 38% more debt, increasing their collective indebtedness to $2.19 trillion.
Now it's cold-shower time. Earlier this year, in the spring, more than half of the states grappled with budget deficits amounting collectively to nearly $50 billion. Since then tax collections have fallen short of projections, producing further midyear budget holes in nearly two dozen states.
State Rep. Curt Schroder, R-Chester County, has an op-ed column in The West Chester Daily Local News on Pennsylvania's growing budget deficit, which has passed the $550 million mark in the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Schroder, who voted against Rendell's $28.3 billion budget, says the red ink is not caused by "the global economic meltdown" as Rendell claims, but by a pattern of overspending on the part of the Democratic governor.
From Schroder's column:
Pennsylvania's budget deficit, which analysts predict could reach as high as $2.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, was not created solely by the economic downturn as some would have you believe. Instead, it is the result of years of overspending in Harrisburg.
Gov. Ed Rendell's budgets have routinely increased spending beyond the rate of inflation. Now, to quote one controversial clergyman, "The chickens are coming home to roost!"
From 2002 to the current 2008-09 budget, spending increased by 38.6 percent while the rate of inflation only rose by 19.5 percent.
Schroder says the token cuts Rendell has offered to make so far are not enough. The entire budget must be reopened or the state will face a huge financial crisis in 2009.
From his column:
This entire budget, and the house of cards on which it is based, must be reopened. It needs to be re-examined from top to bottom by the General Assembly - the elected body of the taxpaying citizens of Pennsylvania.
There is no shortage of ideas worth exploring. We should use this opportunity to force some tough decisions and finally come to grips with unnecessary spending on programs that either don't work or only serve a narrow special interest. If we do not act now, Pennsylvania will face its own fiscal crisis of Wall Street proportions.
Read the full column, "Blames deficit on overspending," at the newspaper's Web site.
What is the most expensive state legislature in the country up to these days?
This just in from the House Democratic Communications Office on behalf of state Rep. Mike Hanna (D-Clinton/Centre):
Hanna resolution naming Jan. 11-17 'Snowmobile Safety Week' adopted in House
HARRISBURG, Nov. 12 – State Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Clinton/Centre, said a resolution he sponsored (H.R. 942) that designates Jan. 11-17, 2009 as "Snowmobile Safety Week" in Pennsylvania was adopted in the House today.
"People need to take safety precautions on a snowmobile, just like they do when driving other motorized vehicles," Hanna said. "Things like wearing a helmet and responding appropriately to weather conditions can mean the difference between having a great outdoor experience and having a serious accident."
He said in the first three months of 2008, there were 18 snowmobile accidents in Pennsylvania, with 15 injuries and 3 deaths reported.
"We need to promote responsible riding practices, such as avoiding alcohol and maintaining safe speeds, to make snowmobiling a safe and enjoyable activity during the winter season," Hanna said.
More than 40,000 people in Pennsylvania participate in snowmobiling, contributing $160 million to the state's economy.
Excellent post at the Taxpayer Protection blog about how Harrisburg lawmakers continue to waste your tax dollars to send out promotional calendars to constituents.
State government is running more than $500 million in the red, but legislators won't cut out unnecessary spending such as calendars.
And you know who's fault it is? Yours. If you're one of the idiots who re-elected an incumbent on Tuesday, you get what you deserve. You're probably the same schmuck who authorized Ed Rendell to borrow another $400 million (the water/sewer referendum) to hand out checks to political cronies.
Check out "Budget deficit looming, but calendars still deemed essentially," at Taxpayer Protection.
Before you vote on Nov. 4, find out how Congressional candidates voted on fiscal issues. It's your money at stake. Send the same people back to Congerss and be prepared to pay more for failed government.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is urging Pennsylvania voters to reject a request by the Rendell Administration to borrow $400 million for water and sewer projects.
From an editorial in today's edition:
The language of the referendum is too vague. And its proceeds are ripe for political machinations. The money is tied to no specific project. What's to prevent Gov. Ed Rendell or legislative friends of the nearly half-billion dollars in new borrowing to direct this money to pet "economic development" projects in, say, the Poconos?
So, we're "against" infrastructure help, right? Wrong. It's just that there are better ways to finance these vital upgrades without yet again diving into the taxpayers' pockets so deep that the soles of their feet are cut.
Government-types are delusional if they don't think there's $400 million in state budget waste. And what about all that glorious be-all and end-all money from slots machines?
Pennsylvania voters will be asked Nov. 4 to approve $400 million in new borrowing for water and sewer infrastructure projects.
I'm voting NO on the referendum question and urge my fellow Pennsylvanians to do likewise.
The well has run dry under Gov. Ed Rendell. He has increased state spending my more than $7 billion since taking office in 2003. He has increased state debt by another $3 billion.
It's time to take away Rendell's credit card.
There are probably many worthwhile projects that need to be funded in Pennsylvania, but Gov. Ed Rendell and the free-spending state Legislature have squandered their credibility on spending issues.
I don't trust Rendell or the Legislature with my money. I will not support handing the Harrisburg bunch another $400 million.
Joe Hilliard, writing at The Lehigh Valley Political Blog, has similar sentiments:
Government is out of control. At all levels. And it is both parties that have contributed to the explosion of spending and debt at all levels of government. Politicians fund deficit spending with borrowed money, which will have to be repaid sometime. And for any debt incurred, double the cost to reflect the repayment obligations. Think the sub-prime mortgage market created a financial disaster? Wait till all levels of government collapse and can not borrow or borrowing costs explode. We are living beyond our means. We can either accept our responsibility to future generations and ease off our living on credit cards. Or we can keep maxing out our plastic until the bills MUST be paid and suffer grave consequences.
Pennsylvania voters will be asked Nov. 4 to approve $400 million in new borrowing for water and sewer infrastructure projects.
I'm voting NO on the referendum question and urge my fellow Pennsylvanians to do likewise.
The well has run dry for Gov. Ed Rendell. He has increased state spending my more than $7 billion since taking office in 2003. He has increased state debt by another $3 billion.
It's time to take away his credit card.
There are probably many worthwhile projects that need to be funded in Pennsylvania, but Gov. Ed Rendell and the free-spending state Legislature have squandered their credibility on spending issues. I don't trust Rendell or the Legislature with my money. I will not support handing the Harrisburg bunch another $400 million.
Joe Hilliard, writing at The Lehigh Valley Political Blog, has similar sentiments:
Government is out of control. At all levels. And it is both parties that have contributed to the explosion of spending and debt at all levels of government. Politicians fund deficit spending with borrowed money, which will have to be repaid sometime. And for any debt incurred, double the cost to reflect the repayment obligations. Think the sub-prime mortgage market created a financial disaster? Wait till all levels of government collapse and can not borrow or borrowing costs explode. We are living beyond our means. We can either accept our responsibility to future generations and ease off our living on credit cards. Or we can keep maxing out our plastic until the bills MUST be paid and suffer grave consequences.
State Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, a frequent critic of massive state spending under Gov. Ed Rendell, says time is running out to re-open Pennsylvania's red-ink budget to avoid a potential tax increase next year.
With only three scheduled session days remaining before the Legislature takes another break to campaign for the November elections, Rohrer cited a recent Pennsylvania Revenue Department report that shows September revenue collections were $160 million lower than anticipated. It was the third straight month the state spent more than it took in and there are still nine months to go in the current fiscal year.
The red ink means the governor and Legislature must re-open the $28.3 billion General Fund budget for 2008-09, Rohrer says.
"When I called for a zero-growth budget throughout the entire budget negotiations, and again when I called for the immediate re-opening of the out-of-balance budget just a few weeks ago, I did so based on the grounds that the out-of-control spending would need to be checked," Rohrer said in a written statement. "The recent release of September revenue collection numbers has confirmed my arguments for no new taxes, no new spending and no new borrowing yet again."
Rohrer said the state budget signed by Gov. Rendell is "effectively unconstitutional" because it "deliberately ignored clear economic predictions about the level of revenue that would be available to the Commonwealth."
Rohrer said he is not surprised by the September numbers "and neither should any of my colleagues or the governor."
Rohrer also said that tapping into the state's Rainy Day Fund to address any future budget deficit is illegal because the budget crisis was anticipated by state officials.
"Under these circumstances, draining the Rainy Day Fund is not an option," Rohrer said. "This fund is clearly reserved for unanticipated emergencies. If the governor continues to spend recklessly, we will certainly have an ever larger fiscal emergency on our hands, but it certainly will not be unanticipated."
The Associated Press reports that Pennsylvania is now facing a budgetary shortfall of up to $1.3 billion. Some lawmakers project a $2.5 billion deficit by 2010, which also happens to be Rendell's last year in office.
State spending has increased by nearly $8 billion since Rendell became governor in 2003.
Rohrer said Rendell's recent call for a hiring freeze, ban on out-of-state travel and reduced spending by state agencies is not enough.
"Now it is beyond absolutely clear that Gov. Rendell's arbitrary cost cutting in several departments was inadequate and short-sighted," Rohrer said. "Now is definitely the time for drastic spending reductions, rather than more lame duck excuses which will only lead to further inaction."
Rohrer said the state must re-open the budget and allow for legislative and public input to create a fiscally responsible, balanced, zero-growth state budget.
"With ever-increasing fuel and food prices, not to mention Pennsylvania's unaddressed school property tax crisis, even considering raising taxes or borrowing against the tax dollars of future generations is absolutely unconscionable," Rohrer said.
Specifically, the Service Employees International Union doesn't like the governor's recent hiring freeze, leaving some 5,000 state jobs vacant.
Government jobs has always been the trump card for tax-and-spend liberals like Rendell. Democrats who can't deliver government jobs don't have much else to offer.
But the good times are over for Rendell, who has increased state spending by nearly $8 billion since taking office in 2003.
The state is facing its worse fiscal crisis in 20 years, thanks largely to Rendell's free-spending ways over the past six years.
Pennsylvania has run up a $281 million budget deficit in just the first three months of the 2008-09 fiscal year.
If the trend continues, the state is facing a $1 billion deficit. The only way to make up the shortfall is to cut services (and jobs) or raise taxes.
Rendell pushed through a $1 billion increase in the state income tax as soon as he took office in 2003. He'll probably call for a much bigger tax increase after the Nov. 4 election.
If you like paying higher taxes, keep the Democrats in control of the state House. If you want to stop Rendell, send more Republicans to Harrisburg on Nov. 4.
Follow the link below to read the union's "sky-is-falling" press release about the hiring freeze:
It's not looking any better for Gov. Ed Rendell's deficit budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
For the third month in a row, the state took in less than it spent.
The three-month deficit in Rendell's $28.3 billion budget now totals $281.4 million.
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue today released its monthly revenue figures, showing Pennsylvania collected $2.3 billion in General Fund revenue in September, $163.8 million, or 6.5 percent, less than anticipated.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $5.8 billion, which is $281.4 million, or 4.7 percent, below estimate, Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf said in a written statement.
"September is the first significant collections month of the fiscal year, as quarterly corporation tax and personal income tax estimated payments were due this month," Wolf said. "Pennsylvania has weathered the economic storm better than other states, but it's clear that the uncertainties in the national economy are affecting our tax collections in Pennsylvania."
Earlier this month, Gov. Rendell ordered a hiring freeze and a ban on out-of-state travel and instructed most state agencies to reduce spending by 4.25 percent to save about $200 million.
But those savings won't even cover the $281.4 million running deficit and there are still nine more months to go in the fiscal year. Republican lawmakers want to re-open the $28.3 billion budget to find more places to cut.
Congress is working on a plan to spend $700 billion to bail out greedy corporate CEOs and Wall Street speculators.
I have a better idea. I would like to see Congress send a check for $50,000 to every American household. Let's bail out working people instead.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are 140 million households in the U.S. So multiply 140 million by $50,000 and you come up with $700 billion, the exact amount Congress wants to spend to bail out corporations.
If you send the money to working Americans, you know where it went. People can pay off part of their mortgages, start a college fund for their kids, buy a new car or make repairs to their homes. At the very least they can use the money to heat their homes this winter.
That money goes right back into the economy and helps prevent a recession.
If you sink $700 billion into corporate America, you have no accountability for that money.
Let's send Congress home this weekend and hold a national referendum. Let the American people decide.
Do we bail out the American worker who is the victim of corporate greed and government collusion or do we bail out the very people who created the crisis?
Tony Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. Phyrillas has won several national and state awards for his columns. Phyrillas has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and in The New York Times and is a frequent commentator on radio and television programs. He co-hosts "Talking Politics with Tony Phyrillas & Mike Pincus" Thursdays at 5 p.m. on WPAZ 1370 AM.
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Independent reviews of Obama's claims of job created by the stimulus bill show that the government is making up numbers. As Rep. Joe Wilson so aptly said it, "You lie!"
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