CORBETT’S THREE FOR THREE
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett got his third budget on time for the third time. This is in stark contrast to the Rendell era when the Budget was habitually late. The GOP has said this was a victory because it spends more on education (throwing good money after bad) prisons and reduced the business tax. Corbett signed the budget which passed in the House 111 to 92 and 33 to 17 in the Senate.
The Democrats said that by not increasing more money for education (again throwing more good money after bad) property taxes would have to increase by local school boards. Democrat Kevin Haggerty from the Lac says this: “Voting 'No' on the Pennsylvania Budget. Cuts to Education and across the board cuts to Human Services, simply won't allow me to vote yes. I believe in job growth and fiscal conservative ideology, but our children come number #1 for me- but not in this budget they don't.”
State Senator Jake Corman said, "This is the second year that we have been able to continue funding for the State Related Universities at current levels and continue our commitment with those schools to keep tuition increases down. Higher education provides a great benefit for the Commonwealth and I am glad we can continue to support these institutions and students."
While Corbett went three for three with an on time budget, he took three strikes on three big issues he touted in his budget message. Liquor privatization, Transportation Overhaul and Pension overhaul were stalled by disagreements even within his own party.
So in a way, you can say this was a political mixed bag for Corbett. He said he looked at a budget like a football game and that this was the first quarter. Kind of weak, I can’t imagine Ed Rendell or Tom Ridge saying that. The issues were pushed to the fall session. Senator Dominic Pileggi said maybe the Transportation bill could be revisited and the other big agenda item, Medicaid Expansion isn’t even being looked at by the House.
Does this bode well for Corbett’s re-election bid? It will depends on what happens with the fall session but Corbett can point to three budgets that came in on time and controlled spending increases. Corbett can also counter Democratic criticism because the budget increases spending by $719 million, or 2.6 percent, over last year's approved budget, largely for health care for the poor, social services, prisons, public schools and public employee pensions.
The biggest winner was Kathleen Kane. The Attorney General’s office which got $2.5 million in state funding for a mobile street crime unit, which seeks to dismantle gangs across the state. Democrat John Yudichak, and Republican state Representative Tarah Toohil, announced the funding had been secured Sunday night. The funding will allow the Attorney General's Office to implement a mobile street crime unit with the aim of disrupting and dismantling criminal gangs in Pennsylvania.
Kane has said she wants to deploy the unit first in Hazleton. So it appears that the local beneficiaries of the State Budget are Democrats Kane and Yudichak and Sophomore lawmaker Tarah Toohil.