From the December 19, 2016 LNP:
“Lnp Points Spotlight Toward Harrisburg
Launches New Publication, The Caucus, To Investigate Waste And Fraud In The Capitol About The Caucus
Members of the General Assembly will return to Harrisburg to be sworn in to new terms Jan. 3.
The Caucus, a new publication of LNP Media Group, will be waiting on their desks.
The weekly newspaper’s mission is to make Pennsylvania a better place to live and work by exposing waste and fraud in state government through investigative reporting and analysis…”
What the heck is a Lancaster newspaper, with the motto “Always Lancaster” doing with a news bureau in Harrisburg?
On the surface, given the notorious systemic corruption of Pennsylvania state government (according to Fortune Magazine, the fifth worst in the nation), this would be welcome news and a sign of altruism and journalistic courage on the part of LNP and Steinman Communications, its publisher.
But we fear otherwise.
Two extraordinary actions by the State legislators over the past decade have heaped riches upon the apparently faltering financing conditions of the family.
The first was the legislation, buried in an Act on other subjects, that removed the ban against the State providing financial assistance to a convention center in close proximity to a private convention facility, in this case the Host Farm. This made possible the Marriott hotel public give away of which the Steinman family has a half interest.
The second is the CRIZ program that appears framed to benefit Lancaster, thus bailing out the Convention Center with a $5 million gift for renovations (a normal reserve omitted from the original financial projections to mislead the public) and providing a big gift towards the expansion of said downtown Marriott Hotel.
The Steinman family has very large downtown holdings that could benefit from further State largesse. Investing say $150,000 a year for muscle in Harrisburg and thus influence over the legislators, administration and judiciary is a good investment when potential benefits amount to tens of millions of dollars.
Let’s hope this is not the motivation. Time will tell.
Alas, if so, what voice will be raised to hold them to account? Even NewsLanc may be gone.
Now that’s what I call investigative journalism.
When spring comes, my house goes up for sale and I am gone! Can’t afford and don’t want to live here! Let them pay their own taxes, I refuse!! Good luck to the rest of you!.