PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Column: Republican Gov. Tom Corbett touched off an internal party war by vetoing one-fifth of the state Legislature’s operating funds because the House and Senate hadn’t approved pension reform…
So why would Corbett anger fellow Republicans? A complex series of events over the past three and half years explains it — the Legislature has always been wary of Corbett, the former top state prosecutor who put many of their colleagues and former staffers in prison and campaigned against it in 2010. Corbett, who has acted like an attorney general while governor, brought much of this on himself by keeping his plans as secret as a grand jury indictment, remaining figuratively cloistered in the governor’s office, failing to grab the reins of power. Perhaps because of its history, he was too willing to defer to the Legislature to come up with a plan rather than lead…
Corbett clearly brought this specific budget predicament on himself when he said he wouldn’t sign a state budget without pension and liquor reform. He got neither. If he signed the budget he’d look weak and if he vetoed it he’d have a mess on his hands. Signing it, but also going after the Legislature, was his best option… (more)
