(This marks the 200th consecutive entry in weconnectdots.net. Nearly four years of bringing you every Sunday night articles mostly about PA government and politics. Running out of material will never happen in this state. Thank you for your continued reading.)
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Incumbent Republican Governor Tom Corbett will lose re-election on November 4, but that won’t stop the disingenuous, do-nothing state leaders from continued mayhem.
Not that there’s not important work to do.
Corbett said he would not sign the 2014-15 budget this summer unless the legislature tackled the pension problem. Then he signed it so lawmakers could go home and campaign.
Now he says he will call the legislature into special session after the election for pension reform. Republicans control both House and Senate and are more likely to leave the matter for new Gov. Tom Wolf to resolve in 2015.
In the meantime, local school districts and municipalities continue to reduce services and raise local taxes, due to Harrisburg’s non-performance.
The only state in more serious financial shape is New Jersey. Republican Gov. Chris Christie wrestles with a budget shortfall, credit rating worse than PA, high unemployment and casinos closing in Atlantic City when he is not running for President.
Speaking of the budget, another piece of work from the Republicans, the blueprint is “smoke-and-mirrors.” Even after borrowing from other funds, one-time transfers and delaying payments to vendors, the state has no chance of meeting all financial obligations through June 30, 2015.
Less than three months into the budget year, Corbett has already borrowed $700 million to meet current obligations. This is the earliest the state has had to borrow since 2001 when another Republican, Tom Ridge, was governor.
Four years ago, anti-union-no tax Republican governors and legislatures in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida swept into office. Only the Keystone state is floundering, as the others have made better use of a recovering economy.
Corbett likes to tout questionable new job figures while campaigning for re-election, yet revenues continue to lag behind budget projections for the state treasury. Thanks to new types of drilling, our state is regarded as the second richest mineral potential in the country. Thanks to Corbett and his Republican cohorts in the legislature, PA remains the only state without an extraction tax.
Seems like enough important tasks to keep Harrisburg busy in the few legislative days remaining before this two-year session ends November 30.
Other subjects, however, are likely to keep lawmakers occupied.
First, there is the bill introduced by Sen. Don White (R-Indiana) that would allow teachers to carry concealed weapons in the classroom. This proposal gets as much ink from mainstream media as budget and pension reform.
The bill hopes to prevent Columbine-type school massacres from happening here by turning teachers into first responders.
Another bill is designed to tilt the 2016 Presidential election to Republicans and will occur during a lame duck (probably Nov. 10-30) session even. A nationally directed GOP scheme changes the way swing states allocate Electoral College votes.
Electoral College votes would be awarded on the basis of total votes in each Congressional District rather than winner-take-all. In 2012 President Obama earned all 20 Electoral College Votes for Pennsylvania because he won the popular vote overall over Republican Mitt Romney.
The total of Electoral College votes for PA is now based on one for each of the 18 Congressional Districts and two more that every state gets regardless of size. In 2012, if Romney would have received half of the College votes in PA, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, we would be addressing him as President Romney today.
Obama carried PA handily in popular vote while Republicans won 13 of the 18 Congressional seats. Those results do not occur without gerrymandering of districts by self-serving lawmakers later backed by a corrupt appellate judiciary.
PA Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester and Delaware) will move that legislation in the lame duck session. His counterpart in the house, Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) promised his voter I.D. legislation would swing PA to Romney in 2012.
Bottom Line: Michigan is another state where gutting the winner-take-all Electoral College system is strongly in play. Changes in those two states alone will make the 2016 election a dogfight regardless of who the candidates are. Tom Wolf will inherit pension and budget woes, along with a legislature that remains in GOP control. Gridlock is not over.
