PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, privatization’s champion in the legislature, conceded Tuesday that he did not have enough support in the House to get the measure approved before lawmakers’ summer break. He vowed to try again this fall…
Gov. Corbett, who also wants to privatize, agreed, saying, “Fall is a better time to complete this.” He said other matters are taking precedence now, such as negotiating a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1…
The opposition was roughly the same alliance that has swatted down previous pushes over several decades to get the state out of the alcohol trade: legislators who believe liquor should remain a heavily regulated industry, and others (mostly Democrats) with organized-labor loyalties who see privatization costing thousands of LCB workers good-paying jobs. For the few hours that Turzai’s bill was debated last week, members of the union that represents 3,000 LCB retail clerks jammed the Capitol Rotunda wearing T-shirts emblazoned, “I won’t drink to the Turzai tax.” …(more)
