HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Op Ed: Pennsylvania’s lottery is the only one in the country dedicated entirely to meeting the needs of its older citizens. Good thing: Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest share of people over 60 years of age in the nation. Demand for services will mushroom as Baby Boomers age, life expectancy increases, and shrinking families struggle to care for their loved ones….
As Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging, I oversaw programs the Lottery finances. In the 1990’s, when the state’s premiere aging programs faced similar demographic and financial challenges, I helped develop the “Lottery Fund Preservation Plan” that preserved Lottery-funded programs by cutting unnecessary spending and reigning in rapacious prescription drug prices…
Why privatize a program long heralded as well-run, with the second lowest administrative overhead (3.5 percent) among the 10 largest state-run programs in the country, yielding record returns for older Pennsylvanians the last two years? Why no open discussion, vetting of projections or cost-benefit analysis? (The “impartial” adviser who oversaw the bidding stands to gain a reported $30 million dollars or more if the privatization occurs). Think what $30 million could fund in services for the elderly… (more)
EDITOR: The answer is simple. It is estimated that Gov. Tom Corbett will need to raise as much as $30 million for his 2014 re-election campaign. Privatizing state functions can be a means to generate major contributions from those who benefit. This is a man whose campaign collected over a million dollars from Marcellus Shale interests and who refuses to tax extractions as do all other relevant states. He also reportedly accepted $600,000 in campaign contribution from persons associated with Jerry Sandusky’s Second Mile Foundation at the same time Corbett as attorney general was dragging his feet with the Sandusky investigation. Would you buy even a new car from this guy?
