By Dick Miller
WE CONNECT DOTS: Not so long ago (late July, early August) Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the state legislature were patting themselves on the back for passage of the 2016-17 budget in normal time.
Normal time compared to the 2015-16 budget which did not get resolved until February of this year. That state budget continues to be defined more as the “budget that never was,” adopted questionable tactics and did not eliminate shortfalls down the road.
Procrastinations, a popular procedure that gained new status since Gov. Wolf took office, came into play in the 2015-16 financial program. The pension crisis did not get solved, public education and other programs suffered from financial underfunding without offsetting legislation that would rein in such expenses.
The current budget (2016-17) is even more out of whack, to no one’s surprise. Revenues have not met projections. That killer pension demand still lingers for school districts and state employees.
Now we learn about a funding crisis in the unemployment compensation program in the current budget.
“Not new and unforeseen” per state Labor and Industry Secretary Kathy Manderino. She claims the administration has been asking for the $57.5 million in funding to continue paying staff that deals with unemployment claims since April.
The request for those funds did pass the House but was ignored by the Senate, reports John Finnerty, Harrisburg correspondent for CNHI. Both House and Senate are solidly in Republican hands, but that is not the only time they have been unable to agree on legislation.
Apparently, Gov. Wolf believed this financial shortfall did not outweigh concern to have a budget in place by the time Democrats rolled into Philadelphia for their national convention.
Because of this impasse, Wolf may be forced to lay off 600 employees, just in time for the holidays. Republican lawmakers claim the state can grab the needed monies from the state unemployment compensation fund.
If Wolf does not do this, expect a court battle.
Finnerty writes Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Alaska are the only three states where employees contribute to their own unemployment fund. The legal issue will be whether administrative costs, such as payroll, are permissible under the rules of the trust fund.
New revenue taps in the current budget include an expansion of gambling and wine sales and more cigarette taxes. If the shortfall to the unemployment program sticks, Republican lawmakers could also nail citizens more likely to be Democrats.
They continue to be able to play Wolf to their advantage. His term expires in January, 2019. Today he appears as likely to be a one-termer as Republican Tom Corbett. Wolf prevented Corbett from winning a second term in the election of 2014. Neither appear to demonstrate leadership, staffs are incompetent, no one listens or a combination of these traits.
Corbett was so out of touch he could not get his programs across with both houses in his party’s control. Wolf cannot seem to take advantage of a situation where a GOP House and a GOP Senate see eye-to-eye.
Bottom Line: Politically, the Republicans are not through beating up the Democrats.
The new legislative sessions show Republicans holding the largest margins in modern history. They captured three new seats in the House extending their hold to 122 to 81. The GOP also captured three Senate seats this year to go up 34 to 16.
Republicans are within 14 seats of a veto-proof majority in the house and already enjoy such status in the Senate. If they reach that goal, it will not make a difference if a weak or strong governor occupies the top office.
Right-to-work, less funding for poor school districts, privatization of education, booze, the lottery and infrastructure are only a vote or two away.
For Democrat politicos, no good signs exist.
They might benefit from a backlash. Republicans needed support from Trump Democrats this year to win Pennsylvania. To keep that populist status, they may need to throw the Dems a bone or two.
Democrat lawmakers either don’t see the big picture this way or are more concerned with keeping their soft jobs. Apparently, they continue to ignore alternatives to Republican goals or do not wish to shed political capital promoting such programs.
Recently, they all returned to Harrisburg and re-elected, without opposition, the same minority Democrat leadership in the House and Senate.
