By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: – When is a deal not a deal?
Answer: When the agreement is made in Harrisburg.
A week or so ago, after a protracted meeting, participants emerged and announced that a bargain had been struck. House and Senate, Republican and Democrat legislative leaders and Gov. Wolf agreed on a budget that should be finalized by Christmas.
First to stray was Republican Mike Turzai, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Since the complex agreement did not include the firing of all liquor clerks at every state store in the state, Turzai was out.
Protection of the liquor store jobs is the obvious number one priority of Democrats in charge of getting the 2015-16 state budget passed. That the new budget does not include a severance tax on the oil and shale gas industry was uppermost in the minds of Republican budget bargainers.
Perhaps it is their “honor” that is at stake.
The retail clerks’ union showered Democrats with money and election support last year while oil and gas companies heaped coin on Republicans. All parties subscribe to that old axiom “Once bought, we stay bought.”
This, despite polls showing both sides are sailing into the wind on the matters they seek to protect. A slight majority of voters agree that if booze sales were privatized, prices and convenience would improve. Conversely, Pennsylvania is the only major producer of oil and gas without an extraction tax and about 80 percent of voters wonder why not.
Realistically, in this age of bullet-proof majorities created by gerrymandering of legislative districts, lawmakers ignore the will of the voters with less chance of retribution.
After the holidays, some school districts could close as they exhaust financial reserves or are limited by borrowings. A questionable scheme is underway as each school district applies to local banks for operating funds. PA law requires court approval for a school district to borrow funds for other than bricks and mortar. The districts are calling these borrowings “tax anticipation loans” which means (a) repayments will occur within the current operating year and (b) anticipated taxes that the districts themselves collect will provide repayment. “A” may likely not occur and “B” is not true.
Education itself is an interesting component of this year’s budget battle. Republicans, in general, want to see the power of teachers’ unions reined in, beginning with lucrative pensions and job security that no longer exist in the private sector. Republicans believe taxpayers cough up too many dollars for poor public education. Secretly, they think more competition from charter schools is necessary to upgrade quality and control costs.
Democrats believe the welfare of unionized public employees (see above for liquor store clerks) is more important than our ability to pay for such benefits. In addition, charter schools use mostly non-union teachers and write campaign checks to GOP lawmakers.
In Harrisburg, one side will either have to grow a pair or throw in the towel, or a combination of the two. Making a solution difficult are these factors:
(1) Some recently elected Republican legislators are Tea Baggers who appear to believe government services that cost any taxes are probably not necessary. As we said, the results of gerrymandering.
(2) Republicans not only disagree with Democrats but with each other. Turzai, shielded by the Tea Baggers, has his personal agenda. At one recent point, rumors were strong that Republican House Majority Leader David Reed threatened to begin a re-call of his normal “partner in crime.”
(3) Democrat lawmakers have been “out to lunch” during most of the legislative budget development process. They appeared focused on re-election and do not want to go into the 2016 campaigns with a history of voting for one more tax than necessary, governor-of-my-party be damned.
(4) Then there is Gov. Tom Wolf. With less than a year on the job, he has already been tagged as the most liberal governor in America. He continues to believe that his mandate in the 2014 elections was larger than down-ballot results that resulted in substantial gains for the GOP in legislative contests. Some pundits are already wondering if he can govern.
Bottom Line: Understand this. If any budget settlement relies on stop gap funding, then all debate on this year’s budget ends.
Current controlling force on the GOP side favors no new taxes. Stop gap funding will remove the incentive for those who are opposed to all new taxes to negotiate over new taxes.
Don’t sleep for long. Gov. Wolf is supposed to submit his 2016-17 budget in February.
Has Harrisburg become the under card for Washington?
