Corbett for governor: After Rendell, a Republican can break with the past
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For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. In this season of decision, Pennsylvania is full of calls for change, especially concerning fiscally responsible government. Many residents of the state would direct their new governor to the purpose of establishing an administration serious about cutting spending and limiting taxes.
PG AUDIO- Pensions: Corbett | Onorato
- Education: Corbett | Onorato
- Marcellus Shale: Corbett | Onorato
- Transportation: Corbett | Onorato
- Liquor Control Board: Corbett | Onorato
- Gun control: Corbett | Onorato
- Reforming Harrisburg: Corbett | Onorato
- Federal Health Care bill: Corbett
- Property assessments: Onorato
The candidates for governor are two accomplished public servants from Western Pennsylvania: Attorney General Tom Corbett, the Republican, and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the Democrat. But when it comes to the problems the winner will inherit, voters don't have the luxury of choosing an encouraging set of facts.
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As Gov. Ed Rendell finishes his eighth year in Harrisburg, little about the state's situation can cheer voters as they consider his replacement. The $28 billion budget -- supposedly passed by the July 1 deadline for the first time in eight years -- was a desperate act of creative assumptions, an absurdly unbalanced balanced budget.
In their triumph of hope over expectation, lawmakers approved the budget counting on a 3.2 percent increase in state tax revenues over 12 months, this in a still-troubled economy. The budget also assumed that the Legislature would OK a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas drilling, which the House achieved but the Senate did not.
Now Pennsylvania lurches on to a deficit next year estimated to be between $2 billion and $5 billion. Moreover, major needs in the vital areas of transportation and infrastructure go begging to the tune of $472 million, chiefly because the federal government refused to permit the tolling of Interstate 80 (an earlier budget assumption gone awry). Billions more are needed to repair Pennsylvania's crumbling roads and bridges.
First Published October 24, 2010 12:00 am
