Lost opportunity: Corbett's choices will hurt Pennsylvanians
Share with others:
Last year, at his inauguration, Tom Corbett took office with a desire to "unleash a new common prosperity to benefit all Pennsylvanians." Two budget proposals later, it's hard to see how the governor is doing his part.
His second plan, $27.1 billion for 2012-13, reads much like the first, with deep funding cuts and a cold shoulder toward new revenues. He called his budget "lean and demanding," but it looks more like a lost opportunity.
For the second year in a row, Mr. Corbett refuses to consider a severance tax on deep natural gas drilling, a booming energy sector that routinely pays the tax to support other states in which it operates. But the governor, true to his no-tax-hike pledge, refuses to let Pennsylvania go that route.
Faced with a possible revenue shortfall of $700 million at the end of June, Mr. Corbett would rather cut funding for public universities, student aid and highways and bridges. He wants poor children and disabled adults to forgo cash assistance. And he would slash money by double-digit percentages to the key departments of environmental protection, community and economic development, and labor and industry.
The governor raised the same specter of red ink last year for his initial budget cuts, yet the state ended up with a $785 million surplus. In other words, Pennsylvanians beware.
The most disappointing part of Mr. Corbett's budget message Tuesday was his continued failure to detail a solution to the state's transportation funding crisis, which will bring seismic shocks in September to Port Authority transit customers.
Mr. Corbett noted in his speech that he has spent "significant time considering this issue" and "developed some workable solutions," and that they will be possible only with the help of the General Assembly. But later in an interview on KDKA radio he said he wants to "see if there's the will in the Legislature to do something,"
Excuse us, governor, but ever since your own Transportation Funding Advisory Commission made $2.7 billion in recommendations in August, it's been clear that many legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, have the will and were waiting to see yours. After your big budget moment, Pennsylvania still waits.
That raises the broader question of whether the state, under Mr. Corbett, can cut its way to prosperity. The governor promised a new jobs plan, for instance, with details soon to come. But what success can JOBSFirst PA have if the state cuts funding to Pitt, Penn State and Temple universities by 30 percent, and Slippery Rock, Indiana and Edinboro universities by 20 percent, while leaving commuters stranded at bus stops where no buses stop?
Yet here's a governor who said, again at his inauguration, that "the best way to make us competitive -- is to make us competitive in education."
Are Mr. Corbett's cuts any way to prepare students for the workplace? Are they any way to get people to work? Are they any way to spur business in Pennsylvania?
The Corbett administration prides itself on making tough choices. But some sacrifices are tough without being smart. Tough choices in service to a campaign promise may be good politics, but they can be bad for Pennsylvania. It's time for Tom Corbett to stop running and start governing.
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
