PA House Democrats trying to lay their own failures on Corbett & the GOP

The PA House Democrats have had the spin machine working overtime since Corbett took office. They're constantly insisting that Corbett and the state GOP are to blame for every problem in PA, despite the reality that such claims are patently false. There's an endless wash of memos, newsletters, tweets, press releases and more from the PA House Dems constantly pounding every Pennsylvanian with this disingenuous message. It's too bad that our state Democratic Party refuses to be accountable for their own failures and won't own up to their mistakes. The fact that they're trying to pin the fruits of their own incompetence on the current administration is truly offensive to citizens' intelligence.


The PA House Dems obviously think the voters are very stupid. There's no other way to explain their sensationalized finger-pointing at the GOP. The Dems refuse to accept any responsibility for their own bad policies and the repurcussions of those choices. Voters are tired of the blaming on multiple levels, first and foremost because it's dishonest. The party owes us the truth but all they give us is childishly crafted misinformation. And to what end? Is this our punishment for voting in a GOP majority? It's almost as though the Dems have decided that by taking away their majority, we now warrant a blizzard of PR temper tantrums.


Rather than learn from their mistakes and come up with ways to do things better, the De rfuse to acknowledge those mistakes. They want to pretend that Pennsylvania was all sunshine, rainbows and unicorns until the GOP took charge but nothing could be further from the truth. For 8 years under the Ridge/Schweiker administration there was total GOP control. During that time, Pennsylvania added more than 380,000 jobs. Even during Rendell's first term jobs increased by 163,000 when the GOP still controlled the House and Senate. But when Democrats took over the state House and held the Governor's office from 2007 through 2011, the state lost more than 137,000 jobs. Unemployment in PA more than doubled under what passes for leadership from the state Democratic party, rising from 4.2% to 8.5%.


They should be telling us what they learned from their failures and how they will use that knowledge to do better by us, but instead they're sending out memos claiming that unemployment has risen half a percentage point due to Corbett. Most citizens would be happy if it had only risen that slightly during their tenure but we're presumably supposed to be incensed at Corbett. The actions of the PA House Dems are akin to an arsonist telling you that your house is burning because the fire department is taking too long to arrive on the scene.


That's really what all this comes down to: the Democrats caused far more harm than good but now want you to blame the Republicans for not being able to fix the mess. Rendell increased total state spending by nearly 40%, even after off-setting cuts in many areas. The 2009-2010 state budget represents an overall increase of more than 36% from 2002-2003 spending. They cut budgets for executive offices and conservation by more than 50%, community development by more than 20%, environmental protection by more than 30% and the historical and museum commission by more than 40% in what they presented as a "bare bones" budget. They even cut the budget for labor and industry by more than 20% overall despite the fact that unemployment in the state more than doubled.


Yet they increased welfare spending by more than 62% in the same period, even as they cut out critical oversight needed to prevent fraud. Auditor General Jack Wagner has fought to audit various aspects of welfare in PA for years now without success, all the while calling for improved oversight as well as procedural changes to prevent waste, also with no success. Pennsylvania deserves to have adults in charge, not whiny children who want to pass the buck on their failures. We also deserve leaders with enough integrity to admit when their policies fail and learn from their mistakes. The current crop of PA House Dems soundly escew both maturity and accountability in their ridiculous PR campaign against Corbett and the GOP. We can only hope that voters start holding them accountable for the misinformation campaign they're spreading and vote them all out.

Democratic lawmakers grandstanding and passing the buck on education cuts

School funding in Pennsylvania is an arcane property-tax based system long criticized by just about everyone. There are many repurcussions for all invloved and seem to be few, if any, good things about the system. Districts have unequal funding since property taxes are based on local millage rates. Some of the poorest, worst-performing school districts in the state share a border with some of the wealthiest and best. The students from the poor districts are stuck in failing schools despite being a stone's throw from successful ones. Taxpayers are held hostage by school board decisions and demands of unions, no matter how incompetent or unreasonable. People buy houses and pay them off, owning the home outright only to lose them to the county if they can't afford tax increases over which they have little to no control.


These aren't the only problems, nor are they new problems. But the state's current budget crisis has brought an entirely new dimension to light. After 8 years of Ed Rendell's utter incompetence as Governor, Pennsylvania has a $4 billion deficit. Rendell increased spending by about 40% over his tenure but none of that money appears to have been spent wisely. We lead the nation in bad roads and structurally deficient bridges. Our public transportation systems and schools lack dedicated funding. All we have to show for Fast Eddie's frivolous spending are crony contracts and overpaid politicians.


We've run out of money and our state is in worse shape in many areas than ever before. What passed for leadership from Rendell has been a complete failure in every sense, catapulting Pennsylvania into the bottom in many categories. Bring in Tom Corbett, barely sworn in as our new Governor, and his attempts to bring some fiscal sanity back to the Keystone state. Corbett actually increased state spending on education to the tune of $240 million. But temporary federal stimulus funds for education are no more, meaning that schools are getting $900 million less total. The Governor and the state legislature have no authority to force the federal government to hand out stimulus money to schools and did all they could by increasing education funding despite a $4 billion shortfall.


Sidebar: All school districts were well aware that the federal stimulus money was a temporary payout which would end in 2010. They only received the money for two school years, which means they knew damn well not to make any big or permanent changes that their budgets could not support after the stimulus funds were gone. They had no reason to believe these emergency programs would continue. They could easily have parceled out the windfall carefully so as to not spend it all immediately or they could have allocated the funding in ways in which it wouldn't be too sorely missed after it ended.

In addition, less than 30% of eligible Pennsylvania schools applied for federal grant money available to them for the current school year. And they are all well aware of the state's budget crisis. Yet they aren't taking any responsibility for their own fiscal mismanagement or poor planning. Instead they're laying sole blame on the Governor's administration. Corbett is being excoriated for not simply taxing an additional one billion dollars out of Pennsylvania's citizens in order to indulge the whims of school administrators and reward their bad behavior with stimulus funds.


It's lunacy, pure and simple. But just when we all assumed it couldn't get any more ridiculous, some do-nothing Democrats in the state legislature are trying to get school districts to sue Corbett for discrimination. Our arcane system of funding education primarily via property taxes means that some schools receive significantly less funding than others. The schools collecting less in property taxes depend much more heavily on the state budget's direct funding of education. Thus, poorer schools are losing more money without the federal stimulus funds than wealthier districts in more affluent areas.


Our schools certainly have some serious and immediate problems as a result -- an inequitable and questionable funding system, subpar adminstrative and leadership, and immediate funding needs, just to name a few -- but none of these are the fault of our new Governor, nor will they be solved in a courtroom. The suggestion to sue his administration reveals complete ignorance on the part of these state representatives. They clearly don't understand how our state funds education, nor do they seem to care. They are putting all taxpayers at risk of having to come up with a billion dollars that we don't have should the suit succeed (although under the circumstances, such a lawsuit would be so frivolous that seems highly unlikely). It's the lowest form of pandering on the parts of Rep. Bill Kortz and Marc Gergely.


Kortz and Gergely aren't truly concerned about education or else they would be proposing new ways to fund all schools equally. Both men are grandstanding with this hare-brained scheme to encourage school districts to sue taxpayers right into the poorhouse. It's nothing but cheap political scheming: Blame the GOP and if you say it enough times, these dumb voters will believe it, despite the fact that it's not true. Voters need to contact Kortz and Gergely to request their funding proposals. It will be interesting to see what they have to offer constituents besides cheap political shots and pandering, if they have anything else to offer. 

Overpaid retired politicians

Former House Speaker John Perzel is currently awaiting trial for allegedly spending taxpayer money on campaigns. He's accused of misusing more than $10 million in tax dollars to get himself and his cronies elected and re-elected. In fact, "the grand jury found Perzel went to great lengths to maintain control and expand his power through illegal means", according to the 2009 press release from then-Attorney General Tom Corbett's office. Perzel is is currently receiving more than $7,100 per month in pension (over $85,000 per year) in addition to a lump-sum payment of more than $200,000 received after his November defeat at the polls. And he won't have to repay any of it even if he's convicted on all charges.

Not at all for the people

Well at least you can't accuse him of beating around the bush. Allegheny County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn has announced his candidacy for Chairman of the State Democratic Party. Now, there are lots of reasons a person might give for wanting to be in politics. I'd like to think that they want to recruit the best candidates. And that they'd want to ensure that the wishes of the voters are being represented to the fullest. And that they want to make this a better place to live by attracting jobs, lowering taxes, finding better funding solutions. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Is it ever about the voters?

I often wonder if any of our public officials are truly pursuing office to help the will of the people come to fruition. There may be fewer in Pennsylvania than some other places but they're not unicorns; Surely a few do exist. The problem is, I'm having great difficulty finding them. Time after time in local elections, we appoint new judges who've never practiced law. We have district justices with no college education. We have representatives on the state & local level who've never held a job (outside of their lavishly compensated elected positions). How can they possibly make the best decision for Pennsylvanians when they know nothing of the struggles of the working class, have no idea how to run a business or create jobs, and have only a void where the voters have experience?

Democracy or Oligarchy?

As usual, lots of whining in Western PA lately. First it was all about the Mary Beth Buchanan, the US Attorney for Western PA. She's a Republican & the Democrats think she's picking on them because her office only investigates & prosecutes Dems.

Hate to state the obvious but since no other party ever takes office for anything in this area, there is no opportunity for corruption by anyone else, thus no need to investigate let alone prosecute a member of another party.

Now allow me to address the Pittsburgh trial of the century: the Wecht trial. I must begin by saying that Cyril Wecht has few fans more devoted than me. He is our very own Quincy, which is no small feat. Before CSI, I was into forensics. Before the Wecht School at Duquesne, I wanted to go to college to be like Quincy. It was a lifelong dream to be a chick Quincy, but that's a story for another day.

I'm sorry to say that my hero has abused his power, wasted taxpayer money on private endeavors & has reaped unjust rewards at the expense of us taxpayers. I'm sick of whiny party-mongers crying mountains out of molehills & how we should prosecute real crimes instead of hot dog runs.

The truth is that he abused his office & used public resources for private endeavors. That's illegal. The hot dog thing is silly on it's face but is just one very small part of a much larger & complex pattern of theft from the public. If the hot dog run was the only crime, then this would be a ridiculous trial. But it doesn't stand alone & is one of the least serious abuses in the collective.

Not only do we deserve better from our elected officials but we deserve better from our voting peers. Theft from taxpayers should never be championed, supported or rewarded but that's what all of these self-proclaimed supporters are demanding.

Saddest of all, one of those whiny diatribes was written by a well-established columnist at the Post-Gazette. (Don't be afraid to drop Brian O'Neill a line of thanks, as he is so astute at championing our local government waste.)

Thanks for championing accountability & ethics in our local government, PG. As always, you've done a steller job of helping the untouchable political oligarchy of the Dems pick our pockets & get away with it. Can't wait to see you're next slanted, meaningless, issues-devoid voter guide.

Raise Money, Not Taxes

The headlines have been full of coverage about recent flooding in communities north of Pittsburgh. Sadly, the focus hasn't even been so much on the repeated floods as much as the lack of funding to prevent future disasters.

After the horrendous floods caused by hurricane Ivan, small communities such as Millvale attempted to dredge creeks & streams to prevent future floods. The Army Corps of Engineers promptly put a stop to it, claiming that they alone have the authority to perform such work. Millvale for one was happy to relinquish the work to the ACE, but federal funding shortages & recent layoffs prohibited the ACE from doing the work.

As we approach the 3rd anniversary of Ivan's landing in Pittsburgh, these same communities are being flooded with every significant rain. Funding shortages are still keeping the work from being done.

Some geniuses have proclaimed that the government needs to move people from theses communities rather than help them to rebuild & prevent future problems. Personally, I think that's plain stupid, as these communities existed for decades with no natural disasters to speak of & are only experiencing them now because of upstream development. Instead of federal & state help, these communities should be receiving money from those who built upstream.

These developments are causing problems so they should be the ones paying to fix them. Let's face it, if you build something properly, then it shouldn't strangle the neighbors, right? So if your business, McMansion or whatever is destroying neighboring towns, then you did a pretty shitty job with the planning & execution. Therefore, you should pay to fix the problem & also reimburse those harmed by it.

And such a solution would take some time. After all, development in the northern suburbs of this city is rampant so how do we decide the percentage of fault to assign to each upstream community, business or McMansion?

But I digress, because that's a post for another day. My simpler & quicker solution is to "find" the money somewhere in the coffers of our state legislature. They can afford it. The benefits & perks awarded to them are grossly out of line with those offered in both the private sector & also those offered to similar legislatures in other states.

I'm working off of some old numbers here (from the beginning of the rescinded pay raise fury period & it's ensuing blizzard of media coverage), but I'm sure these numbers have only increased since then.

Our legislature costs the taxpayers more than 13 million each year just in car leases, per diems & health benefits. That's about 8.1 million in per diems & mine is a conservative estimation, allotting for 250 per diems per year & considering that 25% take the lesser amount because they live within 50 miles of Harrisburg.

That's 1.98 million in car leases, costing up to $650 per month each. That's more than a mortgage payment for a lot of people. That's 3.33 million in health benefits, while so many working Pennsylvanians have no health care coverage.

Did you know that we pay approximately $927.47 per month for each member's health & prescription coverage? That does not include what we pay for their dental, vision, life insurance or long-term care facility coverage.

In contrast, the employees at my small business are generously covered in health, prescriptions, dental, vision, life & disability for less than $500 bucks per month. Half of our covered employees have spouses & children on the plan, but still the total premiums paid each month average out to just $487 per covered employee.

We have modest copays, no pre-approval requirements, can visit any physician, specialist, hospital etc. (no exclusions) & no pre-existing condition limitations. Our dental plan is the Cadillac of dental coverage, with 100% in network coverage. Ou vision plan is an actual plan, not one of those phony discount cards. Every 3 years, we can get 2 pairs of frames or 2 years worth of contacts with no out-of-pocket expenses. Suffice to say that I'm not blowing smoke here, our coverage kicks ass & it costs less than half of what we're paying to cover the bums in the Harrisburg.

So if I, a lowly purchasing manager in a tiny, struggling steel fabrication shop, can shop a small group with 6 people & negotiate awesome rates such as this, why can't our elected leaders do the same?

I propose a volunteer board of working professionals be convened to oversee spending by & for our elected leaders. If they could negotiate a benefits package similar to my own, we could save the taxpayers 1.86 in just health expenses alone.

Furthermore, nobody with any business savvy or success would allow the unvouchered expenses - which could save untold millions.

Additionally, the per diems could be eliminated in favor of free lodging at select capital hotels at negotiated package rates. The car leases would be altogether abolished in favor of mileage reimbursement at the current federal rate & then paid only for trips to Harrisburg. After all, most people don't have a free commute on the company dime, why should these bozos?

Imagine how this money could be reinvested in our communities, saved & grown for emergencies, or used to lessen the tax burden.

Again, I ask my fellow voters, why not?

Once Upon a Time

I've been feeling a little uncomfortable about a recent post. I'm a firm believer that if you're going to criticize something you must also offer suggestions for improvement so I'm going to rectify my oversight right now.

The average citizen needs to view politics with a more critical eye. You don’t have to join things or campaign or do anything real involved. There are plenty of ways to make a difference without spending a lot of your time & energy. Some examples:

1. I routinely receive flyers from my state rep, touting his office as the place to go to have his staff fill out forms for you. Umm, that’s not what we pay them to do.

Why doesn't he/his staff organize professionals & organizations in the community to hold workshops on those topics? This is a win-win for everyone – you know, teach a man to fish & all that.

If a lowly construction purchasing manager can toss that out off the cuff after receiving just one stupid glossy brochure, then surely some fool in the politician’s office should have thought of it by now. If they have, they aren’t acting on it.

So to all of my neighbors: why are you still voting for this useless ball of muck? It’s not as though he’s accomplishing anything to offset such uselessness, as this is just one tiny, simple example of his gross negligence. If your productivity was nil, would you get to keep your job?

2. I’m sick & tired of hearing a person say that they don’t like a politician but voted for him because of (insert one tiny self-serving reason here, which doesn’t nearly come close to outweighing the harm he’s done). Instead of voting for someone you don’t truly support, vote for someone else then demand that the newly elected official (whatever self-serving thing you expect, regardless of the detriment to society as a whole).

Many local senior citizens like Rendell because of Pace, the state-subsidized prescription drug program that makes medications affordable for seniors. I know more than a few seniors whose only political comments pertain to how much he sucks as Governor, for various reasons. At the same time, every single one of them will admit that they “had” to vote for him because without him, their prescriptions would cost a lot more.

Well here’s a solution that will keep seniors in cheap meds & Rendell out of office in the future: Let’s all bombard our state reps/senators to demand that pharmaceutical companies stop lobbying politicians in PA. Rather than spending millions wining, dining & buying our politicos, the lobbyists should have to donate that money into a fund. That fund will then be used to subsidize the atrociously high cost of prescription drugs for PA seniors in the PaceNet program.

According to a 2006 article from the Post-Gazette, lobbyist spending increases each year, with the most dramatic increases coming from health & pharmaceutical companies. In the first quarter alone of 2005, drug companies spent $1.3 million. Imagine how many affordable prescriptions that would have subsidized.

3. Speaking of lobbyists, why are they allowed to even function? We're paying our politicians to do a job but then these special interest groups pay them much more to work against our best interests.

So let's require special interest groups to lobby the voters instead of the elected officials. The lobbyists would still have their puppets in office but at least the voters would be pulling some of the strings for a change.

Rather than spending millions wooing our politicians, the groups could spend that money on the masses. That PG article tells us that the health care lobby spent $9.1 million in the first quarter of 2005 alone. How many uninsured Pennsylvanians would have had health coverage if the money had been spent on voters instead of politicians?

In the same period, telecommunications lobbies spent $3.1 million. Just keep that in mind every time Comcast raises your rates or you write a $30 check for a landline you've used for less than 20 minutes this month.

4. Have you ever wondered why political & legislative information is so hard to come by? You hear soundbites in the media & irrelevant personal laundry aired in commercials during election season. The local newspapers pay lip service to voters by publishing disgustingly superficial voting guides. Other than that, you've got to search for any inkling of what's going on. There's a cumbersome system for looking up bills & votes on the state website. Certain groups publicize special interest issues on their own websites. But that's about the extent of it.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if there were a website that detailed our elected officials in their entirety? I've suggested this to various local media outlets, political watchdog groups, etc. but have not been able to generate any support whatsoever.

I truly believe that if the information were out there, more people would pay attention. It would have to be a non-partisan effort, giving out clean, clear facts with no editorializing. It should list each rep's resume, time in office & what they have accomplished. What legislation have they sponsored or spoken out against & what reasons did they give? It should list committee assignments as well as the person's role on the committee & the accomplishments of the committee. It should list all affiliated lobbyists, what they give & how much.

A handful of people from each voting district would be responsible for gathering facts, receiving submissions from the public & posting the information. It would take some time to set up, but once in place could be easily updated & archived. It would be a huge asset to the community. People would know real details, not just the dirt & fluff of election season TV spots. Imagine the change for the better with a better-informed voting populace.

The fact that such a useful, informative & powerful tool is of little interest even to the politically savvy is sad. We're living in political dark ages in the United States of America in 2007.

Respect Our Farmers

It seems to me that being a farmer is a pretty thankless job in many ways. It's hard work, it's not very lucrative & there are many obstacles outside of your control to worry about, like weather. We need farmers & the fruits of their labor. They should be respected, valued & appreciated in our society because they feed us.

But it seems that farmers are frequently getting shafted by local government regulations that favor sprawl. In the greater Pittsburgh area, there are frequent news stories about local farmers being unduly restricted or even driven out of business.

All too often, the stories are the same: Someone sells an old family farm to a developer who wants to build a lot of houses on postage-stamp sized lots to create a big, ugly subdivision.

With the archaic property tax scheme in PA, municipalities welcome sprawl with open arms, no matter how unsightly. Sometimes they even court it because more houses in the tax base equals more money in the coffers.

The developer then rapes the land of all it's charm, bulldozing stately forests to build a bunch of houses that all look exactly the same. Then they plant a little bit of grass & a few trees around because, hey everyone loves nature, right?

Soon, people with no imagination pay a lot of money to buy a house that looks just like all of the others, is too close to all the others & has no privacy. Then they all sign a code of conduct, effectively agreeing to the predetermined color scheme of the plan, prohibiting the hanging of laundry & forbidding such atrocities as swingsets.

Apparently, you want to project the illusion that you throw away clothes after wearing & simply buy new ones. You want the world to think that your children are entirely too refined to spend time swinging or acting like children.

Then they all move in to Stepford Villa & realize that there is a farm nearby. And you can see the farm & those cows are even more aesthetically horrendous than a jungle gym!

And then you realize that animals smell. And then you realize that you can actually hear the horses whinny or the whir of a tractor cutting hay. This is unbearable. It’s a thousand times worse than the Wilson’s new gutter – which is sage when they know damn well that they are only allowed to have pebble clay.

So what do you do? It’s a small community & you probably know the powers that be. Your kids play nobody-loses soccer together or you may even be on some commission or other yourself. Next thing you know, the township has passed some ridiculous new law that puts the farmer out of business so that the residents of Stepford Villa don’t ever have to see those cows or hear their moos again.

Finally, there may be an end in sight of this poor treatment of farmers. The PG reports that the PA Attorney General is calling out these practices & stepping up to protect farmers. It’s about time because farming is the #1 industry in PA & it’s something we can’t do without. Beyond the fact that this is just plain wrong & stupid, jobs depend on it & we need food to survive. So the residents of Stepford Villa may hate their neighbors but they’d be damn hungry without them so they should learn to appreciate them.

PA Gaming Comission a Joke

By now we've all noted the lurid details of yet another PA gaming board officials public folly. Where do they find these people? My initial assumption was that the entire board is comprised of recently released prisoners being offered a second chance by the state. While disturbing, this premise is inaccurate & the facts may be even more disheartening.

According to a recent letter to the editor in the Trib, the state police do a background check on these "highly recommended" employees. Ha! Let me state for the record that I briefly had a part-time job at a fast-food chicken place in high school & they screened employees with psychological tests.

Basically, the test is designed to investigate your temperment & personality to ensure that you won't suddenly whack at customers with a cleaver or throw hot creamed spinach on a coworker.

Why can't the state institute something similar to stop the flood of degenerate psychos that has inundated public service as of late? According to the whiny letter from the board's chairmen, there are 170 employees of this debacle. Since a lowly press aide was receiving a $64,000 salary & a car at taxpayer's expense, I can only imagine the gross overcompensation of the other 169 "employees".

And this particular guy had worked previously as a background checker for the DOD. While I can't boast any former employers of that ilk, I do have considerably more administrative & managerial experience than the 26 year old nutcase who was fired. The pay & perks definitely exceed the compensation for a lowly purchasing manager in the private sector.

I only hope that they'll advertise this newly vacant position. There are many of us non-criminal, not crazy, hardworking & better qualified Pennsylvanians who would love to be so handsomely compensated for doing what we already do every day: working hard, doing our jobs properly & never ever embarassing our employers.

The people of PA deserve more discretion from our leaders, both fiscally & administratively. Since that will never happen, the least they can do is cut out the nepotism & give the rest of us a chance to work for the state. The workers of PA deserve the chance to be coddled & overcompensated too, since it's our tax dollars footing the bill.

More Idiots in Charge

As our state wrestles with a crumbling infrastructure, property tax insanity & a myriad of other pressing topics, our overpaid & generally useless state legislature is diligently at work drafting legislation about paintball.

Those of you familiar with our leaders are probably aghast that I used the word diligently. But don't worry, it's sarcasm. A recent letter to the editor in the PG pretty much sums it up & I couldn't say it any better myself.

The writer points out one of my favorite facts, which is the role of natural selection in our lives. I feel that survival of the fittest broadly encompasses what we could also term "death to the stupid" or "damn, that guy is lucky".

As a nation, we're constantly working against this natural process by attempting to protect the grotesquely stupid from themselves. No! No! No! Let nature takes its course!

There are certain things in life you simply should not have to be told. Surely you've seen the list of "actual" product warning labels making it's way around the net for years. While I hope this is an urban legend I've avoided researching it because frankly, I'm afraid it's not.

If you require warnings such as "do not attempt to iron clothes while wearing them" or "hey, this coffee is really hot so don't drive around with it wedged in your crotch" than you are really dumb. If you iron yourself to death or maim your genitals to the extent that you are now unable to reproduce, this is just nature's way of stopping your genetic line.

And to nature I say, "Thank you." To the rest of the world I say, "Leave nature alone, let it do the job for the benefit of us all."