Tolling I-80 is a Recipe for Disaster

With a renewed interest in tolling Interstate 80, I find it necessary to reiterate several points of concern surrounding Act 44 and its implications on Pennsylvania’s economic future:

• Act 44, as it currently stands, is in violation of federal law requiring that tolls on federal highways be used exclusively on the highway itself. The tolls collected from I-80 would be used for other transportation projects, including funding mass transit in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

• In a November 2006 report, the Transportation Funding and Reform Commission recommended that “no additional funding should be provided for highways, bridges and transit unless a series of parallel actions are taken to reform funding structure and a number of transportation business practices.” Act 44 is designed to generate additional funds without putting the required reforms in place.

• The notion that transportation is underfunded is merely a myth. PA’s spending on transportation has increased 121% from 1995-2009, more than triple the rate of inflation. Even before Act 44, highway spending had increased 90% in 2007 alone, facilitating one of the highest gasoline tax rates in the country.

• Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage law requires all public projects to pay state mandated wage rates, increasing the cost to taxpayers by as much as 30%. In fact, by not allowing the market to determine wage rates, taxpayers pay an additional $9 billion dollars annually to pay these union wages. By continuing this policy, true transportation reform remains unattainable.

• Finally, Act 44 would place tolling I-80 in the hands of the notoriously corrupt and inefficient Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. It is no coincidence that State Sen. Vince Fumo, who was convicted on 137 counts of conspiracy and fraud, frequently used the PTC to spend “other people’s money”. Giving the PTC another sweetheart deal is simply a recipe for disaster.

Letting private companies competitively bid on the rights to manage tolling is a safe and cost-efficient solution.

Dwight Evan's Favorite WAM Recipient Has Plenty of Problems

The Philadelphia Inquirer exposes another nonprofit with ties to a state lawmaker - this time House Democrat Appropriations Chair Dwight Evans - whose use of tax dollars seems sketchy at best. (HT GrassrootsPA).

The story looks at a night club purchased by the group, Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp, to provide an economic boost:

So far, however, the only benefits seem to have gone to the club's former owners, a collection of prominent partners with past and present ties to the nonprofit group and its founder, State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.).

Evans is both the founder and chief patron of the group.

Evans, for instance, created OARC. Though he does not have a formal tie to the nonprofit group now, OARC counts on his continued patronage to secure state grants. Since 2000, it has received $23 million in state funding.

OARC's fealty in return was on display last year when it established the Dwight Evans Leadership Award.

Among the first honorees? Young, who once worked for OARC and who is widely viewed as a protege of Evans'.

Evans was one of Young's chief boosters when she was named to lead the Convention Center, a job that paid $245,000 in 2008. As president and CEO of the center, she supervises the region's premier convention facility. She is also overseeing its $700 million expansion, a project funded, in part, by Evans' efforts.

Not long after Young received the Evans award, OARC paid $47,000 to settle unpaid rent on her club. The money was ultimately part of the final purchase price of the business.

According to Investment Tracker, almost all of the state funding came from programs known as WAMs - discretionary funds controlled by legislative leaders. Former State Sen. Vince Fumo and former State Rep. Mike Veon had previously gotten in trouble for directing WAMs to nonprofits under their control.

Question: Is now the time to eliminate WAMs?

Government Ethics: Alaska vs. Pennsylvania

Amanda Carpenter writes about a report that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may be cited (though no penalties would be attached) for ethics violations for ... wait for it ... using her fame to raise fund for her legal defense against other nuisance complaints.

Contrast that with the case of Vince Fumo, who not only did the same (using his status to raise legal defense funds), but also used his clout to get legions of politicos and business leaders to write letters to the judge, asking for lenience, since Fumo had done good when he other people's money legally. None of this is considered unethical in Pennsylvania. Of course, stealing millions of dollars is frowned upon in Pennsylvania, but only deserving of a slap on the wrist.

With little indication of a sense of irony, Rep. Mark Cohen has made a few comments on Twitter about Gov. Palin's ethics accusations (and about Mark Sanford). Naturally, the guy who spent $30,000 of taxpayer money for books for personal use would want to chime in on whether Palin may or have not benefited from her office. The guy who let taxpayers foot the bill for his trips to New York (even while other lawmakers paid their own way) sees fit to comment on Mark Sanford's travel habits. Of course, Cohen also sees no need to adopt good-government reforms in Pennsylvania.

Another Pennsylvania House Democrat staffer also saw fit to post on the Palin story, again with an amazing lack of self reflection. After all, it is his caucus (two members and several staff) who have been indicted in "Bonusgate" for using tax dollars for bonuses for campaign work, political polling, and no-work jobs for candidates and mistresses. And one of those indicted members - Mike Veon - has implicated his boss and others for doing the same sort of illegal activity. Of course, they aren't merely using "fame" to raise money to defend these charges, they are using taxpayer dollars.

And I'd be remiss if I failed to point out that former Pennsylvania lawmaker Frank LaGrotta - also a convicted felon - is now blogging about Pennsylvania politics. In his latest, he longs for the good old days, when folks like Fumo, Veon, and he ran the show.

Pennsylvania may not be the most corrupt state in the union (what will Illinois having back-to-back Governors heading off to prison), but it's got to be close. Could you imagine what Pennsylvania would be like with Alaska's ethics laws?

Will Fumo Conviction Deter Public Corruption?

Alex Charyna mocks Governor Rendell's ridiculous statement that Sen. Vince Fumo (sentenced to 55 months in prison, or about 12 days for each felony conviction), should only spend one year in prison, because that "would have been a sufficient warning to any potentially corrupt politician."

Truly, any observer of Harrisburg, or Philadelphia, or Luzerne County politics must find that laughable.  As Alex notes,

I’m curious though…. have one year sentences in the past deterred any political corruption?

How many Pa politicians were in jail ahead of Senator Fumo?

He’s not the first, and he wont be the last.

Why Are State Budget Negotiations Secret Meetings?

With all the debate surrounding the Budget this summer, a concerned taxpayer has the right to see exactly what his representatives and legislature are doing on the people’s time, or does he? According to the state Sunshine legislation, all official “agency” business, including that of the General Assembly, Governor’s cabinet, or any board, council, authority, or commission of the state must be open to the public. That is, state university boards, school boards, and county commissioners have to make their budget deliberations open to the public.

However, the Rendell administration continues to bypass the Sunshine Act and remain virtually unchecked by not allowing certain people, such as myself, into “open” meetings. Instead of debating the state budget on the House floor or in Committee, they continue to hold closed-door meetings in the Governor’s mansion with only a few legislative leaders.

Why aren’t these meetings public? Well perhaps, what is discussed would embarrass many lawmakers. For instance, one aspect of debate is reportedly whether to cut funding for 20 open positions. “Not cutting” open positions is code for hiring more government employees, which perhaps should be reconsidered given a $3.2 billion deficit.

And given the recent experience with budget negotiators like Vince Fumo and Mike Veon, who were convicted and indicted for using taxpayer dollars for their own gain, respectively, wouldn’t now be a good time for transparency, just to convince voters that not every lawmaker is a crook?

Pennsylvania Lawmakers Still Using Tax Dollars to Buy Votes

Mark Levy of the AP has a hard hitting story of Pennsylvania lawmakers use of WAMs - i.e. "Walking Around Money" made available to us at the discretion of legislative leaders.  Levy finds, not suprisingly, that $110 million in WAMs were doled out in such a way as to benefit the districts of legislative leaders.

But the AP analysis found that tiny Greene County, 56th out of 67 Pennsylvania counties in population and home of last year's House Democratic leader, Bill DeWeese, was slated to receive more than $3 million, or about $82 per person. That made Greene County No. 1 in grant dollars per person and No. 6 in total dollars.

No. 2 in dollars per person was Carbon County - home of House Speaker Keith McCall, who was the Democratic whip last year - with an average of $50 per person in requests. Carbon County, 40th in population, also was expected to receive about $3 million - making it No. 7 in overall dollars.

On the Republican side, House GOP grant requests helped put Jefferson and Delaware counties - respectively the homes of Minority Leader Sam Smith and Mario Civera, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee - in line for more money than most counties with similar populations.

In the Senate, Democrats requested outsized portions for the home counties of last year's ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, Gerald LaValle of Beaver County, and his successor, Jay Costa of Allegheny County. Similar patterns were not as evident in the grants requested by the Senate GOP.

For those unfamiliar with WAMs and the WAM process, Levy provides an excellent summary, for those who can stomach learning how sausage is made:

Pennsylvania's budget does not specify the money that is set aside for legislators' special projects. It also does not link grants to individual legislators, or groups of legislators, who sought the money.

Pennsylvania's legislative grants - known colloquially as "WAMs," for walking-around money - have existed in one form or another for a couple of decades, built around the concept of providing the Legislature with a pot of money to spend as it sees fit.

Once the total amount available for the grants in the budget is hammered out behind closed doors, legislative leaders sift through requests from their caucus members and submit selected ones, along with their own, to the governor's office. Executive branch agencies match the requests to applications filed by the intended recipients for more than a dozen programs that are flush with money for the grants. ...

Former Sen. Vincent Fumo of Philadelphia is awaiting sentencing for his February conviction on 137 corruption counts, including the misuse of money from a nonprofit that he founded and partially financed with the grants. Former Rep. Michael Veon of Beaver County has been charged with committing similar crimes.

It is for these reasons - corruption, the process by which WAMs are doled out, and the waste of taxpayer funding, that we believe WAMs should be eliminated from the state budget. We have attempted to identify line items within the state budget that could be classified as WAMs.

It also adds fuel to the growing movement that Pennsylvania needs greater spending transparency.

"Cuts First, Taxes Last"

The Philadelphia Inquirer comes out with an editorial calling for cutting wasteful spending in the state budget before talking about a tax increase. Here are some of the points they raise:

The credibility of both Democratic and Republican legislators as stewards of tax money is in tatters.

The fraud conviction of former State Sen. (and chief appropriator) Vincent J. Fumo of Philadelphia showed how gleefully some legislators waste tax dollars on themselves.

And then there's the ongoing corruption prosecution against a dozen current and former House Democratic officials for allegedly doling out taxpayer-funded bonuses to staffers as a reward for campaign work. In a two-year period, Democrats and Republicans paid nearly $2 million in bonuses to legislative aides.

Legislators can't waste tax money to that degree, and then turn around and tell taxpayers with a straight face that state government has been cut to the bone.

They even take a whack at education spending, in advance of Gov. Rendell's taxpayer-funded bus tour:

After five consecutive years of hefty school-aid increases, perhaps districts could get by for one year with a smaller increase.

See more on that here and here.

Budget deficit was predicted, and ignored.

This was our blog post from July 04, 2008...yes, Independence Day, but also the day Gov. Ed Rendell signed the 2008-09 budget despite clear evidence that it was unrealistic in tax revenue projections.


Will this budget's ink be red in 2009?

No, that's not our headline, but Pete DeCoursey's at Capitolwire.com, the insider's news service. With Pete's permission, I'm posting his entire column below.

Our only question is, would your family budget like this? We hope not.

The state should be preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. That's called being fiscally prudent. Instead, they plan to spend and borrow like tomorrow's bad news will never come.

But it will be far better to not increase spending by $1 billion this year than to have to cut a billion dollars in spending next year (which isn't going to happen) or raise taxes (which is most likely to happen). Have a Happy Independence Day! (try, at least)

OFF THE FLOOR: Will this budget's ink be red in 2009?
A Capitolwire Column By Peter L. DeCoursey
Bureau Chief Capitolwire

HARRISBURG (July 4) - The most important 2008 budget story most Pennsylvanians never read, but will wish in 2009 that they had, wasn’t written by me or anyone at Capitolwire – sigh – but by Marc Levy of the Associated Press.

Personally, I think it was along the same lines of the column I wrote on June 16 about how Gov. Ed Rendell may not fear spending the state into a tax hike next year. Why not? Because he clearly feels Pennsylvanians can and should be taxed more to pay for the programs he says will disproportionately improve the lives of Pennsylvanians, compared to the taxes they pay.

But while I wrote about the tricks of budgets past, Levy exposed in a very timely story many of the maneuvers and dangers of this budget before it was even given to lawmakers.

Yesterday, his story began: “Even as the Legislature prepares to vote on a $28.2 billion budget that draws heavily on one-time dollars, Senate officials say a $1 billion deficit could pile up in the next 12 months and force additional cuts or tax increases.”

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Gib Armstrong, R-Lancaster, told Levy that “he expects a deficit at the end of the fiscal year of between $800 million and $1.2 billion."

With only about $740 million in the state Rainy Day Fund, that means the state will have no margin for error and its current revenue slowdown may continue. Armstrong said he had to approve the current $28.2 billion budget, a 3.8 percent increase, because it was impossible to get the Legislature and Rendell to approve anything smaller.

But hey, it is part of budget season for the opposing party to exaggerate, right?

It is part of the budget tradition for the opposition, if they are Democrats, to say that the governor is shoving the poor off an ice floe to drift away to poverty and death. And if the opposition are Republicans, they say – as Armstrong’s predecessors like Sen. Bob Thompson and Rep. Brett Feese used to – that the governor is spending so much, he is not only going to raise taxes but start taking away your limbs to sell them AND SEND ALL OF THE MONEY TO PHILADELPHIA.

But if you dismiss Armstrong, then what do you say about the quote Levy collected from Paul Dlugolecki, longtime senior Appropriations Committee staffer?

He told Levy that “he and others expect a $1 billion deficit that could require a tax increase.” And, “If this economy continues its downturn, we could easily get up that high. Two billion is not out of the question.”

Dlugolecki’s candor brought him a reprimand from his former longtime boss, Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Philadelphia, “because you are making trouble for us” in passing the current budget.

How could we get to that kind of deficit by next year’s budget? By relying on more than half a billion dollars in one-time revenues that won't recur is a good start.

First, this budget plows all $35 million the law says the state has to put into the Rainy Day Fund, and the rest of the $103 million current-year-surplus into next year’s budget.

The proposed budget also gathers $200 million in unspent money from various accounts and grabbed at least $100 million more in revenues from state liquor and recycling accounts, while pushing off $50 million in spending to the Lottery Fund.

Weeks after Budget Secretary Mike Masch announced the administration plan to increase the state’s contribution to teacher and employee pension funds to ease a huge pension payments crisis looming just a few years away, they cut the state pension contributions by $90 million to the teachers fund.

And they are putting off $107 million in 2008-2009 welfare pharmaceutical bills until 2009-2010.

And that is just the $530 million in one-time-only budget measures we know about. From experience, we usually learn about another $300 million in such tricks after the annual state spending plan is passed.

Why are so few worried and so few talking about this? Well, details have been hard to come by, and Levy’s story broke new ground on some of the one-time measures.

And frankly, at this point in the budget season, most are more worried about getting the damned thing done than worrying about a half a billion here or there.

But if Armstrong and Dlugolecki are right, we’ll certainly be worried next year, as Rendell will use any fiscal crisis to hike taxes to increase spending.

Happy 4th of July.

Veon Fallout: An End to WAMs

Yesterday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett announced additional charges against former Rep. Mike Veon and staffer Annamarie Peretta-Rosepink for their role in directing state funds to the Beaver Initiative for Growth. 

Veon and former Sen. Gerald LaValle, D-Rochester, funded the nonprofit with more than $10 million in state grants over a decade.

Most of that funding came from Community Revitalization program, also known as Walking Around Money or WAMs).  Former Sen. Vince Fumo, convicted last week of 137 counts, also directed WAMs to a nonprofit organization he controlled, which he then used for personal gain.  These funds are controlled by legislative leaders, to be dolled at their discretion to rank-and-file members upon request (Veon and Fumo were both members of leadership).

Is it time to eliminate WAMs?  We think so, and have highlighted not only the egregious spending from that program, but also the process by which funds are doled out.  Other reform groups are also concerned about how these funds are used, and the complete lack of oversight.

A number of House Republicans have also called for the elimination of WAMs and "discretionary funds." And now Senate Pro-Tem (and Lt. Governor) Joe Scarnati admits this indicates "evidence of a breakdown in the state's grant system." (HT Grassroots PA).

Amazingly, Democrat leaders defend WAMs:

"We believe the system works," said Bob Caton, a spokesman for House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon. "A few aberrations aren't enough to condemn the good work that these dollars do in communities all across the state."

Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow, D-Lackawanna, said the grants are given like any other state check to people who are expected to have honesty and integrity, such as local school districts. [emphasis added]

When they misuse the money, it is up to investigators and auditors to catch them, Mellow said.

How many more of their colleagues need to go to prison for them to see the light of day?

Taxpayers Spend $2.3 Million to Defend Fumo

ABC 27 has a story on the amount of OPM - "other people's money," i.e. taxpayers - used to defend former Sen. Vince Fumo, who was convicted of illegally using OPM: $2.3 million.

That's quite a bit of money, to put it in perspective (and to give some ammunition to Kevin Bacon and the "Save the Govies" cause): it would nearly be enough to fund the Governor's Schools of Excellence program for a year.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Chair Target of FBI

KYW Radio reports that Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chairman Mitch Rubin is now the target of an FBI Corruption probe.

This should not be a surprise, following the conviction of Rubin's political patron, former Senator Vince Fumo, and his wife, Ruth Arnao, as Rubin sits in the center of the Turnpike Family Tree (available at TurnpikeFacts.com).

Brad Bumsted has more on how Rubin's position may be in jeopardy.  The continued legacy of corruption at the Turnpike Commission - along with increased debt, higher tolls, and declining revenues - raises more questions about what the General Assembly should do about the agency.   We have some recommendations, including ending the practice of no-bid contracts and eliminating the commission altogether. 

More Taxpayer Money Wasted on Promotions and Marketing

I'm not sure if readers are aware of this, but Congress recently passed something called a "stimulus" bill a few weeks ago.  In order to publicize the stimulus funding, Governor Rendell spent $100,000 to hire an outside public-relations consultant.   (HT: Grassroots PA).

Surely, given the budget shortfall and hiring freeze, they hired the best person they could find for the lowest cost, through competitive bidding.  The Governor wouldn't just hire someone with numerous political ties from doing "public-relations and political-campaign work for high-profile public officials including Rendell, former Mayor John F. Street, and former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo."  Oh, right.

On a related note, John Micek notes that House Democrats are producing - at taxpayer expense - clips for the radio meant to sound like authentic news stories.   This comes from the tens of millions of dollars the General Assembly has for self-promotion (including things like "public service announcements", glossy newsletter, calendar give-aways, and the like).   Sen. Mike Folmer has legislation that would require all such advertising to state "paid for at taxpayer expense."

Term Limits Needed in Pennsylvania

John Baer writes that the recent Vince Fumo conviction - the latest in a long history of corruption by long-time Pennsylvania lawmakers - is another reason why Pennsylvania needs term limits for state legislators.

Trust me, there are more, and there's an ongoing corruption probe of the Legislature likely to snag other long-term officeholders.

Also, I suspect if the feds focused a couple of years on almost any decades-plus incumbent they'd turn up something to prosecute.

And, OK, some long-termers serve more than steal, but the Pennsylvania pattern is pretty clear: the longer you're here, the better your chances of personal experience with prosecutors.

My only complaint with the article is that his listing of states with term limits could use a bit of Dr. Seuss - big state, small state, red state, blue state - but you get the picture:

Fifteen states have term limits. Big states (California), smaller states (Maine), Midwestern states (Michigan), neighboring states (Ohio) and southern states (Florida).

Cut Legislature First

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorializes that the first item to be cut from the budget should be the legislature's budget, noting this is the source of funding for bonuses, no-work jobs for mistresses, and Fumo's posse (not to mention the legal fees tied to Bonusgate and legislators' promotional calendars).

For the past two months, the public has been treated to daily allegations in federal court of how State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.) spent "other people's money" - including taxpayer dollars - on himself. Prosecutors say he misused more than $2 million in Senate funds.

Attorney General Tom Corbett is prosecuting a dozen current and former House Democratic staffers and officials in a scheme that allegedly paid aides $1.3 million of taxpayers' money for campaign work. One aide, the former chief of staff to House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese (D., Greene), earned $42,000 in bonuses over three years while allegedly hiring a beauty queen with taxpayer money so she could become his paramour.

Republicans also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from state coffers on staff bonuses, although apparently not for campaign work. Either way, the habit was an extravagant use of tax money. And a grand jury is examining whether the House GOP improperly used a $9 million taxpayer-funded database for political purposes.

The Inky could have added that the legislative leadership accounts currently have an estimated $250 million in reserve that they are sitting on, and that Sen. Fumo and Rep. Mike Veon have also, allegedly, been illegally using the several hundred million in legislative-controlled WAMs.

State Spending Cuts Continue

Governor Rendell has “discovered” an additional $111 million in spending cuts bringing the total up from $200 million to $311 million. The cuts are a result of the efforts of state agencies to cut budgets but 4.25% at the request of the Governor. The Department of Community and Economic Development has cut their budget by 5.65%.

Here are the numbers:
$78 million in education spending (less than 1% of budget)
$72 million from the Public Welfare Dept.
$35 million from the Community and Economic Development Dept.
$27 million from corrections

Senator Fumo has suggested using the $750 million dollar rainy day fund in addition to the governor’s cuts could close the revenue gap and avoid a tax increase. But why use the state’s rainy day fund which is keeping Pennsylvania’s credit rating at double-A despite over $100 billion in bonded debt, when the Commonwealth Foundation has already identified $6.6 billion in wasteful spending?

Perhaps the bigger question is why it took a economic downturn to discover this much unnecessary spending? Of course the economic climate hasn’t stopped Rendell and the Governor’s association from asking for more money from the feds,

"Earlier this week, in his role as chairman of the National Governors Association, Governor Rendell sent a letter on behalf of the nation’s Governors asking Congress to pass an economic recovery package that helps states and spurs economic growth by temporarily increasing the federal matching rate for Medicaid and providing additional funds for infrastructure investment.”

Massive bailout bills are simply unsustainable without increasing tax revenues. While the presidential candidates have fully embraced tax cuts, these, along with tax credits allow government to pick economic winners and losers. Increasing the tax burden on one section of the population just to lighten someone else’s tax burden does nothing to solve the underlying problem of out-of-control spending.

Tax Increase Coming to Pennsylvania

State Senators Gib Armstrong and Vince Fumo are both projecting a massive budget deficit ($2.5 billion according to Fumo) and believe that the only way to pay for it is with a tax increase next year. 

Armstrong and Fumo - who negotiated the current budget, voted for it, urged others do so are, and are also retiring at the end of the year - added "HA HA suckers, good luck cleaning up our mess."

Amazingly, Armstrong and Fumo use two ridiculous arguments to justify increasing taxes:
1) "I don't know what else to cut": The Commonwealth Foundation has identified $6.6 Billion in programs outside the proper scope of government.
2) There is "not nearly enough time to make substantial changes" in the legislative session: That is entirely by choice - and I'm not even talking about the lame duck session, but the rest of October.  We have nearly one month before the election, but legislators are taking the next three weeks off to campaign.   There is plenty of time to restrain spending now, delaying until January means higher taxes on an already over-taxed state.

How much of a budget deficit is Pennsylvania facing?

Capitolwire.com is reporting that there is a top-secret memo from one of the four legislative caucuses estimating that Pennsylvania is facing a potential $2.5 billion budget deficit going into next year (non-subscribers can get a summary from John Micek). Obviously this would vastly exceed the $200 million Governor Rendell is planning to save.

The current revenue trend is well below the pace that resulted in the past two tax increases. Even State Senator Vince Fumo - who has never been known to show fiscal restraint with other people's money - has started to sound the alarm.

We have suggested numerous ways to cut the budget and save taxpayers, but, as we pointed out three weeks ago, the time for action is now, given that the General Assembly cannot take action again until January.

As Sentor Fumo's Trial Begins the Spending Continues

Senator Vince Fumo's trial began yesterday with the first day of jury selection. In the days leading up to the trial the senator was doing what he does best: doling out taxpayers’ hard-earned money for corporate welfare projects, including a new produce distribution center ($150 million of the $280 million project is subsidized with tax dollars).

You would think any politician with a 139-count indictment would have few friends but apparently 30 years of handing out other people's money buys you a lot of support. Fumo is accused of misallocating pubic funds for private gain, but supporters last week said, "Sen. Fumo was not just a savior on this job . . . [he] also made sure that not one nickel of taxpayer money was misspent."

How in the world could a part-time legislator receiving full-time pay be misspending taxpayer money?

Oh I don't know, maybe by neglecting his duties and not returning to Harrisburg during September's limited session while collecting his full salary of $76,613.

Read the Philly Inquirer and the Post-Gazette for details.

Past Time to Clean Up Harrisburg

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review has a couple of stories on corruption in the Capitol.  One is a query about the $10 million in taxpayer grants directed to the Beaver Initiative for Growth (BIG) by Rep. Veon, who was indicted in the Bonusgate scandal, and Sen. LaValle.  Coincidentally, Veon and LaValle were the only two board members of BIG. 

The second story is a profile of the "ruthless master of power," Vince Fumo, whose trial starts Monday. You will note that among the 139 counts against Fumo is that he also directed taxpayer grants to his own nonprofit organization, which he used for personal expenses.

Clearly, there is a need for some serious reform, yet the number of legislators signing on to the petition for a special session remain well short of what is needed, while the Hall of Shame is too long.

New Facts and Resources on Transportation Funding

We have revised our PolicyPoints on Act 44 and Transportation Funding

More Resources:

Turnpike Lease/Bid
TurnpikeFacts.com
Full Concession Agreement - Governor's Office
Synopsis of Lease Requirements/Limits - Governor's Office
Concerns About Turnpike Lease Misguided
Revenue Comparison of Turnpike Lease vs. Act 44

P3 Information
The Emerging Paradigm: Financing and Managing Pennsylvania’s Transportation Infrastructure and Mass Transit
Leasing State Toll Roads FAQ- Reason
Indiana has benefited from toll road lease
Indiana Toll Road: One Year Later - Reason
Indiana Toll Road Better than Before
Leasing the PA Turnpike: Response to critics - Reason
Foreigners Create Jobs

Act 44 Information
Act 44 and Transportation Policy Points
Turnpike Commission to owe $30 to $70 billion after Act 44
Act 44 - No Limits on Turnpike Tolls
Morgan-Stanley report - Morgan Stanley
Rendell on CNBC - "Act 44 wasn't good enough"

I-80 Tolling
New analysis of where I-80 tolls will go
I-80 Tolling Application - PTC
IRRPP Tolling Limits (Letter to Rep. Geist)
Letter regarding federal approval - FWHA
I-80 Tolling Study - PennDOT
I-80 Lease and other documents - PTC
No I-80 Tolls = Less money for SEPTA

Turnpike Commission scandals, lobbying, patronage, efficiency
The Turnpike Commission's Family Tree
Fumo Indictment
Fumo's farm -
Patronage hires by Joe Brimmeier
More on Brimmeier
Toll on integrity: The turnpike chairman owes the public an answer

Turnpike Lobbying (state)
More on Turnpike Lobbying (State)
Turnpike state lobbying (2007-08)
Bill on Turnpike Lobbying
Turnpike propoganda on I-80 tolling
Mon-Fayette promised as bargaining chip
Taxpayer funded "study" with fabricated results.

Turnpike Commission vs. PennDOT - Efficiency Measures
Pennsylvania Turnpike is One of Country's Least Efficient Toll Roads