PITTSBURGH — It was Christmas in July! Like Santa with an
overflowing bag of goodies, Gov. Ed Rendell recently dashed around
the state with his super-sized, photo-op checks, handing out $51
million in taxpayers’ money, mainly to private businesses that have
good schmoozing and grant-writing skills.
And Fast Eddie was not alone. Never to be outdone in the lavish
spending department, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, with $8 million
in tax credits in hand and harboring what he called “deep
emotional” feelings for the project, says the city’s Oak Hill
neighborhood should be rebuilt according to his vision with
taxpayer subsidies, rather than have the University of Pittsburgh
buy the land and deposit several much-needed millions in the city’s
impoverished coffers.
At the riverside Station Square retail complex in Pittsburgh, to
make it easier for boaters to get drinks, more than $1 million in
taxpayers’ money was spent for a new dock. And out by Pittsburgh’s
airport, adding to the more than $7 million in taxpayers’ money
that’s already been spent on an industrial park development, Rep.
Tim Murphy stopped by to deliver another $150,000 freebie grant
from Harrisburg to the Clinton Industrial Park.
Last but not least, Pittsburgh’s planning director announced
that $700,000 in taxpayers’ money will go to 23 neighborhood
groups, including Breachmenders Ministries, a group that does good
work in the city’s roughest neighborhoods “as a demonstration of
Christ’s reconciling love.” The name, explains Breachmenders, comes
from Isaiah 58, which calls those who help the oppressed and
afflicted “Menders of the Breach.”
All those above-mentioned giveaways were in one morning’s
newspaper — in addition to the news that last month’s legislative
pay grab in Harrisburg is being challenged by a lawsuit filed in
Commonwealth Court, where President Judge James Gardner Colins has
just received a $20,000 raise, to $167,000, under the same pay
package that the “impartial” court will be judging to be legal or
illegitimate.
If the case loses at that level, the decision about the legality
of the July 7 pay hike may well end up in the hands of Ralph Cappy,
chief justice of the state Supreme Court, who was included in the
pay raise himself with a salary jump of more than $20,000, to
$171,800.
Acknowledging that he was an active advocate of the pay grab
that made the Legislature in Pennsylvania the most costly in the
nation, Cappy labeled the public outcry against the pay grab a
“knee-jerk” reaction. “I have yet to hear an argument made by
anyone — by a commentator, by a citizen who’s approaching me
privately — that this is wrong on the merit,” Justice Cappy
said.
Well, judge, you just haven’t been listening.
Is there merit in the idea that lawmakers can violate Article
II, Section 8, of the state constitution — which specifically
forbids legislators from collecting new pay raises until they’ve
been re-elected — by immediately pocketing their pay raises in the
form of “unvouchered expenses”?
Is there merit in the idea that Pennsylvania’s legislators
should be at the top of the national pay scale when they’ve had a
direct role in pushing Pennsylvania to the bottom of the pile over
the past decade in population growth, job creation and income
growth?
The Pacific Research Institute ranks Pennsylvania 45th among of
the 50 states in its 2004 Economic Freedom Index. A 2004 Cato
Institute study shows that Pennsylvania’s primary business tax
rates remain the third and second highest in the nation. The Cato
study also shows Pennsylvania’s politicians receiving an “F” grade
for controlling spending.
Bottom line, if the Legislature did its job in creating a robust
business climate, we wouldn’t need a governor running around with
$51 million in giveaways, bribing companies to stay in
Pennsylvania. And the good folks at Breachmenders wouldn’t have
such a tough job picking up the pieces.
