Governor Corbett and unConstitutional GOP Policies wastes time and money.

              Another of Governor Corbett’s landmark policies was determined by the Commonwealth Court to violate the Pennsylvania State Constitution. His Human Services Block Grant Program got hit this time. Ths 2012 program, was said to give counties flexibility to spend Human Services funds where they most needed them. There was also another 10% slashed from their budgets.

Apperently it was so flexible in its interpretation of State Law that it went outside the bounds of the Constitution. Court reviews of laws presented by Governor Corbett and the Republican party are quite normal over the last 2 years. The Voter I.D., Act 13, stripped municipalities of the ability to establish their own zoning regulations. The elimination of the Adult Basic Health Care Program. It provided Health Care for working Pennsylvanians and partially paid for tabacco settlement funds. Republicans first attempts at reapportionment were all found unConstitutional.

Governor Corbett’s lawsuit against the NCAA was dismissed. His plan to privatize the Pennsylvania state lottery was rejected by the attorney general. The truth is the laws Governor Corbett is trying to pass are a waste if taxpayer money. The Governor’s office has spent almost $3 million on consulting firms for the lottery alone. If House Republicans would allow fair debate in the House these expenses could be avoided. During both the Act 13 and Voter I.D. debates, Democrats brought up the issue of Constitutionality only to be rebuked.

If Corbett’s liquor privatization and pension schemes get signed they will likely see court. Governor Corbett, just like Republicans nationwide care little for what the people want. It seems as if the Constitution only matters if it works in their favor and if not they stomp all over it. It is just a matter of time before they overwhelm the people and we are governed by the Koch Brothers.

Governor Corbett’s education budget is preferential treatment masquerading as broad based supplements.

             Recently Pennsylvania gave an extra $1 million in state money to a school district through an unusually specific supplement. Only one district, Hazleton Area School District, recieved the $1 million. As much as that cash strapped district can use the money, so can almost every other School District in Pennsylvania.

There was a bit more than $30 million handed out to a few schools under titles like Small School District Supplement, Small Rural School District Supplement and Third Class County School District Supplement. There are 154 districts in the states 12 third class counties, designation is determined by population. But to qualify for the piece of the $1 million supplement, a district had to have a stare calculated “Aid Ratio” that fell in a very narrow range, leaving only 24 qualified districts. 6 of those districts were in Luzerne County, 5 of them, as well as 18 out of the 24 did not meet the last requirement based on enrollment for the supplement. It seems as if the supplement was tailor made for the full $1 million to go to Hazleton.

There were 12 supplements, 6 went to single districts. With the rest divided by 2 and 3 to 5 districts. The $500,000 Rural School District Supplement went to Phillipsburg-Osceola School District in Clearfield County. The $500,000 Small School District Supplement went entirely to Penns Valley Area School District in Centre County. If size was the only consideration, requirement was 1,600 students or fewer, it could have been divided between 166 districts, 152 of which were smaller.

This is not a reflection on the School Districts who recieved these supplements. With all the cuts Corbett and his Republican supporters made to the Education Budget, any and all schools needs this money. This is a direct reflection on Governor Corbett and his ludicrous policies. All of the School Districts are suffering with him as Governor. Instead of focusing on Education, he has focused on Privatizing Liquor Sales, Privatizing the Pennsylvania Lottery and another Anti-Abortion lawmaker. He has Pennsylvania ranked 49th in the country in job creation. Good job Governor.

A recent poll shows how Pennsylvanians feel about Governor Corbett. 43% of Republicans believe he will be reelected. 25% of Independents believe he should be reelected. Democrats just plain want him outvof office. He is as much as 10% behind his probable Democrat challenger for Governor. Things are not looking peachy for Corbett and it is his own doing. To sacrafice Education and Seniors to give large Tax Breaks to corporations does not endear you to the people.

Governor Corbett signs Pennsylvania budget into law, but is not satisfied that the wider agenda may wait until the fall.

                 The main Pennsylvania state budget was signed into law last night by Governor Corbett. Governor Corbett was not happy that his wider agenda has not been met. He sought to overhaul the public employee pensions systems, privatizing State Liquor Stores, privatizing the State Lottery and increasing transportation funding. The minority Democrats have put a halt to some of Corbett’s agenda.

The House voted along party lines, 111-92, while a more bipartisan Senate supported the Budget proposal. It is a $28.4 billion spending plan, an increase of 2.6% or $719 million. The increase is largely for health care for the poor, social services, public employee pensions, school budgets and prisons. It also gives another tax cut to businesses at cost of about $300 million. The bill is $65 million less than Governor Corbett originally proposed.

Democrats have tried to free up more money for School Budgets and social programs by delaying business tax cuts. The House Republicans have not been able to get enough votes to pass a $2 billion transportation bill. House Democrats do not support I t because they feel it is inadequate for mass transut systems. Senate Republicans have refused to approve the bill to Privatize State Liquor Stores, unless the bill remains unchanged and the transportation bill gets approval.

The Senate also approved legislation to potentially expand Medicaid eligibility to hundreds of thousands of adult Pennsylvanians under the ACA. Of course Republicans oppose this, anything that President Obama supports Republicans are against. The issue could become a sticking point as lawmakers consider other budget related bills.

Hopefully with the 2014 election looming; this parts that have been stalled will be stopped. Governor Corbett is well behind his possible Democrat challengers in early polls. His approval numbers have dipped consistently. His connections to big business may be his undoing. Governor Corbett needs to be removed from office to move Pennsylvania forward.

2014 election can save Pennsylvania from Governor Corbett’s corporate cronyism.

             Governor Corbett has been recieving large donations from corporations since he was Attorney General. He recieved over $1 million from the Natural Gas Drilling Industry while the AG and another $350,000 since he became Governor. He recieved over $15,000 worth of corporate gifts in 2012 alone. A corporation even bought his wife a dress for some sort of fundraiser. Add in the fact that he recieved money from corporations that benefitted from his decisions and you have one of the most corrupt Governors in Pennsylvania history.

Governor Corbett, while not quite as bad as Governor Rick Perry of Texas, has done quite a bit of damage to Pennsylvania. He has cut several billion dollars from the Education Budget. He has closed many of the State Health Centers, resulting in the loss of nurses who helped catch several outbreaks and helped administer vaccinations, just not enough according to Corbett. Pennsylvania ranks among the worst in the country at processing Food Stamp applications in the Federally Mandated time limit. Pennsylvania also ranks 49th in the country in Job Creation, which Corbett blames on Pennsylvanians being drug abusers.

During Governor Corbett’s reign of inadequacy; Natural Gas Drilling Companies have paid a pittance in taxes. These companies claimed they pay over $1 billion in taxes, when in actuality they only paid about $75 million. At last count there were 85 actual drilling companies, about 75% pay zero in taxes. Why is Pennsylvania not taxing these companies? Corbett speaks of all the good they do, but doesn’t mention the water and air pollution, or the damage done to the roads. Someone is picking up the tab for that. The Pennsylvania tax payers, of course. The lazy, drug addicted and did I mention the leeches who suck the lifeblood of the Government.

Corporate Corbett wants to privatize the State run Liquor Stores. Cutting another 3,000 and some good paying jobs. He said it will create more private industry jobs, at minimum wage of course. He wants to privatize the State Lottery, which many of the proceeds go to helping the elderly. He wants to sell that to a British company. AG Kathleen Kane has at least temporarily stopped that, saying it violates Pennsylvania’s Constitution. His newest bright idea, to screw the people, is reforming the Pension Plan. Which of course was contractually agreed to. He wants to turn it into a 401k style plan, Republicans love those plans. Please don’t forget while he us doing all this, he is the highest paid Governor at least in the East and I believe in the whole country as well at 170, 000.

At this moment One Term Tommy is losing to any possible Democrat challenger, the closest was 8 percentage points. I think he might be losing to the clerk at the Turkey Hill around the corner. That was a lame joke, I hope you get my meaning. The Voter I.D. was aimed specifically to prevent minorities in larger cities from voting. A Republican lawmaker in the State Senate said as much, saying that this was how they would beat President Obama. But Pennsylvanians are very unhappy with Governor Corbett. We just need to get everyone out to vote, so we can remove this parasite from office. GET OUT TO VOTE 2014! TAKE PENNSYLVANIA BACK FROM CORPORATIONS!

Privatization of Liquor sales in Pa., who benefits?

                  Govener Corbett is trying force liquor privatization down Pennsylvania throats. His attemots to sell the lottery to a British company, by Attorney General Kathleen Kane has put at least a temporary stop to that. His proposal would remove the state from the sale of liquor and at the same time add funding to education.

                      Supporters of liquor privatization cite several benefits we would see. They say it should be a private business because government cannot run anything without making a mess of it. The sale of liquor stores would boost the states revenue. Corbett is proposing $1 billion toward state education funded mostly through the sale of liquor licenses. Proponents of privatization say you will get better prices and selection. Corbett also states the fact that only Pennsylvania and Utah still control the sale of liquor.

              Opponents of privatization say we will see more incidents of drunken driving and underage drinking. With a 17 year old kid at the register can we really trust them to card everyone or even pay much attention to the cards thry are seeing. They say less selection and higher prices, Washington state shoppers say they have experienced higher prices due to the increased taxes. The LCB makes $2.1 billion in sales a year, $494 million in profits and taxes. They could make more if liquor stores were open on Sundays. Also if privatization occurs 3,000 employees would lose their jobs.

                Niw to be clear the $1 billion would be paid out over 4 years, to me he created the illusion that it would be $1 billion every year for education. Who really benefits here are your large chain stores who have been pouring in a good amount of lobbying money. So I am sure our Governer is seeing some sort of benefit. It just came out that he recieved over $11,000 in illegal benefits. So there is not a question of whether he is corrupt, it is how corrupt is he. It appears the wealthy benefit from liquor privatization.

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