There They Go Again!

July 2, 2008 | By PA Pundits |

by Tim Potts

There they go again

The Capitol spin machine is in high gear this week. It has to be. Our state government (at least two branches of it) misleads us about when the budget is being done, votes to keep themselves and citizens utterly ignorant, and hides what they’re doing in the single most important document of the year: the $28.2 Billion state budget.

Despite all the rhetoric of reform since the Pay Raise of 2005 (whose third anniversary is Monday, the 7th), once again PA’s political leadership is proving that the more important the work, the less likely they are to do it right and the less opportunity they will give citizens to affect the outcome.

Misleadership.
Having painted himself into a corner by threatening to furlough 25,000 “non-essential” state workers if the budget was late, Gov. Ed Rendell had to declare that deal reached in the middle of the night on Sunday meant that the budget would be passed on time.

It’s July 2, the second day after the deadline, and there still is no state budget. If everyone simply takes the word of those involved in secret negotiations, we may have a budget on the 3rd. Regardless, this is not “on time.”

Hell with the Rules. Hell with Reform.
Last year with great fanfare and self-satisfied back-slapping, the House adopted new rules to prevent fast-track lawmaking that keeps lawmakers and constituents in the dark when enacting major legislation. To show us how sincere they were, they even required a two-thirds majority to suspend the rules.

House Rule 19B specifically applies to the budget. It says that lawmakers must submit amendments by 2:00 on the Monday of the week prior to a vote on the budget. It also says, “Members shall be notified of the scheduled vote on the General Appropriation Bill no later than 4:30 P.M. of the Wednesday preceding the above noted Monday on which the amendments must be filed to the Bill.”

In other words, if the governor and leaders planned to vote on the budget this week, lawmakers (and media and citizens) should have been able to see the proposed budget in time to prepare amendments by Monday of last week (June 23). None of this happened.

Displaying the depth of their commitment to reform, rank-and-file lawmakers in the House yesterday suspended those rules by a vote of 179-24, voting to ensure that they will remain largely ignorant of what they’re voting for or against. Click here for the House rules. Click here for the roll call to see whether your Representative voted to bypass the rules.

So it’s not bad enough that our political leaders want to keep other lawmakers and citizens in the dark. What’s worse is that 179 fellow lawmakers voted to let the leaders do it.

Ignorance and Bliss
If ignorance is bliss, our lawmakers have to be the happiest people on the planet. Not until three days after announcing “the deal” did anyone except those involved in the secret negotiations know what “the deal” is.

Capitol reporters, seeking to inform their listeners and readers, tell horror story after horror story of waiting as much as 10 hours in one day for scraps of information about what programs are getting cut and what programs are getting increases.

Click here for the bill that’s supposed to be the budget. Then click on the current printer’s number.

OPM
One of the unwritten rules in the House and Senate is, “Never spend your own money when you can spend OPM (Other People’s Money).” This explains why, three months after they promised to use some of their (our) $241.5 million legislative surplus, no legislative leader has said a word about it.

Does the phrase “Open Records” ring a bell?
Earlier this year, our political leaders congratulated themselves for passing a new open records law. They have followed this with the most secretive budget process in years. This is not a good sign for what will happen when the new law, which allows the legislature to police itself, takes effect next January.

What’s the rush?
Not a sense of fiscal responsibility. Not patriotic fervor to be home (or at the shore, or who knows where else) for Independence Day, the republic’s defining political moment. Not to ensure that 25,000 state workers won’t get furloughed. Not because they want to ensure uninterrupted government services for those who need them.

No, they want to get out of town for two reasons. First, next Monday is the anniversary of the Pay Raise of 2005. Second, it’s widely expected that Attorney General Tom Corbett next week will announce indictments in the year-and-a half-long bonus scandal.

Questions:

Is this simple incompetence, or was this secrecy part of the plan all along?
What about House rules was unknown to budget negotiators? If they knew the rules, why did they create a situation that provoked them to throw the rules away?
When will the rank-and-file give us new leaders?

Need a speaker for your conference or local group?
Contact DR Co-founder Tim Potts: tim@democracyrisingpa.com

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