This email was meant to convince (aka deceive) seniors into
thinking funding for the programs which benefit them would actually gain from
giving our state Lottery to a foreign company. This only proves that Gov.
Corbett underestimates the intelligence of Pennsylvania seniors. Once they see
the facts, I’m guessing they’ll support this about as much as they supported Rick
Santorum’s plan to hand their Social Security savings to Bernie Madoff.
Read my comments below for a more accurate explanation of
his propaganda point by point.
1. Corbett claims there will be at least $3 billion
in new revenue generated for seniors just by handing over the Lottery.
Not so fast. Even if you buy his numbers,
any additional revenue generated would come from expanding the Lottery to
include Keno and video poker. Heck, PA could meet or exceed those projections
if we expanded under our current system, owned and operated by
PENNSYLVANIANS. That would make
additional dollars under the Corbett giveaway, ZERO.
2. Wow, $50 million set aside in this year’s budget.
That one time infusion of cash will definitely make up for the property tax
hikes or the millions cut in last year’s budget on programs to keep seniors in
their homes. This year’s $50 million won’t help much in future years when
Camelot fails to meet projections – for heaven sake it will barely cover
the bonuses it’s handing out to its top executives this year!
3. This is fantastic news…but the current Lottery
already has its offices in Pennsylvanian, so this isn’t really a gain. And
Camelot had already lost a little credibility when it set up shop in
neighboring Delaware …home of the infamous tax evasion haven – Delaware Loophole.
4. Camelot has already pledged to hire some
employees back, which pretty much proves they’ll be making layoffs. Sure those
workers could apply for unemployment compensation, if only the phone
lines at Labor and Industry weren’t always busy.
Having the phones lines tied up, is
the Corbett’s strongest strategy for keeping Pennsylvania’s unemployment
numbers down, and he’s still failing!
5. First, it’s just kind of hard not to laugh when
this governor talks transparency. How
many of these phone conversations were with voicemail? or how many staff
members from the same office sat in on a meeting? Plus the testimony at public
hearings came after Corbett’s announcement to award the contract. Although I’m
hopeful an intrepid reporter will request the list of the 100 legislators
Corbett spoke with, but that’d probably result in another
lawsuit against a member of the press – so much for transparency.
