Corbett’s Lottery plan looks worse and worse (even after his self-aggrandizing blast email)

Here is the text of an email Corbett sent out in response to groundswell of opposition to his plan to privatize the state Lottery. It was distributed on Jan. 19, just days after House Democrats held a Capitol news conference contesting the plan.

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.

 

For sale: Pennsylvania

There he goes again! Remember when Gov. Corbett used to say Pennsylvania is just like a family… when the budget was tight, they would sit around a table and figure out how to get through the tough times. Although unlike the average Pennsylvania family that would consider ways to increase income as well as cut, Corbett would never consider letting Johnny take on a paper route or working a second job himself.

In Corbett’s Pennsylvania there was only one way --- cut, cut, cut. But now that support for his slash and burn agenda has disappeared, PA’s pater familia has another quick fix for the Commonwealth’s fiscal woes -- sell, sell, sell.

Yeah, that’s it… the liquor stores, the lottery -- if it’s worth anything put it out for a yard sale and take the best offer.

Just sell it.

Recently the governor renewed his interest in an initiative first mentioned last April: privatizing the state lottery.  At the time, Gov. Corbett was just investigating the lottery privatization, and knowing the length of time a Corbett investigation can take, I didn’t expect any action until at least 2014 when the influx of fast cash could help a tough budget in a reelection year.

But now the plan to privatize seems to be on the fast track. Your party’s loss in the presidential, senate, attorney general, auditor general, and treasurer races can be a strong motivator to do something and quickly before anyone can check up on what it is you want to do.

Now the Administration is racing to judgment on the solo bid to privatize the lottery. That’s right, ONE lonely bid – from a company in the United Kingdom. Yes, that same United Kingdom that we fought 236 years ago to get out of our government operations. Maybe the Tea Party can chant, “gaming without representation” and help lift the curse. And like Cinderella’s carriage, this bid disappears on December 31, conveniently before the General Assembly returns to Harrisburg to weigh in on whether to sell off the family assets.

Bear in mind, under its current management by the state’s Revenue Department, the Lottery has increased sales by 8.5% in the last fiscal year -- to $1.06 Billion -- and that these flourishing sales go to fund programs for Pennsylvania’s nearly 2 million seniors. Funds pay for programs like transit, rent and property tax rebates, prescription drug assistance, senior centers and long-term care services.

This leaves many asking: if the Lottery, which is owned by the very citizens it benefits, is already profitable and going to the programs our people depend on, why privatize, especially when there is such little interest from potential takers.

But I say: why stop there? If you want to sell, then sell, baby, sell.

Maybe Camelot Global Services would like to purchase the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Think about it…if it’s good for a portion of the state’s operations, why not ALL state operations? They can’t do a worse job than this Administration regarding roads, education and social services.

In addition to running our lottery and our liquor stores they could pave our roads…for a fee. Operate our schools…for a fee. Care for our infirm…for a fee, and we would never need to pay taxes again. We could just pay a private company with a CEO that makes 15x what the governor earns (so she must be good) to do it for us. By selling out we could probably even punt on our pension obligation.

And if the people don’t like the new benevolent corporate entity, they can move to some other socialist state with a democracy like New Jersey or New York (their governors have colluded with President Obama anyway).

Just as in the case of our state’s liquor stores, the Corbett administration has puts blinders on to the existing case studies. Illinois, which privatized its lottery in 2010, has been let down by private company’s failure to meet its forecasted revenue projection.

Remember a few years ago when the casinos wanted to bring a new industry to the Commonwealth… we said ok…pay a 55% tax -- and they agreed. Contrast that with Corbett and the gas industry when they wanted to come, and he said “Ok” -- for free!

In reality, the Harrisburg Patriot-News Editorial Board has done more research on Lottery privatization than the Corbett Administration, noting that the state has very little negotiating leverage when there is a single bidder. 

Once again , just like the sweetheart deal that Corbett struck with Royal Dutch Shell that then required legislative action to implement (tax breaks to the tune of $1.7 Billion), this deal only appears to work on the surface IF the legislature agrees to give the privateers Keno as a revenue source … for free!... just like our shale gas.

Like so many other Grover Norquist devotees, Gov. Corbett placed all the Commonwealth’s bets that Marcellus Shale, if left untaxed, would do so much for the economy in terms of jobs and revenue that he could just sit back and never have to work at governing. It didn’t pan out and now he needs to sell the farm.

Don’t do it governor!

These Corbett job numbers are downright scary.

Last week when defending the $10,000 raises his boss doled out to top staff, the governor’s spokesman told the Harrisburg Patriot-News that Gov. Corbett has a “broader plan” to bring equity to the state workforce’s 12,000 managers. He said “Governor Corbett plans to grow the economy so that additional revenues become available which allow for additional raises.”

His plan to “grow the economy,” rang a little hollow to me. Perhaps because I had just done some research that points to PA’s economy moving in the opposite direction of the nation’s at large.   

See, while other Americans look at economic indicators like the unemployment rate and foreclosures, and feel encouraged by the hopeful signs Pennsylvanians are left wondering why the numbers in our state don’t do much to boost confidence.

The U.S. Commerce Department shows economic trackers like housing starts, home prices and consumer confidence are growing, while foreclosures and unemployment are down. But Pennsylvanians aren’t feeling this recovery.

Plus according to RealtyTrac foreclosures in the U.S. plunged to a 5 year low in September. But in the Commonwealth -- up a 134% since September 2011, the 2nd highest of any state in the country.

Similarly, the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 7.8% in September, a 3/10 percent drop, falling in 41 states; Pennsylvania’s increased to 8.2 percent last month, climbing steadily every month since May.

Adding to the pain and frustration WNEP in Scranton reported that many recently laid off Pennsylvanians hit a wall when calling the state’s toll-free unemployment hotline – getting a busy signal -- sometimes for weeks on end. In fact when Labor and Industry Secretary Julia Hearthway called, she got a busy signal too.

I’ve heard the frustration and anxiety from would-be and existing U.C. claimants, and those trying to assist them firsthand.

So when can we expect this promise to “grow the economy?” In his first 22 months it looks its Corbett’s failed policies that are responsible for our state’s nonexistent recovery.

Remember back-to-back state budgets which laid off nearly 20,000 education professionals, and the 40,000+ working Pennsylvanians kicked off their health insurance, and asset tests to qualify for nutritional assistance – clearly these do not contribute to a thriving recovery. Compounded by the governor’s inaction on transportation infrastructure, which by the way would improve public safety and creating tens of thousands of jobs.

Not only has the administration (and others remember “jobs, jobs, jobs”) failed to generate the jobs it claimed were its top priority, it has also dismantled the safety net there to assist struggling families. This is simply unacceptable, Pennsylvanians deserve better.

Paging Dr. Corbett

After yo-yo-ing on whether or not to embrace his role as a leader in securing health care for every Massachusetts’ resident while he was governor, Mitt Romney has adopted the oft-Republican refrain that health care (like other issues when it suits them) should be firmly in state hands.

But what did Pennsylvanians do wrong? Why is health insurance more important for residents of the Bay State than the Keystone State based solely on the person at the helm? Last summer would 89,000 children in Pennsylvania have gotten cut from Medicaid if Mitt Romney were the governor of our Commonwealth?

But if comprehensive health care is a state issue as Mr. Romney insists, let’s look at what Dr. Corbett has prescribed for Pennsylvania.

Stage 1: Eliminate Affordable Health Care for working Pennsylvanians

Despite a campaign promising “developing a world-class work force” (evidently by decimating education funding), “promoting state parks and forests” (to multinational drillers, perhaps), and “improving our transportation infrastructure,” (seriously this is all on his campaign website!), Tom Corbett believed the first issue warranting his attention as governor was eliminating health coverage for over 40,000 working Pennsylvanians who were contributing to the cost of their insurance. (Not to mention extinguishing the hopes of the ½ million people on the plan’s waiting list).

Regardless of whether Gov. Corbett even had the authority to eliminate adultBasic, he had the ability, and that was just phase one in his Corbett (doesn’t) Care plan.

Stage 2: Cut 89,000 Children from Medicaid

According to Tom Corbett: it’s time to cut the fraud, waste and abuse that is crushing our state -- yep time to cut those freeloaders who are abusing Pennsylvania’s public programs -- all 89,000 of those kids living in poverty.

From August 2011 to January 2012, Corbett and his deputies directed the removal of 130,000 people from the Medicaid rolls. That’s a fairly atrocious number that sparked the attention of the feds which actually provide the guidance and jointly-fund Medicaid. Compounding the federal government’s insistence that the Corbett administration should revisit the rolls were the 89,000 kids who were cut. As of late May, the DPW Secretary still hasn’t accounted for where all the children who were cut disappeared to and why they no longer qualify.

Stage 3: Cut access to nutritious food

How can we really ensure health care costs go up for low income Pennsylvanians (which really means costs increase for all of us)? I suppose a cheaper option than distributing packs of cigarettes to people on street corners, is to jeopardize their access to nutritious food.

As if cutting or even holding budget line items like Farmer’s Market Coupons steady in a time of increased public need weren’t harmful enough, Gov. Corbett not to be outdone, decided to make access to food stamps more burdensome. The kicker is that by implementing an asset test, as the governor prescribed, actually costs the state (otherwise known as the taxpayers) more money.  This plan, which took effect in May, punishes people for collecting a modest savings that could help make ends meet in emergencies. You know – like every financial advisor would recommend.

In order to qualify for SNAP (food stamps) residents were already means tested, which means they could only earn 160% of the federal poverty level, about $35K a year for a family of four. The asset plan piles on the workload of the already task-saturated county assistance offices, which by the way have also seen the edge of the budget ax in recent years.

Stage 4: Collect a 5% income tax from the families with disabled kids

Candidate Corbett claimed to want to support Pennsylvanians with autism, however he approved a plan by a top deputy to implement a policy change to collect up to 5% of a family’s gross household income in the form of co-payments for medically necessary treatments for their disabled kids.

The policy was announced under the radar and bypassed formal review by the legislature and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission. Due to public outcry the plan is on hold for now, but when they tried to implement it, DPW in several cases didn’t even calculate a family’s income correctly, sometimes overestimating it by $100,000.

After considering just his first 22 months in office Corbett’s Health care plan doesn’t look promising for many of us. One Romney strategy Tom Corbett has adopted is tax breaks and less oversight for big business, now if he’d only embrace his approach to securing the health of residents of this Commonwealth ….

Picking on the little guy

Corbett administration imposes a 5% income tax on families of disabled kids

You’ve seen this story unfold before: Gov. Corbett alleges Pennsylvania is in such dire straits that cuts must be made to programs that working Pennsylvanians depend on, while he gives tax credits to out-of-state corporations under the guise of job creation.

Well he’s at it again.

This week DPW implemented a policy it discreetly announced in August to begin collecting co-pays from parents for services provided to their disabled children.  Yep, disabled kids.

Last week DPW Sec. Gary Alexander defended the policy only after those affected and their advocates converged on the Capitol to voice their disapproval. Alexander devised the plan in an effort to make massive cuts in DPW’s budget, a task bestowed upon him by the GOP in 2011.

Under the new policy a family with a disabled child (or children) will have to pay up to 5% of their total household income if they earn 200% of the federal poverty level (about $46,000 a year for a family of four).

It will easily cost families thousands of dollars annually to continue receiving treatment. Some of these children have several medically necessary therapies, diagnostic tests and other services per week. The families I’ve spoken to have said it will force tough decisions between co-payments and basic necessities like housing and food.

The real kicker is in the past, DPW required oversight from the General Assembly or the Independent Regulatory Review Commission to put these kinds of harsh changes in place, but due to a GOP-backed law approved in 2011 Alexander (aka the Gov. Corbett ax wielder) can exercise ultimate control over these decisions. 

What’s really absurd is the new policy isn’t even necessary.

According to the Pennsylvania Health Law Project if DPW were to actually enforce the existing Autism Insurance Coverage Law (on the books since 2008) DPW could save $25 million a year. This new cockamamie plan would only save about $5 million while costing Pennsylvania’s thousands of working families with disabled kids nearly double that since when DPW pays for the services, the feds kick-in about 40 cents on the dollar to help.

The icing on the cake is that DPW has miscalculated the household income for some families by as much as $100,000.

Add this to the list of senseless plans the Corbett administration has rushed to implement and completely mismanaged.  Check back regularly to read more on the Corbett administration’s dysfunction: “Working Hard…to prove government doesn’t work.”

As unemployment grows, it’s time to hit the road

I’m shocked -- shocked, that for the second straight year, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate has grown as a result of passing Governor Corbett’s short-on-education-funding, high-on-business-tax-credits budget… well, not really. But I really am surprised that his approval ratings hit an all-time low (which was a tough objective even for Gov. Corbett to meet). The governor’s in such shallow territory he’ll need to pick up hei kayak and carry it on his next trip down the soon-to-be fracktastic waterways of our Commonwealth.

Surprising absolutely no one, the largest drops in jobs last month were among education professionals and health service workers.  Hmm, maybe next we’ll find out class sizes grew and after school programs have been eliminated. But I am sure we can look for future growth in the incarceration and hospital emergency room employment sectors.

Interestingly, leisure and hospitality jobs also tanked. This was after that sector reached a record high earlier this year. In actuality, Pennsylvania lost twice as many leisure and hospitality jobs from June to July 2012, than it gained in that record-setting growth from March to April. This after one of the governor’s goals for his European adventure had been to “promote and attract tourism” among the French and Germans he met. Clearly they all came in April, and left quickly so they did not have to witness the governor in his lifevest and aqua socks.

But maybe this latest trip to California can spur the same state job growth that resulted from his European vacation in March-- oh wait, since he came home Pennsylvania's unemployment has actually grown by nearly a half percent? Hmm, that’s not such good news.

Shortly after his trip to Europe, which only neared the border with the Netherlands, the governor announced the largest tax credit in the history of the Commonwealth for Royal Dutch Shell. What tax incentive will we learn about as a result of his trip to California?

Truth be told, the governor probably hasn’t even looked at these jobs numbers yet. Maybe they’re on his summer reading list, right after 2011’s TFAC and 2012’s Freeh reports. Don’t worry we’ve all been assured he’s assigned someone to investigate the matter.

Maybe a better way to facilitate job growth is to invest in Pennsylvanians. Putting our teachers back in classrooms, investing in transportation infrastructure and keeping residents healthy is a true investment in our work force.