If Tom Corbett had a sense of humor (and I happen to know personally that he does) he would have Andy Reid introduce him today as he delivers his annual budget address.
I can just hear Big Red now:
“Tom’s yours.”
Or something to that effect.
The governor has been everywhere in the past few weeks, trying desperately to snap out of the doldrums that for the most part took up his first two years in the governor’s mansion.
But all eyes will be on Corbett today as he strides to the podium in the state House chamber in Harrisburg to deliver his third budget address.
This one should be a blockbuster.
Corbett has already hinted widely at some of the issues the state needs to address.
At the top of the list is what he refers to as the ‘tapeworm’ in the state budget, $41 billion in unfunded liability in the state’s two huge public employee pension plans. Corbett is hell-bent on getting the Legislature to address the issue, instead of, as he put it, “kicking the can down the road,” as Harrisburg has been doing for years.
The governor has kept the details of his plan pretty close to the vest. That stops today. Almost everyone believes he will call for a reduction in benefits, which will almost certainly set off howls from the PSEA, the powerful state teachers union. It’s also interesting that in a way, Corbett also will be asking the members of the Legislature to take money out of their own pockets, since pols’ pensions also are involved. Then again, it was then Gov.-Ridge and the Legislature that created a big chunk of this problem by increasing the benefits back in 2001.
The governor also will likely lay out his plans to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure and transportation systems, as well as his new twist of privatizing sales of alcohol in Pennsylvania, which could pump as much as $1 billion in new revenue for education.
You can get a full preview here.
Comments