Corbett as Santa Claus: Spreading tens of millions of grants to big businesses

[JPZenger]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20141023_PhillyDeals__Corbett_distributing_millions_as_election_nears.html

It is Christmas time for friends of Corbett. This month, he is going around approving tens of millions of dollars of State grants, including many for large corporations in wealthy suburbs.

"Corbett gave $3.5 million Tuesday to help the developer of a new U.S. headquarters for the French-owned building-materials maker Saint-Gobain S.A. renovate a long-vacant office center in East Whiteland Township. Corbett says these taxpayer dollars will be "supporting 2,600 good-paying jobs," including temporary and secondary service jobs.

As I reported in April, St-Gobain is moving 680 people to the site when it vacates locations in King of Prussia and Blue Bell, and might add 100 over the next five years. Where are the other jobs? Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni says the total includes hundreds of temporary construction jobs, restaurant jobs, and others dependent on St.-Gobain; developer Eli Kahn hopes to attract other companies and hundreds more jobs to the complex. St.-Gobain earned more than $600 million in profits last year, after taxes."

[blue neen]

1. He's a joke.

Just not a funny one.