Corbett: I Pledge Allegiance to Grover Norquist, and to the Drowning of Govt. for which he stands
Last edited Mon Mar 19, 2012, 03:27 PM - Edit history (1)
Corbett and most teabagger legislators signed a pledge with Grover Norquist, an anti-tax activist in DC. The pledge is that they would never ever raise any taxes, no matter what. This even includes taxing natural gas extraction, even though every other state with a natural gas industry taxes it.
Corbett has to go back to Norquist to ask the grand poobah to issue a royal edict about whether any new fee is actually a tax. Norquist is famous for saying that he wanted to strangle the finances of government and shrink it so much that he could then "drown it in a bathtub."
He's a great column on this matter and on the massive slashing of public transit service that is happening in the Pittsburgh area because Corbett has refused to carry out the recommendations of his own transportation funding commission.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/tony-norman/state-is-liable-to-wreck-transit-at-any-cost-220040/?print=1
Great column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Excerpts:
"Next week, Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to unveil what will amount to an ambitious "non-plan" for dealing with the state's transportation budget shortfall. Transit systems from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia are in big trouble, but Mr. Corbett remains curiously detached from what will happen to the state's overall economy if service cuts on the scale threatened by the transit agencies go forward... there is the equally nihilistic prospect of inadequate funding of the construction and repair of roads and bridges that we all use every day. How is Pennsylvania supposed to attract investment if public transit has collapsed and our deteriorating roads are clogged with commuters forced to drive to work?
Ever since then-gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett got religion from tea party activists who opposed him in the 2010 Republican primary, he has been more Catholic than the pope when it comes to taxes.
Mr. Corbett's short-sighted opposition to taxing Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction at any rate makes Pennsylvania the laughing stock among energy-producing states that have no such compunctions, but at least it reflects his administration's ties to an industry that supported him in the primaries and the general election... What is perverse, unacceptable and infuriating is Mr. Corbett's unwillingness to raise motor vehicle registration and licensing fees that have remained static since 1997, when Bill Clinton was president.
The governor is determined to face the taxpayers in 2014 true to his pledge to never raise taxes. If he has no other accomplishments to brag about, Mr. Corbett will at least be able to boast to the Grover Norquist wannabes that haunt his dreams that he watched our roads, bridges and transit systems go down the toilet without flinching. That's leadership, folks."
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