Public Union Democracy

Lottery Agreement Better Than Union Guesstimate

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • January 10, 2013

AFSCME’s counter proposal to the Pennsylvania Lottery private management agreement (PMA) provides no guaranteed revenue for senior services, no new jobs and no protections for taxpayers if profits fall…

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Criminal Justice Reform

Milestone Corrections Reform Offers Taxpayer Savings

  • January 9, 2013

On the heels of Pennsylvania’s historic decline in prison population—the largest one-year decline in four decades—the Department of Corrections announced today the imminent closure of two older prisons.

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Education

What’s Behind Pennsylvania’s D+ on Education?

  • Priya Brannick
  • January 9, 2013

StudentsFirst, a bipartisan education reform group, released report cards for all 50 states evaluating individual state education laws and policies—and the news wasn’t good for Pennsylvania,…

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Public Union Democracy

Union Attacks Won’t Improve Lottery

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 9, 2013

AFSCME Council 13, the union representing state lottery employees, released its “Alternatives” to a lottery private management agreement.  However, their document doesn’t represent a serious counter-proposal that would…

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Taxes & Economy

“Promised Land” Bombs at Box Office

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • January 8, 2013

“Promised Land,” Tinseltown’s recent take on natural gas drilling, opened in theaters across the nation this past weekend. Despite a cast of heavy hitters, including Matt Damon, the film grossed…

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Regulation

Lottery Deal = Guarantees not Gamble

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • January 7, 2013

Lottery profits fund programs for senior citizens—but demand for these services is growing faster than Lottery revenue.  The private lottery management agreement recently bid out by the…

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Public Union Democracy

Government Union Cronies Collude Against Seniors

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 3, 2013

Here’s a letter to the editor I wrote identifying the connections between special interest groups who oppose a lottery contract, and their motives for undermining a deal that would generate…

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Regulation

PA Tax Loophole Funds Frackaphobic Film

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Priya Brannick
  • January 3, 2013

There’s a memorable line in Promised Land, the new Matt Damon movie opening Friday about a gas drilling company buying land rights in a declining farming community. One…

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Filing a Religious Objection to your Fair Share Fee

  • January 2, 2013

Once you become a non-union fee payer, you will receive an annual letter every December with supporting documents from your union explaining how it calculates fair share fees. You may…

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