Turnpike’s defenders go on offense

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 18, 2008

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on how the beneficiaries defenders of the Turnpike Commission are stalling, claiming that Turnpike Tolls would be much higher under a private lease, and planning to…

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Government Accountability

Are Secret Funding Letters Open Records?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 18, 2008

PassOpenRecords.org asks if letters from Governor Rendell promising state funds to a variety of projects would be considered open records. They are looking for readers to comment on that…

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Government Accountability

Lawmakers Spend Hundreds Of Thousands To See If They Misspent Money

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 18, 2008

WGAL reports that state lawmakers spent $300,000 (mostly from House Democrats) on legal fees relating to the bonusgate investigation. The headline basically says it all. Props to freshmen Eugene…

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Taxes & Economy

PA House Passes Tax Cuts

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 17, 2008

With a unanimous 197-0 vote, the Pennsylvania House Passed HB 377 which would: Roll back the Personal Income Tax rate to 2.80% over two years Reduce the Corporate Net…

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Taxes & Economy

Tax Rebates Will Not Stimulate The Economy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 16, 2008

Heritage Foundation commentary on why neither tax “rebates” nor “ecnomic stimulous” spending would result in economic growth. Critics contend that rebates “inject” new money into the economy, increasing…

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Taxes & Economy

Turnpike lease and ‘foreign’ companies

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 16, 2008

The latest news that Senate President pro tem Joe Scanarti will be introducing a “hybrid” Turnpike lease plan (Tribune Review story), which appears to be different that Senator…

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Government Accountability

Reform is not a Rendell priority

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 15, 2008

So says Tony Phyrillas, in response to Governor Rendell’s put-down of a special session on public integrity.

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Taxes & Economy

The Ethanol Fallacy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 15, 2008

Popular Mechanics on The Ethanol Fallacy: So what should the government do? First off: no harm. Instead of trying to mandate specific technologies—and risk locking us into…

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Turnpike Lease Promising

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 15, 2008

Press Enterprise editorial on Senator Gordner’s Turnpike lease proposal: When looked at from an economic standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. Start with this…

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