Shapiro’s “Fast-Track” program is great for his allies, but bad for Pennsylvania

Originally published at The Patriot-News

Is Josh Shapiro the future of the Democratic Party? He certainly wants to be, but he just failed an early test.

This is the reality of the supposed permitting reform that our governor unveiled in November. Shapiro created a “fast track” program to get bureaucratic roadblocks out of the way of much-needed infrastructure projects in the state. The political calculus is clear: Shapiro wants to be seen as a moderate—someone who will rush to the middle and deliver growth and jobs. That’s a new direction for the Democratic Party after Kamala Harris lost the presidential race on a more progressive platform.

But the governor’s new policy is little more than political window-dressing. His new fast-track program gives him the power to decide which infrastructure projects to approve—and which ones to kill. In other words, he can choose the projects that are most likely to benefit him politically, instead of clearing the way for the infrastructure that Pennsylvania needs most.

Read more at The Patriot-News