Government Accountability

Election Day Live Chat

  • May 18, 2010

Join Commonwealth Foundation staff and PA Independent reporters, as well as invited bloggers, to discuss the Pennsylvania primary election results and happenings throughout the day.  Post your questions and…

Media

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Regulation

Violations Carry a Hefty Price in the Marcellus Shale

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 17, 2010

In a recent Citizen Voice article, Scott Perry, the director of Oil and Gas Management at the DEP explains how costly environmental infractions can be for drilling companies. The…

Media

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Regulation

Republicans Talk about Privatizing State Parks

  • May 17, 2010

Recently, there has been some speculation about whether Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers are considering leasing the state parks to private companies to operate. Competitively contracting management of our state park…

Media

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Government Accountability

Rendell’s No-Bid State Forest Lease

  • May 17, 2010

Last week, Gov. Rendell announced 32,896 acres of state forest land had been leased to Anadarko Petroleum for drilling for $120 million. The no-bid deal was for land previously…

Media

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Regulation

F&M Poll Shows Voters Support Liquor Store Privatization

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 14, 2010

The latest Franklin & Marshall College poll spends, not surprising, a good deal of time on election-related questions, but has a few related to current policy proposals in Harrisburg. …

Media

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Taxes & Economy

The Price of Wind

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 13, 2010

The Wall Street Journal has a good article about how wind generation drives up electric rates in Massachusettes, and will continue to do so as alternative energy mandates are…

Media

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Government Accountability

How Rendell Gets Shills

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 13, 2010

In each of their “budget updates” (see: this one or this one) the Department of Public Welfare ends with this line “For information on…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Bad Pennsylvania Policy Spreads to DC

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 12, 2010

In the past couple of weeks, debate in Washington has ramped up over implementing national alternative energy mandates. Senator Jeff Bingaman has included the standards in his American Clean…

Media

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Government Accountability

Fact Checking Special Interests’ Attack on Natural Gas

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 11, 2010

Misinformation spewed continually at Common Cause’s press conference on natural gas campaign contributions (see CF News Release) held today at the Capital. Here are…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Re: What About Jobs of Other Colors?

  • May 11, 2010

Katrina’s post on Friday that highlighted Energy Ventures Analysis’s job destruction realism about Pennsylvania’s proposed alternative energy mandates is buttressed by similar research elsewhere, including …

Media

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Health Care

Obama Concedes CF was Right About Slacker Mandate

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 11, 2010

I hate to toot my own horn (wink wink), but a few months ago, I wrote that a “slacker mandate” included in the federal health care bill would fail…

Media

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Public Union Democracy

Special Interests Denounce “Special Interests”

  • May 11, 2010

HARRISBURG, PA (05.11.10) — The Commonwealth Foundation expressed disappointment today that special interest groups which demand taxpayer subsidies for certain energy companies are attacking Pennsylvania’s natural gas companies for simply…

Press Release

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Education

PA School Districts Have $2.5 Billion in Reserves

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 10, 2010

PA Independent highlights the $2.5 billion school districts have in reserve accounts – $1.8 billion in “undesignated reserves.” To put that it lay terms – it’s a lot of…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Appraising the Candidates on Energy: Mandates Over Markets

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 10, 2010

PA gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett recently put out a policy paper on energy praising markets:  “a properly structured market place can effectively incentivize alternative energy investments – perhaps even…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Talking Transportation Funding

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 10, 2010

PA Independent’s Eric Boehm talks with State Rep. Rick Geist about Pennsylvania transportation funding in their latest podcast. For more info on transportation funding, check out our…

Media

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