Leftover $ in Harrisburg??????????

An Open Letter to the Pennsylvania General Assembly: Return Your Surplus to Taxpayers!

Dear Legislator:

On behalf of the nearly 17,300 Pennsylvania members of the National Taxpayers Union, I urge you to support efforts to devote the General Assembly's operating fund surplus to tax relief.
For years, the Assembly has hoarded hard-earned taxpayer dollars and now there is a sizable surplus. The Legislative Audit Advisory Commission has recommended that the Assembly adopt standards for how to deal with this money. Rather than expanding government and increasing spending, the best course is to return those dollars to the folks who earned them in the first place.

At a time when our economy is slowing, Pennsylvania ought to be collecting only the revenues necessary for legitimate core functions. The operating fund from which the Assembly draws its salary and pays for other costs has taken an extra $241 million out of Pennsylvanians' pockets in recent years. That money would be better used to feed the families, fill the gas tanks, and expand the businesses upon which Pennsylvania relies so heavily.

Nonetheless, some legislators would prefer to use the money to boost spending on programs like health care. Instead of spending millions on new programs that would expand the reach of government, elected officials ought to focus on relieving the burdens of taxation. Pennsylvania has the nation’s second-highest corporate income taxes, a high sales tax, and a property tax burden that is increasingly difficult to bear for hard-working families.

Politics has trumped the interests of taxpayers for far too long. The time has come to stop using the fruits of Pennsylvania's labor as a political shield in budget battles between the legislative and executive branches. The General Assembly should resist the urge to grow government and instead devote the operating fund surplus to tax relief for Pennsylvanians suffering from a slowing economy.

Sincerely,
Andrew MoylanGovernment Affairs Manager

Moon over Harrisburg

Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1504 were stranded on the coast of Jamaica, the explorers were running out of food and faced with increasingly hostile local inhabitants who were refusing to provide them with any more supplies.

Columbus, looking at an astronomical almanac compiled by a German mathematician, realised that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504.

He called the native leaders and warned them if they did not cooperate, he would make the Moon disappear from the sky the following night.

The warning, of course, came true, prompting the terrified people to beg Columbus to restore the Moon -- which he did, in return for as much food as his men needed. He and the crew were rescued on June 29, 1504.

Hint to Speaker Dennis O'Brien; tell Big Ed, the Maître de and Dealer DeWeese that if they don't stop spending like a bunch of drunk power hungry liberals using our credit cards at the Federal Wal-Mart you'll make the Moon go away. Do that and maybe Harrisburg might just start paying attention to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Of course they'll tell you that they hung the damned Moon, but you just Moon them. The citizenry will applaud you.

BONUSGATE SURPRISE Not

18 years, 18 months, 18 weeks, 18 days, 18 hours or 18 minutes, How long have the illegalities gone on? Maybe only Rose Mary Woods knows, but I'd bet that Bill DeWeese might know about the additional 1/2 a minute a destruction order can take.

Democratic caucus trashed files, sources say

Internal House Democratic Caucus documents were shredded as a grand jury investigation was under way late this summer, according to several independent Capitol sources.

The documents are believed to include personnel records that might be pertinent to Attorney General Tom Corbett's investigation of whether legislative staffers were paid bonuses for political work, sources say.

A Democratic legislator, who asked not to be named, said he heard "20 to 30 boxes" that included "leave slips and comp time" records were shredded.

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, who says he is cooperating with Corbett's investigation, did not respond for comment last night through his
spokesman.

As we have said over and over, reform cannot be gotten from the "old bulls" of the legislature. The "old bulls" have controlled the money and the flow of money for as long as most people can remember. The destruction of these files was not a mistake. It was deliberative. The destruction was not ordered by some new guy like Denny O'Brien or a wet nosed kid from Scranton. The order came from the top, but which head on this two-headed bull gave the order, Democrat or Republican or both. They share the same old dirty bed.

PA Bonusgate warrants served in the House in Harrisburg

Certain pols in Harrisburg better have sun glasses because the sun is about to shine where they don't want it to, on them and all the bonuses they gave out willy nilly using our tax money.

Rumor has it that deals are being attempted as we speak and that certain pols will be shielded.

More later.