Memo tips off Democrats' budget strategy: Wear down GOP, force tax hikes

We're 16 days away from the start of a new fiscal year for Pennsylvania, but Gov. Ed Rendell and the Legislature can't seem to find the time to get in the same room to negotiate a budget deal.

Rendell is still pushing his $27.3 billion spending plan, which will require $2 billion in new or expanded taxes to balance.

House Democrats are also willing to spend the $27.3 billion, but say they can balance the budget without a tax increase. Anyway, the budget is irrelevant to the Democrats. What they really want to accomplish this year is secure billions of dollars to subsidize mass transit by privatizing the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

House Republicans are upset with the new Democratic majority, which they claim is dragging out the budget process to gain the upper hand. Senate Republicans have already shaved $330 million from Rendell's budget and want to cut more. Senate GOP leaders say they will not support a tax increase. Nobody cares what Senate Democrats have to say.

Republican lawmakers are worried that the state budget won't pass on time for the fifth year in a row. House GOP Chairman Sam Smith summed up the Rendell/Democratic Party strategy this way:

"House Democrats have clearly taken a strategy to tie up the negotiations to try to stall," Smith said Wednesday. "I think their whole game is the typical Rendell doctrine of delay, create a crisis, and then we'll have to have a tax increase to fix the crisis. I think it is beyond brinksmanship."

The most interesting development this week is a memo House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans sent to his fellow Democrats, laying out the strategy the Rendell and Evans have adopted to force the Legislature into more spending increases and higher taxes.

Here's the full text of the Evans' memo (with editorial comments added by me in red in an effort to translate the Democratic doublespeak):

Message from the Chair
June 12, 2007
Re: Beyond the budget hoopla

Dear Colleague:

As of today, we have 2½ weeks before the end of the fiscal year. I am fully aware there is much gossip and speculation about the status of budget negotiations. For our freshman and newer members, please understand that at this time of year, such talk is part of the Harrisburg parlor game. It is a game that is played with speculation, innuendo and assumptions but typically not facts. (TRANSLATION: YOU REFORM-MINDED FRESHMEN NEED TO CHILL OUT AND ALLOW US PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS TO PLAY THE GAME. AFTER ALL, WE'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 30 YEARS. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE PROMISES YOU MADE TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME ABOUT PROPERTY TAX RELIEF AND ENDING THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IN HARRISBURG. JUST LET UNCLE DWIGHT AND UNCLE EDDY DO THEIR THING. SO WHAT IF SOME OF YOU LOSE IN 2008. ED AND I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THOSE PESKY VOTERS.)

I have been open and forthright about the process in my individual discussions with you and when talking to the caucus as a whole. I am fully aware that not every member is comfortable with every idea on our budget plate. (WHAT'S ON THE DEMOCRATS' MENU? RAISING STATE SPENDING BY 7 PERCENT?? VOTING FOR TAX HIKES WHEN THE VOTERS SENT YOU HERE TO CUT PROPERTY TAXES??) To be frank, there are some ideas I support more fully than others.

But I want to be very clear: My job as Appropriations Chairman is to guide this process for the Democratic Caucus. (SPEND LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW. IT'S NOT LIKE THIS IS OUR MONEY. AS LONG AS THOSE SAPS KEEP RE-ELECTING US, WE'LL KEEP SPENDING THEIR MONEY). My job is to fight for every dollar I can to support the programs we as Democrats believe help build strong communities:

* Increased funding for education; (BUT NO PROPERTY TAX RELIEF OR CONTROLS OVER LOCAL SPENDING BY SCHOOL BOARDS)

* Investments in economic development; (MORE CORPORATE WELFARE)

* Healthcare for all; (SOCIALIZED MEDICINE; HIGHER TAXES ON BUSINESSES)

* Job training programs; (THE JIG IS UP ON PENNSYLVANIA'S WELFARE PROGRAM)

* The arts and culture; (ON A LIST OF SPENDING PRIORITIES, 'ARTS AND CULTURE' RANK NO. 101 ON A LIST THAT STOPS AT 100)

* The environment; (MORE MONEY FOR COMPANIES THE EMPLOY SPOUSES OF RENDELL CABINET MEMBERS?)

* And perhaps, most importantly, a steady stream of funding for transit and roads/bridges. (AT LAST, WE CUT TO THE CHASE. IN OTHER WORDS, SUBSIDIZING THE STATE'S FAILED MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS WITH THEIR BLOATED PATRONAGE JOBS AND KEEPING THOSE UNIONIZED WORKERS HAPPY IS THE ONLY THING KEEPING DEMOCRATS IN OFFICE IN THIS STATE).

Prior to Memorial Day, our Caucus passed House Bill 1286 which set our spending priorities with regard to the General Fund Budget. (INCREASE STATE SPENDING TO HISTORIC LEVELS EVEN THOUGH THE STATE'S POPULATION IS STAGNANT AND PENNSYLVANIA RANKS NEAR THE BOTTOM IN EVERY RANKING OF ECONOMIC VITALITY.) By doing so, we sent a clear signal to the state Senate (THOSE MEAN REPUBLICANS) that we will start negotiations from that position. Any proposal in which the starting point is less than that will TAKE THE STATE BACKWARDS. (A TAX CUT IS A STEP BACKWARDS IN DWIGHT EVANS' WORLD. KEEPING STATE SPENDING AT THE RATE OF INFLATION IS A STEP BACKWARDS IN DWIGHT EVANS' WORLD. PASSING A BUDGET ON TIME IS A STEP BACKWARDS IN EVANS' WORLD.)

As we engage in budget negotiations, we must look to the future, not to the past. As Democrats it is our responsibility to determine how this state will look, not just a year or two from now, but 20 years from now. (BY LEASING THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE TO A PRIVATE COMPANY, DEMOCRATS CAN FIND BILLIONS OF ADDITIONAL DOLLARS TO SPEND ON SUBSIDIZING MASS TRANSIT.)

I cannot in good conscience support draconian proposals that would slash nearly $500 million dollars from the general fund. (CUTTING $500 MILLION IN SPENDING FROM THE $60 BILLION PENNSYLVANIA SPENDS EVERY YEAR IS DRACONIAN? SOUNDS LIKE DWIGHT EVANS HAS BEEN HANGING AROUND PARIS HILTON TOO LONG.) Doing so would be more than irresponsible: it would simply shift the budget problems we have to next year or the year after. And in doing so, it would leave hundreds of thousands of our youngest citizens, our most vulnerable citizens and our senior citizens without the programs they deserve. (LET ME GET THIS RIGHT. LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS AS A STATE IS UNACCEPTABLE? NOBODY IS CUTTING PROGRAMS FOR SENIORS. AND IF DWIGHT EVANS WOULD TALK TO SENIORS, HE'D HEAR THAT THEY, MORE THAN ANYONE, WANT THE ELIMINATION OF PROPERTY TAXES.)

To that end, I also have decided to stand firm in my position that this budget will NOT be done unless we find a solution that provides a steady stream of funding for our transit systems and for repairing our roads and bridges. (SOUNDS LIKE THE MAN PULLING DWIGHT EVANS' STRINGS -- EDWARD G. RENDELL -- IS WILLING TO HOLD OUT UNTIL HE GETS TO TURN OVER THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE TO ONE OF HIS CORPORATE BENEFACTORS.) I believe that if we procrastinate, we will not resolve the problem in the Fall, nor will we tackle it in 2008. And inaction on our part will only compound the problem.

I understand that the budget process can be excruciating at times. But keep in mind that Governor Rendell was elected with overwhelming public support. (AND THE MAJORITY OF PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENTS WANT THE ELIMINATION OF PROPERTY TAXES, SO WHAT'S YOUR POINT? RENDELL IS A FUN GUY? WHERE IS THE TAX RELIEF RENDELL AND HIS DEMOCRAT SYCOPHANTS PROMISED IN 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and 2006 and 2007?) Our polling data and anecdotal evidence both suggest that the public will support bold ideas to move this state forward. And our mandate from the voters is to make responsible choices that will strengthen our Commonwealth. (OBVIOUSLY, EVANS NEEDS TO HIRE A NEW POLLSTER. THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA SPOKE LOUD AND CLEAR AT THE ONLY POLL THE MATTERS -- THE BALLOT BOX -- WHEN VOTERS IN 99 PERCENT OF STATE'S SCHOOL DISTRICTS REJECTED RENDELL'S ACT 1 TAX SHIFT).

I will talk more about the budget process during caucus in the coming days. In the meantime, I urge you to remain faithful to the ideals of our party; committed to the caucus; and confident that we will negotiate a budget which shows Democrats understand what it means to invest in people and in Pennsylvania's future.

Rep. Dwight Evans, Chairman
House Committee on Appropriations

THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS. THE RENDELL/DEMOCRATIC PARTY STRATEGY IS TO HOLD STATE GOVERNMENT HOSTAGE UNTIL THEY GET WHAT THEY WANT: MASSIVE INCREASES IN STATE SPENDING, BILLIONS IN NEW TAXES AND PRIVATIZING THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE.

IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? GET ON THE PHONE, START E-MAILING OR GO DOWN TO THE DISTRICT OFFICE OF YOUR STATE LEGISLATOR (ESPECIALLY THOSE FRESHMEN DEMOCRATS WHO RAN ON A REFORM PLATFORM) AND MAKE SURE HE OR SHE KNOWS WHAT YOU WANT. OTHERWISE, THEY'LL BE LED BY THE NOSE BY TAX-AND-SPEND PHILADELPHIA LIBERALS LIKE ED RENDELL AND DWIGHT EVANS.