Pennsylvania has lurched from budget crisis to crisis under failed Democrat Governor Tom Wolf. Now embroiled in his second budget impasse, Pennsylvania’s budget troubles show no signs of ending.
This weekend, Wolf’s latest budget crisis passed the 100 day mark. That’s 100 days without a properly funded budget.
John Baer, writing for the Inquirer, calls it “Gov. Wolf’s scary fairy tale” and criticizes Wolf’s unilateral decision to borrow $1.25 billion from the future profits of the Liquor Control Board (Pennsylvania’s state-run alcohol sales system).
“Wolf’s action… raises questions: about governing by fiscal fiat.”
It’s just more “head-shaking lunacy that is Pennsylvania governance” without “any fundamental reforms”.
The Express-Times is calling it Tom Wolf’s “payday loan”.
The Intelligencer is calling Wolf’s plan “crazy” and lambastes it as “unprecedented” long-term borrowing that will set Pennsylvania on a “financially perilous path“.
Tom Wolf is the common denominator underlying Pennsylvania’s budget woes – and now he’s recklessly borrowing instead of leading and working to form a compromise.
Act two: Gov. Tom Wolf authorized borrowing against $1.2 billion in future liquor revenues, to keep the state operating. Like a payday loan, this tactic comes with significant interest costs. And without raising real, recurring revenues, it just sets up another day of reckoning. The state's credit rating was downgraded recently, and it could be facing another hit. Too, the borrowing doesn't fulfill a budgeted appropriation -- $650 million due the four state-related universities and the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school.
Wolf say he'll have no choice but to enact budget cuts while trying to protect public schools and vital services. The four universities -- Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln -- are looking at a mid-year bout of tuition-itis.
Unable to pass a properly funded budget for the second time in his brief tenure during ongoing fiscal crises, Democrat Governor Tom Wolf’s poll numbers continue to slide. His latest approval ratings are being called “dismal”.
A new survey out this week from Susquehanna Polling and Research shows that Wolf remains deeply unpopular among voters in Pennsylvania, with a majority now saying it’s time to oust Wolf.