BCT Editorial – 6/5/06

This page was last updated on June 13, 2006.

Forked tongue; Editorial; Beaver County Times; June 5, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Needless to say, Republicans sniffed at Gov. Ed Rendell’s surplus proposals.

“A spokesman for House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, said, ‘He doesn’t even mention property-tax relief ... Just because you have a surplus doesn’t mean that you spend more. Maybe we just collect too much and should cut taxes.’

“Time out for a history lesson: Republicans have controlled the Legislature since 1994, and from 1995-2002 a Republican was governor (Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker).

“They had eight full years to do something about property tax relief and did nothing. They had eight full years to cut the state’s sales tax and its income tax and did nothing. They had eight full years to curtail state spending and did nothing. Because of the booming economy, they had no problem disposing of surpluses. Spending rose every year during the Ridge-Schweiker years.

“Finally, lawmakers who call for cuts in state spending should put their money where their mouths are by cutting the size of the Legislature in half and reducing the many perquisites they have voted themselves. That would be a very visible way for them to show they are serious about cutting state spending.”

[RWC] This editorial is 100% correct. I’ve pointed out this behavior of PA Republicans previously.

That said, if you’ve read Times editorials, you understand the sentiment expressed in this editorial is purely partisan in nature. If English is your primary language, you remember Times editorials advocate increased spending at almost every turn. There is no true interest in cutting spending. For example, in addition to this editorial, the Times published “Right moves” on the same day. As you will read, the Times supports using at least part of a PA tax “surplus” for increased spending.