After 119 days, it is clear there will be no winners in PA’s never-ending budget standoff.
With school districts and service providers looking at implementing severe cost-cutting measures, officials in Harrisburg are starting to feel some of the backlash.
Gov. Tom Wolf has come out especially bad after months of stalled negotiations and vetoes, with 41% of PA voters disapproving of his job performance, according to a recent Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll. Just 13% disapproved of the first-year governor’s work in February.
The state legislature’s disapproval rating has jumped 18% over the same period, now up to 55%.
38% of the 457 PA voters surveyed said they blame the General Assembly for the budget impasse, while 24% blame Wolf. 29% said they blame both.
Wolf’s insistence on a natural gas severance tax is well-supported within the state, 63% for and 28% against.
Voters in the state are less skeptical about expanding gambling revenue streams to erase shortfalls in the budget, with 61% opposing the idea.
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9 Responses
Tom Buck – there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think that thousands of jobs are at stake if a shake tax was instituted. And, I disagree that both sides need to make concessions, when one side is pushing for insane results, and the Governor has so far been the adult in the room by addressing problems.
Lee, you’re a bit of a simpleton. Tom Wolf was elected because his last name was not “Corbett.” You might have noticed, if you weren’t a Democrat shill, that Pennsylvanians voted in a historic number of Republicans to both chambers of the legislature.
Governor Wolf was elected to bring change to Pennsylvania. He was elected on a clear mandate to support education by a fracking severance tax. The Republicans oppose his changes with the way budgets where crafted in th Corbett years. SMOKE AND MIRRORS.. The Governor has to get that message out to the public. The Republicans have been spending a lot of time and money distorting this budget process. The Republicans with their special interests money have tried this strategy. Rich people paying rich people to convince middle class people that the poor cause all the problems in government. To a point they have been fairly successful. That has to stop. The Governor has to control the narrative.
Tom Buck is just a shill for the energy lobby. Liberal Larry has a much more logical position.
Tom, Rendell’s first budget didn’t fully pass until Christmas Eve. The gas tax will not yield any significant job loss. Every other state has the tax, it’s Pennsylvania’s turn to step up to the plate. Even if this was at all a result of Wolf being a stick in the mud, can you really not put some blame on the Republican Senate that has met less than 20 times in those 120 days? Sounds like some people aren’t even trying to make it work and from what I can see, the Governor is not one of those people.
The Post-Gazette has a more nuanced poll that also considers the issue from the standpoint of approval ratings — often a clearer gauge of the enduring effects this might have on an elected leader’s prospects down the road.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2015/10/27/Poll-results-not-expected-to-push-either-side-to-resolve-state-budget-impasse/stories/201510260186
This is getting way out of hand. There has to be compromise on both sides here. The schools cannot keep operating and they cannot afford to take out loans and pay back such high interest on the loans. Taxing the gas companies will only raise their cost and they will have to cut jobs, Thousands of Jobs, this is not that hard to understand. For a first years Gov to go at this and be in a stalemate for 118 days is uncalled for. Mr Wolf and everyone else who is involved, look at what is at stake here and lets get this thing passed already. I am sure a lot of Pa residents will agree with me when I say ” stop trying to prove yourself” you wouldn’t have been voted in as Gov if we voters didn’t think you were capable of Representing the citizens of PA. You’re comments of “I cannot cave on this” is stupid. The schools and students PA don’t deserve this and you are Gambling with kids, teachers futures. I am sorry but it’s time to settle this and lets move on already. Its affecting a lot more than I mentioned here and I am quite sure you already know who and what it is affecting. I might not know politics like you and your staff but enough is enough, suck it up lose your pride a little and finish it.
Perhaps Wolf has agreed to a trade.
He sells Kane out and the Republicans make some concessions.
“Just 13% disapproved of the first-year governor’s work in February.” A month after he took office? Not really much to disapprove of.
Here are the KEY results:
“Wolf’s insistence on a natural gas severance tax is well-supported within the state, 63% for and 28% against.”
and
“38% of the 457 PA voters surveyed said they blame the General Assembly for the budget impasse, while 24% blame Wolf.”
Given this, Wolf still has a clear mandate to pay for schools using a severance tax and place the blame squarely in the GOP legislature. He needs to get on TV, radio, and cable news and “drill” this home to the voters and taxpayers.