PROPOSAL TO REFORM STATE GOVERNMENT

By Jack Wagner

As Governor, I will return integrity to Harrisburg. All plans for Pennsylvania start here. Until our government is fixed, it cannot fix the problems we face.

The United States is in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Pennsylvanians are hurting. Our families are being squeezed by high and prolonged unemployment, by rising costs for gasoline, health care, and education, and have suffered a dramatic reduction in pensions and other forms of savings.

One in five Americans is currently unemployed or underemployed. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. Allegheny and Philadelphia Counties each lost 20,000 jobs in fiscal year 2009, nearly 20 percent of the entire Commonwealth's job loss. There is no miracle on the horizon. We need to face up to the tough economic times and take the necessary steps to cope with the situation in a manner that does not further stress family finances.

In order to accomplish these goals, Pennsylvania state government needs sweeping reform. The next Governor must immediately begin to restore the public's faith in government. Pennsylvanians are discontent and tired of the status quo and a state government that is politically paralyzed. Repairing the culture of corruption in Harrisburg requires a record of integrity and a commitment to reform. I have long fought to reduce the size of the General Assembly and to give the people the power to reform their government through a constitutional convention. I have worked with law enforcement to investigate, prosecute, and punish those who steal from the taxpayers. Quite simply, being Auditor General is about leading the fight for transparency, accountability, and reform in all areas of state government. I will continue to do so as Governor.

What do we need to improve?

Pennsylvania taxpayers deserve a government that puts their needs first and that addresses those needs in the most cost-effective way possible. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania's fiscal house is not in order and state government is not leading. The next Governor must assess the fiscal condition of state government and develop a comprehensive plan to maintain vital government services without raising taxes. My experience as Auditor General makes me uniquely suited for this task, knowing firsthand where the waste, fraud, and abuse are in government programs and where Pennsylvania can find sustainable savings. Consider the following audits and evidence:

• Non-competitive state contracting process + This process is neither truly competitive nor cost-effective. We have identified examples of the state awarding contracts when only one company submitted a bid. The American system does not work that way. There has to be competition to get the best price. There has to be competition to get creativity and innovation. Without competition, the system is not serving the taxpayers well.

o Special Performance Audit of the PLCB's Employee Training Contract: http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/Reports/StateAgencies/Departmental/depPLCBMasterReport.pdf

• Failed job creation programs + The Department of Community and Economic Development's Opportunity Grant Program awarded $215 million in grants over five years to 724 companies. However, nearly 50 percent of grantees did not produce the jobs.

• High error rates and fraud in large welfare programs + There are simply too many state government programs that are wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars due to mismanagement, errors, and fraud. For example, errors in the Department of Public Welfare's Medicaid program costs taxpayers more than $300 million per year.

o Special Performance Audit of DPW's Special Allowance Program: http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/reports/Performance/Special/speSPAL081909.pdf

o Special Performance Audit of DPW's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/reports/stateagencies/departmental/deppublicwelfare062707.pdf

• Fire sale of a state building + The sale of the Pittsburgh State Office building was a bad deal for taxpayers, costing them at least $50 million. The sale was conducted during the worst real estate downturn since the Great Depression and at a time when the Commonwealth was struggling to close budget deficits in the billions of dollars.

• Gambling with taxpayers' dollars + Swaps are legal agreements between local governments (school districts, local government entities, and public authorities) and investment banks. The two entities engage in a contract related to the movement of interest rates, which is essentially gambling with public money. The party that guesses correctly gets paid and the party that guesses incorrectly must pay. The payout is determined by how much interest rates change and the size of the underlying debt the swap is tied to. Losses from swaps cost Bethlehem Area School District taxpayers at least $10.2 million.

• Unrealized property tax relief + Due to a fractured, confusing application process, potentially hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania homeowners have not been receiving the property tax relief that they were promised from the legalization of casino gaming.

What is my vision for reforming state government?

A constitutional convention is the core of my plan to reform state government. Pennsylvania citizens must become re-engaged and empowered to tell elected officials how government should run. The last Pennsylvania constitutional convention was held in 1968. Another one is overdue.

Good, open dialogue between the public, Governor, and General Assembly must occur to determine priorities. All of the decisions that I have made as an elected official and will make as Governor will involve significant public input.

Other reforms I will bring to state government:

• Reduce the size of the General Assembly by 1/3, a measure that I championed as a State Senator even when it was an unpopular idea.

• Eliminate bonuses in state government. I was the first elected official to sound that alarm.

• Get state government spending under control. Pennsylvania has a significant deficit, and it is very difficult to fill that void. The only real way to do it is with reform in state government. We have to find greater efficiencies in every department and agency of state government. As Governor, I will eliminate waste, establish greater efficiencies, and realize annual sustainable savings of taxpayer dollars.
• Pass state budgets on time. Seven consecutive budgets have not been passed on time. The General Assembly and Governor must agree to a spending figure months before the deadline. State employees and vulnerable families should not be held hostage during the budget process.

• Bring competition to every single contract in the state procurement process. The current process currently leaves out many qualified companies. There are not enough companies involved in the bidding process to create economic opportunity for smaller companies that can bring innovation, that can bring jobs, and that can reduce the costs of contracts in state government.

• Ban local governments from attaching risky derivatives/"swaps" to their debt.

• Ensure that taxpayers receive property tax relief promised by gaming.

• Enact campaign finance reform and end pay to play. If a donor makes a political contribution and receives a contract, the money should be repaid.

• Allow independent voters to participate in Primary Elections.

• Take the politics out of the redistricting process and promote nonpartisan, compact, and contiguous redistricting.