I am writing this email on this very important day – a day that we must never forget – September 11th.
I got up this morning at 6 a.m. and for some strange reason I had three times the amount of energy I usually do.
I had my first cup of coffee and turned on the TV – the channels were full of news and comments regarding this tragic day back on September 11, 2001.
Do you remember where you were on Tuesday, September 11, 2001?
I do – I was sitting in my office working on two municipal bids for my waste company that I had founded just 18 months earlier.
At 9:20 a.m., the TV that I always had on in my office reported the first airplane crash into the World Trade Center.
In just 10 days – on September 21st – I will be 60 years old.
On September 11, 2001 – I was 45 years old.
Time has passed quickly, but on this day every year the weight of what happened that day still weighs heavy on all of our hearts.
Earlier this morning on MSNBC there was a conversation – one of the hosts commented that back on September 11, 2001 everyone in our country came together to overcome the tragedy and to honor everyone who was killed.
The show host went on to say that today our country is more divided than ever – Icould not agree more.
Fourteen years later, I am extremely concerned about the direction of our great country which is why I decided to run for the Pennsylvania State Senate.
Today is a day of reflection for me to be thankful for our great country – for every opportunity afforded to me – to every veteran who shakes my hand – to be thankful for the men and women who have fought battles since the founding of our great country to save our precious freedom.
Please take time today to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for in the United States of America.
Over the last few weeks I have repeatedly read articles in various newspapers saying government-funded non-profit organizations and social programs are running out of money because the PA State budget did not pass on June 30.
These articles are misleading and deceptive.
As a small business owner, I know for a fact that cash continues to flow into Harrisburg.
How do I know this?
Since June 30, PA state taxes have continued to be deducted weekly from employee paychecks at my various companies.
In addition, these companies also continue to pay corporate and federal taxes.
I know for a fact that the cash flow into Harrisburg continues to be very strong and has not stopped because we are REQUIRED by the state to wire transfer Pennsylvania state taxes withheld weekly from our employees’ paychecks to Harrisburg.
Last Friday, August 14, one of the businesses I own issued 345 payroll checks and deducted $8,170 in employee withholding taxes.
Those withholding taxes will be wire transferred to the State of Pennsylvania today.
So far for 2015, we have sent $266,177 in employee deducted state taxes to Harrisburg.
In July, we purchased four waste collection trucks for a total of $918,477.
We paid Pennsylvania sales tax in the amount of $53,718 for the trucks which went to Harrisburg immediately.
We also paid $104,540 in federal excise taxes on those trucks.
The misleading information that is being fed to Pennsylvanians by the Wolf Administration makes me extremely angry and is an insult to Pennsylvanians that have payroll taxes deducted from their paychecks and it is also insulting to business owners all across Pennsylvania who continue to generate tax revenue each and every day.
It is a poor attempt to get the general public to think Governor Wolf’s budget proposal is the only option we have.
Guess what – there was another option.
Governor Wolf could have chosen to approve 270 line items for passage so cash flow would have continued to these agencies and organizations – he made the decision to veto the entire budget despite that option.
Governor Wolf made a huge mistake.
It is time Governor Wolf takes responsibility for his poor decision and put an end to the political games.
I’m curious – did you stop paying taxes on June 30?
I have been a private sector business owner for over 35 years– over the span of my business career I have learned many lessons.
Lesson # 1 – The costs for your products or services have to be less than the pricing for your products or services to make a profit.
No profit means you are out of business – thousands of businesses fail every day in America because the owners did not understand the pricing – cost – profit rule.
There is also another very large dynamic in the business world – competition!
Competition is a factor that does not allow a business to just raise prices whenever it feels like it.
Many business owners fail several times before they succeed – success does not happen overnight – success takes hard work, skill and perseverance.
At some point in a small business owners career, he or shee will have spend a large amount of time lying awake at night staring at the ceiling wondering how they are going to solve an issue in their business, obtain financing or just outright survive a recession or fierce competition.
– and you really don’t have to spend much time keeping your costs under control – are you interested?
There is one business that is a monopoly out there and it is called “The State of Pennsylvania”.
The current Governor of Pennsylvania has sent a notice to all Pennsylvanians that he intends to raise prices.
The Governor wants to raise prices on a lot of products in PA and he doesn’t care about controlling or reducing costs.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, 2013 welfare expenditures were $28 Billion Dollars – 44% of the state budget – and are projected to rise to $32 Billion Dollars in 2015.
Welfare costs will grow for the foreseeable future in both dollars and as a percent of total expenditures. This trend must be reversed.
Former Auditor General, Jack Wagner, estimated that welfare fraud represents 10-15% of total state expenditures, or $2.8 billion to $4.2 billion of stolen taxpayer funds.
$400 million to $675 million annually could be attributed to food stamps and cash assistance program fraud alone.
While there has been some progress over the last three years in reducing welfare fraud, more action is necessary.
WOW………..
On-going welfare fraud, ghost teachers, no bid school contracts in Philadelphia.
So where is our Governor ??
Governor Wolf is running around PA telling everyone that we have to raise revenue by taxing more products and services and by increasing current taxes – “Earth To Governor Wolf – how about resolving the many out of control cost and fraud issues in PA first before you raise our taxes”.
Let me be clear again with the message I have repeated hundreds of times – “Harrisburg does not have a revenue problem – it has a spending problem”.
In the beginning of my email that I talked about competition – Pennsylvania has competition – and a lot of it – South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky to name a few.
They have low taxes – lots of undeveloped land for large businesses to locate there and public sector unions do not control their state capitols like they do here in Pennsylvania.
To all Pennsylvania taxpayers who understand my message today, and agree that Pennsylvania must get the out of control costs and fraud under control – I ask that you reach out to the PA State Senator and House member who represents you and tell them to stand tall against Governor Wolf and his budget agenda.
I am fed up and I have had enough of “Tax and Spend”.
The purpose of this column is to share with you why your school taxes keep going up.
The answer is: INCREASING PENSION COSTS.
The growing pension costs of the ten public school districts that are located within the 28th PA Senate District in York County are staggering.
On June 30th the PA House and Senate passed pension reform legislation and forwarded it to Governor Wolf – Governor Wolf vetoed the pension reform bill within days.
The elephant in the room continues to be the MASSIVE pension crisis facing Pennsylvania taxpayers.
I was recently forwarded the pension information contained in this email for the school districts in the 28th PA Senate District.
Listed below are charts showing the pension costs from the 2008-09 to 2019-20, a span of twelve years.
The first chart shows each school district’s actual pension costs for the 2008-09 year and the second chart shows the projected cost for the 2019-20 year of each school district.
The final chart shows the percentage increase from 2008-09 year to the 2019-20 year.
As you review the charts, please note that for the 2008-09 year the total pension costs for the ten schools districts WERE $12,535,778 , the projected costs for the 2019-20 year WILL INCREASE to $103,057,888 , an INCREASE over a twelve year period of $90,522,110 per year.
The information that I am sharing with you is for ten school districts in York, Pennsylvania – there are over 500 school districts in Pennsylvania.
Please review the charts – I am sure you will agree that the Pennsylvania pension system is a ticking time bomb.
Pennsylvania must join the rest of the real world and go to a 401K retirement system.
History is history – the past is the past – NOW is the time to correct this problem.
By the way, in this email I only talk about school district pensions – there are many other departments affected by this pension mess – State Police, Penn Dot, Judges, State Universities, and workers from all other state agencies.
Over the next 30 days I will be meeting with various people in the private sector – not Harrisburg insiders – to discuss new ideas and options for a plan to move forward to diffuse the ticking time bomb.
To review the year by year details for each school district please click here.
I also want to report that Senate and House leadership have been meeting with the Governor over the 2015 – 2016 budget.
As I have continued to report, the solution cannot be higher taxes and more spending.
In the event that a budget deal would be reached, the Senate is on a 6-hour call – we would promptly reconvene to vote on the budget.
Addendum: A reader who follows my emails closely sent the following response: “Scott–You are close to making a key point that appears to be missing in the debate about Wolf’s budget proposal. He wants to increase the state’s contribution to education. It sounds nice, like he is trying to help kids. But the fact is all of that additional funding and more will be poured into the black hole of pension costs. If he really wanted more for education and to relieve property taxes, he would start by repealing prevailing wage and tackle pension reform. But his budget shows what he really cares about….not schools and students, but rather the unions and their constituents.”
Great points about where the money is really going.
The question of the week has been – how is the budget coming along?
The budget question has come in by email, telephone calls and by people that I have talked to face to face.
The answer is very simple – the budget process is at a complete standstill.
The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed a balanced budget on June 30th – even before the balanced budget reached the Governor’s desk he was issuing statements that he was going to veto the budget – within two hours of the budget reaching his desk – without any extensive review or discussions with the House and Senate – Governor Wolf vetoed the budget.
For a recap – the 2014-15 budget was $29,142,312,000 (Billion) – the proposed / balanced 2015-16 budget is $30,179,476,000 (Billion) an increase of $1,037,164,000 (Billion) or a 3.6% increase over the 2014-15 budget.
The budget passed was a responsible budget that did not increase taxes.
So one would ask where is the additional $1,037,164,000 (Billion) coming from ?
Here is the answer:
Stronger state revenues of $412.2 Million as of June 30th for the past twelve months, $200 million in additional revenue through liquor reforms, structural reform to the pension system which is the number one cost driver for the state and school districts – a combined total equal to approximately the one billion dollar budget increase.
On Tuesday July 7th John Micek a reporter for the Patriot News wrote a story titled “The PA Budget is among the priciest in the nation” – click on the link for the full story.
There are two bullet points in the article that jump out and grab your attention.
Point #1 – “Despite proposed cuts to some corporate taxes, Wolf’s proposed $4.5 billion tax package is the largest in the nation, the study found. The administration’s plan raises $1.5 billion from a higher personal income tax and $2.3 billion from a higher (and expanded) state sales tax.”
Point # 2 – “While other states consider a host of measures — from workforce cuts to Lottery expansion – to manage costs, Pennsylvania stands nearly alone in not employing any cost-control measures.”
The take away for readers – Governor Wolf’s tax increase is the largest in the nation and Governor Wolf is not doing anything about managing costs.
So what is Governor Wolf doing to solve the budget impasse?
Today as I write this email Governor Wolf is visiting a school district in Southeast PA promoting his budget and more public school spending….and….Governor Wolf is hitting the airwaves via TV ads funded by the National Democratic Governors Association who have in turn received contributions from public sector unions to criticize House and Senate Republicans over the budget.
Let me be loud and clear – “PA DOES NOT have a revenue problem – it has a spending problem.”
Instead of sitting at the negotiating table today with House and Senate leaders Governor Wolf is out of the office acting like he is running a political campaign.
I am a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee – this past March and April I personally sat through 33 budget hearings ranging from 1.5 hours to 3.5 hours – at least 80 – 100 hours of hearings.
As I have stated before, Senate Appropriations Chairman Pat Browne, who is a tax attorney and CPA, has done a commendable job leading the budget process.
I would be remiss if I did not also recognize all Senate Appropriations Committee members and Appropriations staff for their efforts.
In addition – I am a private sector business owner with over 35 years of private sector experience who has survived in business because I had to fully understand the concept of revenue and expenses, and how to read a financial statement inside and out.
Governor Wolf believes the solution to solve the budget issue is to allow his administration to discredit and insult Republicans via TV ads paid for by public sector unions and press releases from his office.
As always – I want feedback from my readers – if you are OK with tax increases please send me an email telling me so.
Thank You,
Scott Wagner
P.S. I just learned in the last 30 minutes that Governor Wolf announced that he intends to veto SB1 – the pension reform bill – so Governor Wolf will be 3 for 3 – he vetoed the budget, liquor store privatization and pension reform is next.
By Scott Wagner
I am writing to respond to the June 25 Op-ed from Frances Wolf, first lady of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
It’s unfortunate that nearly a half-year after his inauguration Gov. Tom Wolf remains in campaign mode, crisscrossing the state with Mrs. Wolf and others making absurd claims about education spending.
Mrs. Wolf writes that King Elementary school, part of the Lancaster Area School District, has a library filled with 30-year-old textbooks and Mrs. Wolf is quoted saying, “They don’t have the funds to replace them with updated versions.” She leads readers to believe it’s the result of “devastating cuts” in state funding.
A quick check by my office reveals that the school district is sitting on a funding balance of $15.24 million.
And while the governor promises a windfall of new spending to help schools, he ducks action on the number one cause of school cutbacks and property tax hikes: skyrocketing pension costs.
That same school district the First Lady visited will see their pension costs go up by $4 million in 2016, which alone wipes out all of the promised new funding from the governor.
The fact is, Pennsylvania spends more on schools today than it ever has in the history of the Commonwealth, $27.4 billion.
That’s more than all but five other states in the nation. Pennsylvania is ranked 12th in per-pupil spending, at around $15,000, while the U.S. average is $11,300.
Obviously, if commitment to education was measured by dollars spent, Pennsylvania is among the most committed states in America.
But, if we measure that commitment by reining in the skyrocketing costs that are placing a crushing burden on schools, such as pensions and unchecked union dominance, then we have work to do.
Wolf wants to raise taxes – personal income taxes, sales taxes and impose a natural gas extraction tax. But in seeking his tax hikes, he should get off the campaign trail and make an honest appeal for his priorities.
State Sen. Scott Wagner, a Republican, represents the York County-based 28th District.
Everyone is under the assumption that the state budget MUST be completed by June 30 or the State of Pennsylvania shuts down.
This is an outright lie that has been used in the past and will be used again to intimidate the citizens of Pennsylvania.
Putting on my private sector business owner hat – every Wednesday our payroll departments electronically transfer the deducted employee state taxes to the PA Department of Revenue.
In addition, every day transactions occur throughout Pennsylvania that generate sales tax and other taxes – so the cash flow to Harrisburg does not stop.
Governor Wolf’s budget does not address any cost cutting, expense controls or efficiency projects – Governor Wolf’s budget is very simple – RAISE REVENUE THROUGH MORE TAX REVENUE.
It is the goal of the PA State Senate to have a balanced budget without tax increases completed by June 30th to be sent to the Governor.
Let me be clear – Harrisburg does not have a revenue problem – it has a spending problem.
Prevailing wage mandates on public school districts, out of control benefit costs, and zero accountability for money being spent are a few examples.
I will be a NO vote on any tax increases – we MUST address the expense side of Pennsylvania Government first.
Governor Wolf continues to beat his drum that he wants to DUMP (and I use the word DUMP) $1 billion in the public school system.
I am in total agreement that education for our children is the number one priority – the public school system has many components that need to be fixed, changed or eliminated before a billion dollars is thrown at the problem.
In the private sector, throwing money at a problem without stopping the leak that is causing the problem is called throwing money down a black hole.
Until the structural problems in the public school system are fixed – the $1 billion that Governor Wolf wants to throw at the problem – the money will disappear – next year and every year to follow there will be some group who will be asking for more money to be DUMPED into the public school system.
Enough is enough !
Sen. Wagner represents Pennsylvania’s 28th District.
Many people are asking me whether I see Governor Wolf’s budget being passed by June 30.
I entered the Pennsylvania State Senate in April of last year, and by that time the majority of the budget process had already taken place, so this is my first real experience with the budget.
This year is also different because I serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
I attended 33 of 35 appropriations hearings in March and April with agencies and entities affected by the budget.
This is my prediction – unless lightning strikes the Capitol in Harrisburg I do not see the budget being passed by the June 30 deadline.
Governor Wolf’s budget asks for various tax increases totaling $4.5 billion for the next fiscal year and $4.5 billion for the following year for a two year total of $9 billion.
Governor Wolf’s budget does not address any dramatic cost saving initiatives.
The best example of “PA Government Gone Wild” would be benefit costs for public sector employees.
When I identify public sector employees, I am referring to both union and non-union public sector employees.
Benefits for public sector employees are running at a minimum of 60 percent and up to 97 percent for benefits on one dollar of payroll.
The private sector generally runs in the range of 40 percent for benefits for each dollar of payroll.
We have come to a crossroads in Harrisburg.
For at least 25 years, people have been running the State of Pennsylvania with little knowledge of how a budget is balanced in the real world – wage and benefit increases were handed out like they were candy – public sector union bosses have been demanding more wages and benefits for their members, at the expense of the taxpayers.
From my point of view, virtually every public sector employee is doing well with wages and benefits.
When Senate Bill 1 (Pension Reform) was in the process of being passed two weeks ago my Senate office received over 250 emails from teachers bashing the bill.
Trust me folks – teachers are also doing well – teacher salaries in my home school district average between $85,000 and $90,000 per year for 180 days of work –plus great benefits too.
Governor Wolf wants to dump $1 billion into the public school system but is unwilling to entertain a discussion to eliminate prevailing wage mandates on public school district projects.
By public school projects, I am referring to new building construction, building renovations, maintenance and repair projects.
The elimination of this ridiculous mandate might very well save $200 – $300 million per year for school districts throughout the state – that is 20-30% of the $1 billion Governor Wolf is proposing to put into the public school system.
What do my readers think – Am I right or wrong on prevailing wage mandate elimination for school districts?
A few weeks ago I reported in an email blast the outrageous pensions being paid to retired Penn State employees.
During an appropriations hearing almost two months ago I asked the President of Penn State for a balance sheet to be supplied to the appropriations committee so we could understand how much cash they are sitting on – as of today we have not received the information requested.
Penn State could be sitting on billions of dollars for all we know – so here is my question – if outrageous pensions are being paid – plus Penn State has one of the most valuable football franchises in the nation – Why is the State of PA going to give Penn State $400 million for this upcoming fiscal year – am I right or wrong on this question?
I have a simple suggestion – Why doesn’t the State of PA go to a zero-based budget each year?
It is time to start over and clean out 25 years of excessive costs and stop the mentality that money grows on trees and there is an endless supply.
Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania State Senate.
Contained in this column are two articles from the Patriot-News.
The first was published May 6 by reporter Jan Murphy.
It is titled “Set for Life –Browse the database to see who is getting a six-figure annual pension” Click here to view it.
The second article was published May 7 by reporter Charles Thompson. It is titled – “How PA state workers and teachers calculate their pensions” and can be read here.
The first article exposes the six-figure annual pensions of many retired Pennsylvania state government and school district employees.
Number one on the list is a retired Pennsylvania State University employee who is receiving $39,799.23 per month for a total yearly annuity of $477,591.
Number two on the list is another retired Pennsylvania State University employee who is receiving $36,989.98 per month for a total yearly annuity of $443,880.
These numbers do not reflect the health benefits that retired state employees are also receiving.
Please take note that of the top 25 people on the list, 13 are Penn State University retirees.
I have reported in the past that I serve on the Senate Appropriations committee and our committee is in the process of reviewing the governor’s budget.
I am scratching my head wondering why last year the State of Pennsylvania contributed approximately $230 million dollars from the general fund to Penn State University and this year Governor Wolf’s budget is proposing a $50 million dollar increase this year to Penn State for a total of approximately $280 million from the general fund to Penn State.
During Appropriations hearings last month I specifically asked the President of Penn State University for their financial statements to allow our committee to understand how much cash Penn State currently has in its various bank accounts and endowments.
Here is the head scratching thought – why is the state giving Penn State any money when it appears the money is going to subsidize breathtaking lifetime pensions when in fact the money should be going towards the education of their students?
I am not trying to single out Penn State University – I am just stating the facts.
I have mentioned in previous email blasts that retirement and health benefits state employees receive are completely out of line with the private sector and they are virtually unsustainable.
For anyone wondering why Pennsylvania taxes are so high, these articles are crystal clear examples.
The second article explains how pension benefits are calculated stating that, “So as the plan exists now, a PennDOT foreman with 35 years of service could retire with pension income equal to 87.5 percent of their average pay for the last three years on the job.”
Excuse me – did I read that right?
In the last 3 years of a PennDOT foreman’s employment it is not unreasonable that this person could spike their gross income to $100,000 annually or more for the last 3 years of their employment so that an average of the 3 years could very well be $100,000 or more.
At $100,000 per year average for the last 3 years this person would retire with $87,500 per year to start for the rest of their life, plus lifetime healthcare benefits.
So a foreman could tell his wife – “Hey honey, I’m going to spend the next 3 years working as much overtime as I can so I can drive my annual compensation up as high as possible so I’ll get a gold-plated pension when I retire – I’ll be back in 3 years!”
Reading articles like this combined with what I have learned since taking office makes me sick to my stomach.
This is the exact reason why I have introduced legislation such as my Taxpayer Fairness in Compensation Act.
These articles are more examples of how working class families are the ones who continue to get exploited in Pennsylvania.
Below is a graph from PennLive of the Top 40 highest pensions, but to view and search the full database of the thousands of retired state government and school district employees receiving over $100,000 per year in pension benefits, click on this link or look below.
State Sen. Scott Wagner (right) with Joe Gale who is a candidate for Montgomery County Commissioner
State Sen. Scott Wagner (R-28) compared Pennsylvania to the Titanic with disaster just ahead at tonight’s (April 6) meeting of the Delaware County Patriots.
About 100 persons attended the event which was held at the Knights of Columbus hall in Newtown Square.
“The ship is going down and we got to do something about it,” Wagner said.
He was referring to Pennsylvania’s fiscal crisis driven by out-of-control state pensions and spiraling property taxes.
He blamed the cause on corruption giving special scorn to those on his side of the aisle. Wagner, who started three successful businesses in York County that now employ 600 persons, described how GOP leaders would hit him up for money at campaign time and that he would write ever bigger checks. Yet, he noted, the simple things that should have made life easier for himself and his employees never seemed to happen.
“They weren’t taking care of you,” he says. “They were taking care of themselves.”
This inspired him to seek office and in a special election on March 18, 2014, he ran a write-in campaign to fill the remainder of the term left vacant by late State Senator Mike Waugh. It was the first time a write-in candidate won a state senate seat. Wagner got 10,595 votes (47.7 percent), while the endorsed Republican nominee received 5,920 votes and Democratic nominee got 5,704.
He won an election to a full-term in November.
Wagner notes that in the private sector pensions rarely reach 40 percent of the working pay. He said in the public sector in this state it is approaching 80 percent. He notes that average pay for a teacher in his school district is $88,000 for 180 days of work and they can look forward to getting $75,000 per year for the rest of their life upon retirement. This would be at age 60 after 30 years, or earlier after 35 years.
He said that it angers him to see soldiers coming home from overseas in wheelchairs missing limbs knowing they could look forward to $800 per month in benefits when retired teachers would be getting over $6,000.
He said if things don’t change benefits and wages would soon be dollar for dollar.
“If Pennsylvania could file for bankruptcy, I’d be the first to prepare a bill,” he said.
Wagner proposed specific solutions. He said abolishing the prevailing wage mandate that requires wages for public works projects be set by the union-dominated Department of Labor and Industry rather than the market would save school districts between $200 million and $300 million annually.
He said he will not vote for a state budget unless the state gets rid of prevailing wage.
Wagner is also pushing to turn the state pension programs into 401K defined contribution types rather than the existing defined benefit packages.
He said he is also working on ways in which force give-backs in the existing benefits package.
A related issue that he is also trying to address is the cause of the corruption that led to this crisis.
He noted that he has been targeted by Pennsylvania AFL-CIO leader Rick Bloomingdale for his push for paycheck protection for union members. He said that about $750 annually is automatically deduction from each union member’s paycheck with the members having little say for which causes the money should be used.
The state’s AFL-CIO has about 800,000 members, so that’s about $600 million that winds up supporting not-so-pro labor causes like opening borders and stopping pipelines.
Wagner pointed out that Bloomingdale’s salary is over $300,000.
Wagner mentioned that he had a recent lunch with presidential hopeful Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who was notably successful in stopping union corruption in his state. Wagner said the big difference between Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is that unlike in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin Republicans did not get any union money.
“Eighty percent of Republicans take money from unions,” Wagner said.
Wagner said he is far from making an endorsement but that he likes Walker
Wagner said that he is pushing for the sale of the state’s liquor stores.
“State liquor stores aren’t making the kind of money people think they are,” he said.
In a bit of irony, Wagner is now running the Senate Republican Campaign Committee which so bitterly fought him a year ago. He said that he has his eye on several Democrat seats in the western part of the state and expect to flip four or five to the GOP in 2016. The Republicans now hold a 30-20 lead in the body but Wagner notes that four or five from the Philadelphia suburbs often end up supporting the Democrats.
It was rather daring that Wagner would make his speech on his adversaries’ turf.
Wagner did have some nice things to say about Dominic Pileggi (R-9) who he was instrumental in removing as Senate Majority Leader earlier this year.
“I think he’s a brilliant guy,” he said.
He said Pileggi’s weak spot was that his training as a lawyer kept him from seeing the steps needed to save the state.
Pileggi is running for election as a Common Pleas Court judge this fall and would leave his senate seat if he should win as expected. Wagner said he expects a more conservative senator to replace Pileggi.
Wagner got some grief in the question period regarding his support for SB 76, a bill that was tabled last fall and would have replaced the property tax with either an income or sales tax to fund schools. Many members in the audience said they feared it would mean the end of local control of schools. Wagner said the bill was not perfect, is not likely to pass as is, and needs further work.
He said property tax relief is desperately needed, however, and SB 76 gets things moving.
Wagner said he does not expect a state budget to be passed until October. He said any claims that the government is going to shut down are “bullshit” a word he repeated several times. He noted that the state is still going to be collecting taxes whether the budget is passed or not.
Also at the meeting was Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paul Panepinto who was seeking support for his independent run as a state Supreme Court judge. Judge Panepinto needs 17,000 signatures by July to get on the ballot. He recently made headlines for fining lawyer Nancy Raynor $1 million for her behavior during a medical malpractice case.
Wagner gave him a ringing endorsement calling him the “real deal”.
