Nov 24, 2012 2 min read

Here we go again: Not only does Gov. Tom Corbett want to privatize the lottery, but he has the temerity to entertain a bid from a British company. Gov. Corbett, what happened to your “promise” to create more living-wage jobs here, with Pennsylvanians securing those jobs? Is this the reason you went to Europe on an “exploratory junket”? Or, was it to promise someone that is connected to your administration a “sweetheart contract” for some of his British friends? Is it your contempt for state workers? Why in the world would you try to fix something that isn’t broken? Why, in fact, would you speak out of one side of your mouth wanting to create jobs and the other side, cutting family-sustaining positions? Yes, there will still be about 70 state positions, but what about the 160 that your cutting? Oh, I forgot, “They’ll have the opportunity to interview with the privateer.”

And one last thing: Your concern for shoring up the state pension fund rings hollow. If you take a couple hundred employees out of the system, who, I might add, contribute about 8 percent of their salaries to the pension fund, that depletes its revenue even further. Oh, that’s right, I forgot: the legislation that you’re entertaining concerning “pension reform” pretty much decimates the plans, and puts every member’s pension, except your cabinet and the judicial branch, in jeopardy.

Once again, this administration shows its callous disregard for those who have toiled day in and day out expecting something at the end of their careers. That is, if they’re lucky enough not to come under your hatchet job disguised as “privatization for profits”.

Barry Andrews

Washington