SUNBURY – Governor Tom Wolf may have retaliated against certain Republican leaders when he blue-lined items in the latest budget proposal. State Representative Garth Everett (R-84th, Muncy) believes this may be the case after looking at what Governor Wolf vetoed.
Everett explained, “When we went through it we saw (The Department of) Corrections. That one confused us a lot, I mean, you can’t close the prisons. When we looked at Corrections, if you look at who that might impact the most, from a legislative point of view, the majority caucus chairman in the Senate is Senator Jake Corman (R-34th, Bellefonte) from Centre County, who happens to have Rockview Prison and (SCI) Benner Township Prison, two of the largest prisons. When you combine them, he has more prison population than any other Senator.”
Everett said Republican leaders believe the blue-lining appears to be personal when it comes to agriculture programs too, “We feel so. And, funding for Penn State’s extension programs.” He added, “The critical access hospitals, between Senator Gene Yaw and Senator Joe Scarnati, out of the fourteen that there are, I think they have seven of them and I have two of them.”
Everett said there was no system in how budget items were eliminated by Gov. Wolf. You can hear more from Everett on this and other topics from WKOK’s On The Mark program online at www.wkok.com. (Ali Stevens)
