Promised Corbett reform plans undisclosed

    Harrisburg is waiting for the reform package Republican Tom Corbett promised to introduce on his first day as governor of Pennsylvania. In a commercial that aired during the gubernatorial campaign’s final days, Corbett looked at the camera and said, “I’m ready to go to work. Day One: I’m handing Harrisburg my reform plan. It ends the perks and special privileges.” Corbett talked about reform during his inaugural address this week, but still hasn’t released the detailed plan. Right after the speech, administration spokesman Kevin Harley appeared to back away from the “day one” rhetoric, saying some reforms will wait until Corbett’s March budget address. “Some of that is going to be the function of the budget – certainly the elimination of WAMS, or walking around money. And then the surplus that the legislative leadership accounts – that is also a function of the budget,” he said. “We can’t actually introduce a bill to reduce that, because that’s really House or Senate rules that do that.” Since then, Harley hasn’t responded to additional questions about when Corbett’s plan will be introduced. Government reform advocate Barry Kauffman of Common Cause Pennsylvania pointed out Corbett alternated between “day one” and “week one” during the campaign, so he’s willing to cut the new governor some slack. “We are still in the first week, so we look forward to the governor’s reform package. He told me it would be released during the first week of the administration, so we still have a few more days to go,” he said. Pennsylvania Democrats aren’t nearly as forgiving. In a press release, party chairman Jim Burn said, “Tom Corbett has only been in office for two days, but he has already broken a key campaign promise that he featured in a campaign ad.”This leaves Pennsylvanians with a serious question, if Tom Corbett is willing to break a campaign promise on the first day of his Administration, how many other campaign promises will Tom Corbett break?” Meantime, House leaders are close to announcing details of their own plan to add more documentation to the per-diem system, and cut back on car leases for lawmakers.

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