Bridging ideological divide, new PAC sets up in Pa.

    A veteran Pennsylvania government reform advocate has launched a new political action committee aimed at driving a unique agenda in Harrisburg.

    The new Majority PA political action committee has cobbled together a modest political agenda.

    It intends to tax the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale; privatize the state liquor stores; and restore spending cuts to public education.

    Don’t see a clear ideology mapped out there? That’s because there isn’t one, says the group’s chair, Tim Potts.

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    “Well, I shouldn’t say that. The only ideology that drives us is the right of people to govern themselves and the duty of government to do that. That is the sole ideology that drives us,” Potts said. “What I think about something does not matter to the agenda. It just doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what valid public opinion research tells us.”

    Potts says Majority PA will have no truck from polls that don’t pass certain criteria–and issues can only get onto the group’s political agenda if it seems public opinion is pretty much set.

    He points to Washington, D.C., debt debacles as a good example of how, as he puts it, a “handful of people are wagging the dog.”

    “People want the dog to have its way this time. And there isn’t any other way to enforce the majority agenda. There just isn’t because all of the money in politics is going to the left or the right. Nobody’s supporting the middle,” Potts said. “I’m hoping that you know citizens will do that. If they don’t then this is probably a good idea that won’t go anywhere.”

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