Time again for another edition of "What a Difference a Year Makes!"
Today's contestant: Ed Rendell. Thanks for playing, governor.
Now then, step into this column's patented time-travel capsule. It won't hurt, I promise, although the potential side effects include lingering dry mouth and persistent itching.
We're going back to Nov. 19, 2005, when you wearily but jubilantly announced the Port Authority of Allegheny County had reached a tentative labor agreement with its bus and trolley operators.
Remember⢠You became personally involved in the contract talks when it became apparent the already well-compensated drivers were prepared to strike unless they became even more well-compensated.
At the time, you intimated the pact was the result of bare-knuckled, give-and-take bargaining.
"Both sides got some things they wanted," you said, "and both sides gave some things."
Was that statement accurate?
Or was the reality that you helped the union obtain a deal so sweet that the American Diabetes Association should have affixed a warning label on the contract?
Only one way to find out.
Back in the capsule, governor, and please try to stop scratching.
We're back in the present, and the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission has just issued its long-anticipated report.
The bipartisan panel was charged with finding money to fix the state's crumbling roads and creaky bridges and to help fund perpetually "impoverished" public transit systems such as the Port Authority.
The commission's suggestion includes significant increases in state fuel taxes, vehicle registration and driver license fees and perhaps local taxes on realty transfers, earned income or sales.
Governor, the average Joe appears likely to pay much more in taxes and fees. Some of that money will go to support the high standard of living authority operators enjoy thanks to that tough contract you helped negotiate.
Don't take my word for it, though.
Take the commission's word.
The authority, the report noted, "has the highest wage rates in the country when adjusted for the cost of living and an extraordinarily high expense structure for health care and pensions.
"In fact, (authority) retirees, who outnumber active employees, receive lifetime medical coverage. These legacy costs, unless constrained, will grow faster than inflation and erode potential savings."
Don't fault the members for observing that the authority's financial woes are due largely to labor costs that you did nothing to contain last year, governor. If you didn't want to hear such a harsh assessment from the members, you shouldn't have appointed them.
Governor, you were more than willing to take credit for labor harmony at the Port Authority.
Seems only fair you should assume some of the blame when your own panel correctly notes it was a peace the authority -- which once again is considering service cuts because of its money woes -- could not afford.
Governor, thanks again for playing "What a Difference a Year Makes!"
Lanacane works well for that itching.
