Senator Scarnati’s opinion column regarding Act 44 and the tolling of I-80 recently published in newspapers across the state is a mockery of common sense, objectivity and political truth. In short, the story the Senator is trying to sell is preposterous.

For the benefit of those that read Senator Scarnati’s column, it is important to correct the record. Senator Scarnati says there is a “crisis”…..not a problem, but a “crisis”. However, rather than tell the voters what he has done or is doing to correct this problem, he devotes the majority of his column to criticizing Congressman Peterson on a variety of largely irrelevant subsidiary issues and falsely accusing the Governor of proposing to “sell the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a foreign company.”

None of the Senator’s diversionary comments are relevant to the central issues, which are: is Act 44 a solid, fair and beneficial piece of legislation; if not, why did Senator Scarnati push this legislation through the Senate, and if not, are Congressman’s Peterson’s and a host of knowledgeable commentators’ objections to Act 44 valid? If the Congressman’s and others’ objections are valid, what alternatives, if any, might produce a more cost-effective solution to our state’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure?

Finally addressing the central issue, the Senator tells us he opposes tolling I-80 and is open to realistic alternatives, but that doing nothing is no longer an option. He goes on to say the idea of tolling I-80 was the best of those presented at that point and that the Legislature could not afford to wait any longer to act.   Here the Senator is engaging in classic double-talk. Stating that he opposes tolling I-80, he limply tries to excuse his behavior by stating that “….We could not afford to wait any longer”. This begs the question -  if there was a “crisis”, why wasn’t the development of the best possible infrastructure plan for the people of Pennsylvania worth devoting the time and effort to accomplish?

Senator Scarnati’s protestations fly in the face of his leadership roll in ramrodding Act 44 through the Senate last July, to the dismay of his fellow Republican Senators, a majority of which (62%) voted against this ill-conceived legislation. 

Also, the Senator conveniently failed to say in his column that Act 44 was the result of a Turnpike Commission (the “Commission”) proposal and by enacting this legislation, the Governor and Legislature ignored their own 2005 PennDOT study, which advised against tolling I-80. Also ignored, was a 2006 report of the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission, which report did not consider tolling I-80 and concluded in part that: “No additional funding should be provided for highways, bridges and transit unless there is a reform of funding structure and business practices.” 

Ignoring the recommendations of that report, Act 44 requires no cost savings to be achieved, no patronage to be eliminated and places all toll-raising authority in the hands of the patronage-ridden Commission, a redundant (to PennDOT) and largely unnecessary state agency.

According to the Commonwealth Foundation, similar to the pay raise and slots-gambling legislation, “Act 44 was enacted with no public hearings, no committee meetings, and no forums with lawmakers for citizens or affected stakeholders to express their support or opposition to the Commission’s proposal.” Also, there is no federal approval for converting I-80 to a toll road and it remains highly uncertain that the required approval will be obtained.

All of this is reported to have happened in a Senate led by Senator Scarnati. This legislative push was effectively a sell-out to the Commission and its lobbyists. It is probably for this reason the Senator fails to comment on the significant amount of public monies being expended by the Commission in opposition to any plan that would, in effect, put the Commission out of business. 

 Reported payments to lobbyists by the Commission, include $26,000 per month to the Bravo Group and $33,000 per month to the American Continental Group. In addition, the Commission recently signed a $3 million contract with the firm of McCormick and Taylor “ to spin ‘the merits’ of having the Commission takeover I-80”. The Commission is also reported to have engaged lobbyist, Mike Long to oppose efforts to eliminate the Commission’s patronage-ridden operations. We have been unable to ascertain the amount of payments the Commission has made to Mr. Long in 2007 for his alleged services. Whether it is legal for a state agency to expend public monies on costly, self-serving lobbying efforts is a separate question deserving an answer.

In view of these facts, Senator Scarnati is increasingly viewed as not being the stalwart legislator of integrity some hoped he might be, but just another pawn of special interest groups and lobbyists such as former Senator Jubelirer and his former Chief of Staff, Mike Long.

Contrary to Senator Scarnati’s protestations, since the passage of Act 44, it has become increasingly obvious that the tolling of I-80 under the control of the  Commission is not only not the best of the available alternatives, but, if implemented, would be bad public and economic policy. 

Superior alternatives include, but are not limited to, implementing significant cost savings by repealing the Prevailing Wage Act of 1961, which Act forces the state to pay the highest labor costs for infrastructure projects and eliminating the  Commission by merging its operations with PennDOT’s. Alternatively, the state could contract Turnpike operations to private interests on a competitive basis, with incentives to provide the highest stream of revenues to the state, consistent with efficiency of operations, safety and reasonable tolls. Of course, the Morgan Stanley financing options, which include leasing the Turnpike to private interests (apparently favored by the Governor), or use of a public corporation leveraging model allowed to use tax exempt financing under Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling 63-20, deserve serious consideration.

An ideal solution may be to combine several of the forgoing in an omnibus transportation infrastructure rehabilitation and cost reduction program, which also repeals Act 44. If Senator Scarnati really believes there is a transportation infrastructure “crisis”, then he, Senator Pileggi and others should be willing to put the citizens of our state ahead of any special interest groups, particularly those that waste more of the taxpayers’ money than they are worth. And they should be willing to devote the effort, including the expenditure of political capital, and take the time to get it right.

It’s a matter of leadership and “Integrity”!
 

Ken Schaefer is chairman of Vote For Integrity based in Lebanon County, PA.

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