The Transportation Committee Cerberus

Rep. Joe Markosek wants to become the next Cerberus of the General Assembly. Of course, that title is currently held by Rep. Babette Josephs for bottling up all sorts of good government reforms in the House State Government Committee.

Markosek, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has determined that he knows what’s best not only for the members of his committee, but also the rest of the General Assembly and Pennsylvania. He said that the lease proposal won’t “see the light of day” as long as he’s chairman.

While we don’t doubt Markosek’s sincerity in opposing the lease opportunity, we do challenge his all-powerful wisdom in taking a viable option off of the table (particularly because the tolling of I-80 is not settled yet) and suggesting that he won’t even allow his committee to further consider the idea.

Say what you will about the lease idea, but no elected official should be able to stymie any legislation simply because he/she personally is personally opposed. One Cerebus in the General Assembly is already one too many!

Leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike deserves a full and fair consideration … unlike the bill Markosek rammed through last year (Act 44) that expanded the Turnpike Commission, put us in bonded debt, and may put tolls on I-80 to further subsidize Philly and Pittsburgh’s mass transit problems.

If there ever was a bad idea that never should have seen the light of day, it is Act 44, which passed Markosek’s committee and the General Assembly long before it came into the public’s light of day.