Senate Republican Leader Chooses Turnpike Commission Over Taxpayers

Senate Republican Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi told the AP that he won’t allow a debate or vote to occur on the Senate floor regarding the leasing of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

While we knew the political challenges of stripping the Senate of its use of the Turnpike Commission as a patronage playground for placing political friends and family, we always thought that the choice between massive tax increases and bonded debt on the people of Pennsylvania would eventually be trumped by the financial benefits of earning interest on a multi-billion dollar lease payment.

But it is understandable why Pileggi and others like Rep. Markosek won’t even bring the issue up for debate — the benefits of the Turnpike lease will reveal the fraud they are perpetrating on the people of Pennsylvania by defending the Turnpike Commission and Act 44.

If this issue is as dead as these elected officials say it is, why not have a real debate and vote (and not the fast one Joe Markosek tried to pull in June).