Historic Artifacts Missing

Auditor General Jack Wagner audited the 23 locations that house Pennsylvania’s historic artifacts and found at least 1800 missing or unaccounted for. He says the audit shows lax oversight that demonstrates the need for a complete inventory and upgraded barcode system.

Now that the Ft. Pitt Museum is being managed by the Senator John Heinz History Center, Wagner says its artifacts are in good hands, but the other venues need improvement to safeguard the state’s historic treasures that are of such great national significance: the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the battle of Gettysburg, etc.

Wagner says the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s budget has been cut drastically over the last four years, and this audit should say to the governor and future governor and legislature that a new security system must be given priority for the state’s valuable historic resources.

Non-Profits and the Budget

Four candidates for governor of Pennsylvania are split on whether or not the state should refund nonprofits who took out loans during last year’s 101-day budget impasse.
The gubernatorial hopefuls made their comments at a forum sponsored by the United Way.
When state funding to nonprofits and counties dried up last summer, many organizations took out large loans to pay their bills.
Democrats Dan Onorato and Joe Hoeffel say the state should fund those groups’ interest payments, but Auditor General Jack Wagner is more hesitant.

"Should we recoup those counties? Sure. If we could, yes. I’m not sure the state presently is in a fiscal condition to do that. Based on the serious financial challenges facing us, now, in the next budget."

Hoeffel says he’d stop all payments, if the state entered the new fiscal year without a spending plan.

"I won’t sign a temporary budget. I’ve seen this wreck the budget process in Harrisburg and in Washington. They don’t pass budgets on time in Washington. They sign—pass continuing resolutions, temporary budgets here. There have been seven straight late budgets. So no budget July 1, nobody gets paid."

Onorato criticized Governor Rendell for withholding funding from nonprofits during the 101-day budget impasse.

"And that’s what happened here. Because a lot of the other programs were funded. There was temporary budgets. There were payments being made to employees in other departments. And yet you have this department of human service bearing the political burden of this debate."

Republican Sam Rohrer says Pennsylvania government is running out of money, and may soon find itself in the same dire financial straits as California and other distressed states. Rohrer said the federal stimulus package did more harm than good.

"Because there’s two and a half billion dollars in this budget that will run out this year, that has to be made up. That’s the rub of where it goes from here. What should have done last year – spending reductions of about ten percent should have taken effect, and we’d be sitting here with a balanced budget."

All four candidates vowed to pass budgets by the July 1 deadline, if elected.
Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Anthony Williams were both invited to the forum, but didn’t attend.

Tax Relief Changes Proposed

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner is urging lawmakers to simplify the application process for gaming-based property tax relief.
Wagner says the current county-by-county property tax relief system is too confusing.
He says a major issue is the fact property owners need to fill out an application in order to receive a tax reduction funded by revenue from Pennsylvania’s casinos.
Wagner, a Democrat who’s running for governor, says a study of several counties shows many people just don’t get around to doing that, so lot of revenue is going unclaimed.

"And with those 49 counties alone, I stand up here and can absolutely say there are at least a hundred thousand property owners not getting property tax relief from gaming revenues in Pennsylvania."

The size of rebates fluctuates by school district, but Wagner says they averaged out to 189 dollars last year. County tax assessors process relief applications, but Wagner wants the Department of Revenue or another statewide agency to assume more oversight.

Dems Don't Endorse Candidate For Governor

Auditor General Jack Wagner won twice as many votes as any other gubernatorial candidate when Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party cast ballots for an official endorsement this weekend.
Although that wasn’t enough to win the party’s nod, Wagner is claiming victory.
A candidate needed two-thirds of the votes to win the Democratic Party’s endorsement, and Wagner didn’t claim that total.
But Wagner’s 153 votes from party officials was twice as much as Dan Onorato, who came in second with 76 tallies.
Wagner says it’s a moral victory.

"When you get the most votes in two ballots and it’s more than the majority, that tells me – and it’s spread out across Pennsylvania, that’s a signal that real people, common people, are supporting my candidacy. And that’s powerful."

Onorato says he’s not concerned ...
"You can’t look at who got what. You’ve got to look at, did they endorse here today? They didn’t. the state committee said leave it open. No one got the endorsement. It’s wide open, and now the most important vote is primary day."


Philadelphia Senator Anthony Williams, who’s mulling a run and didn’t initially plan on entering the endorsement balloting, came in third with 48 votes. Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel was eliminated in the first round of voting, and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty wasn’t nominated.

Wagner: He & Corbett Can Do Jobs & Still Campaign

Auditor General Jack Wagner says he and Tom Corbett are capable of running for governor of Pennsylvania while keeping their day jobs.
Now that both Wagner, a Democrat, and Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett have formally declared their campaigns for governor, opponents have stepped up their criticism each time the men announce high-profile audits or charges.
Democratic candidate Tom Knox says it’s wrong to run for statewide office while holding another post, and Republican Jim Gerlach says Corbett’s legislative corruption investigation is a conflict of interest for someone who wants to be the next governor.
Wagner dismisses the complaints.

"Tom Corbett is elected at Attorney General. I’m elected as Auditor General. He’s a prosecutor, I’m a fiscal watchdog. The way I view it we’re both doing our job. That’s what the people of Pennsylvania elected us to do."

Corbett has repeatedly said he won’t step down, and he’ll keep looking into corruption charges.
His latest opponent, State Representative Sam Rohrer, says he applauds the ongoing investigation, which recently charged ten Republicans.
"Does it conflict potentially with what he’s doing? I think by the mere fact there’s been so much press and so much concern, there is a possibility, definitely, of conflicting with what he does. So he’s going to have to weigh very carefully what he and how he chooses to pursue this investigation, or what he does."

Rohrer deflected questions about whether Corbett should step down, saying that’s up to the Attorney General.

AG Wants Slots to Pay for On Audit

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner wants the slots licenses holders to pay for the audits his office is required to do. He has asked the General Assembly to amend the slots law so that slots gaming companies, and not taxpayers, are required to pay for state audits of the casinos. Wagner points out that the Attorney General and state police are being compensated for law-enforcement services resulting from the new casino industry. Wagner says, "We are not seeking special treatment; we are seeking equal treatment. The Department of the Auditor General plays a central role in making sure that Pennsylvania's gaming industry operates legally and that it provides all of the property tax revenue that has been promised to taxpayers." Wagner has already launched the first audit of the casinos and is expected to issue that report this summer. He says once all of the casinos are up and running he will probably have to assign 4 or 5 full time auditors to the task of watching to slots operations. Wagner says at $250,000 to $300,000 a year the slots operators should be able to absorb the costs. Wagner says he could probably just send the licenses holders a bill for the services but he would prefer to have the protection of having it written into the law.

A.G Says NO to State Office Building Sale

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner Says as the state’s top financial watchdog it is his duty to oppose the sale of the state office building in Pittsburgh. The state is to open bids for the building Friday and Wagner has sent a letter to Secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of General Services James Creedon asking him to discard the bids. Wagner says there is a long list of reasons to not sell the building near point state park but chief among them is timing. He says in the tough economic times and the soft real estate market the state would get “virtually nothing” for the building. Wagner says the state would use up all of the proceeds of the sale covering the costs of relocation to three separate buildings and the first year of lease payments to the new landlords. Wagner goes on to say it would be “ludicrous” to decentralize state operations. He says people in western Pennsylvania know where to go to get state services and spreading the offices throughout downtown is bad management. Wagner admits the building needs to be upgraded but he says the cost is not enough to warrant what he describes as a “fire sale.” The state put the building, which houses 800 state employees, up for sale in April 2008. It had agreed to sell the building to the Buncher Co. for $4.5 million -- a price that Creedon acknowledged was less than the state had expected -- but the deal fell through when Buncher withdrew its bid in early February. Creedon told the house appropriations committee last week that DGS has given prospective bidders until March 6 to match the state's minimum price of $4.5 million for the building. He says if no one meets the price DGS will take it off the market until conditions improve.

GPS suggested for Megan's Law

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner is urging lawmakers to require the use of global positioning technology to track sex offenders. A recent audit finds the state has lost about 10-percent of all the sexual offenders who are supposed to register their home address under Megan's law. Wagner urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would require all sexually violent offenders to be tracked using GPS for 5 years following their release from prison. Others offenders who have violated Megan’s law in the past would also have to wear the ankle bracelet and GPS device. He says using G-P-S technology will do more than let police track down offenders, it will keep them from committing new crimes. Wagner says the data collected can also be used in the prosecution of crimes. The tracking systems can notify police or victims anytime an offender leaves a so-called inclusion zone or enters and exclusion zone. 33 states already use the technology and at least 27 Pennsylvania counties monitor some parolee’s using GPS.