Pennsylvania governor to legislators: “Your only job is to pass the budget, not review the salaries of public officials”
[i]
[/i]
Photo above - this is NOT the Versailles Palace, built for French King Louis XIV. It's the Pennsylvania capitol building in Harrisburg, where politicians are debating how to balance the state budget. Can you see the forest, guys?
Wow, for a guy (allegedly) running for president in 2028,, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro seems determined to tank his chances before the first debate even takes place. Because neither the Democrat controlled Pennsylvania state house or Republican controlled state senate can agree on a budget, so Shapiro’s solution is stop showing them relevant expense data. “Your only job is to pass the budget. Just do it.” (actual quote - see link below).
I don’t think Shapiro is inspired by Trump here, although there are eerie parallels between the Federal budget (we just started a federal shutdown this morning) and Pennsylvania’s attempt to rein in their own out of control expenses. The highest paid state employee is apparently a guy named “James Grossman” earning $500,000. James flew under the radar until earlier this year. He’s the teachers pension fund administrator, and he earns twice as much as Governor Shapiro, who himself is apparently the highest paid governor in America.
If you think the head teachers' pension fund guy SHOULD be paid a lot, I won’t debate this on Glassdoor metrics. But I will point out that Pencilvania's pension fund has been underfunded for 15 years (obligations far exceed assets) and would have been declared bankrupt if it weren't a government agency. If it were a bank, the FDIC would have closed the doors and liquidated it. Eventually this pension balloon is going to burst, probably requiring a state bailout.
So maybe $500,000 a year to decide to run the pension fund’s $72 billion investment fund is fair. I'd do it for that salary, for sure. And - in the interest of public policy transparency - I would have put the whole shebang in an S&P 500 municipal fund. It would have earned 13.7% compounded return on average every year since 2010. The fund assets would be 600% higher than where they started in 2010. This would be WAAAAY more than Mr. Grossman was getting from the esoteric mix of “fixed income and corporate debt" holdings being pushed on him by wall street smarties earning sales commissions.
The answer to government budget problems isn’t to declare government salaries off limits for review, or officials’ free cars, or how much it will cost to refurbish the state capitol building in Harrisburg, with its 282 foot, 52 million pound dome. Hiding overspending never works. I really cannot give Shapiro, or Newsom, or AOC, or Pritzker a thumbs up for the 2028 presidential nomination. Just like the current president, they're all instinctive liars and over spenders.
I’m just sayin' . . .
Public negotiations? Withholding lawmaker salaries? Top Pa. officials pitch solutions as state budget is three months late
