Jun 26, 2009 9 min read

House Majority Whip Rep. Bill DeWeese recently met with the Herald-Standard editorial board and discussed a number of topics, including issues and concerns surrounding the proposed state budget, income tax increases, Marcellus Shale, focusing on a reform agenda and the “bonsugate” controversy. The 2009 state budget DeWeese said that it’s unlikely that the proposed state budget – which has a $3.2 billion deficit – will be passed by July 17, when state employees will start going without pay until the impasse is resolved.

“The dialogue is going to be very, very strenuous in the coming weeks,” said DeWeese during the recent meeting with the editorial board. “From Barack Obama to Bobtown, everyone’s short on cash.”

DeWeese said this budget has put him “up to my eyeballs in the most challenging budget debate in my career.”

He said there is going to be no way to balance the budget as required by law “without cutting into the marrow of the bone.”

The concern about doing that, he said, is that community programs suffer in the process.

Gov. Ed Rendell has said that spending cuts and tax increases are necessary to balance the budget.

The governor has proposed that the personal income tax be increased from 3.07 to 3.57 percent, and has estimated that it would raise $1.5 billion annually. In three years, the tax increase would expire.

Republicans, however, have expressed opposition to the increase and want to balance the budget by reducing expenses.

DeWeese said Pennsylvania is one of the states with the lowest personal income tax, and said he believes that a 1 percent increase would solve the budgetary needs. DeWeese maintained that the 1 percent increase would result in an additional $2 to $4 weekly cost for the average person.

DeWeese said he is in favor of the increase only if it saves programs like those that benefit senior citizens, community projects or medical assistance.

“If we don’t have working families contributing $3 or $4 … then (most of the) counties in the state are going to be raising property taxes,” he said.

DeWeese said the current budget surplus could be lessened by cuts to legislative spending accounts, cutting legislative initiative programs, legislators not taking vehicles or COLAs. While each individually wouldn’t impact the budget, DeWeese said all of those Legislature-related cuts could make a dent in the deficit.

“I’m a more idealistic participant in this process than I was (several) years ago,” he said.

Since then, he’s weathered campaign challenges for his seat from Republican Greg Hopkins, the middle-of-the-night lawmakers’ pay raise and the so-called “bonusgate” scandal – which saw one of his top aides charged.

“I would be stunned if we had a resolution to the problem (by July 17),” DeWeese said.

July 17 is the date at which state employees would stop drawing a paycheck until the impasse is resolved.

“We still have a substantial way to go,” he said.

The representative said that nearly all of the states are facing a budget deficit, and said some of the ones that are not facing shortfalls have extraction taxes in place for their natural energy assets.

In Pennsylvania, Marcellus shale could be that asset, DeWeese said.

He has introduced a bill that would allow the natural gas brought from shale to have value. A Supreme Court ruling from 2002 found that coal could be a valued resource, but found that gas was not. It was not formerly specified as a taxable resource, but the proposed bill would do that.

The shale is an underground rock formation that experts believe lies throughout about 2/3 of the state, and it’s believed that it holds natural gas. Previously, it went unaccessed because drilling for it was considered prohibitively expensive. However, advances in drilling have attracted new interest, according to information posted on DeWeese’s Web site.

Another potential help to the budgetary problems is the introduction of table games in the 14 slots casinos in the state, he said.

Last week, DeWeese introduced legislation that would allow slots casinos to add poker, black jack, roulette and other table games. He estimated doing so would generate upwards of $300 million in revenue in the first year. He estimated there is a 50-50 chance that the bill will pass.

“This expansion will bring additional patrons to the facilities as well because table games appeal to a different type of customer than slot machines. The expanded customer base likely will lead to even more economic development in the surrounding areas,” DeWeese said.

Under the bill, licensees would pay an initial $10 million fee and a $500,000 fee annually to renew. The table games would have a daily 18 percent tax that would go to the property tax relief.

DeWeese said property tax reform is his primary goal.

In a general sense, he said that he supports a reform agenda to remove “the jaundiced view” that people have about the government.

“There’s no practical difference between placing $20 in a slot machine versus putting it on a poker or blackjack table, so I see no valid reason why we shouldn’t allow our successful slots casinos to add these options,” DeWeese said.

Legalizing table games would generate 10,000 casino-related jobs and more than 6,000 additional jobs associated with businesses around the casinos, DeWeese said.

On board with reform agenda

While acknowledging that he has “made mistakes” in the past, DeWeese said that he is focused on a reform agenda.

The Waynesburg Democrat said last week that he fully responded to the subpoenas issued by state prosecutors in the so-called “bonusgate” investigation, producing thousands of e-mails and other documents. He also said, as he has before, that he instructed his staff to cooperate fully, and took steps to ensure all files were preserved.

But claiming that he and his former colleague, Mike Veon, who was indicted as part of bonusgate, did a lot of the same things is simply wrong, DeWeese said during the meeting with the editorial board.

While acknowledging that he “made some mistakes,” DeWeese said he did not act in the same way Veon did.

He said he has not made “money mistakes,” and that anything he’s done has not been “schemes and patterns” like is alleged with Veon.

“If I made mistakes, I certainly don’t believe they were at that level, and I certainly have a high respect for that process,” DeWeese said.

The bonusgate investigation led to 12 indictments within the House, claiming that many of those used taxpayer dollars and other state resources in election campaigns.

Among the Democratic caucus staffers and lawmakers arrested were Veon and state Rep. Sean Ramaley – both from Beaver County – and former DeWeese chief-of-staff Mike Manzo.

Late last year, Manzo indicated that he believed DeWeese knew of the campaign-related bonuses – an allegation DeWeese has denied.

Despite reports that magnets and drills were used to destroy computer hard drives before investigators got their hands on them, DeWeese said he instructed his staff at the outset of the investigation to preserve evidence and cooperate fully.

“I believe my team’s cooperative efforts will ultimately lead fair-minded people to draw positive conclusions about my conduct,” he said.

“I made mistakes, and I regret those mistakes,” said DeWeese, noting that he now has a sincere enthusiasm for reform.

He vowed to work closely with his colleagues – many of whom have only been in the Legislature one or two terms – to achieve those reform goals.

“I think I can give it a perspective … that no one else could, because

I have been there and seen the wrenching and devastating effects (to) the process,” he said.

DeWeese said he is not the same lawmaker he was five years ago, and now finds himself heralding the reform agenda instead of bucking it.

As an example of the change in his way of doing things, DeWeese produced an e-mail sent to his state account soliciting advertising in a voter’s guide. Instead of doing election-related business from that account,

DeWeese showed where he had sent the advertising solicitor an e-mail asking that correspondence be directed to his personal account.

“Would I have done that in ’98? Probably not,” he said.

He said he also is careful to tell staffers to take documented vacation days if they plan on doing campaign-related work on what would be work time.

DeWeese said that his newfound enthusiasm for reform is “not artificially contrived,” but that he is genuinely eager to see public trust restored in government through those reform efforts.

“It took us too long, and we were certainly too slow, but we are on a path to reform, and I really believe that as a senior member, I can offer a perspective that is unique,” he said.

Among the efforts he’s supporting is campaign finance reform that would limit the amount that an individual or business could give someone running for office. Included in that bill, which DeWeese said he is co-sponsoring, is a provision that a business that is awarded a state contract of $50,000 or more would have to submit a list of all political contributions made by its officers, directors, associates, partners and limited partners.

Additionally, DeWeese vowed that he “will not accept one dime” from any of the gaming entities. He is currently pushing a bill to allow table games at slots casinos in the state.

He also said he supports the immediate posting online of state expenses – and those incurred by the legislators.

“If we’re asking working families to pay an extra $3 or $4 a week, we could at least have folks see what they are paying for,” DeWeese said, referring to a proposed tax increase to help balance the state budget.

In a general sense, he said that he supports a reform agenda to remove “the jaundiced view” that people have about the government.

“I want to make sure people start having trust in us,” he said.

There are 74 freshman or sophomore legislators who were elected because of their reform-centered platforms.

“I am very privileged to be the old bull still standing,” he said.