Corbett's Gas Industry Panel Gives the Industry What It Wants - and Keeps It Secret

[JPZenger]

From a great regularly updated blog that tells us what is really going on www.hypocrisywatchpa.com

"It Goes Without Saying…

We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but the long-awaited report from Gov. Corbett’s hand-picked gang of drilling executives and campaign donors – also known as the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission – reads like a wish list written by the drilling industry… which, of course, it is. And – in classic Corbett style – the public wasn’t even allowed to read the recommendations that the Commission voted on last Friday.

As the Harrisburg Patriot-News noted: “Corbett promised a new era of transparency in Pennsylvania government. But his administration claims the business of his Marcellus Shale Commission is exempt from the state’s open-meetings law.” Still, newspaper reports summed up the bottom line of the Commission’s proposals: a drilling “impact fee” that doesn’t benefit all of the state’s taxpayers, “forced pooling” to restrict property rights when drillers want someone’s gas, and a provision to weaken incentives that encourage production of alternative energy other than natural gas. In other words, Corbett’s policy group wants what the gas drillers want. Imagine our surprise."

[JPZenger]

1. Here's another post from the same great website

"Since Gov. Corbett enacted an on-time budget that cut government spending, voters should be dancing in the streets… right? Wrong. In fact, the latest polling shows that if last November’s election was held today, Corbett would lose to Dan Onorato by 3 points.

And even without the time machine, the Guv’s deep unpopularity – only 35% of voters approve of his performance, compared to 46% who disapprove – could mean trouble for the Republican party. One out of every 3 Pennsylvania voters say that Corbett’s actions makes them less likely to pick the GOP candidate in next year’s presidential election. So why is the governor so unpopular?

As Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Karen Heller explains: “Corbett has been terrible – flat-out awful – in meeting with the general public and in communicating his agenda, not only to voters but also to his party brethren.” That’s certainly true. But another explanation is that Pennsylvanians understand full well what Corbett is doing – and that at the end of the day, they know the Guv simply isn’t on their side."