Staff Blog
Al Schmidt’s interesting PR tactic: Screw Philly to hell
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| whyy.org |
This is a little late, but just stumbled across a piece on Heard in the Hall last Wednesday which described Al Schmidt, Republican candidate for City Controller, shadowing Mayor Nutter in Harrisburg and lobbying against the city's proposed tax increase, saying they didn't cut as much as they could have.
Sure, Schmidt is a Republican, and railing against tax increases and government waste is one of those things Republicans do. Sure, he's a long shot for winning the Controller's seat. But still, isn't there something a little untoward about his actively trying to derail the city's budget?
Like it or hate it, Council already passed a budget which raises sales tax and delays payments to the city pension fund, both measures that require approval in Harrisburg.
Should Harrisburg decline to approve those measures — which is what Schmidt seems to be encouraging them to do — the city which he hopes to city-control will be, if you'll pardon the expression, royally screwed.
During budget negotiations, Nutter talked about the dreaded "Plan B." But that plan, which is scary enough, counted on a property tax hike, which is no longer on the table.
So we're actually talking about "Plan C."
I don't know exactly what that would look like, but it would almost certainly mean layoffs, the closing of at least one health center, libraries closing, homeless shelters closing and much, much more.
Schmidt wants to be seen as the responsible guy. But is trying to screw over Philly to make his point the way to do it?
