American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017 - 87

"Voters supported Wolf's call for a severance tax, as well as an increase in education
spending," Madonna related. "For the first
time in my 25 years of polling . . .
education was the most important issue
for the people who cast votes."
Although the governor and legislature
see eye-to-eye on very little, Madonna
reflected, they worked well as a team in
2016 in agreeing on a budget that raised
spending 4.7 percent over 2015 levels,
including a 2.6 percent boost for schools.
Unfortunately, he continued, lawmakers
are facing a $700 million deficit this
year, which is on pace to grow to $3
billion next year. Madonna characterized
many of those outlays as commitments
from which the state could not escape
easily, such as payments for pensions
and healthcare.
Moreover, he continued, Wolf has not
proffered the income and sales tax hikes
that appeared in his first two budget proposals. "Somehow, the legislature and governor have to agree on a balanced budget
with a deficit of nearly $1 billion and
growing because revenues are not coming
in as projected," Madonna described.
Commenting that political considerations overshadow the proceedings, Madonna said, "Since we permitted governors
to have two terms, only one governor
has lost his re-election campaign. Corbett
was the first and he lost handily. We
simply do not know how this is going to
play out."
As for his early take on the 2018
federal elections, Madonna observed that
recent history showed the first midterm
election had not been good for the president's party. He said the president's party
had lost an average of 23 seats in the
U.S. House of Representatives, and voters'
assessment of the president's performance
often affected how they treated his party
in all races.
"Look at what happened during Obama's midterms in 2010 and 2014: Republicans picked up seats virtually everywhere," Madonna recalled. "If Donald
Trump's first two years are unsuccessful
and his popularity remains low, we could
see a sizable loss of seats for the Republicans in Congress and in the Pennsylvania
Legislature. What goes on in Washington
and the prevailing national mood will be
important for Pennsylvania's governorship
in the 2018 election."
❒

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017

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