Greenfield, nicknamed "Moose," gave Rendell $6,500 during Ed's '02 run for governor, according to state records. Since only the governor can release capital funds, I asked about Greenfield and his project.
Rendell press secretary Gary Tuma responded with an e-mail saying that the Guv "spoke with people about the project, and it sounded worthwhile to him."
Tuma added: "Albert Greenfield is a friend and has given the Governor moderate campaign contributions. . . . should the legislature include an authorization for it, he would consider releasing the funds, but he has not made a final decision."
The House already authorized the project. The Senate is expected to soon. Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre County, says, "Normally we don't take anything out of the bill."
Nice. So, maybe a gift from Ed before leaving office? More public dollars to private interests? You know, like for Comcast or pro-sports stadiums?
A colleague calls this "golfing- around money" (a play on the notorious "walking-around money" that legislators set aside for pet projects).
A project opponent says that Valhalla is Old Norse for "hall of the slain," and asks, "Taxpayers?"
To be clear, the capital budget is a wish-list of billions of dollars worth of stuff that mostly never gets funded. But that doesn't mean this won't.
Rendell's argument for such projects is that the money is borrowed, doesn't come from the general fund and doesn't diminish state programs.
But these projects run up annual debt service and fees, which are paid from the general fund. When Ed took office the annual payback cost was $80 million. Today it's $250 million.
