Rendell for Governor

Governor Ed Rendell seems to have a pretty good shot at holding onto his job in Pennsylvania. He promised his constituents that he would bring in slot machines to lower property taxes and he did. Not as much as he had said he would, but voters don’t care – any reduction is better than none.

He has taken credit for economic growth and higher test scores amongst students – even though it can’t really be proved whether or not he had a whole lot to do with that. He did make a few mistakes his first year, including a tax increase, but it has been smooth sailing ever since. He has gotten the legislature to approve most of what he needed to improve the state – slot machine gambling, property tax breaks, early childhood education, etc.

He said he would limit slot machines to horse racing tracks – since residents would be used to going to certain areas for their gambling needs. However, once the numbers came together Rendell realized that more slot machines would be better for the state and for the voters. He wanted to reduce property taxes more than it looked like he would be able to, so slot machines will now be at race tracks as well as stand alone casinos. He also set up a large slot machine license fee for applicants to pay – which brought in more money for the state.

He also used the gambling revenue from the state lottery to extend prescription drug coverage to an additional 100,000 senior citizens. Rendell effectively made it “the most affordable drug plan in the nation.”  Rendell seems to have the next election all sewn up.

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