John Baer: Cutting isn't everything, Corbett

GOV. CORBETT AND the Republican Legislature spend too much time and energy working on problems that don't exist and not enough fixing those that do.

As a result, after two years of GOP management, one can reasonably ask whether Pennsylvania's on the move or simply stuck in neutral.

There's evidence suggesting the latter.

A nonpartisan "State of the States" report just issued by Harvard's Institute of Politics and Penn's Fels Institute of Government ranks all states in areas such as economic opportunity, educational achievement and overall "best fundamentals."

How fares Pennsylvania versus our neighbors?

We rank 21st in economic opportunity, behind Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey; 21st in educational achievement, behind New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Delaware; and 19th overall, behind Delaware, Maryland and New York.

We face fiscal issues ranging from unsustainable public pension costs to long-delayed infrastructure needs, neither of which is really being addressed.

And critics of state policy contend we do too little for public health, human services and public education.

(The Harvard/Penn study notes Pennsylvania ranks 42nd among the 50 states in percentage of public-school costs funded by state versus local government.)

Worse, projections of two more years of slow economic growth plus the loss of federal stimulus funds, the study says, means improvement is "unlikely" anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Corbett and Republican leaders assert we're on the verge of economic betterment due to an expected long-term boom in natural-gas drilling and related job growth.

Maybe we are.

But our 8.1 percent unemployment rate is higher than the national rate and that of 30 other states, including Delaware, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia.

And while rising pension costs and risky road and bridge problems (each a multibillion dollar issue) go unattended, lots of energy is spent on stuff with little impact on the greater needs or fiscal well-being of the commonwealth.

The Legislature passed and Corbett signed, for example, new laws extending barroom happy hours and the Castle Doctrine (a great combo!) and requiring voter ID to fight fraud - all despite scant evidence of limited access to cocktails, pressing needs to shoot more people or hijacked elections.

Likewise, efforts to privatize liquor sales and the state lottery invite questions about whether such initiatives are real priorities for state citizens and/or game-changing pluses for state finances.

Corbett's overall leadership on policy is, to date, nonexistent; and if there is an overall policy it appears limited to searching for ways not to spend money.

Such a stance is appealing and effective in seeking support of enough citizens to win a campaign, less so in seeking solutions to problems facing all citizens.

Cutting spending requires all the cognitive skills of a masked medieval executioner. Put it on the block, swing the ax.

Cutting spending and solving problems while serving public needs without raising taxes requires creativity yet to be shown by this administration.

Corbett won in 2010 because of his investigation of the Legislature, a pledge to cut spending and not raise taxes and a promise to reform a sordid political culture.

He's so far made good on his pledge (although many argue he simply shifted tax increases to local governments) but not on his promise.

There's no effort on needed reforms to campaign-finance laws or legislative redistricting, shrinking the Legislature, ending automatic pay raises, convening a constitutional convention . . . oh, you know the list.

In fact, this administration, while publicly touting transparent government, quietly goes to court to deny release of basic data such as work phone numbers of state officials and the governor's schedule.

None of this is to suggest Corbett will not or should not be re-elected in 2014. That remains to be determined.

It is, rather, a midway assessment of a first term marked more by fixing stuff that ain't broke than by facing problems with proactive leadership.

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Columns: philly.com/JohnBaer