John Baer: Ed's plea for $472M more in taxes is a no-go now?

IT LOOKS like a case of deja vu all over again in the same ole, same ole Pennsylvania.

Democratic Guv Ed calls for swift action to avert a "disaster"; Senate Republicans call for, well, nothing right now.

It's the governor of "go" and the party of "no."

The issue this time is crumbling roads and bridges, commuter congestion and deteriorating mass transit.

The politics are the same: thrust and parry played with passion producing policy polarization.

His Edness, in a 30- minute address to a joint session of the Legislature yesterday, outlined steps that he claims must be taken in the name of public safety to avert a "crisis."

He called for more money - at least $472 million, right away - to begin dealing with 10,000 miles of roads in need of repair and a tops-in-the-nation number of bridges (5,646) deemed structurally deficient.

Structurally deficient, by the way, is engineering talk for fix now or die later.

Speaking of later, Ed said the long-term need is $3.5 billion more per year.

And even though the state budget already faces a $1 billion-plus deficit, he pressed forward. Doing nothing, he said, means "a disaster for our state" that will cripple transportation "and imperil public safety."

He claimed that this is not only a Philadelphia or southeastern Pennsylvania problem. But he scheduled another push for action again this afternoon at a Wayne Junction power substation that controls commuter-rail lines throughout the region.

Options the Guv laid out: borrow $1 billion; raise the gas tax; increase license and vehicle-registration fees; toll I-95; lease the turnpike and tax oil-company profits.

He said of the prospect of raising taxes and fees, "I believe the public will understand the need to do so." At a post-speech news conference, he added, "People view funding transportation or raising fees differently . . . people want safe, quality transportation that cuts congestion."

He also urged consideration of so-called public-private partnerships in which the government leases roads, bridges or other assets to private companies. But he said he'd sign anything filling the immediate transportation-funding hole that was created last month when the feds rejected the state's plan to toll I-80.

The Republican response to fees, taxes or fast action was less than enthusiastic.

Senate GOP Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said that all efforts are aimed at passing the state budget by July 1. Revisiting transportation funding could derail it. And, he said, Republicans feel "a reluctance to talk about tax increases or fees even for [balancing] the budget," let alone for transportation.

House Republican leaders were scheduled today to outline a transportation-funding plan that does not increase taxes.

Asked why doing nothing now means "disaster," Rendell said that "one of the major candidates" for governor this year [that would be Republican Tom Corbett] has signed a no-tax pledge.

Rendell suggested that if Corbett wins and keeps his word, there'd be no new taxes for at least four years. Rendell said that means that on transportation issues we'd be "S.O.L." - s--- out of luck.

(No doubt Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Dan Onorato feels a little S.O.L. hearing his No. 1 supporter talk about a Republican victory.)

The problem here is twofold: Lawmakers in an election year are not about to raise taxes or fees, period; and a worsening budget crunch means that transportation woes will get parked.

The focus in the coming months will be, yet again, on resolving the difference between Ed's proposed $29 billion spending plan and Republican insistence that the state can't afford more than $27.5 billion.

There also are renewed threats of state-worker layoffs and further cuts in state services. And if this all sounds familiar - and it certainly should - it's because you're in the land of déjà vu and Groundhog Day in the same ole, same ole Pennsylvania.

Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.