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Bringing home the bacon: How Vince Fumo (and others) get state money for Philadelphia
Exclusive Audio for It's Our MoneyState Representative Dwight Evans explains how the state budget process works for Philadelphia
In 2004, Faheem Thomas-Childs, age 10, was shot to death outside of a
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How the Sausage gets made: Fumo EditionBy BEN WAXMAN
His legislative office estimates that the senator has been responsible for providing $8 billion in dollars for projects in Philadelphia. What exactly does that mean? Why is this an accomplishment? Isn’t it a lawmakers job to get money into his district? What makes the difference between someone good at this, and someone not so good?
Tons of money flows into the state’s coffers – from corporate and individual taxes, revenue and other sources – to the tune of about $59 billion. What happens to that money is a big, complicated process, and to try to get a handle on it, we asked Fumo’s office for a list of the recipients of this $8 billion, and then tracked down one of the groups getting money to find out how the process works. (No, the ultimate aim was not to get a piece of it for ourselves.) We also talked to State Rep. Dwight Evans, who chairs the appropriations committee in the House, which makes him Fumo’s counterpart.
In fact, it was Fumo’s role as chair of the Senate Appropriations committee that gave him much of his juice. Fumo not only had a seat at the table during budget negotiations between the governor and the legislature, he often was holding the carving knife, ready to ask who wanted a leg and who wanted white or dark meat.
Fumo used his position to steer money towards projects in Philadelphia. But what does that mean? Everyone has seen footage of a politician delivering an oversized check to a soup kitchen or neighborhood association. But how does an organization go about getting that cash? Elected officials don’t keep huge checkbooks in their offices, right?
Fumo presented one of those big checks for $2 million last year to the Philadelphia Central Library capital campaign fund. Sandra Horrocks, who works for the Free Library Foundation, said that the library applied for a grant directly from Fumo’s office.
“It’s very similar to applying for a grant from a private foundation. We have to make sure that our case for support is clear and well articulated. We had to explain what the outcome of the grant would be. We had to demonstrate that there would be a real need and a positive development for the public,” she said. “Since libraries are free to everyone, it wasn’t a hard case to make.”
From the perspective of a group seeking money, the process is pretty straightforward. A staff member at the library spoke with someone from Fumo’s office about the capital campaign. Fumo suggested that the library apply for a grant available for cultural institutions from the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). The money came from a statewide fund that gives grants to projects recommended by local lawmakers.
Oh, and there isn’t a bank anywhere in the world that would cash that giant check. Horrocks explained that the library didn’t get the money until after the building improvements were made. It’s a reimbursable grant, meaning that the library had to show the state receipts before it saw a dime of the money.
Ok, so that explains how one organization got their hands on state money. But how does an elected official go about bringing home money to their district?
Many of the dollars that come into Harrisburg are earmarked things like debt service, education, social services, and the other big ticket items in a state budget. The governor has priorities for some of the money -- for example, Rendell wanted $1.1 billion for his health plan to cover all Pennsylvanians. Then, individual lawmakers have their own priorities, not only for big state-wide initiatives (like casinos) but for their home districts – the libraries, recreation centers, bridges and hospitals. How much they get of that pie is determined by the guys on the appropriations committee. The process is driven a lot by horse-trading. (“If you give me $250,000 for my community center, I’ll support your bill on bottle caps.”)
It stands to reason if you control the horses, you’re going to get powerful in any horse-trading activity. Lawmakers have to convince to leaders of the appropriations committee to support their pet projects, which gives them a tremendous amount of power. Each appropriations committee (in the House and in the Senate) has leaders from each political party. For Republicans, it’s Gibson Armstrong in the Senate and Mario Civera in the House. Democrats are led by Dwight Evans in the House. Sen. Gerald LaValle replaced Fumo in the Senate when he was indicted. They meet with the governor every year and negotiate the details of the budget.
Evans, who is from Northwest Philadelphia, believes having power consolidated among a few key elected officials makes things run smoother.
“You got 253 people in that process. The reality of it is that it would be no different than your household if you tried to have everyone make the decision about the budget. So, what happens is, there are representatives from each caucus: the House Democrats, the Senate Republicans, the Senate Democrats, and the House Republicans.”
Fumo held the position for more than 20 years. That means he knew every possible angle and could find money anywhere in the budget. Fumo also hired really smart people who understood how the process worked. Still, Evans doesn’t believe that Fumo’s departure necessarily means Philadelphia will receive less money.
“Philadelphia has had the chairmanship for a long time. Some people view that as good, some people view that as bad, depending on how you look at it,” said Evans. “This will be something new. I don’t think we should be fearful of things that are new.”
Still, it’s worth asking: is this the best way to manage the money that comes to the state from our wallets? Is there a better way to make sure all that revenue the state gathers and collects doesn’t get translated into sources of power for a small group of lawmakers? Is this system democratic?
Go to the "It's Our Money" blog to speak your piece.
Ben Waxman reports on the budget for "It's Our Money," a partnership between the Daily News and WHYY that will be explaining and covering the city budget for citizens. He can be reached at waxmanb@phillynews.com. |
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Getting money for Philadelphia from Harrisburg is a tough trick-- but State Rep. Dwight Evans has managed to pull that rabbit out of a hat more than once. He is chair of Pa. House Appropriations Committee and knows better than anyone how the state budget process works. We asked Evans to give us an overview of how things really get done in our state capital. Click on the link below to hear him explain basic budgeting. 
Facing three primary opponents, poor health, and a 139-count indictment for corruption, Senator Vince Fumo announced last week that he would not seek reelection. His announcement was a surprise, if not a shock. Part of that shock began to sink in after people realized that his absence from the Appropriations Committee of the Pennsylvania Senate could mean less money coming to Philadelphia. Because among all the other things he’s known for, Fumo was known for bringing home the state bacon.