I've heard a number of things recently, but nothing of a public statement from the Governor. I'll leave the insider stuff I've heard alone for now--I'm not in the business of gossip. What I do know is that for the first year of Rendell's term as Governor, the state continued the policies of chasing the cheapest price when awarding contracts, including contracts going to vendors who use cheap offshore labor or cheap "in-sourced" labor. Some of these practices were unknown to some of the folks higher up in the administration. Some of them were very well known to John Estey, who told me when I brought up the problem to him as we discussed my exit from the Senate race that the state has a tight budget and they are going to seek price advantage where they can, including when it means stiffing Pennsylvania and US workers. I didn't think he used the term "stiffing", but he effectively said "So what?". I let him know I think he's on the wrong side of the issue, even from an academic economic perspective, and that I would be pushing this issue behind the scenes but give the administration a chance to deal with it before I went public.

Well, it's 3 months later and we've started going public with some of the information. So far, we've only revealed the ice on the tip of the tip of the iceberg. In the absence of the state taking a pro-Pennsylvania approach to contracts, jobs, and the economy, we will reveal more through weekly press conferences on each item. I know there's a lot of talk going on this week behind closed doors, so we'll see what happens before Sunday. On Sunday I'll publish my first editorial on the subject.

In the meantime, I propose a new approach to state economics, from the sale of produce to the use of taxpayer money in state contracts. Pennsylvania First is a program that promotes goods made in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania business, and Pennsylvania services. It means if you live in Pennsylvania, buy in Pennsylvania first. If you are a Pennsylvania government, you must use Pennsylvania contractors first to do contract work, and US businesses to do what Pennsylvanians can't.

Which isn't much, I have to tell you. We're a great state of makers and creators, and it's time the state remembers where its funds comes from--Pennsylvanians. And if the state ends up on the wrong side of the jobs issue, it's time for us to ask "who's got our backs?" if not our own state?