Commonwealth Foundation President: Gov. Wolf Is Against The Taxpayer On Every Issue

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Matt Brouillette, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, spoke to Talk Radio 1210 WPHT midday host Dom Giordano about Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's claim that those that are not in support of his tax increases as "not standing with children but with special interest."

"If you're going to live in glass houses, you shouldn't be throwing stones, because he's got a lot of special interest that he's protecting. In fact, across the board, it's very unfortunate that he's standing with the government unions on pretty much every issue rather than the taxpayers."

Brouillette points to both the unions being major beneficiaries of Wolf's proposed budget, "standing in lock in step with his single largest contributor to his campaign," and the face that much of Wolf's "own money" that he spent on his campaign was actually borrowed, as reasons why he is not surprised by Wolf's actions.

"It's not a surprise to us that watches this and understands that this is his natural constituency, and that's why you see these massive tax increases, big expansion of spending on government programs because, well, they all benefit from this. So, it's a pretty clear link and if anybody is protecting special interest it's certainly Tom Wolf and that's what we pointed out in our letter."

While the budget deadline is looming, he expects the governor to eventually cave in and realize that the negotiations will require compromise on liquor privatization and pension reform, but definitely not paycheck protection.

"Well, the governor certainly wouldn't be signing that, but I know that the House and Senate continue to push for these kinds of reforms that level the playing field for the taxpayers and stop giving financial and political benefits to selected few."