Altieri: Privatization of State Stores is "Crony Capitalism"

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Leslie Altieri, who is Marcia Hahn's Democratic opponent for the state house, has blasted a bill to privatize Pennsylvania's state stores as "crony capitalism.” This will be debated on the House floor today.

Noting that state stores provide a steady revenue stream of $500 million per year, Altieri questions what will happen if they are privatized. "What will we do then? How will Corbett and his cronies make up for the revenue shortfall that we’ll be left with?”

According to Majority Leader Mike Turzai, who is spearheading the privatization drive, the state would realize a $1 billion windfall.

In addition to complaining that big box retailers like Wal-Mart will buy all the licenses, Altieri notes that 5,000 state store workers will lose their jobs, too.

Those are union jobs.

I have contacted State Rep. Marcia Hahn for her position on this issue.

Numerous factions are involved in this debate, from unions to beer distributors to bars to grocery stores. So even if this passes the state house, I think it is highly unlikely it will make it through the state senate.