HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has approved more than $48 million in pet-project grant money requested by state legislators before he took office, even though Corbett had vowed during his campaign to end such grants dubbed WAMs for "walking-around money."
A spokesman for Corbett's Department of Community and Economic Development said Thursday that the requests were originally submitted under Democratic former Gov. Ed Rendell.
The spokesman, Steve Kratz, told The Associated Press the new Republican administration felt an obligation to honor commitments made by Rendell to approve the grants, even if the applications were not sealed with a contract. The administration had an obligation to approve others that had signed contracts, Kratz said.
No applications submitted after Corbett was sworn in Jan. 18 are being processed, he said.
The grants are typically open to applications from local government agencies and nonprofit groups, and applications must meet certain guidelines. However, approval of an application under Rendell also tended to be contingent on whether a top legislator recommended it to the governor's office - a practice that some critics of WAMs, including Tim Potts of Democracy Rising Pa., say violates the constitutional separation of powers.
All told, the Corbett administration provided a list of more than 1,200 grant applications it was approving from programs housed in the department. The biggest grant was for $5 million for a nonprofit-run statewide program called the Fresh Food Financing Initiative that helps finance supermarkets, grocery stores, farmers markets and other food outlets where communities are underserved, according to project details provided by the department. The grant was originally requested by House Democrats.
Three projects are supposed to get $1 million, including the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit group in the Philadelphia district of Rep. Dwight Evans. Evans was the House Appropriations Committee chairman until November, when his fellow House Democrats elected challenger Joe Markosek of Allegheny County to take over the powerful post.
The money is spent on everything from ball fields and festivals to police cruisers and youth sports equipment. The minimum grant amount is $5,000.
Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/03/11/2576234/apnewsbreak-corbett-oks-grants.html#ixzz1Gd2dPfx4
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