The tax dollars of Pennsylvania citizens are being used for state senators who want to listen to books on tape like Fifty Shades of Grey. "The best word that I could use would be totally ridiculous that we have spent state funds on those type of publications," said state Sen. Scott Wagner (R-28th).
Other titles that the Senate Library currently has include The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Schmucks: Our Favorite Fakes, Frauds, Lowlifes and Liars. "We would be better off to subscribe to two or three editions of the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune so we understand what's going on on a national basis," said Wagner.
The Senate Library gets $3,000 a year to buy new books. "We don't spend three thousand dollars a year, it's always less then that. Choices are made to acquire books for the collection by recommendations from senators and staff, but also what is on best seller lists at the time," said Senate spokesman Erik Arneson. Wagner doesn't care about the best sellers, he wants to see a stop to the spending. He said, "This will be another one of my items on the 'we have to do away with' list and refocus on things that add value to Pennsylvania's economy. Fifty Shades of Grey really is not helping us solve our problems."