September 26, 2007
What do you think? Let me know now. Is it taxes, energy incentives, open records expansion, health insurance or some other hot-button item. Naturally, all of these issues are important but wouldn’t you agree that there needs to be some sense of priorities in Harrisburg? Knowing that it is impossible to somehow magically accomplish every objective all at one time, what are the top 2-3 priorities in your mind? Without some logical order of priorities, it is likely we can expect more of the same out of Harrisburg (NOT MUCH AT ALL). It is absolutely astounding that after all this time, effort and resources invested in property tax reform that we still having nothing. There have been numerous plans/ideas presented and acted upon but absolutely no results. What a waste! How disappointing! We’ve even had a special session that resulted in the failed Act 1 legislation. There was optimism about Act 72 with the gambling dollars involved, until it was resoundingly defeated. To add insult to injury, a home was found for gambling dollars (millions!!!!!!) to pay for a hockey arena, airport renovations and a convention center. Of course, these are addressing big city needs. Too bad we couldn’t find a home for homeowners!!!!
What are the benefits for rural Pennsylvania??? Yes, the heavy agenda also includes other priorities that are on the list. These include but are not limited to biomedical research, an indoor smoking ban, tolls on 80. etc.., etc.. Do you think that energy ranks high enough as a priority for the Governor to call for the special session to focus on it exclusively? Surely the conservation efforts suggested by the governor are intriguing but are they worthy of so much time and attention with so many other important considerations?
Hoping to hear from you……
Sincerely,
Dave Huffman
Editor, The Daily Grit
September 20, 2007
One of the big news items coming out of Harrisburg as the new legislative session started this week is a statewide school health plan.
Gov. Rendell is apparently pushing for this type of plan that would require school districts around the state to join. Surely, this could provide a cost savings based upon the enrollment of over 230,000 teachers that would forge one insurance plan for all districts rather than the current practice of separate policies. The first thought coming to my mind is that this could be a step in the right direction for more districts to consolidate with the potential to save huge amounts of money for the taxpayer. Naturally, there are the pros and cons to consider. If there was one plan for the entire state, local districts would lose their control to make decisions at the local level. If anything, we need to gain more control at the local level for our school boards across the state. Even if the plan was managed by regions, as suggested, it is difficult to gain consensus even regionally. If we can do it for school employees, shouldn’t we be able to do it for the general population who ultimately has to pay for any public plan (in addition to their own personal plan) with their tax dollars. I’m for free market conservative ideas and am not supporting any plan that is not in line with these common sense principles….
Now what do you think?
Thanks everyone for their response to the survey.
Sincerely,
Dave Huffman
Editor
The Daily Grit
September 11, 2007
Today marks the 6th anniversary. Let’s all give pause….and remember.
ALSO-
I wanted to briefly report on the Republican State Committee meeting that took place in Harrisburg this past weekend. Perhaps the best way to communicate is via bullet points:
*We are looking for 150,000 new registered Republican voters this next year. A point person will be managing this in each county.
*The new “Majority Council” is open for membership. Contact the
state committee office. Cost: $30/yr.
*State Attorney General Office reports:
-Sunset on consumer no-call list expiring so be sure and renew by
calling 1-888-777-3406 (M-F 8-8). Of course sign up if you haven’t..
-89 child predators have been arrested since the general took office which includes 15 this past summer.
-Continued success on the crack-down of drugs. A drug gang was just arrested this month from the Hazelton area.
*PA House of Representatives was happy to report that all of the Governor’s tax proposals (7) were defeated recently during budget deliberations. The proposed increases amounted to about $2.4 bil.
A Georgia law just passed requiring voter I.D. This is significant considering that the courts have been ruling against voter I.D.
(applause! applause!).
*The PA Senate is excited about the reforms that have been implemented this year with the Republicans in control. Bonuses are gone, all business is being conducted in the ‘light of day,’ and senators are now paying for a portion of their health care insurance.
A big GOP priority for the rest of this year is to pass Senate Bill 9, an immigration bill that would eliminate benefits for illegals (medicade, welfare, etc…..). This bill also requires ID to prove legal status and also requires law enfrocement to immediately contact immigration when there are violators of this law. It is estimated there are over 150,000 illegal immigrants in PA today that are costing the taxpayer millions of dollars.
*The most significant occurance at the meeting was the fact that rank and file members prevailed in the PA Superior Court nomination process nominating a conservative, pro-life candidate over a better known pro-choice state senator ( ‘02 GOP Lt. Gov. nominee). The state leadership supported the latter.
*As I conclude, you may be interested in knowing I did have a one-on-one with our U.S. Senator, Arlen Spector. Two important points Sen. Spector emphasized was our need to do something about the war and how something definitely must be done about the partisanship in Washington that continues to get very bad,especially over the past few years.
On that note, let’s also remember to emphasize the positive and realize that we live in the best country that has has ever existed on the planet.
Sincerely yours,
Dave Huffman
Editor, The Daily Grit
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