I Live in a Small Pennsylvania Town

I live in a small town in Pennsylvania. Maybe you live in a small township or city. I love Hellertown. My Special Sister calls it “Lady Jane’s Town.” One of my daily goals is reading my Bible. I think I am close to accomplishing that goal because my main Bible is falling apart. As a fisherman, I’m a cousin to gun owners and support our 2nd Amendment 100%. I’ve learned to hold my fishing rod tight while reeling in a flounder or blue. If you want a national perspective on your humble Candidate, I’m from a small town in Pennsylvania, and I cling to my Bible because I love God and neighbor and I cling to my fishing rod because I want my catch.

Eliminate School Property Taxes

First and foremost, my Voters want school property taxes eliminated. There is a good plan in the General Assembly for which I will vote: it substitutes an expanded sales tax base for your school property taxes. PA’s sales tax originally passed in 1954 to fund public education. Nationally you hear about a sales tax as either a “fair tax” or a “consumption tax.” If you’re a young family renting and trying to buy a home, or a senior on fixed income, if you become unemployed or do not have children attending public school, you have clearly asked: “Why should I pay a tax on my house for public education?” The purpose of a Representative in Harrisburg is to speak and act on behalf of the people in our Districts. People in the 136th have clearly said you want school property taxes eliminated. I will represent what you ask of me and report back regularly. Together we will be a voice of leadership for Pennsylvania.

School Taxes, The Environment & Jobs

School property tax elimination is a good “affordable housing issue.” Passage will especially help modest-income families, aspiring first-time homebuyers, and senior citizens. It’s also a good environmental policy: relieving a serious pressure for small family farms that otherwise fall prey to development, whether working farms or preserved for open space in respect of the family’s farming tradition. Elimination of school property taxes is better than any Elm Street law because it helps people who live on any street!!! Since many of you also speak about jobs, especially for younger people, school property tax elimination is a wise jobs’ policy as well. When modest income families can save $2-, 3- or 4,000/year in property taxes, for some, that’s money that can be invested in a small, part-time, or home-based business.

Energy: Gas & Oil Prices

Voters want relief from skyrocketing energy and gasoline prices. While Pennsylvania was birthplace to the modern worldwide oil industry in 1859, we no longer have such drilling options here. But we do have enormous coal resources and over 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas below our soil. We have the technology to burn coal cleanly—scrubbing away 90% of its sulfur content. We have seriously underutilized the natural gas present in what’s known as “the Marcellus play.” Dr. Percy Dougherty, Chairman of Lehigh County’s Board of Commissioners, alerts all of us that the Valley and Northern Bucks County is also home to Triassic Shale, another new energy resource. Chairman Dougherty holds two doctorates in geology. Shouldn’t we rely on his knowledge?

Health Care

Public officials should guide people in living healthy life-styles: eating right, exercising, and avoiding high blood pressure and pre-diabetes. Voters in turn want private market solutions for more affordable health insurance. No level of government has any special expertise in fostering a better relationship between you and your doctor. Instead, government should reduce the liability limits on malpractice lawsuits against doctors. We should allow workers a transfer right of their group health insurance when they separate from an employer. Pennsylvanians should have the right to buy more economical health insurance plans from other states. And we should get state government off our health insurance backs by eliminating requirements for higher cost riders that many people do not need. If we reduce PA’s high corporate tax rate, companies will better afford employee health insurance.

Economic Development & Jobs

I already drafted The Regenerative Economic Development Bill of 2009. Yes, on Day 1, January 6th, 2009, upon inauguration if you elect me, I’ll be ready, willing and able to help the 136th’s, the Lehigh Valley’s, and Pennsylvania’s economy with real change, and real hope—because I have real experience in micro and small business that has produced real specifics. This Bill will support our smallest new businesses—the “seedbed” function of our economy—by not taxing them in their earliest years against their losses. No state taxes for any new small business owner who employs one other person and operates at a loss for at least the first three years of that company. These are the businesses that will populate our Main Streets, inner cities, and eventually our industrial parks—as Mack Trucks did! We must also lower PA’s corporate tax rate of 9.99%: highest among all 50 States. Such an unfriendly business climate makes it easier for a mature Mack Trucks to move its corporate offices from Pennsylvania.

State Debt

State debt is now at $40 billion, having risen $10 billion since 2002. That’s along with a General Fund Budget up 40% in the same time period—150% the rate of inflation! Fellow Pennsylvanians: do not buy the line that our debt is well within Constitutional limits and we have a good bond rating. The reality is that we are over-maxed on our credit cards while too many cronies in Harrisburg have taken care of themselves and their pension retirements. Most states include county and school district debt in their total figures. If you add up Harrisburg’s $40 billion debt hole, along with 67 Counties and 501 School Districts, Pennsylvania is one of the highest debtor states in the nation. Since our Campaign’s Announcement, I have called for a year moratorium on any new debt by Harrisburg.

Corruption and Bonus-Gate

Bonus-gate broke on July 10th with 12 Democratic leaders and staffers in the PA House being arrested for illegally diverting some $3 million of your tax dollars toward campaign activities to elect or re-elect Democratic Party candidates. Former State Representative Mike Veon, an in-your-face pay raiser, was shamefully pictured in handcuffs for these indicted illegal actions. Current House Democratic Party Majority Leader, State Representative Bill DeWeese’s, chief of staff was similarly indicted. Mr. DeWeese signed a letter to all House Democratic Caucus staffers receiving these illegal bonuses that they “should not talk to others about their bonus checks.” Meanwhile in Easton, your current Representative, who has spent 26 years in Harrisburg, did not say a peep about this shameful activity until after we spoke all summer, especially at our Aug 28th media conference. Your current Representative has voted for the very leadership that steals from you. He has benefited from this leadership over the years and remained strangely quiet for 2 months—until he followed our lead!!! Do you want a leader or a follower in Harrisburg? You currently have no voice in Harrisburg when it comes to corruption. Your voice is silent or weak. I will not only give you a voice of honesty and integrity, but a voice of new ideas, coupled with actions that help those ideas put food on your tables or fuel in your furnace. Most importantly, I will see to it that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is a house in order. I will work with other colleagues to do this.