Day: July 29, 2014

By Lisa Esler

I would like to respond to Delaware County Republican Party Chairman Andy Reilly’s assessment of why pension reform has not been dealt with in Harrisburg.

While we would expect all legislators to use integrity and common sense when making legislative decisions, Pennsylvania residents did give the Republicans the opportunity to right many wrongs over the past three and a half years by giving them majorities in all three branches. Perhaps the problem is not a Democrat/Republican problem but a taxpayer/special interest problem.

Despite high hopes from constituents, it looks like they left behind a litany of unfinished business as they exited the state Capitol for their summer break, and a much-wished-for list from the voters who had faith in their representatives.

When former Gov. Ed Rendell was in office the excuse for not getting “real pension reform” done was that Republicans did not have a majority so that was all they could do, kicking the can down the road. Then the Republicans took the majority.

In the past three and a half years the pension crisis has gone from $28 billion to $48 billion. Hmm. Perhaps we should have tackled the issue three and a half years ago. It would have been a lot less painful – common sense.

Andy, unless I missed something in civics, the minority cannot block legislation.

A few no-action items include: Liquor privatization, furlough of teachers for economic reasons, paycheck protection, elimination of prevailing wage and of course, the biggest daddy in the room, pension reform just to name a few.

Unfortunately, Harrisburg legislators could not or would not prioritize and address these issues before they left the Capitol.

But then again, politicians are best known for doing little to benefit their constituents, snookering them into believing they have their best interest at heart and getting reelected long enough to collect a pension – integrity.

Until all voters start looking at their representatives’ voting records, their political contributors and stop saying “he’s a nice guy” when asked about their opinion about them, we will never change Harrisburg.

I am so sick of finger pointing. The House points at the Senate. The Senate points at the House. They both point at the governor. The governor points back. And now we point at the Democrats. There is plenty of blame to go around but what we really need in Harrisburg are grown-ups!

Is that what you meant to say?

Pension Reform Failure Belongs To GOP