News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a public hearing 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 30, in Hearing Room 1 of the North Office Building in the state Capitol to consider the Property Tax Independence Act (Senate Bill 76), reports state Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
A rally is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on the front steps of the Capitol to show support for the bill.
With Matt Brouillette of Commonwealth Foundation (center) are Whitey Coyne, Lisa Esler, Charles Martini and William Lawrence Sr.
Matt Brouillette, president and CEO of the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation, one of the nation’s top think tanks, gave a sobering talk this evening, April 28, about what taxpayer activists and fighters of corruption face in Pennsylvania.
He said the reform Gov. Tom Corbett is pushing regarding the state-controlled distribution of liquor is “not about getting the government out of the booze business but giving the appearance of convenience.”
The privatization of the state owned “Wine & Spirits Shoppes” is popular with the populace across partisan lines. It’s not going to happen because it is not popular with special interests who send the bucks to legislators.
On a much more frightening note, Brouillette also said critically needed pension reform is not going to happen either. He said state workers were “circling the wagons” to stop legislation to change their pension from a defined benefit one to the defined contribution one now the norm in the private sector.
He said the largest state-backed pension funds SERS and PSERS, that handle the retirement money for state workers and school teachers respectively, have unfunded liability of $57 billion and it’s “going up”. He noted that local school districts are on the hook for half of PSERS money so expect massive property tax hikes.
“There is a general lack of will to tackle the pension crisis,” he said. He said the solutions being proposed involve the state cutting its regular contributions and will only make things worse.
“If Republicans controlled the governor, house and senate, we might get some resolutions,” he said. After a pause, he said “You are supposed to laugh at that” the punchline being that the Republicans do have complete control in Pennsylvania.
“It’s not funny,” said a woman in the audience.
Brouillette agreed.
“The Big Government Party is the majority party in Pennsylvania,” he said. “And it has both Republicans and Democrats.”
Brouillette said that is the reason why his group is pushing paycheck protection as the priority.
Paycheck protection is found pending legislation HB 1507 and SB 1034 that ban the use of public resources to collect, bundle and transmit public sector union dues and PAC contributions.
“If an elected official tried to have money automatically deducted from an employees paycheck (to use for a campaign) they would go to jail.”
The PSEA and other government unions can do just that legally and without the employees permission as how to use it.
He said this is the main reason why the Big Government Party is in the majority in the state.
Brouillette says the Republicans are two votes shy in the senate of getting the reforms passed.
Brouillette also said that HB 1154, the bill that would end the allowance for union members to stalk, harass and threaten the use of weapons of mass destruction during labor disputes, was amended in the Senate in a way that supporters in the House fear that it was neutered.
In other matters, support was requested for Megan Rath who is taking on Democrat Congressman Bob Brady in Pennsylvania’s 1st District and for Bob Guzzardi who is running against incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett in the May 20 Republican Primary. Guzzardi, who is also a vocal opponent of Common Core, has made fighting for pension reform a linchpin of his campaign.
Lisa Esler noted that the group will be participating in an NRA Women on Target Instructional Shooting Clinic, June 28, at the Northern Chester County Sportsmen’s Club. The cost is $35 and covers the use of firearms, ammunition, shoot supplies, a t-shirt and goodied bag along with snacks. Call Theresa Reynolds at 610-304-5873 for information or email her at theresa6733@gmail.com
Maria Heider announced that there will a Twitter clinic co-hosted by Americans for Prosperity, 6:30 p.m., June 19, at the Marple Public Library. Call 610-572-3442 for information or to register.
Since Gov. Corbett has for some strange reason been flooding the airwaves with advertising this primary season, we figured we bring you this statement by his opponent.
By Bob Guzzardi
The Republican establishment during the three years that it has controlled Harrisburg has pursued polices that will raise the annual tax burden by close to $1,000 for many Pennsylvanians by 2018— at least those who own homes and have jobs.
If this angers you, if this sickens you, if this makes you feel betrayed vote for me on May 20.
I am running to be the Republican nominee for governor against incumbent Tom Corbett.
I will not implement the Corbett gas tax
I will move to sell the liquor stores.
I will fight to ban school strikes and other things that cause unnecessary increases to your property tax.
I will stop Common Core.
I will not sign any union contract that contains automatic forced union dues deductions.
I will not sign any budget that spends more this year than last and I will gore the special interest spending oxen to protect The Forgotten Taxpayer.
Tom Corbett cannot win in November. I can.
The Delaware County Patriots on this fine April Sunday drew heavy traffic to their booth at the Newtown Square Fire Co. Auxiliary Flea Market in the Newtown Square Shopping Center. What drew the crowds was their explanation as to the pain being inflicted on Pennsylvania’s children by the Bill Gates-sponsored, neo-feudalistic Common Core educational standards now being imposed by Gov. Tom Corbett. The standards would be laughable if the damage was not real.
The Patriots will be sponsoring an evening with Commonwealth Foundation CEO Matt Brouillette, tomorrow, April 28 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 327 N. Newtown Street Road (Route 252), Newtown Square, Pa. 19073. Commonwealth Foundation is one of the premier think tanks in the state. The event is free. Light refreshments will be served including Mrs. Chef Bill’s Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies. Doors open at 6:30. Meeting starts promptly at 7.
Call 610-572-3442 for information.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Guzzardi has released the following statement about pending legislation that would severely harm charter schools in Pennsylvania.
Bills are pending before the Pennsylvania legislature that will halve funding for special education students in charter schools.
Dr. James Hanak of PA Leadership Charter School says many of the schools that serve the neediest children in the worst neighborhoods will close if they should pass.
This means those children will be forced to return to the dangerous snake pits from which they had escaped.
The bills are HB 2138 introduced by Rep. Bernie O’Neill of Bucks County and SB 1316 introduced by Sen. Pat Browne of Allentown.
Both men are Republicans.
Charter schools cost 20 percent that of public ones and in most cases do a better job.
I ask that these bills be tabled permanently.
If I were governor I would not sign them.
Children must always come before public employees. Always.
It is a lurid tale.
A prestigious university, and its incredibly storied football program, is caught up in a sexual-abuse scandal. Even worse, an iconic football figure might have been unduly protected to the detriment of the victims.
Despite initial hopes that the situation would resolve itself quickly and quietly — sparing the university from excoriating criticism — the opposite occurred. What began as a trickle of articles snowballed into hard-hitting exposes published by world-renowned media outlets. The floodgates, flung wide open, unleashed a torrent of new stories as previously undisclosed information continued to surface.
Presiding during such a scandal, regardless of culpability, would surely make any university president beleaguered, tarnishing his reputation. So the last place on Earth to expect that president to show up would be the only other university with a bigger sex scandal on its hands, right?
Wrong. Welcome to Penn State.
In competing for the Most Moronic Move Of The Decade award, that’s exactly what Penn State’s Board of Trustees did by hiring Florida State’s Eric Barron as its new president.
It was on Barron’s watch that the controversy currently engulfing Florida State began. In December 2012, an FSU student claimed that she was raped, identifying freshman quarterback sensation Jameis Winston as the perpetrator.
In what had to be one of the worst investigations in history, the Tallahassee police dropped the ball in every way. The lead detective, Scott Angulo, had previously worked for the Seminole Boosters — a nonprofit organization with $150 million in assets that not only helps fund FSU athletics but partially pays the salaries of the football coaching staff and, incredibly, roughly a quarter of Barron’s $602,000 salary. Disturbingly, Angulo waited weeks before interviewing Winston, and it took him two months to file his initial report. Evidence was lost, DNA was never obtained, security video from a bar was never reviewed, witnesses were not aggressively tracked down, and the case was closed without the victim even being notified.
How bad were the police? Prosecutor William Meggs said it best: “They just missed all the basic fundamental stuff that you are supposed to do.”
The bumbling police investigation forced Meggs to close the case for lack of evidence. No charges were filed.
But just as bad was Florida State’s actions, or, more appropriately, lack of action.
According to an investigative report in the New York Times:
“University administrators, in apparent violation of federal law, did not promptly investigate either the rape accusation or (a) witness’s admission that he had videotaped part of the encounter … records show that Florida State’s athletic department knew about the rape accusation early on, in January 2013, when the assistant athletic director called the police to inquire about the case. Even so, the university did nothing about it, allowing Mr. Winston to play the full season without having to answer any questions. After the championship game, in January 2014, university officials asked Mr. Winston to discuss the case, but he declined on advice of his lawyer.”
And now, Florida State is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for possible violations in how it handled the situation.
Does any of this stuff sound vaguely familiar?
Let’s review. It took over a year for Florida State to investigate a serious accusation against a star athlete — conveniently after winning the lucrative national championship — and, in doing so, potentially valuable video evidence was lost. Now, the university is under federal investigation. And all of this occurred during the presidency of Eric Barron.
And yet Penn State hired him? Are we missing something here?
Whether Winston committed a crime, or the sex was consensual, as he claims, now can never be proven. Above all, what should have mattered most to the Penn State trustees — acting in the best interests of students, alumni, professors, fans, and, most important, the victims of Jerry Sandusky — was that Eric Barron was the worst choice to lead Penn State, and should never have been in contention for the presidency.
Even assuming that Barron had no knowledge of Florida State’s mistakes, still not in a million years should he have been considered a candidate. To make him one, and hire him after an “exhaustive” search and vetting process, truly ranks as one of the all-time “what were they thinking?” moments.
And by the way, if the New York Times could discover so much information about the university’s handling of the situation, why couldn’t Penn State’s search team do the same? How exhaustive could the vetting have been? Choosing Barron is like nominating Chris Christie to head up a National Bridge Commission. Hello!
But don’t forget how out-of-touch the Penn State Board of Trustees has been, firing Joe Paterno over the phone (no matter how one feels about Paterno, that is not how you treat someone who gave so much over so many decades), and willingly accepting the egregiously unfair NCAA sanctions without even a whimper of protest.
With all of the other college presidents, chief executives, and otherwise baggage-free candidates throughout the country, the only person the trustees could find to lead Penn State out of its horrendous scandal was someone who was in command during a high-profile sex scandal?
Generals, presidents and CEOs are clearly responsible when things go wrong, regardless of their involvement. The buck stops with them. Period. That’s the price of leadership, and all leaders know that when they reach that level.
In hiring Barron, Penn State is risking a monumental backlash should a high-profile sexual abuse scandal occur within the PSU community. What’s fair and accurate is irrelevant; perception is reality, and the perception among many would be that Penn State didn’t do enough to foster an abuse-free environment. And many would blame Barron based on how the events at Florida State were handled.
And God forbid, what happens if federal investigators determine that President Barron or his top executives had knowledge of the Winston affair but buried it? The embarrassment for the Penn State community would be astronomical.
So here’s what Penn State should do: Dump Barron. Immediately. Given that he doesn’t take the reins until May, it wouldn’t be a huge deal. By coming clean that they made a mistake, the trustees would actually earn the admiration and support of millions for their transparency and honesty. And Penn State could finally find the right leader to guide it out of its minefield.
It is imperative that Penn State trustees realize one inarguable principle: the university is now, and will forever be, different. It will always be under the spotlight, scrutinized — sometimes unfairly — more than any other university on the planet. That is not opinion, but a cold, hard fact.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Guzzardi had his first TV interview this afternoon with KDKA political editor Jon Delano.
The topic concerned the claim that Corbett broke the promise he made in 2010 not to raise taxes.
Delano rather brutally illustrated Guzzardi’s claim that he did.
The interview can be seen here with a transcript.
This Off the Internet is courtesy of Patricia Keevill.
It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
He did this because he said in words to this effect:
‘Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened’
Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it ‘offends’ the Muslim population which claims it never occurred It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were ‘murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated’ while many in the world looked the other way!
Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.
2:59 p.m., April 24, 2014
Today’s link concerns yesterday’s The Daily Salvo report about GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Guzzardi’s court victory allowing him to stay on the May 20 ballot despite the intense efforts of unpopular incumbent Tom Corbett and Pennsylvania GOP boss Rob Gleason.