Day: January 1, 2016

Bill Adolph Tribute –Bill Adolph has announced that he will not seek re-election which will mean that come 2017 the 165th District in the Pennsylvania State House will have a new face for the first time since 1989.

The 165 District consists of all of Morton Borough, most of Springfield and Marple Townships and a large part of Radnor. Specifics can be found here.

Since this blog came into existence, we’ve probably been harder on Bill more often than not — actually we have been seriously hard on him at times — but we will never deny he cares deeply about his community. A Springfield resident, he has lived in the same house off Springfield Road for as long as we can remember, and the same can be said about his accountant’s office on Saxer Avenue. He was easy to find and easy to approach and if he wanted to hold the seat for another 28 years we  suspect he’d have no problem doing so.

And he’s done a lot of good things too, most recently doing yeoman’s work in keeping Gov. Wolf from dumping a brutally crushing new tax burden on his constituents.

So Godspeed Bill. Hopefully you stay in Springfield and stay active on the political scene.

Now, regarding those who seek to replace him regardless of party registration, we have your issue.

The (non-partisan) Springfield School Board has approved a new high school with an estimated cost of between $118 million and $140 million. The Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act of 1961 requires wages to be paid at an amount set by the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance. This law inflates the cost by perhaps up to 40 percent albeit 20 percent seems to be the consensus. Using the lowball estimates, simply repealing the law — and it doesn’t have to be replaced with anything — would save the Springfield taxpayers $23.6 million on this project alone.

And of course, other communities would save in the same proportions for all county, school and municipal projects.

Repeal should really be a no-brainer.

And so there you have a winning issue, candidates for the 165th District.

Bill Adolph Tribute