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Their "Positive Ideas" Just Unrealistic
Nonsense
Posted
10-31-2007
Typical of Republicans like Kim Ward and George
Dunbar, the campaign card they are passing under the banner of
"Positive Ideas" is nothing more than a continuation of their
negative, unrealistic, hypocritical nonsense. It is particularly
hypocritical because the proposals they claim to be reform ideas
are ones they have NEVER implemented at the municipal
governments where they serve as local elected officials.
Let's look at there some of their proposals.
First, they want to give preferential treatment to Westmoreland
county firms for professional service contracts. Does that mean
even if it costs taxpayers here more money? Our obligation is to
find the best deal for the taxpayers regardless of where the
business is located. If all things are equal, we would certainly
rather have businesses in our county get work, but we can't do
that at the expense of our bottom line. I'll chalk that idea up
to their lack of real management experience.
The municipal advisory committee idea is
puzzling because as I've stated before Kim Ward has never once
called me, but the Township's manager does whenever they have a
need. Whether it is the Commissioners directly or employees from
the many county departments that interact with municipalities on
a regular basis, we work closely with municipal governments.
Maybe if these two weren't part-time elected officials they
would know that.
Maximizing state and federal funding?????? We've
been doing that for years already. And if Dunbar could read a
budget, maybe he'd understand that is where the growth of our
expenses have occurred, and they have been matched by
corresponding revenues. Sometimes the state pushes unfunded, or
partially-funded mandates upon us, and we are forced to come up
with local dollars to keep a program alive. But I would have
welcomed debate on how these two would have dealt with the
fiscal challenges we've faced.
We follow the same "Code of Conduct" that they
follow as elected officials. The code of conduct is the laws of
the Commonwealth. If they aren't tough enough, their party ran
Harrisburg for many years, and I never saw them change anything.
But I wonder if that "code of conduct" includes $500 per person
fundraisers at the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh, hosted by
Republican operatives, none of whom were even from Westmoreland
County?
The awarding of "preferential contracts" to big
donors? I wonder if Ward has checked out her own campaign
finance reports from Hempfield Township? Vendors doing business
with her were routinely her biggest donors. I guess they are
suggesting the practice should only apply to county
commissioners but not townships supervisors.
Enacting a system of "Checks and Balances" by
increasing the Controller's authority???? The County Code
already defines the role of the Controller, and there are plenty
of checks and balances in place. This idea is simply another
example of their lack of understanding about county government.
Eliminating automatic renewal of contracts????
This proposal, while it is truly hypocritical because neither of
them does such a thing in their own townships, is so
ridiculously impractical that it demonstrates clearly how little
they know about the size of their county government and how it
operates. When departments recognize a need to not renew
contracts, we take action. Or if bidding is required, we bid
each time a contract is up. But to not renew the thousands of
contracts we have would force us to have many more people on the
payroll and likely cause a break in many of the services
provided. This isn't township government, but tell me Kim and
George, did you "re-bid" any of your professional services
lately? I don't think so.
Did "the Buck" stop with you Kim Ward when daddy
Regola got his first ethics violation for voting on contracts
and then subcontracting from the same company? She only
acknowledged that there was a problem with the Hempfield
Township Municipal Authority this year when she started running
for county commissioner. The ethics violation happened when Kim
seduced Bobby Regola to switch parties and to turn his back on
the people that first elected him.
So that is their platform of "positive ideas";
shots against us, unrealistic ideas, and, most hypocritically,
ideas they've never enacted themselves at the municipal level.
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