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POSTING OCTOBER 21, 2007
Not All Ideas Are Good Ideas
Recently, at the
urging of the Tribune-Review, our opponents felt
compelled to present a "new" idea. Yes, after an editorial in
the Tribune Review early last week criticizing the lack
of dialogue in the County Commissioners' race, our Republican
opponents put forth their "new" idea. The idea is a non-binding
referendum before any future tax increases in county government.
Their problem: they
don't know if it is legal in Pennsylvania or what such an effort
would cost to conduct. Their idea is nothing but fluff by a
couple of candidates who continue to demonstrate no real grasp
of how county government operates. And their timing for this
"new" idea -- a few days after the Trib's editorial and a few
weeks before the election -- reeks of nothing more than
pre-election pandering.
These two candidates
have been running for this office for quite a while, and they
now propose something that would be a taxpayer-financed opinion
poll. If they believed in this idea, why wait until now to
propose it, and why didn't they do their homework on the issue?
What it really shows
is unwillingness to lead and a desire to tell voters what they
think they want to hear. The desire is so strong that they
propose an idea that isn't even legal in Pennsylvania.
I wonder if George
Dunbar conducted a referendum of Wright Industries' employees
before he withheld the company's contributions toward the
workers' pensions and healthcare in the run-up to his company's
bankruptcy? And did Kim Ward conduct a referendum in Hempfield
Township before she raised a plethora of fees that the township
imposes on its residents and businesses?
Leading county government is for people willing
to learn how it operates before they spout off ideas that aren't
even legal. It isn't for people who make election time proposals
that are nothing more than a pathetic effort to tell voters what
they think they want to hear.
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