Letter to the Editor, as it appeared in the Delaware County Times
November 24, 2008
To the Times,
State Representative Bryan Lentz is right to look to cutting the size of our State Legislature. Last year we as tax payers paid $308 million dollars to fund the Legislature. This provided no services to citizens, did nothing to provide health care for those who need it, did not buy a single textbook or computer for our schools and did not pave a single road. This staggering sum went to the operation of the House and Senate. This amounts to over 1 million dollars per legislator in Harrisburg.
Imagine what it would say to the voters to see government actually get smaller so that it could be more efficient and provide more services. The Governor is correct to push for an overhaul of our healthcare system and to direct more money to our schools and our aging infrastructure, but the tax-payer is left to worry about how to pay for all it. Representative Lentz is discussing a policy that would in fact endanger his own job, all in the name of making government work better and provide real savings to apply to the needed reforms of the Governor's agenda. Isn't this what we want and expect our representatives to do?
I commend Representative Lentz and all those pushing for meaningful reform in Harrisburg and look forward to joining them in my own race in the 165th next year. Strides have been made in the past year, but there is more to be done. The districts we live in are drawn in unnatural ways and real redistricting without regard to party registration numbers must be undertaken. Incumbency should not be viewed as a right. The way we select our judges also should come under the banner of reform as someone's political party or ability to raise money should not play a role in their qualifications for the bench. Finally in terms of campaign finance Pennsylvania is like the Wild West: anything goes! As a first time candidate I was amazed to discover this and we should create donation limits in line with federal standards.
The amount we spend on our Legislature is embarrassing to all of those who believe that tax-payer funds should go to meet the needs of tax-payers. People do not need their Legislature to be large and expensive, they need their Legislature to be responsive and efficient. Representative Lentz understands that and we need more people in Harrisburg to help him make the changes he seeks.
Tom Quinn
Candidate for State Representative D-165 Springfield