PA lawmakers 'out of touch with reality'

A terrific Letter to the Editor in The Pottstown Mercury written by a Montgomery County resident in response to an op-ed by a Democratic state Senator excusing Gov. Ed Rendell's annual budget shenanigans.

State lawmakers out of touch with reality

Well, I for one will sleep better tonight after reading the wonderfully reassuring words from Democratic state Sen. John Wozniak that the current Pennsylvania "Budget Follies" are not the slow-motion train wreck that so many (including myself) have mistaken them to be, but are rather a gleaming demonstration of democracy in action. Boy is my face red!

And how witty of Mr. Wozniak to interject a bit of levity with his line about "blowing a deadline" over creating the Bill of Rights (not really about representative government at all, but I guess that's okay).

Unfortunately, Mr. Wozniak dishes up a few points that I just can't manage to swallow, no matter how hard I try.

Mr. Wozniak assures us that "Legislators are elected to serve constituents." Perhaps he can explain to me how saddling citizens with increasing debt is serving them? Do the "priorities of the people" that he trumpets not include living within our means?

Mr. Wozniak poses the rhetorical question whether a newspaper's management should go unpaid until a union contract is ratified. Boy, that's a tough one! Then again, if they are required by law to complete the contract by a certain date, then yes, I would consider docking their pay to be entirely appropriate.

At the same time, Mr. Wozniak, isn't characterizing yourself and your chums as "regular folks" just a little too much of a stretch? If all the "regular folks" in Pennsylvania got the same pay and perks that you get, I don't think we'd be in as much of a financial mess as we're currently in, since more tax money would be flowing into the state coffers.

Proudly proclaiming that the Legislature has not passed a single budget on time since Gov. Ed Rendell took office is nothing to be proud of, so far as I'm concerned, but it does effectively make a mockery of that law.

Mr. Wozniak asserts that "Lawmakers must fight for the priorities of the people in their districts, and that usually means fighting a lawmaker from another district."

This strongly suggests that there is no common ground among the various politicians. Now that is very odd, indeed. See, all along, I was operating under the illusion that at the core of politics was the belief that both Republican and Democratic legislators tend to broadly agree on what should be done for their constituents in general (i.e. "…establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare …" — that kind of stuff), but tend to strongly disagree on how it should be done. I am so grateful to Mr. Wozniak for setting me straight on the situation.

As for his last pearl of wisdom, saying that we are choosing "the difficulties and frustrations of balanced power over the efficiency of one-party rule" I have to wonder in what dimension Mr. Wozniak lives! I have never, ever, heard anyone I know remark that they voted for someone for the sole purpose of obstructing the governmental process. I even went back and checked with some of them before writing this, just to make sure I hadn't missed something.

Mr. Wozniak, may I humbly suggest you get your head out of the place where it appears to be lodged (which cannot be at all healthy) and get about the business of doing your job — on time?

DAVE RYAN
Sanatoga

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS