The Great Huskey Compromise of 2014

We've been pushing for property tax reform for two years, at least. Property tax reform has been an issue for more than two decades. The latest round of bills don't seem to have what it takes to get it done, so in my latest rant I've come up with a solution. It will take a couple of years to get it done, but in the end, it will be worth it. Let me know what you think.

Honesty, integrity and Voter ID

When you spend months ranting and raving about an injustice, shouldn't you make sure your own house is in order first? I was absolutely blown away when I saw a letter from the Montgomery County Democratic Committee inviting everyone to their nominating convention, because about two thirds of the way down the letter, it basically stated that members will be required to show ID if asked. Isn't this the same group that went ballistic when the Republican Party attempted to bring a little order to the voting process by asking for identification? Check out this week's rant for the rest of the story.

Putting a real face on property tax reform

I have been ranting about property tax reform for more than a year now. I would say now is the best time we've ever had to get it done, but I've been burned before. In my latest rant I try to put a real face on property taxes and what they're doing to our senior population.

I don't know which is more difficult, property tax reform or tiling your in-laws' house.

I've taken on a lot of big projects in my life, and in my latest rant I talk about the not-so-clear thinking I displayed in taking on the latest. But the real question here is whether it is a project worth taking on. You tell me.

Property tax reform from a different perspective

Since I've been beating the property tax drum for what seems like years now, I thought I would look at it from a different perspective...literally. I wrote this week's rant standing up!

Competition makes me want to push harder on property tax reform

Competition makes us better. No doubt about it. The hyper local news site, Patch, was sold last week. The sites are still up, but they're basically running canned copy through. I'm guessing they're holding them together for the new owner to decide what to do with them. Patch made us a little bit better because they beat us to the punch on more than one story. Nothing huge, just your run of the mill stories that most people don’t pay a whole lot of attention to, but as a former police reporter, I didn’t like getting beat on any story. Just for the record, I still don’t. When they first launched a few years ago they did their hiring right through our ranks. I believe every local Patch site was started with a journalist that was at the time working for our company, so it wasn’t your typical hyper local site started by someone who thought it would be cool to have their own news outlet. These were real, workaday journalists, some with more experience than others, but trained journalists nonetheless. And when I thought about that, the original “I’m glad they’re gone” feeling started fading away. Anytime colleagues, even former colleagues, are left without a beat to cover, it leaves a bit of an empty feeling. In this week's rant I talk a little bit about Patch, but the focus is on journalism. Hopefully, people will realize, someday soon, that local journalism is their voice, their eyes and ears on government.

Another 'Breakfastgate' brewing in Montco?

Who knew what when is always a pertinent question to ask, especially when a subpoena is involved. In this week's rant I look at the sale of Parkhouse, the Montgomery County geriatric center, and why a subpoena has been issued in connection with the agreement of sale. The whole mess, thus far, reeks of some kind of back door dealings, but we're not quite sure if it will rise to Breakfastgate status. We do know we'll keep digging until we find out exactly what is going on with the sale of the building, and perhaps just as important, the sale of the adjacent land.

What will your legacy be?

We have all have dreams of leaving behind a legacy that will carry on for years to come. In this week's rant I pose the question of whether what we believe we're leaving behind is actually what people will remember us for.

Change is good...when it comes to property tax reform

While we've been changing a few things in the print edition of The Times Herald, they haven't been as well received as, say, asking for change in the way we fund public education. In my latest rant I try to smooth things over with a fix for the puzzle players by making them a little bit larger, while using the opportunity to push for property tax reform yet again.

Caught between a rock and property tax reform

On many occasions I’ve found myself between a rock and a hard place. Nine times out of 10, I usually choose the hard place, since, well, what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger. On a few occasions I’ve found myself between a rock and a crazy place, and that’s when I usually choose the rock because, well, you know, crazy is as crazy does. Property tax reform will be one of the key issues facing our state legislators this year. Here's to hoping they're prepared to act, or prepared to not be re-elected this year. This week's rant takes a look at the rock, which is the state legislature, and the hard place, which is being populated by those we’ve elected to office but have somehow forgotten the reason they’re in Harrisburg in the first place. And of course, what’s stuck in the middle is property tax reform.

A collective resolution for all: hold our elected officials accountable

This week's rant takes us back a couple of years to a time when Montgomery County was in turmoil... and nothing has changed. We had elected officials meeting in private to discuss public business, and nothing was done about it. Now we're attempting to get our state legislators to pass property tax reform, and I certainly don't want to be sitting here in two years writing about how nothing was done about it. So let's all make one collective resolution to hold our elected officials accountable for doing the people's business.

Property tax reform near the top of my Christmas wish list

I know it's wishful thinking, but property tax reform can become a reality of the Pennsylvania state Senate would simply listen to the people who elected them and bring House Bill 76 to the floor for a vote. I've been ranting about it for months now, and I'm calling on Montgomery County's state senators to do the right thing, considering that more than half have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.

Not so thankful for an unresponsive state legislature

I have a lot to be thankful for. I can name a dozen or so right off the top of my head, but an unresponsive state legislature when it comes to property tax reform, ain't one of 'em. For anyone new to the blog, you may not be aware of my ongoing crusade to have the antiquated way we fund public education in Pennsylvania addressed, but for the rest of you, here is my latest rant, with an homage to Thanksgiving thrown in.

Politically Correct should be considered a crime

Every year when the holidays start to roll around I think about the way people tense up. When did this start? I can't put my finger on it, but I know it wasn't an issue when I was growing up. Now people are afraid to say or do anything that might for a moment, possibly, maybe offend someone else. Now I don't want to offend anyone, but at some point don't we have to take a hard look at the people claiming to be offended? I trace the origins in my latest column. Political correctness actually started in a comic strip, according to the Accuracy in Academia website. How appropriate is that? Or should I say ironic? Because it’s really not a joke. Political correctness has nearly eliminated free speech, or at least it has the potential.

Will more turnout when property tax reform is on the line?

The 24 percent turnout across Montgomery County on Election Day last week was abysmal at best. Several people asked me before last week’s election who they should vote for to make sure our property taxes don’t continue their ascent through our technically rented roofs. The short answer was; school board members. But I don’t really blame our school boards for the fact that our local districts own our homes and not us. Sure, they could do a better job of holding the line on expenses, but who couldn’t? When you’re given mandates and not the funds to carry them out, you’re not left with much of a choice. When you have a district full of special needs students, or you have to hire more English as Second Language teachers than other districts, you are given little choice other than to increase your spending, which, as we’re all well aware of by now, is subsidized by our tax dollars. So the answer for whom to vote in order to make sure our property taxes don’t continue their ascent through our technically rented roofs is a little easier, and they weren’t running in last week’s election. We’ll have our chance next year. For the rest of the story, click here

What day is it? Election Day

OK, so technically it's the day before, but I'm talking about Election Day in my latest rant, so I'm asking for a little poetic license here. How many of you will actually go to the polls on Election Day? How many of you will not complain about the way things are in this world if you don't go to the polls? It's really not that hard, folks. I do it twice a year. It's actually good for your psyche, so get up, get out, and...VOTE!

Where do you draw the line?

I've been railing against our state legislators for their inability to bring any real property tax reform to Pennsylvania, but I would never even think about threatening any of them, or anyone else for that matter, with physical violence because they don't agree with my opinion. When someone sits on the other side of the fence from you, you don't threatened them just because that's where they happen to like to sit. Where do you draw the line?

Time for state Senate to step up for property tax reform

Now that the state House has made it abundantly clear they do care anything about giving us property tax reform, especially in the form of House Bill 76, we need to turn our attention to the Senate, where a companion bill, SB 76, is being debated.

PA. Senate doing a similar property tax dance

My latest column looks at the Senate taking up SB 76, which is the mirror image of HB 76, also known as the Property Tax Independence Act. Unfortunately, it appears as if the Senate may be playing some of the same games as the House. Sen. Dominic Pileggi just introduced a bill that would provide relief for seniors. I'm not sure why our elected state legislators don't understand we want property tax elimination, not just 'relief' for some.

Property tax reform takes a shot to the gut

If you live in Pennsylvania, and you own a home, you need to read this column. It is absolutely astounding that we have state legislators who think they're in Harrisburg to please special interest groups and their party's leadership. We're going to make it very clear to all of them that we actually call the shots and that they're just there to run the plays. For Montgomery County residents, you can look to representatives Mike Vereb, Marcy Toepel and Mark Painter as three elected officials who get it. They voted in favor of the amendment that would have given us true property tax reform. All the others, especially those who signed on as co-signers of House Bill 76, made it very clear they're really no interested in doing what they were sent to Harrisburg to do.