Does the road toll for thee?

Here is the beginning of this week's column in The Times Herald. I've put a link to the rest of it at the bottom so you can read it all if you'd like. I guess the question to ask is, shouldn't we the people decide if Route 422 should be tolled?


“…Because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

John Donne, the English poet, may not appreciate me using the above quote to go off on a rant about the tolling of Route 422 in Montgomery County, but I found it oddly appropriate.

What has been translated into a poem was originally written by him as an essay in “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, No. 17”

When I started researching the quote for this column I had no idea the entire essay is appropriate for an analogy to what appears to be happening with the possibility of tolling the state road.

The essay begins, “No man is an island…” and continues to convince us that we’re all somehow connected; that whatever affects one, affects us all.

Yet it appears as if the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission thinks itself an island.

Why else would the authority approach the governor’s advisory committee on transportation funding, and our own county commissioners two days later, without putting the plan before the public?

We are the pocketbook from which the commission wants to filch, so why not come to the public first?

Perhaps it is because the public is becoming too savvy for such antics.
The rest of the story.

Are you engaged?

Here are our top stories for tomorrow's print edition. Which four should go out front...and in what order?

UMASD slated to raise taxes: The Upper Merion Area School District has been hammered as a result of funding lost to property reassessments, and the district is going to have to raise local real estate taxes by 8%. Meanwhile, the district has to cut a check to GlaxoSmithKline for upwards of $2.5 million, because of a property reassessment settlement. The school board votes Monday on the property tax increase.

UhOh: Less than a day after putting one its two nuclear reactors

back on line following two unplanned shutdowns, the other nuclear

reactor at Exelon’s Limerick Generation station shut down unexpectedly

Friday morning, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

1stGrads: PJP II graduates its first class

Come on in, the water’s fine: UM supervisors approve lease agreement with Upper Merion Swim & Tennis Club – slated to open Saturday.

Politically Direct with Moon Ahn

Brochure use of logo OK: West Norriton solicitor says its ‘legal’

Held from Thursday: Lower Providence supervisors authorize grant application for streetscape study of Ridge Pike.

Primarily Speaking

Today's when we separate the wheat from the chaff. I'll vote this afternoon, but to me, the primary is just a warm up. It's batting practice. There are some contested races out there, but not many. I'll get fired up about politics sometime around August. That's when I'll start interviewing candidates on Politically Direct. But that's still several months away. What will bring you out to the polls today? Civic duty? Habit?

How did you spread the news of bin Laden's demise?

This is one of those moments in history when people will remember where they were when they first heard Osama bin Laden was killed. As the story began to unfold late Sunday night, our online editor, John Berry, was working feverishly to tell our readers what had just taken place.
A quick SMS text to our subscribers was followed with a story on the website and then a post to Twitter and Facebook. By the way, text NorNews to 22700 to receive our breaking news headlines as they happen. There were an awful lot of people at the Phillies game last night when the news broke. Some of them may have gotten an SMS alert from us.
In the best interest of good journalism I'd like to ask you, not just where you were when bin Laden's lights went out, but who you told and how.
Did you text someone?
Did you post to Facebook it?
Did you tweet it?

Accounting for Corbett

I was thrilled when we elected a Republican governor, but a few of Gov. Tom Corbett's early moves have me a little puzzled.
I understand the conservative mantra against taxes, but why he is taking such a hard stance against taxing the extraction of natural gas is beyond me. Call it something else if you have to, but if we're going to allow companies to drill, they should be required to put money aside for remediation and accidents that will happen and need to be taken care of, and not at the taxpayers expense.
The other thing that has me confused is the nomination of Eileen Behr for Montgomery County sheriff with just a month to go before the primary. It just doesn't pass the smell test.
What's your assessment of our new governor so far.

A taxing solution

The comments have been flying fast and furious on a letter to the editor we published last week about teachers. I've caught grief about a couple of columns I've written about teacher pensions. On more than one occasion I have made it, or at least I've tried to make it, perfectly clear that this isn't about the teachers. It's about the never ending increases in property taxes to fund our public schools.
In the middle of it all, one thing is certain, the current system we have is simply not working for all concerned.
I threw out in today's column that we should go to a sales tax base for funding public education. I received the expected 'regressive tax' response from at least one reader. Of course, said reader didn't come back with an answer to the problem, just the complaint.
One reader, Frank Toner, did. I wish I had remembered it for my column, but since I didn't let's bring it up here and keep the conversation going. Frank reminded me that a few years back presidential hopeful Steve Forbes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Forbes, floated the idea of a flat tax. I haven't spent hours researching this to find out if it will work, as some of my readers think I should with every topic, so I'll ask you, will a flat tax work?
Is this a taxing solution?

Excerpt from my column: Unions must face pension crisis

It’s going to take a monumental effort for Pennsylvania to weather the storm that is brewing in the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS).

I don’t think unions have to be busted to get it done, but union members do have to start paying more attention in class. And I would also appreciate it if every time some one brings up an idea that concerns unions that we don’t have to hear the Norma Rae, sweatshop, 20-hour workday song. We know the verses, and I don’t think any rational-thinking person would disagree with the lyrics. Unions were critical in the development of the industrialization of America. There were plenty of sweatshops in existence in this country, and there probably still are some, and reform was sorely needed.
 
Union workers make up less than 12 percent of all workers in this country, down from a high of about 36 percent. And out of that 12 percent, more than 35 percent are public employees.

There-in lies the rub.

My best guess is union bosses saw the writing on the chalkboard and decided their best chance for survival would be to go after public sector jobs like a fourth grader going after the last peanut butter cookie in the cafeteria at lunch time. They did, and we’re all being put into financial detention because of it; not because of the unions themselves, but because of their ability to hold hostage school boards across the state, and their ability to buy politicians like so many extra cups of ice cream.

I don’t blame the teachers. Who wouldn’t want a four, five or six percent raise every year, and after 25 years retire with at least 80 percent of your salary being paid to you for the rest of your life?

In the public sector it works a little differently, especially when it comes to school districts here in Pennsylvania. Teachers’ unions apparently have the ability to hypnotize school board members into giving them raises every year, convincing them that they should only have to pay a small portion of their health care with some magical swinging watch that tells them all they have to do is go to the taxpayers for the money to fund all of the above, including a plump pension that will more than take care of them for the rest of their lives.

In most private sector industries, pensions, as a way of providing retirement benefits for employees, have all but gone the way of the tetherball pole on the playground.

The math — and trust me when I tell you English was by far my favorite subject — even for me, it just doesn’t add up.

A report by the Manhattan Institute for Policy and Research issued last year projected the Pennsylvania pension fund to have a gaping $43.2 million hole. PSERS stated at the time that the hole was closer to $9 million. Either way, it’s a mighty big hole.

“The employer (school district’s) contribution rate (to the teacher pension fund) has been set at 8.22 percent for the 2010-2011 school year. This represents a 72 percent increase over the 2009-10 rate of 4.78 percent. The latest projections from PSERS forecast the employer rate to exceed 20 percent in 2013 and spike to almost 34 percent by the year 2015. Although the rate will begin to decrease in 2016, it will continue to exceed 20 percent until the year 2032.

This 19-year “plateau” of employer contribution rates greater than 20 percent would exceed a level of expenses for taxpayers, school districts and the commonwealth unparalleled in the 92-year history of PSERS.”

All because of stock market losses. This comes straight from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association as an explanation for how they’re going to fill that $43.2 million gap.

By the way, did the government bail out your 401k after the stock market crashed? No? I didn’t think so.


Check out how other states are dealing with the same issue, http://bit.ly/hnD83Q

Can $100 million fix education?

What would you do with $100 million?

There are very few people in the world who ever have to answer that question, and it usually revolves around winning the lottery.

I’m really not that greedy. I don’t have to win the super, mega, massive lottery. I’d be happy with the kind of super, pretty-big lottery. A million would do me just fine, thank you.

But what if I asked the same question and put a little twist on it?

This might not be as much fun as fantasizing about buying mansions and yachts, but it could be a little more productive.

So I’ll ask again.

What would you do with $100 million ... to fix education?

I’m going on the assumption that no one is going to argue when I say that it’s broken, but I’m sure there are some who will make the case for us having one of the best educational systems in the world. While that statement is true — because of the use of “one of” in the preceding sentence — it is still a sad state of affairs when the most powerful nation in the world ranks behind that of Cuba, Canada and all of the “‘stans” in literacy. That’s right, Kazakhstan has a higher literacy rate than the U.S.


Fast Company asked the same question, and came up with some answers.
http://bit.ly/e8xfVf

Calling all bloggers, or potential citizen journalists

The Times Herald will host a Community Media Lab seminar at 6 p.m. March 1.

We are asking anyone in the community who has an interest in blogging to come join us for this informative session. We’re also asking any potential citizen journalists to join us as well. A citizen journalist is anyone interested in submitting photos or stories to The Times Herald on an ongoing basis.

If you’re interested, or know someone who might be, contact Times Herald editor Stan Huskey at shuskey@timesherald.com.

A big Montco GOP surprise

The lead headline in The Times Herald actually should have read, "Brown, Castor win GOP nod."
I actually wrote the headline "Castor, Brown win GOP nod" before I left for the evening. And while the headline in the paper is certainly accurate, the fact that Jenny Brown received more votes than Bruce Castor has to be the biggest surprise coming out of the convention. Could it be possible that come November we're looking at what will be a Josh Shapiro, Leslie Richards run county government with Jenny Brown in the minority?

Montgomery County's empire is burning

The column was getting so much attention on The Times Herald's website that I thought I would post it here, http://bit.ly/fANG18, as well. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. Some are trying to figure out the characters, although, I do think I made it fairly obvious.

Conservative or liberal; you make the call

My daughter, Emily, is in her first year of college. She’s at the University of Georgia. I would have preferred the University of Tennessee, but what’s a dad to do?

She knows I’m conservative, and she has always been very proud of her liberal ideals. She’s been ecstatic since President Obama took office and has supported his quasi-socialist agenda, including a redistribution of wealth. (She was pained when he sided with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts.)

Now those of you with kids in college, or have had kids in college, know there’s a very liberal mentality that permeates most campuses across the country, and Georgia is no exception. After sitting in on several lectures, she came to the conclusion that I must be some sort of uber-conservative for always railing against what I believe are blatant attempts to turn this country into a socialist nation.

Emily was home over the Christmas break and decided she would challenge me on my opposition to higher taxes and the need for more government entitlement programs. She kept referring back to a particular lecture for support for her argument.

Out of nowhere, I asked how she was doing in school. Now, Emily has always done very well, so I wasn’t shocked with the answer. She fired back with that condescending tone she takes when she has an answer nailed down that she had a perfect 4.0. She started complaining rather quickly right after the proclamation about how difficult it is to maintain, given her tough schedule and that she had to study constantly to keep it up there. She said she didn’t have any time to really enjoy being away at college because she was always studying.

So I listened politely, like a good father does, and then asked her how her roommate was doing. She said her roommate was barely getting by and might flunk out. She said she’s always out partying and doesn’t show up for half her classes because she’s too hungover.

I knew the answer I was going to get. I set her up like a bowling pin. I told Emily to go to the dean’s office and ask him to take 1 point off her grade point average and give it to her roommate.

That way, both would then have 3.0 GPAs. Boy, was she ticked.

I got an earful of how crazy an idea that was because she works so hard to get her grades and her roommate doesn’t do anything to earn hers, and basically, I must be losing my mind for suggesting such an outlandish idea.

I just smiled and said, “Sweetie, welcome to the conservative side of the aisle.”

I have to stop here to let you know the story above was sent to me by my wife, Sue. I wish I could take credit for it, but it was sent to her in an e-mail.

However, if you can think of a better example of the difference between a conservative and a liberal, I’m all ears. The e-mail she sent contained the following as well, and I thought you might enjoy reading how other people define the differences.

If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.

If a liberal doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.

If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.

A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.

Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.

A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. 

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

And that’s where we stand today, folks.

There was absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that health care needed reforming, but what we ended up with is a socialist policy that requires us to pay for health care for all. It’s time to repeal the health care bill.

So the question stands, are you a conservative, or are you a liberal?

Who is to blame for Arizona shooting?

That is the question isn't it?
We need someone to blame after all.
Surely it must be the mainstream media, which is apparently to blame for all our social ills.
Perhaps it's the Internet, which is beginning to take a little heat off of mainstream media with its 24-hour instantaneous, sometimes inaccurate reporting of events.
Or maybe, just maybe, Jared Loughner is to blame.

Hunting the hunters

The following is an editorial that appeared in The Times Herald. Obviously I sign off on all editorials.
Please take a moment to read the editorial and then leave a comment. Thanks.


No one knows what happened in the woods in Bucks County a few weeks ago except for the people involved.
Tragically, Barry Groh probably didn’t know what happened that fateful day either.
Groh, 52, was dragging a deer he had shot when he was shot and killed by another hunter. David Manilla has been charged with manslaughter in the case.
While we don’t know exactly what happened that day, we do know David Manilla should never have been in the woods with a high-powered rifle in the first place.
Manilla, a convicted felon, is not permitted to own a weapon. Manilla’s felony conviction came after he beat a man with a curl bar outside a gym in Norristown in the mid-’80s.
While again, we don’t know what happened that day, we do know that Manilla’s uncle, former Montgomery County District Attorney and former County Commissioner Mike Marino, should never have been in the woods with Manilla, knowing he was a convicted felon.
Manilla is an attorney with a reputation for handling DUI cases.
Marino is an attorney with a reputation for being a hard-nosed prosecutor and an even more hard-nosed executive as a county commissioner.
Both men absolutely should have known that Manilla should not have been in those woods.
And Manilla also was using a high-powered rifle, which is illegal for hunting in Pennsylvania.
Marino, a self-proclaimed outdoorsman, should have known the high-powered rifle was illegal for hunting.
We’re confident the Bucks County District Attorney will handle this case with expediency and a firm hand.
While we don’t know exactly what happened on that fateful day, we do know that the circumstances surrounding the death of a 52-year-old father of two should be examined from every angle, and every responsible party should be held to the highest letter of the law.

The Breakfast Club

While the group of county officials that have been gathering regularly at the Jem restaurant in East Norriton in no way resemble the rag-tag group of misfits from the 1985 John Hughes movie, the moniker is just too good to pass up. If you've been even remotely awake the past few days you've seen our investigative reporting on two of our Montgomery County commissioners, Jim Matthews and Joe Hoeffel, meeting at one of my favorite diners and talking county business. Thankfully, our county district attorney has decided to pick up the gauntlet, but I can't help but wonder what the outcome of all of this hard work by two of my reporters is going to result in. So I'll ask you, what do you think should happen to Matthews and Hoeffel? Matthews has already been censured by the Republican Party. Hoeffel is doing his best to distance himself from the whole thing, but it's just not going to work. There absolutely, positively must be repercussions, but what should they be?

Post election postmortem

So, what is the most fascinating event to come out of the Nov. 2 election?
You could go with Sestak's defeat for Specter's Senate seat, or Toomey's victory over Lentz for Sestak's old seat, or the overall thrashing Republicans served up, but if you ask me, I would say it is the fact that Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman Jim Matthews was in Pittsburgh on Election Day standing beside now Gov. elect Tom Corbett,  http://bit.ly/9iUATm. Word has it Matthews was there asking for a position in Corbett's new administration. Now, I'm not sure why Corbett would give Matthews a job, but as I've stated on many occasions; I'm not invited into the back room. And if this is the kind of dealing that goes on in there, I don't want to be. So, if Matthews is headed to Harrisburg, who gets appointed to the vacant seat? Regardless of who it turns out to be, Republicans will be back in charge, and Bruce Castor will get the chairman's seat.

Election Night in Montco

So, I was number 418 when I voted earlier this afternoon. That's pretty high. I remember being about number 80 when I voted in the primary around the same time of day. What number were you? Where did you vote? Anything fishy going on out there?

Election predictions

With just one day left I thought I would go out on a limb and tell you which races I think are going to be close, and which races I think won't be so close. Of course, then you have to give me your predictions.

Matt Bradford is going to have a hard time fending off Jay Moyer in the 70th. Moyer really wants his old seat back and Bradford isn't playing so nice.

Rick Taylor is playing the same way so he's going to face a really tough challenge in Todd Stephens in the 151st.

The Patrick Murphy/Mike Fitzpatrick race for the 8th should be close as well.

Not so close; Tim Briggs should coast to victory in the 149th over Pete Kohut as will Kate Harper over Mary Lou Readinger in the 61st. Mike Vereb should win handily in the 150th over Andrea Baptiste.

As for lanslides; I don't see John Rafferty being even remotely challenged by newcomer Matt Stehman in the 44th district senate race.

Those are just a few, folks, but it's enough to get the conversation started.

Post your predictions below.

Don't let voting scare you

I'm trying to decide which is more scary, some of the costumes I've seen for Halloween or the campaign attack ads I've seen on TV. You guys know what side of the aisle I sit on, but I want all of you to know that I have never once voted a straight ticket. In the interest of full disclosure, I have punched very few holes, now buttons, for Democrats, but never the less, I have on a few occasions. I happen to believe in smaller government at all levels. What do you believe in (politically speaking) and how will you vote on Tuesday?

Montco commissioner's chair gets a taste of his own medicine

There's not much more to say than what I said in my column this morning. It's getting such a great response that I thought I would post it here as well. Take a look and let me know what you think. Here's the link, http://bit.ly/b9aUOf. By the way, the first sentence isn't exactly accurate. I do have a few more things to say, that is if I need to, but I'm willing to let it end here.