Readers' Views: Gov. Rendell is a con artist

Three recent letters to the editor published in The Mercury that I wish I had written.

Gov. Rendell is a con artist

If you are not aware, Gov. Ed Rendell made the Who's Hsu list last week. In this case, the Hsu is Norman, the latest in a long line of Chinese bagmen, bundling cash for the culturally uncorrupt Democratic Party.

In Fast Eddie's case, the $38,000 indiscretion was donated to charity only after Norman, a convicted felon, skipped a court hearing, forfeited a $2 million bond and, as they say, went to ground. Attempts to locate Norman at his home, listed as a public library, were unsuccessful. If we have any state legislators without similar skeletons in their closet, the matter should be investigated. If we don't, it will be buried.

Am I the only person in the state who has grown weary of this con artist posing as a governor, formerly a con artist posing as a mayor? This is a guy who promised a 30 percent cut in property taxes standing on his head. What he delivered was gambling revenue to special interests.

This is the slickster who attempted to buy off an easily-bought Legislature and judiciary with a sweetheart compensation package. What has he done to rein in illegals and the criminals who knowingly employ them? Nada. What has he done to control an out of control public employee pension system? Zip. The list of unaddressed issues is longer than editorial space allows.

Ed Rendell has been an unmitigated disaster for Pennsylvania. Then again, what else could have been expected from someone who makes Machiavelli look like Captain Kangaroo.
For those who can supply the elbow grease, I will supply the rail.

MARK FURLONG
North Coventry

Property tax system is broken

The public education finance system in Pennsylvania is antiquated, regressive, and totally out of sync with 21st century reality. More than 10,000 Pennsylvania homeowners lose their homes each year to tax sales and many more are forced to sell their homes because of relentlessly rising property taxes.

More than 100 Pennsylvania school districts are in financial distress, are unable to sustain adequate funding to give their children a quality education, and are in jeopardy of being taken over by the state. The system is broken beyond repair and the problem needs to be addressed now.

House Bill 1600 is exactly the same as the Act 1 referendum that was so resoundingly defeated in the May 2007 primary election. It imposes new, permanent taxes in return for a small amount of "relief" that will quickly be negated by continually rising property taxes.

It does nothing to address cost controls or funding inequity between school districts. It is a valueless Band-Aid approach to tax "relief" that does nothing to solve the underlying problems with education finance.

Rep. Levdansky has been vigorously trumpeting HB 1600 and is so desperate to have it enacted that he deliberately falsifies the facts of this legislation. Since it is of such meaningless value to true education finance, might there be other reasons such as pandering to special interests like the PSEA or others who would be hurt by the imposition of cost controls contained in competing education finance reform legislation? His motives must be examined when you consider how strenuously he has promoted this bill.

Rep. Carl Mantz (Berks) and Rep. Stan Saylor (York) have withdrawn their co-sponsorship of HB 1600. Rep. Mantz has stated that school property tax elimination is the only acceptable solution, while Rep. Saylor cited misrepresentations of HB 1600 as his reason for withdrawing support.

The get more facts on real property tax reform go to http://www.ptcc.us/

DAVID BALDINGER
Administrator, Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition;
Member, Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations

Partisan politics must end

I am so disgusted with both the Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C.

The two major political parties look out for their own special interest groups and are not accountable to the people who elected them. It doesn’t matter which party is in control. They do the same thing. They line their own pockets and answer to lobbyists, big business and foreign interests.

Gov. Ed Rendell has been promising tax relief for five years and we haven’t seen a dime. The legislators in Harrisburg only help themselves with big salaries and outrageous perks. Congress is worse. Billions of our tax dollars are wasted

Our Founding Fathers never intended for political parties to rule this country. People have to stop voting along party lines. Think for yourself.

BILL SAKELLAROPOULOS
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