43 sponsors for property tax elimination bill

One of "The Missing" state lawmakers has surfaced.

Earlier I posted a list of state legislators from Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties who have not signed up as co-sponsors of House Bill 1275, the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007.

Many of these lawmakers campaigned on a promise to reform Harrisburg and deal with the state's onerous property tax. After 10 months in office, these lawmakers have nothing to show for their efforts.

And when the opportunity came up to put their money where they mouths were, many Southeastern PA lawmakers went AWOL. Some of these lawmakers are freshman who fooled taxpayers into thinking they would support property tax reform (David Kessler, Tim Seip, Mike Vereb, Jay Moyer, Duane Milne) or veteran politicians who forgot why they were sent to Harrisburg (Doug Reichley, Chris Ross, Kate Harper, Carole Rubley).

One of "The Missing" has stepped forward. Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith, a Chester County Democrat, is now the 43rd member of the House to publicly support House Bill 1275.

Here's the complete list of co-sponsors, which includes 35 Republicans and 8 Democrats. If your representative is not on the list, they have some explaining to do. And if you don't see their name on this list, you've got another good reason to vote them out in 2008.

HB 1275 Sponsors

Rohrer (R-Berks)
Cox (R-Berks)
Yewcic (D-Cambria/Somerset)
Argall (R-Berks/Schuylkill)
Quigley (R-Montgomery)
Denlinger (R-Lancaster)
Phillips (R-Northumberland/Snyder)
Stern (R-Blair)
Baker (R-Bradford/Tioga)
Barrar (R-Chester/Delaware)
Bastian (R-Bedford/Somerset)
Caltagirone (D-Berks)
Cappelli (R-Lycoming)
Creighton (R-Lancaster)
Everett (R-Lycoming)
Gabig (R-Cumberland)
Gibbons (D-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence)
Gillespie (R-York)
Goodman (D-Schuylkill)
Harris (R-Juniata/Mifflin/Snyder)
Hennessey (R-Chester)
Hershey (R-Chester)
Hess (R-Bedford/Fulton/Huntingdon)
Kauffman (R-Cumberland/Franklin)
Mackereth (R-York)
Mahoney (D-Fayette)
Mantz (R-Berks)
McIlhattan (R-Armstrong/Clarion)
McIlvaine-Smith (D-Chester)
Mensch (R-Montgomery)
Moul (R-Adams/Franklin)
Mustio (R -Allegheny)
Perry (R-Cumberland/York)
Pickett (R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna)
Pyle (R-Armstrong/Indiana)
Readshaw (D-Allegheny)
Roae (R-Crawford)
Rock (R-Franklin)
Santoni (D-Berks)
Saylor (R-York)
Schroder (R-Chester)
Steil (R-Bucks)
Swanger (R-Lebanon)