Tuesday, October 21, 2008

That old-time pandering


I was cooking in the kitchen last night when I heard, from the TV in the living room, a candidate for a state House or Senate seat in Pennsylvania say on her advertisement that she had never voted to raise taxes and NEVER WOULD! I don't know who the candidate was or her political affiliation, but that's a pretty idiotic thing to say. We don't know what the future holds for the state, particularly amid this national economic meltdown. Certainly, there is fat that can be cut from the state budget (see the Legislature), but in addition to the economic crisis, we have severely outdated infrastructure that desperately needs attention. Unless one has a crystal ball, one should not be claiming that one would never vote to raise taxes. What if every candidate made that pledge? Is the state to go into default or bankruptcy because our lawmakers are too afraid to make unpopular decisions? That same kind of pledge came back to bite the first President Bush on the backside. When you live by the no-tax-increase pledge, sometimes you die by it.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anyone with a brain knows that most of what politicians promise is a bunch of bull that will never happen. They say what voters want to hear and what we wish would happen in order to get into office. Lies, Lies and more Lies. For once I would like to hear the truth.

October 21, 2008 at 1:27 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

I'd love to hear the truth also, but the politicians are aware that, sadly, most people prefer to be lied to and can't handle the truth.

October 21, 2008 at 1:36 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

UPDATE: I just saw the ad again. It's a lady named Kim Ward who is running as a Republican for state Senate. She says she has never voted for a tax increase and "never will as your state senator." It's not like Ward has had a long political career. She's been a Westmoreland County commissioner for less than a year. Before that, she was a township supervisor in Hempfield Township for six years. In a thriving township that is experiencing strong growth, it's not all that hard to avoid tax increases. One interesting note: Ward is a graduate of Chartiers-Houston High School. Anybody know her?

October 21, 2008 at 1:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Brant I wonder what year she graduated. My whole family went to CHHS. She might have graduated with my aunt or uncle, maybe even my mom. I checked out a website on her and they didn't say what year she graduated. Interesting though. It mentioned that she was a respiratory therapist and her husband's a doctor.

October 22, 2008 at 9:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kim is a cousin of RT Bell, police chief of Canonsburg. She is a Republican firebrand and a one tough cookie. Major insider. She has been spending the majority of her time on politics, first as an activist and then an organizer for at least the past 10 years.

October 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Could be worse. She could be reading a bunch of crazy right-wing talking points like Frank Yuvan on WJPA. I don't think he even knows what he's saying.

October 22, 2008 at 11:54 PM  

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