Time for Kessler, Seip, McIlvaine Smith, Taylor to stand up for taxpayers

This is the time to contact your state legislators and tell them that you support the "No New Taxes" budget voted out of the Senate. It's time to take away Gov. Rendell's credit card. He's already run up enormous debts this state will never be able to pay off.Taxpayers need to contact freshman House members who ran on a reform platform in 2006. What happened to promises of fiscal responsibility?

Why is every single Democrat in the House so willing to rubber-stamp Rendell's tax-and-spend agenda?

You need to let lawmakers such as David Kessler and Tim Seip in Berks or Barbara McIlvaine Smith in Chester or Rick Taylorin Montgomery that you're watching them and they will be one-term legislators if they don't start looking out for the people who elected them.

Received this note today from Rep. Bob Mensch, a freshman lawmaker from Montgomery Couunty. It puts the current budget crisis into perspective.

Rep. Mensch reminds constituents that there is a lot of "spin" coming out of Harrisburg, especially from Gov. Rendell, on the state of the budget discussions.

Here are two facts to keep in mind:

1. Three of the four chambers have already approved a budget -- both chambers of the Senate and the House Republicans. The House Democrats are the one chamber insisting on a budget that has increased spending and taxes -- in essence, they're carrying the administration's water.

2. The commutative vote for the budget that the Senate approved by 49-1, when you add the house votes, is 147 yeas and 102 nays. The Democrat majority in the House is the stymy to having a budget that would have been approved on time, and would have had a 3% spending increase (but below the rate of inflation).

There is still at least one major spending initiative the governor is insisting on, and for which the House Dems will continue the fight, and that is an energy bill that has a surcharge that will be levied on businesses (up to $10,000) as well as on every rate payer. The argument is, the surcharge is minuscule for the resident, but when you consider the tax possibilities in the total budget it is indeed very cumulative!

Just wanted to share these few thoughts.

Have a great 4th -- we'll probably be here arguing with the one caucus that did not hear the electorate in the fall.

Sincerely,

Bob Mensch
Member, 147th Legislative District
PA House of Representatives