Here’s an important safety tip for those of you who enjoy this blog (as well as those of you looking to criticize or sue me). My blog is moving to my all new website, www.supportjesse.com. Not only will the blog be there, but also tons of new stuff I’m working on. It’s a work in progress, so let me know what you like or don’t like.
See you at www.supportjesse.com!
-Jesse
Last week, the Pennsylvania Attorney General finally issued the next round of indictments in his ongoing “Bonusgate” investigation of corruption in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Last year, twelve individuals (two representatives and ten staffers) were indicted for a variety of charges, mainly dealing with the use of public money for political campaigns in the Democratic Caucus. Their trials are pending.
The latest round of indictments dealt with corruption in the House Republican Caucus, and the amount of public money involved will just turn your stomach. According to the 180-page presentment tells a disturbing tale of how the Republican Caucus, under the leadership of former Speaker of the House John Perzel, allegedly spent nearly $20 million in taxpayer money on computer systems that were being used to run political campaigns with no legislative purpose whatsoever.
By way of explanation, my legislative offices use a constituent tracking system called CTS. If you come in with a state-related issue, my staff logs the work done on your behalf; this allows me or my staff to access your casework. Although not perfect, CTS is a good system for tracking complex issues and gauging the workflow throughout the district. I review daily reports in order to keep track of what’s going on with my constituents, which is invaluable.
CTS is paid for by taxpayer money, so I don’t use any of the information for political purposes. I maintain my own voter database at my own expense for elections, which is both time-consuming and expensive. What former Speaker Perzel, a Republican from suburban Philadelphia, allegedly did was pretend to develop a legitimate legislative database but then turn around and use the product to help Republicans win elections and nothing else.
Obviously, this is quite illegal. Even more illegal was the coordinated effort to cover up their actions, including staffers taking boxes of incriminating evidence out of the Capitol in the middle of the night in an attempt to obstruct the Attorney General’s investigation. Perzel, former Rep. Brett Feese and eight Republican staffers have all been indicted and face severe sentences if convicted. Some of the lower-level staffers have agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for immunity.
This is clearly a black mark on a State Legislature with no shortage of black marks and public disdain, so you may be wondering why your State Representative would be crazy enough to bring all of this to your attention. The answer is simple: I love it.
Obviously I’m not happy to see anyone stealing public money, but I am very happy to see the corruption exposed. All of the Bonusgate shenanigans took place before I was elected in 2006, so I don’t know any more about the whole ordeal than anyone else. As such, I have a sensitive spot when people give me the stink-eye and talk about how all legislators are corrupt. If these guys did what they are accused of, they should absolutely spend a very long time in jail.
If you are truly a proponent of legislative reform, you need to look beyond the obvious and realize this is what real reform looks like. Elected officials who betrayed the public trust and effectively stole public money are being escorted out of the building in handcuffs. As a member of the New Guard, I want nothing to do with the corruption that apparently pervaded the Old Guard and the disgraceful legacy they are leaving behind.
On Tuesday, I joined a room full of concerned constituents at a meeting of the Cecil Township Municipal Authority, where I addressed the Board about my concerns with the Millers Run Sewage project and my efforts to secure refunds for residents through the $5 million H2O PA grant I helped procure. Interesting stuff for anyone who is interested in local government.
(Note: Part 4 is me jumping in to refute some misleading claims).
Take a few minutes out of your time to check out this blog:
http://callapitter46.blogspot.com/
It’s a blog written by a local woman who lost her two young children in a car accident earlier this year. Be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart. God bless her for having the courage to write honestly about everything she’s going through. It’s a great example of how a blog can be therapeutic in a time of unspeakable tragedy.
Mt. Pleasant Township… where the water flows like, well, like water.
I just came back from a ceremony commemorating the completion of a 28 mile water line extension in Mt. Pleasant Township. As part of my ongoing ventures into new media, here is the video of the speech I gave at the Mt. Pleasant Township Municipal Building.
My phones have been ringing lately as constituents call and voice their opinion on House Bill 1500, which would assess a fee of $156 per person to pay for State Police protection in every municipality that does not have their own police force. I want to take a few minutes and give my thoughts on the idea.
First off, let me say I do not support House Bill 1500 as written. Second, I did not author or so-cosponsor the bill; the author is a State Representative from the Lancaster area. Third, there is no immediate danger of this bill becoming a law anytime soon; this whole hornet’s nest was stirred up by a publication clearly written by a statewide townships’ group.
As a clear sign of their irresponsibility, the article began by referring to the governor’s proposal to raise the personal income tax, which we defeated in the Legislature. The article then goes on to talk about House Bill 1500 as another way to take money from your pockets, which is pretty disingenuous since their first example never happened. But I digress…
There is no magical formula to determine whether a municipality should provide their own police coverage. There are many factors to consider, including the level of crime, population density, municipal budget and proximity to State Police facilities, just to name a few.
It also makes sense to look for alternatives. For example, is it possible to contract some police service from a neighboring municipality with their own police department? Or perhaps consider the idea of forming or joining a regional police force with nearby towns? I have experienced quite a bit of opposition to the idea of regional police departments, mainly because one town involved (and often all of them) seem to think they will be getting the short end of the stick. These territorial biases are deeply ingrained and very hard to shake.
I was recently talking to a group of constituents who were planning to stand outside the polls on Election Day and take a straw poll of voters. The question was simple. “Would you be in favor of a police officer in our township?” Like many polls, the question is inherently flawed. Unless you are a criminal, why wouldn’t you want a police officer in your town?
The question they need to be asking is the harder one. “Are you willing to pay for a police officer in our town, and if so, how much would you be willing to pay?” Police protection is not cheap. You have training, equipment, vehicle, administrative costs, insurance, salaries, benefits, pension costs and a whole bunch of other expenses I can’t even begin to fathom as I write this. It’s not something you can do just a little bit or only halfway.
The only way to build real public support on something as involved as starting a police department is to disclose the price tag up front and be prepared to weather the sticker shock. My admittedly unscientific guess is that many, if not most people living in our rural townships would ultimately not consider the benefit to be worth the costs involved.
But I could be 100% wrong, and there is certainly a real danger in trying to generalize on an issue like this, which is all the more reason why an idea like House Bill 1500 does not make sense for this area. Certain decisions should be left to our local municipal governments, especially decisions which involve big chunks of municipal tax dollars, and the issue of local police protection is a perfect example of such an idea.
The saga continues...
Nice article in today’s Almanac about the ongoing issues in Cecil Township.
White wants grant to go towards tap in fees
At the same time, White said that if the refund is not granted to homeowners, he will ask the Cecil Township Board of Supervisors to request the resignation of the municipal authority members.
In originally financing the project, the authority did not apply for state or federal grant funds or low-interest loans to reduce the cost to the affected residents, applications considered standard procedure for large-scale sewer and water projects. Subsequently, the Cecil Township Authority funded the Millers Run project exclusively through bond issuances, resulting in a tap-in fee for residents of $6,200, a figure much higher, even double in some instances, from those charged to new sewer customers in other projects in the region.
White said the manner in which funding for the project was structured caused an uproar among residents in the Millers Run service area. Their avenues of protest included contacting White, who immediately took up their cause.
Under pressure from White and the Millers Run residents, the authority made a request to the Commonwealth Financing Authority for a grant, and a $5 million award was announced in July.
White is concerned that rather than refund the excess portion of the tap-in fee to Millers Run customers, the authority may apply the grant to other projects.
“Using the money for anything other than reimbursing the Millers Run customers for the thousands of dollars extra they paid to tap in would be an unconscionable rip-off,” White said. “A refund is exactly what I had in mind when I gave my support for the CFA grant applications last year, not to let the authority pillage the pocketbooks of Millers Run homeowners to finance projects elsewhere.”
If the Cecil Township Municipal Authority decides in favor of substantial refunds to Millers Run homeowners, White pledged to work with the authority and Millers Run homeowners to bring it about.
At the same time, White vowed that if the authority fails to provide a proper refund, he will ask the Cecil Township Board of Supervisors to ask for the resignation of the authority members, or that they consider abolishing the authority and undertake its duties, including the authorization of a Millers Run refund.
“This $5 million grant is the last chance for the municipal authority to do right by the people affected by the mishandling of the Millers Run project,” White said.
“They can end the controversy now, or we will continue to fight so that the right thing is done for the people who have entrusted me to stand up for them in office.
“I cannot think of another occasion where the collective will of the people has come through this loud and clear, and one way or another, we will prevail.”
White said that within the next couple weeks, he will provide the impacted Cecil Township homeowners with additional written details of his continuing work to rectify the unfair tap-in fees.
Copyright Observer Publishing Co.
11/4/2009 4:49 AM
State Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil is asking that the Cecil Township Municipal Authority use a recent state grant to refund much of the “exorbitant” tap-in fee charged to customers to hook into the Millers Run sewer project.
In addition to going to Harrisburg and dealing with constituent issues back home, I am also in charge of staffing and running my district offices in Cecil, Washington and Burgettstown. For most people, the first and sometimes only impression they get about me is their experience with constituent services, so it’s important that I have a staff that will put their best face forward and show an essential willingness to get to the bottom of an issue.
Since I took office in 2007, my Burgettstown district office has been located at 1541 Main Street, across the street from the Post Office. Although the office has served us well, we have decided to move to a newer office, located at 1425 Burgettstown Plaza, right next to FamCare. It will be pretty hard to miss the big yellow sign when you come into Burgettstown. We will be hosting a formal Open House event soon, but please take a second to stop in and say hello.
The change in office locations also coincides with another major change. Patty Neil, who managed the Burgettstown office for the past year, has taken an opportunity with the Washington County Redevelopment Authority and will be leaving very soon. Patty is a warm, wonderful woman and I wish her nothing but the best in her new job. She will be missed.
When you do stop in, don’t be surprised if you see a familiar face smiling back at you. Patty’s departure created perhaps the easiest staffing problem I’ve ever been confronted with. I immediately called Jeanne Vega, who managed the Burgettstown office for the first two years. Jeanne gladly agreed to come back, and she should be formally on board within a matter of days.
You may be wondering why anyone should care about who is answering the phone in my office, but it is truly a vitally important part of what I do. I don’t have many rules for my staff; I believe in giving them broad instructions and letting them do their jobs their own way. But the one guiding principle I expect from everyone working for me is to have right kind of mindset in dealing with constituent problems.
Too often, people call some government office or another with a problem, and the person on the other end of the phone does everything in their power to push them off on someone else. When confronted with a challenge, I want my people to find a way to say “yes” instead of saying “no”. Even if it’s a problem we cannot directly deal with, I want to follow up to make sure whoever we refer you to take care of the issue.
It’s not always as easy as it sounds. Many constituents have problems that simply cannot be solved, or may require extensive legal action on their part. Others are unwilling to believe what we tell them, and decide to call back every few days in the odd belief that our answer will miraculously change. At the end of the day, all we can do is our best, which I think is all you can ask of anyone.
I have been a slacker on this blog lately, but I do have a somewhat legitimate excuse. I’m in the final stages of moving the whole blog and incorporating it with a ton of other stuff in a brand new site, so keep your pants on.
In the interim, here’s a little something to feast your eyes upon, inspired by a dream I had last night the the Secretary of State publicly recognized my (fictional) love of Sizzler. Don’t ask; I can’t explain it either.
Somewhere in the 46th District needs water? You got it, Mr. Henry Winkler!
More potentially great infrastructure news in the 46th. After literally years of work, there is a proposed settlement agreement to bring public water service to approximately 60 residents in Mt. Pleasant and Avella, including the Meadowcroft Rockshelter.
See all that wood? Is it just me, or does it seem almost crazy not to have water available in case of a fire?
The proposed settlement between the Office of the Consumer Advocate and Pennsylvania American Water Company, which can be found online here, still needs the approval of an Administrative Law Judge, but I am hopeful that we will soon have water flowing to yet another rural area of my district at very little cost to the residents.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give special recognition to Mr. John Adams, whose tireless lobbying on this issue since before I was even elected cannot be ignored. John is living proof that sometimes the squeaky wheel does in fact get the grease. When I think of John’s efforts, I can think of no more fitting quote:
Yes you can, John. Yes you can.
