Sorry, we’re too busy screwing 2.8 million Pennsylvanians out of property tax relief to find the keys to that filing cabinet… Just another Wednesday in Paradise
Some days I find myself walking off the floor of the House of Representatives shaking my head in utter disbelief; today was one of those days.
We were poised to pass Senate Bill 1, which is the much-anticipated revision to Pennsylvania’s Open Records Act. While not perfect, this was a good bill that showed a real committment to reforming the way we do business in Harrisburg. Under the new Open Records Act, which DOES include the Legislature, there is a presumption that all records are open for public inspection and review.
The bill had already been passed in the House and amended and passed by the Senate; all we had to do was concur with the Senate version and the Governor stood ready to sign the bill into law.
So of course, it was time for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to throw up a roadblock:
What should have been a unanimous vote turned into four hours of debate and delay that ultimately led to the passage of the Open Records Bill being delayed because many members on the Republican side of the aisle felt the need to wait and examine the bill to make sure it is the best bill it can possibly be. We heard hours of speeches about how we should be deliberate and how a short delay would be in the best interest of all involved because of the seriousness of the subject.
Hmmmm. I seem to remember being roundly criticized by many of my colleagues in the media in recent days because we refused to immediately vote on a proposal by the House Republicans that would eliminate property tax relief to 2.8 million Pennsylvanians that they have been waiting on for years. You don’t suppose the fact that this proposal has been almost universally identified by the mainstream media as political pandering to senior citizens at the expense of 2.8 million working homeowners has anything to do with their haste, do you?
So, let me get this straight. Using the logic of these two examples as a guide, we should plow through eliminating property tax relief for 2.8 million Pennsylvania homeowners without even taking a weekend to see what our constituents think, but we should delay passing an Open Records Act that would demonstrate a major committment to legislative reform because they need more time to review it?
Seems to me like someone is more than a little interested in keeping public records private as long as possible. I wonder why…
