POLL IS TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE !

Take my Senate vs. Turnpike poll

NEWS RELEASE from the Commonwealth Foundation

First Turnpike Bid Is In! Only $5.3 Billion

PA Turnpike Commission plan will provide only $450 million per year for state?s roads, highways, bridges, and mass transit

HARRISBURG, PA . As Gov. Rendell and the General Assembly await bids from private-sector companies to lease and operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Commonwealth Foundation revealed the effective bid placed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to maintain control of its 537-mile toll road.

Under Act 44, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) must receive approval from the Federal Highway Administration before it can begin tolling drivers on Interstate 80. If the application is denied, the Commission will provide only $450 million annually for the state’s roads, highways, bridges, and mass transit.

The PTC would be effectively providing the state an upfront lease payment of $5.294 billion the amount necessary to generate $450 million per year, assuming an 8.5% annual return on investment.

“We need an apples-to-apples comparison in order to fully consider the forthcoming bids on the Pennsylvania Turnpike,” said Matthew Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation. “The only means by which we can adequately compare these bids is to contrast them with the Turnpike Commission’s effective lease payment to control and operate the toll road.”

What the Right hand giveth the Left hand taketh away!

Two weeks ago, I got an e-mail that gushingly proclaimed:

“The House Democrats’ years of effort to provide all Pennsylvania homeowners substantial and sustainable property tax relief will begin paying off this summer. Pennsylvania’s budget secretary this week certified that the state’s slot machine facilities have now produced enough revenue to begin reducing property taxes – more than $600 million for homeowners statewide .”

But, the House State Government Committee last Tuesday unanimously approved legislation that would hike pensions for more than 250,000 retired teachers and state retirees — including former state lawmakers. The bill, which would cost $10.4 billion over 20 years, could be approved by the Legislature because of election-year pressures and because retirees haven’t had a boost in six years, some lawmakers and political analysts say.

Happy Earthday- Readykillowatt v. Wam-my v. Acid-mine drainage?

Stars of Pennsylvania’s “PSA-Playhouse”

Tonight an Oscar of sorts will be awarded to two stars of Pennsylvania’s “PSA-Playhouse”, in recognition of their leading rolls of using taxpayer money to get “face-time” on TV. The presentations will be at 8:00 pm , at the Lebanon County Republican meeting, 9th and Cumberland Streets, Lebanon. But don’t expect to see kleig lights, or Joan Rivers.

Public Service Announcements use your tax dollars, to put your legislator in the spotlight to talk about some innocuous issue that would not otherwise be televised, absent Pennsylvania taxpayer funding. It is another method for incumbent legislators to campaign on the taxpayer dime.

THE ENVELOPE PLEASE!

WAM-MY will be there to hand out commemorative $100,000 bills to warn the public about the expense that Reps. Mauree Gingrich, and Scott Boyd have been to taxpayers in airing numerous self-serving Public Service Announcements.

Candidate’s Interview with Common Sense II

Reform or The Pig Gets It!

by Chuck Brown

I’ve known Dennis for several years. If this is your first exposure to Dennis’ take on politics, then you’re in for a real treat! Is Dennis a Progressive, a Libertarian, or a Conservative? Answer: NO, NO, and NO. But he is unique. After covering so many politicians for CS2, I can’t tell you what a great pleasure it is to talk to one who knows what he believes and why he believes it, without the aid of polls and the fear of losing the election driving his thoughts. You may not agree with every stance and every issue Dennis espouses, but you will be startled at the degree of study and thought he has put into his proposals. It’s a refreshing change to not have a candidate who insults your intelligence by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Originally scheduled for a one issue interview, we found so much of the material so compelling that we are making it a two issue interview. We didn’t want to cut out any of Dennis’ discussion. We trust the voters of his State Senate district will give Dennis every consideration before casting their vote in November. We believe a vote for Dennis would be a vote for reform and a vote for good government.

CS2: Hi Dennis.

Dennis: Chuck.

CS2: What office are you running for and why?

Dennis: I’m running for State Senate in the 29th district. It’s in 6 counties. It’s in Berks, Schuylkill, Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Monroe.

CS2: Wow! You got all six. You deserve to be in office for that!

WAM-MY’S APRIL 1ST SCHEDULE

Reform Candidate Tells the Residents of Pennsylvania’s

29^th Senate District

– Don’t Be Fooled!

(Tilden Township, PA) – Today, citizen activist Dennis Baylor announced that he will tour the 29^th district dressed as WAM-MY, (an oversize cardboard check, on roller-skates), to urge Pennsylvania’s taxpayers not to be fooled by the costliest legislature in the nation’s claims that there is a less agonizing way to fund their reckless spending. Mr. Baylor said “Harrisburg has got to wake up to the fact that the ‘gilded-age’ of state government is long past, and has got to quit trying to hoodwink the public into believing that there is some less painful way to pay for the most extravagant state government in America.”

WAM-MY’s tour will begin at 8:00 am outside the Pocono Record, 511 Lenox St., Stroudsburg, and proceed as follows:

9:15 am Rep. Argall ‘s District office, West Broad Street Tamaqua

10:00 am Senator Jim Rhoades’ 1 West Centre Street Mahanoy City

11:00 am Pottsville, at the corner of Routes 209 and 61

12:00 noon 61 North 3^rd Street Hamburg

2:30 pm 5th and Penn Streets Reading

Note: All times are approximate, and the event is subject to cancellation should the weather be unsuitable.

Pennsylvania needs redistricting reform, now!

HOUSE STATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

MARCH 13,2008 – PHILADELPHIA, Pa.

Statement of Dennis Baylor, 2654 Mountain Road, Hamburg, Pa.

Good morning Madam Chairwoman and Committee members. I would like to thank the members of the State Government Committee and staff for all of the hard work you have put into trying to build a more representative Pennsylvania General Assembly, a true House of the people. My name is Dennis Baylor, I am a lifelong citizen of Pennsylvania, currently residing in Tilden Township, Berks County, which had been the ‘belly’ of Tinsdale’s beast.

I appear before you today as an individual citizen, grateful for the opportunity to offer my comments on why I believe the question of redistricting reform is the most pressing problem confronting the freedom of Pennsylvanians, and regrettably in its present state disenfranchises far too many of our citizens. People who would rather opt out than participate in a sham electoral process where government gets to pick you before you get to pick your government. Long before our ballots are cast, you have picked, us. Gerrymandering, combined with ballot access barriers, have carved up the body politic in such a way that the duopoly has an absolute stranglehold on the system, and the incumbents’ “districted-in” electoral edge is so considerable as to make them invincible. In fact, if the citizens of Pennsylvania understood what the General Assembly has done to the body politic through the redistricting process, the outcry would make the pay raise pale by comparison.