The LuLac Edition #1903, January 15th, 2012

Home Rule organizer, P.J. Best.


The original Home Rule Yes logo.


State Senator John Blake.

HOME RULE PIONEERS

I saw a letter in the newspaper on Friday that did some chest thumping for the pioneers of Home Rule. It was a good history lesson for historical trivia fans like myself. It also put in perspective how far Home Rule has come and how far it has to go in order to work. Anyway here’s the letter that ran in the newspaper:
Editor:
I would like our new county council to understand how they got here - (not by election if this went on as they did in the two previous government study commission attempts):
You are here for two reasons:
1. Due to the hard work of chairman Jim Haggerty and his Luzerne County Transition Committee (but they could not publicize or fight for adoption).
2. You are here because Ed Chesnovitch and I recognized that if no publicity organization was formed the cause would be lost. Chesnovich recruited Michael Giamber, who took the bull by the horns and carried forward the attempt to publicize Home Rule and helped raise the funds necessary to accomplish our goal. If Giamber did not get the grant I doubt there would have been enough funds to win our goal. The sister of Ronnie, who was the secretary for the study commission was the first one who purchased 100 yard signs at $400 out of her own pocket and my son, Ronald, contributed $1,000 to fund the publicity. Fred Heller made a CD at his cost and Dave Chaump donated his band to play at our VFW rally. Chesnovich, as our treasurer, also contributed - even with a fractured leg - as I took him to our meetings.
Certainly others contributed and I am not trying to slight anyone who helped bring about a victory for Home Rule, with the vote in favor of the charter being 49,343 to 40,304. About 55 percent voted yes.
Home Rule backers blamed the past form of government for corruption, cronyism, patronage hiring, wasteful spending, higher property taxes and out-of-control debt.
We, Home Rule yes committee, had the Democratic organization, the Republican organization and even the union involved with the fight. Now the county council has to take over the reigns and prove that our Home Rule yes efforts were justified.
I wish you good luck in your endeavors and remember that Ed, Michael and I will still be here to help in any way.
Thomas W. Dombroski
Trucksville
One key omission here. One of the key movers in the adoption of Home Rule came from the leadership of an impressive young man named P.J. Best. Best of Pittston City took the bull by the horns and helped get the thing on the ballot. Best then off to Pittsburgh to finish law school. When the history of Home Rule from inception to whenever is written, P.J. Best has to be right up there with all the others.

THE BISHOP’S PROBLEM

Last week we promoted on event at Brennan Hall on the campus of the University of Scranton regarding women in government. The event featured former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolles Mezvinsky as one of the featured speakers. Bishop Bambara, following his predecessors rants declared that the University as a Catholic College should not have invited Margolles-Mezvinsky because she was pro choice. Pro choice is giving women the right to choose. Margolles Mezvinsky is not going to advocating for abortion or even addressing the pro choice issue. All she is going to do is promote the election of women candidates. The Bishop’s reaction was nothing if not predictable. And sad.

BLAKE’S TAKE

State Senator John Blake recently sent an opinion on Governor Tom Corbett’s Budget Message. Here’s how he reacted to the news from the Governor’s office:
While our economy continues to be sluggish in rebounding from recession, Governor Tom Corbett has decided that cutting financial support and freezing access to essential state programs and services will remedy Pennsylvania’s below-estimate tax revenues.
With the biggest months for tax revenue collections yet to come, Governor Corbett directed his Budget Office to freeze nearly $160 million in state spending last week – inflicting additional pain on families already struggling to cope with the deep cuts contained in the 2011-12 state budget.
The Governor has directed most state agencies to reduce their overall 2011-12 spending by 3 percent, although some individual appropriations will be reduced by up to 10 percent. Indeed, upon review of those line items experiencing the deepest cuts, there is little question that those cuts impose greater hardship on the poor, the sick, veterans and on workers administering important economic development programs throughout the state.
The Governor , already presiding over $500 million in un-appropriated funds within the current 2011-12 budget cycle, advanced additional budget cuts during the traditionally-lower revenue collection months, rather than waiting to see what the traditionally-higher revenue collection months hold for Pennsylvania. Revenue collections in the Spring have always served to inform the true status of the state budget going in to final budget negotiations in the General Assembly. This brings into serious question both the timing and the necessity of these additional cuts within the current fiscal year.
I understand the need to tighten our belts in times of economic hardship but we cannot balance a state budget on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens while billion dollar corporations with sophisticated accounting and legal departments work to evade taxes or other similar corporations continue to profit from the extraction of our abundant natural resources without providing some relief to the working class taxpayers of this state.