Your Letters: Thursday

Get to work

Sen. John Wozniak should be ashamed of himself for his attempt to put a respectable face on the state budget process in his Sunday CDT column. This will be the sixth consecutive year that the governor and legislature have not adopted a budget by June 30. Wozniak, D-Westmont, says this shows government is working. What planet is he on?

Government is not working and no one is held accountable. Imagine if school districts and municipalities failed to adopt budgets on time. State government would withhold subsidies. If individuals do not pay taxes by April 15, the state imposes penalties and interest. The legislature puts deadlines on everyone else, but cannot follow the same rule.

We do not have a budget crisis. We have a crisis in government and no one is willing to take responsibility. The governor, legislature and executive officials should take a 25 percent penalty in their annual salaries if the budget is not passed on time. There should be no refund if the budget is passed late. Similar legislation has been introduced, but that will go nowhere. The governor and legislature need to get to work and forget the spin.

James A. Dugan State College

Generous, but ...

I, for one, was underwhelmed by the CDT’s report that local Realtors and lawyers managed to cough up a little more than $1,000 for the State College Area Food Bank (Business Briefs, June 28).

It is (or should be) well-known that those who contribute most generously to such worthy causes are those who can least afford to. Although every little bit helps, I hope the Realtors and lawyers aren’t patting themselves on the back too hard, despite the good ink.

Jeanne Lynn Hall Lemont

Too much to take in

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the cap-and-trade energy bill. It now goes to the Senate, where deliberations will begin Monday. Regardless of your beliefs about man-made global warming, you should be concerned with how Congress passes massive legislation.

For example, the cap-and-trade bill was about 1,600 pages, and the final 300 pages were given to representatives the day of the vote. I would be amazed if any representative had read the entire bill, and I’m confident none of them understood it.

This is not a partisan issue. Republicans and Democrats, in Washington and Harrisburg, play this game when in power. They rush complicated legislation, adding pork amendments to buy needed votes. The legislation is then interpreted and enforced by unaccountable bureaucracies. Meanwhile, they keep us distracted and divided.

The Blair County Tea Party is sponsoring Freedom Fest 2009 at noon on Sunday at Legion Park in Hollidaysburg. It is an opportunity for everyone to celebrate our freedoms and send a message to Congress that it is time to stop the games and return to a constitutional government that is transparent and accountable to the people.

Alan Curtis Hollidaysburg

Tantamount to tax

I am concerned about the so-called cap-and-trade bill, which recently passed in the House. It is deficient for many reasons, but I shall focus on only two issues.

First, the energy fees that will be assessed are de facto taxes. It is foolish to raise taxes during a recession because it will worsen the effects of the recession, such as unemployment, and extend its duration by retarding consumer spending. Congress should not make it harder on those already struggling with economic woes by imposing new taxes.

Second, when campaigning last year, then-Sen. Barack Obama promised not to raise taxes on those earning less than $200,000 per year. This won’t be true if the cap-and-trade bill is passed, because the de facto tax is regressive in nature and the middle class will bear an unfair burden.

If this legislation passes the Senate and Obama signs it, we will know Obama’s comments about increasing taxes only on the rich were hollow and meant only to garner votes from those who enjoyed his populist rhetoric.

Ed Ketz State College