Letters: Ballot questions would skew balance of power; Next step in community service for Leous
Ballot questions would skew balance of power
Would you trust a group of 253 politicians to act quickly?
When lives are at stake, will there be time for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to call a meeting, have political debates, and maybe take action? Have you ever seen our General Assembly act quickly?
Two of the ballot questions would permanently change the Pennsylvania Constitution. They would skew the balance of power from the governor to the General Assembly. These 50 Pa. Senators and 203 Pa. House members are scheduled to meet 41 days of the year in the Senate in 2021 and 69 days in the House in 2021. What if a disaster strikes when they aren’t in session? It takes time to convene these legislators.
Our forebears set up a balance of power between the legislative, executive, and judicial parts of our state government. The governor has had the power to declare and act on a disaster emergency. The governor and his team can act quickly.
These proposed amendments would take the power to act on a disaster emergency away from the governor (executive branch) and put this power in the General Assembly (legislative branch) and then allow any disaster emergency to automatically expire in 21 days.
Vote “No” on ballot questions:
• Proposed Constitutional Amendment – Article III, Section 9, and
• Proposed Constitutional Amendment –Article IV.
Next step in community service for Leous
When I learned that Jim Leous was running for mayor of State College, I was delighted. Anyone who knows Jim knows his long-standing commitment to serving his community. As a member of Student Senate while an undergraduate at Notre Dame and of the Graduate Student Association while earning an M.S. at Penn State, as assistant coach for the State High hockey team for nearly a decade, and as an elected member of the State College Area School District School Board since 2009, Jim has a stellar record of service. He is intelligent and forward-thinking. A skilled and empathetic leader, he encourages innovation and creativity in the people around him. I can think of no one better suited to guiding State College in seizing the opportunities, and facing the challenges, of the coming years.
The mayorship of State College would be a perfect fit for Jim.
Systemic racism not linked to Osagie death
Say, if you will, that the death of Osaze Osagie is a product of history and systemic racism. How did these two forces combine to kill him?
History is the study of times past, a series of bygone events and situations affecting someone or something, a continuous chronicle of public circumstances. History never killed anyone. To cite history in discussing the death of Mr. Osagie ascribes motives and blame to persons who did not act as agents of history.
Systemic racism is an interconnected web of beliefs and biases, linked and made manifest through complex, mechanistic institutions that enact repeated actions against certain persons or social structures. The notion of repetition is crucial. How many years has the State College Borough police force existed? How many persons have died at the hands of the State College police? How many persons of color have died at the hands of the State College police? Lastly, where is the proof that systemic racism caused the death of Mr. Osagie?
Osaze Osagie died. That is an undeniable and irrefutable fact. But does anyone believe that the police officers who answered that fateful call wanted to kill him?
Many white persons — many intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive, compassionate, well-read, well-meaning, white persons — want to discuss building a world where diversity, inclusion, and equality underpin everything they say and do, and inform everything they are. They want to help build the bridges and design the cities that enable comity, conversation, connection, concord. They wait and hope.