Letters: Rules matter in Harrisburg; Halfmoon board ignored citizens

Rules matter in Harrisburg

Rules matter. Can you imagine having transportation, financial, or justice systems without them? How about getting an education, making a living and raising a family? Would sports even be possible without rules?

By definition a legislator makes rules/laws. In a democracy we expect our legislators to be responsible for working together to establish rules in the best interests of our communities. That is why they’ve been elected.

It doesn’t work this way in Pennsylvania, however. In Harrisburg, one of the first things our legislators do is vote to give up their power to actually represent us. They do this by submitting to operational rules giving control of the legislative process to a handful of people — their party and committee leaders. If democracy depends upon citizens truly having a voice in their government, democracy is not alive and well in the “Keystone” state.

This is critically important to all of us because the state of our nation stands squarely on the foundation of our state and local governments. If our state legislators don’t really have an obligation to represent us then even popular bipartisan legislation will continue to have no guarantee of a vote.

To ensure that our voices will be heard, our elected representatives need to understand that we expect them to fight to uphold democratic processes in our state government. And they need to hear this from us before Jan. 3 when they convene to establish the rules by which the state legislature will operate in 2023.

Halfmoon board ignored citizens

Last week in Halfmoon Township, the board of supervisors voted to defund Schlow Centre Region Library beginning in 2024. Despite over 22 citizens braving the cold weather on a federal holiday to appear in the township building to voice their support for the library. There were an additional 22 citizens who attended via Zoom (provided by Schlow Library) to express their support.

The board of supervisors, led by Dave Piper and closely followed by RoseAnn Hoover and Chuck Beck, ignored citizens’ requests for public input on the matter. Instead they were told they were limited to two minutes to speak and that the board would not answer any questions. Citizen after citizen requested the board to slow down, to form a committee, to survey the populace and ask what they wanted. Instead, the board ignored citizens’ requests.

Is this really democracy in action?

Urge legislators to do the right thing for Pennsylvanians

Change is always difficult in Pennsylvania, but the time has come for our Representatives in Harrisburg to listen to the people and change the rules for how our legislature operates.

Current legislative rules allow any one of six majority party gatekeepers to block any bill for any reason — regardless of support within the legislature or from the public.

The intersection of power and money in Harrisburg runs deep. But there is a growing movement of interest and concern regarding the fiscal and political health of our commonwealth. Our support base from Fair Districts PA and Fix Harrisburg continues to grow in every corner of the commonwealth, fueled by citizens determined to see better rules in law to safeguard Pennsylvania’s redistricting and legislative processes.

Our request to legislators of both parties: Vote no on rules that take away your right to represent us or on rules resolutions presented without adequate time for review. We believe rules should provide avenues forward for bipartisan solutions — in committee, on the chamber floor, and in the opposite chamber.

Fair Districts PA and Fix Harrisburg are mobilized and watching the actions of all of our legislators as they vote on the rules for the next two years. We urge them to do the right thing for the people of Pennsylvania.