{"id":7188,"date":"2012-02-18T12:21:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T17:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=7188"},"modified":"2012-02-19T10:08:11","modified_gmt":"2012-02-19T15:08:11","slug":"big-questions-confront-area-in-elections-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=7188","title":{"rendered":"Big questions confront area in elections, schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

In election 2012, what will voters care more about: ideology or competency?<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>So many things to write about this week in Unionville from what should be an interesting primary race in a local state Senate race as well as what is shaping up to be another \u201cinteresting\u201d conversation about the relationship between taxes and education.<\/p>\n

Before we wade into the tax\/eduction discussion, let\u2019s talk bare-knuckle politics first.<\/p>\n

To but it mildly, state Sen. Dominic Pileggi isn\u2019t exactly the most popular guy on this side of the Chester County-Delaware County line. Thanks to the ongoing fiasco with the Chester-Upland School District, the senator is slightly less popular than leprosy in the city of Chester, where he once served as mayor, and has been hurt in surrounding areas, as fears that neighboring schools districts such as Penn-Delco will have to pick up the pieces if Chester-Upland goes under.<\/p>\n

Although Pileggi\u2019s issues are less visceral in Chester County, he\u2019s got some serious issues, here, too. Between his support for having Pennsylvania opt out of the Electoral College, and the recent embarrassing mess with redistricting, a number of people are asking whether the once-unassailable Senate Majority Leader is ripe for the picking.<\/p>\n

From here, his biggest hurdle to reelection is the primary, where Unionville\u2019s Roger Howard, with local Tea Party support, is challenging him for the GOP nomination. Between comments on this site and other conversations I\u2019ve had with local Republicans, the good senator is going to have to mend a lot of fences \u2014 and many of his problems come not from ideology, but from questions of competency. The senator\u2019s very public misadventures have more than a few wondering whether he\u2019s really up to the job.<\/p>\n

The winner of the primary will face Democrat Patricia Worrell of Chester. I suspect that Worrell, a community activist, may be competitive in some of Delaware County \u2014 especially Chester, where\u2019s she\u2019s publicly battled Pileggi on issues from Chester-Upland to the lack of supermarkets in Chester city. But, as she has ties to the controversial ACORN group, she\u2019s likely to have trouble getting traction from Chester County moderates looking for an alternative. It is disappointing that a more mainstream candidate did not step forward to run \u2014 at a time when the political argument could have been moved from a left\/right argument to one of basic capability.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, in terms of state legislative races, there\u2019s probably less drama. Susan Rzucidlo, a Democrat, will again challenge State Rep. Chris Ross in the 158th District \u2014 and while I think it will be a race of ideas, both are smart and well-versed in policy \u2014 the demographics of the district make it tough for a Democrat. But Ross\u2019 HB 1580 bill to support solar credits has linked him uncomfortably to Solyndra \u2014 and as that issue is likely to be a major talking point during the presidential race, a number of local Republicans are saying now that they\u2019ll have trouble supporting him. While that could change between now and the fall, a big Democratic turnout to support the President, potentially lower GOP turnout and then down ballot undervotes \u2014 Republicans voting at the top of the ticket, but skipping votes for both incumbent state legislators \u2014 could make this race closer than expected in November.<\/p>\n

One other factor: Democratic voter turnout is going to be surprisingly strong in 2012. Much like GOP turnout was off the charts in 2004 and probably made the difference in a number of elections, the constant partisan attacks on President Obama are motivating Democrats who might otherwise stay home to come out and vote this November. We saw this in 2004, when what many of us inside politics called the \u201cMove On effect\u201d ended up backfiring on Democrats and turning out a lot more Republicans who felt attacks on President Bush were out of line.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Unionville, state Sen. Andrew Dinniman is facing East Fallowfield Supervisor Chris Amentas in the 19th District (Newlin and West Marlborough) while State Rep. Steve Barrar (R-160, Chadds Ford, Birmingham and Pocopson) \u2014 after having two opponents in 2010 \u2014 appears to have none in 2012.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

So the battle for \u201chearts and minds\u201d is under way in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, after Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Sanville told the school board this week that cutting the tax increase in Chester County (Delco is actually getting a cut because of a change in relative valuation) below 3.71% \u2014 the Act 1 Index plus exceptions \u2014 will mean layoffs. Going all the way down to 1.7% will mean the layoff of 10 teachers or 20 support personnel.<\/p>\n

Although there will be the typical amount of sturm und drang<\/em>, with the anti-tax mavens arguing for no tax hike, and the pro-education advocates fighting for the current preliminary \u201cmaintenance budget,\u201d I suspect a compromise number, somewhere in the middle with some moderate trims to be the final result \u2014 certainly under 3%, and probably closer to 2.7%. Neither broadbased personnel cuts nor the amazingly unrealistic suggestion of givebacks from the teachers union less than six months after concluding a deal are going to withstand the public outcry.<\/p>\n

In fact, I would go as far to argue that those seeking to moderate and slow tax increases might be wise to abandon extreme hard-line positions and messages \u2014 lest voter anger as seen in 2011 make another, even messier, return in 2013, leading to the election of less fiscally attuned board members.<\/p>\n

I continue to be amazed at how some local school board members seem to be intent on providing cover for Gov. Tom Corbett and the state legislature \u2014 both in terms of the long-term impact of the proposed changes and the failure to look at the mushrooming state pension issue. Is it a partisan issue? A GOP governor, Tom Ridge, and a GOP legislature caused the mess, voting themselves big benefit hikes (along with all other state employees and even retirees) without increasing pension fund revenue \u2014 in fact the state and local school districts got to pay less into the fund. And now, it\u2019s payback time.<\/p>\n

Instead of insisting that our local legislators \u2014 who voted for the pension increase \u2014 do something about it, some board members seem inclined to blame the teachers, the only ones who never saw a reduction in what they had to pay. That\u2019s a lot like the police showing up and arresting the car (teachers) and giving a pass to the driver (the state government and school districts) after running over a pedestrian (us taxpayers).<\/p>\n

Because the state must cover the cost of pensions \u2014 and they cannot be reduced under state constitution \u2014 the problem is two-fold for local schools. First, pension contributions will continue to increase before finally leveling off. Second, as the state\u2019s pension obligations for non-education employees increases and you have a governor and legislature that sees tax hikes as off limits, there will be less money for state aid, meaning more cuts \u2014 meaning either cutting staff at the local level or raising taxes.<\/p>\n

Cutting tax hikes here \u2014 and I\u2019ve said this before \u2014 enables the continued irresponsible behavior of the state government \u2014 aside from causing a slow erosion of the school district. The school board could very convincingly suggest that local hikes be laid at the feet of the governor and legislature as \u201cpass-through\u201d tax hikes, something that would gain a lot of public traction and put heat on those sent to Harrisburg to actually find a solution \u2014 whether it be selling the state liquor stores, or coming up with other sustainable revenue sources (the recent fiasco with Marcellus Shale being a prime example of an opportunity the legislature and governor botched).<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Stephanie, the wife, natch, and I had the most amazing meal at Foxfire at the Stone Barn the other night. We both went for old-school gourmet standards, she getting Lobster Thermador, while I went for Beef Wellington.<\/p>\n

Both entrees were nothing short of amazing. Add in the fact that all of the food is locally sourced and about as fresh as possible on any restaurant table, and a meal at Foxfire is clearly something not to be missed.<\/p>\n

The ambiance \u2014 with a roaring fire \u2014 was casual but classy, the perfect grown-up dinner solution for parents burned out on \u201cfamily dining\u201d when we finally get a night out away from the kids.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been lucky enough to eat marvelous meals around the world, and I can\u2019t say how impressed I am to find such a world-class meal down a winding road in Unionville. If you haven\u2019t been there, you need to check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In election 2012, what will voters care more about: ideology or competency? By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com So many things to write about this week in Unionville from what should be an interesting primary race in a local state Senate race as well as what is shaping up to be another \u201cinteresting\u201d conversation about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,7],"tags":[252,939,44,70,940],"class_list":["post-7188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-featured","tag-election-2012","tag-foxfire","tag-school-board","tag-taxes","tag-the-stone-barn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}