{"id":8384,"date":"2012-04-18T09:35:24","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=8384"},"modified":"2012-04-18T09:35:24","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:35:24","slug":"letter-questions-for-sen-pileggi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=8384","title":{"rendered":"Letter: Questions for Sen. Pileggi"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the Editor,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I think it is time for Sen. Dominic Pileggi to explain himself and his actions as Pennsylvania State Senator representing the 9th<\/sup> District of Pennsylvania.\u00a0 It would be great for there to be a very active discussion that includes the following topics when Roger Howard and Dominic Pileggi debate on April 19th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Who is protecting our kids?<\/strong>\u00a0 The whole Sandusky affair leaves one wondering who in Harrisburg is watching out for the children. \u00a0Who is holding the state\u2019s public safety officials accountable?\u00a0 Why is the senate not asking tough questions to the governor, attorney general, state police, children & youth services, etc\u2026 \u00a0\u00a0about what they are doing to protect our kids?\u00a0 This can\u2019t be the first time questions about the safety of children have come to Senator Pileggi\u2019s desk.\u00a0 When is the senate body he leads going to start asking the state\u2019s law enforcement officials tough and pointed questions about how they are protecting our children?\u00a0 Should law enforcement in Pennsylvania be \u201cdoing more\u201d?\n
      \n
    1. Why is it so difficult for the Pennsylvania Attorney General\u2019s office to investigate, arrest and prosecute a suspected pedophile?<\/li>\n
    2. Why did government officials share publicly so much information in such a sensitive case?\u00a0 Did the judge actually order the Governor to stop talking to the media about the case?<\/li>\n
    3. What is being done to ensure organizations like The 2nd<\/sup> Mile<\/em> are \u201cdoing more\u201d to protect children and respond appropriately to concerns about its adult volunteers?<\/li>\n
    4. Does Senator Pileggi understand that his most important constituent will not be making any campaign contributions or even casting a vote in this election?\u00a0 The children in his district and in the state of Pennsylvania need officials in Harrisburg demanding that law enforcement \u201cdoes more\u201d!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    5. Legislative staffs are not campaign staffs<\/strong> – What has Senator Pileggi done (or does he plan to do) to stop legislative staffs from engaging in political campaigns?\u00a0 Several legislators have recently been convicted of crimes for using their staff members to work on political campaigns.\u00a0 In 2010, David Woods, Senator Pileggi\u2019s Chief of Staff, was reimbursed for over $50,000 in campaign related expenses by a campaign committee named \u201cFriends of Dominic Pileggi.\u201d\u00a0 Senator Pileggi\u2019s chief of staff (whose salary exceeds $160,000 annually) was reimbursed by the Senator\u2019s campaign committee for over $50K of expenses in a year when Mr. Pileggi was not even on a ballot?\u00a0 There is a good chance that Mr. Woods spent more of Dominic Pileggi\u2019s campaign funds in 2010 than Roger Howard\u2019s entire campaign will spend in 2012\u2019s primary election.\u00a0 With all the current problems with legislative staffers engaging in political campaigns, do you think the Honorable Senator Pileggi is part of the solution or just possibly one of the biggest enablers of this problem?<\/li>\n
    6. Pension reform<\/strong>\u2013 The cost to the taxpayers for this defined benefit is staggering.\u00a0 Over each of the last several years, the total pension cost to the PA taxpayers has increased by an additional $300+ million each year.\u00a0 As this problem grows, the burden to the taxpayer for the overly generous state employee and teacher pension plan is stealing our future.\u00a0 Why isn\u2019t this problem being addressed by the PA State Senate (led by the Honorable Senator Pileggi)?\n
        \n
      1. The U.S. military pension plan\u2019s maximum payout is 75% of a service member\u2019s pay at his final rank.\u00a0 Why are state employees and teachers maxing out at 100% of their ending salary?<\/li>\n
      2. Military pensions accrue at a rate of 2.5% per year of service (capping at 75% after 30 years of service).\u00a0 Why the PA legislator and judges\u2019 pension accrual is rate a generous 3.0% per year of service (capping at 100%)?<\/li>\n
      3. PA legislators can start collecting a pension at age 50.\u00a0 Seven former PA legislators that are now in the U.S. Congress are currently collecting a state pension for their time with the Pennsylvania legislature.<\/li>\n
      4. Why not a 401k plan for state employees and teachers\u2019 retirement savings?\u00a0 They definitely don\u2019t need a pension plan that pays better than the pension plan for military retirees.\u00a0 We the taxpayers can\u2019t afford it!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The Pennsylvania Legislature has lost its focus.\u00a0 Its members need to be told that there is nothing more critical than the safety of our children, and the legislature has an obligation to ensure the executive and judicial branches of our government are fulfilling their responsibilities to protect our children.\u00a0 The days of \u201cif you\u2019re not cheating you\u2019re not trying\u201d are over in the PA Legislature.\u00a0 We need legislators with the integrity to stand up and stop the corruption.\u00a0 Lastly, the next Senator representing the 9th<\/sup> district needs to get proactive on pension reform, now!<\/p>\n

        Hope there is some good discussion on these issues during the Howard vs. Pileggi debate on April 19, 2012.<\/p>\n

        David Cleary<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Glen Mills, PA<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        To the Editor, I think it is time for Sen. Dominic Pileggi to explain himself and his actions as Pennsylvania State Senator representing the 9th District of Pennsylvania.\u00a0 It would be great for there to be a very active discussion that includes the following topics when Roger Howard and Dominic Pileggi debate on April 19th. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[1136,1111,252],"class_list":["post-8384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters","tag-9th-senatoral-district","tag-dominic-pileggi","tag-election-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8384","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=8384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}