Back in the 1980s, former
Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill coined the phrase, “All politics is local”. Tip felt that those voters who tallied
ballots in their local elections were not necessarily influenced by their
feelings of the leaders on the federal level when deciding who would make and
uphold their municipal laws. It is a
verifiable fact that local politics do not get the involvement by or scrutiny
of the constituency it deserves. Overall voter turnout for the 2013
Pennsylvania Primary Elections ranged from 14-17%. Based on the data that only
62% of Pennsylvanians are registered voters, this concludes that less than 10%
of the general population is involved in making the laws that 100% are
obligated to obey. (1) Such apathy for
the unique right to choose those candidates who best represent our individual
interests is a danger to the system our Forefathers envisioned and penned to
fend off the oppression of the elite over the masses, and one that we, as
responsible stewards and defenders of liberty, cannot rightly ignore.
So how do we, as elected
officials, encourage these disillusioned absentees back to the polls? How do we
engage them and make the issues we face every day important enough to elicit
their active involvement in the decisions our municipalities must make? One very powerful tool that we need to use is
the voter referendum. By allowing our
constituents the undeniable and quantitatively direct ability to decide local
matters, we break through the false notions that their individual voices cannot
make a difference. We empower them, as
they empower us, and together, we find the progression of a functional
government which is more representative of the true will of The People. The passage of Senate Bill 65 (Session of
2013) will give The People confidence in the meaning of a representative
government, where their leaders concede their own personal opinions and biases
in deferment to the voices of the voters
One such subject open to
voter referendum would be control of local funds for the growth and maintenance
of the community infrastructure. Voting
on public improvement allocations, prioritizing budgetary assignments and
approving large-scale community projects are just a few possible referendum
topics. Currently, House Bill 666
(Session of 2013), co-sponsored by our own Representatives Dan Moul and Will
Tallman, calls for exempting school
districts from the requirements of the Prevailing Wage Act. County
election officials would then be charged with placing a referendum question on
the ballot in the 2015 general election, asking county voters the following:
“Do you favor any and all public works projects
undertaken in (insert county name) County by any school district and any
authority, agency or instrumentality established by one or more school
districts be constructed in accordance with the prevailing minimum wage rates
for workmen employed on those projects as set forth in Pennsylvania's
Prevailing Wage Act?”
Allowing
school districts to get “more for less” by exempting them from the Prevailing
Wage Act saves money for the local taxpayers by reducing the overall costs, as
the current market wages for skilled laborers is on average 60% of the mandated
prevailing wages, for such projects. My question would be: Why stop there? If we are going to decide how taxpayer money
is to be spent on community projects, why would we not reduce the overall costs
of Municipal projects as well by exempting local government projects? Why are
the interests of one set of taxpayers different from those of another? I have the utmost confidence that our local representatives
have pondered these very same questions and that they are dedicated to a
fiscally conservative solution to the Prevailing Wage Act debates. However, the road that lies before them is
not an easy one, as there are currently 33 separate bills before the
Pennsylvania Congress referencing prevailing wages. This demonstrates a severe stalemate at the
state level with regards to this hot button topic and causes a serious
bottleneck in the flow of the Committees’ effectiveness in bringing these bills
to the Floor. One possible solution:
Voter Referendum. By consolidating the
debate over the 33 bills into a single referenda and letting the voters decide
the fact of prevailing wages, we free up our representatives to address other
matters which are currently overshadowed by the redundancy of the prevailing
wage issues.
One
specific bill which could use some of their attention is Senate Bill 599
(Session of 2013), which is currently co-sponsored by our own Senator Rich
Alloway. This bill is a continuance of
the work our own organization addressed earlier this year in support of House
Bill 290, which was again co-sponsored by Representatives Moul and
Tallman. The Senate Bill proposes a
compromise between the clubs and the retail licensees where the clubs would be
allowed an additional 20% of collected funds for specific expenses, while still
contributing 50% to community charitable purposes. The retail licensees would
be allowed certain games of chance, where 50% of revenues are used for outlined
expenses, 20% to community charity and 30% is put into the State General
Fund. This helps eliminate some of the
friction between the two types of licensees over the use of small games of
chance, and it allows the clubs to address their budget shortfalls caused by
previous changes to this Act. Replacing
the 20% lost by the community from the clubs with 20% from the retail licensees
may not necessarily equate into a break-even for the community organizations
which benefit from these funds, and we should continue to urge our Congress to
eliminate the aggregate prize limits of the clubs. Whether our Governor
personally agrees or not, we should not restrict our local community
organizations that support local infrastructure, nor should we dictate at what
levels of participation the local citizens should be allowed to allocate their
hard-earning wages into such worthy, charitable endeavors.
When we look at our political
system on the national level, we see a polarizing scheme in which Democrats and
Republicans argue, twist words and sling insults at one another, only to detach
the average American who has more immediate and pressing issues they feel they
have more control over in their daily lives.
This reduces the number of voices represented in some of the most
important matters facing our nation, and in deed, all The People living on our
planet. Their apathy and disillusionment of the federal government filters down
into the municipal levels; all because of the constant disagreements of 10% of
the population. Once we return their
confidence in our great government, only then can we hope to move forward to a
time of reconciliation, unity, peace and prosperity. We must lead that journey with the
unequivocal belief that “It’s not about the parties, it’s about The People”.
David W.S. Bolton
McSherrystown Borough Council
and Citizen
Vice-President, Adams County
Boroughs Association
Chairman, ACBA Legislative
Committee
6,214,854
reg. voters 62%
12,763,536 pop
10,019,375 over 18
17% voted in 2013 Primaries
Majority 51%...or less than 10% of total
population.
8%
of population choosing who will run for/hold offices making our local
decisions.
