Rep. Doyle Heffley held a “town hall” in his Lehighton District Office this past Friday. I printed out the announcement, and I actually thought about attending. The announcement said he would discuss the overwhelming response from Carbon County residents regarding the state’s budget impasse, Syrian refugees, and property tax reform.
In the end, I stayed away. I decided the whole thing would be an exercise in futility.
As for property tax reform, if the Pennsylvania legislature, controlled by Republicans with Republican governor Corbett, couldn’t fix the property tax issue, Rep. Heffley’s town hall would be more of the bait and switch that Republican legislators have been using for years.
As for the budget impasse, the current Republican legislature, including Mr. Heffley, opposes any extraction tax, although every other state, including North Dakota and Texas, has imposed one. The Pennsylvania Republican legislators are in the pocket of the drilling companies, and that won’t change.
As for Syrian refugees, the kind of fearful people who oppose any refugee resettlement, although they usually call themselves “Christian,” are probably the kind of people who would contract Heffley’s office and show up at a town hall. I didn’t feel like getting into a shouting match with bigots and cowards.
No comments:
Post a Comment