Letters: Pa. Senate Districts Make No Sense; Toomey’s ‘Charade’; Casino a Bad Example; Be Honest About Corporate Taxes; ‘Useful Idiots’

Senate District Borders Make No Sense

Think about it… there was a time when all of Centre, Clearfield and Clinton counties were part of the same state Senate district. That made perfect sense from an economic and community-feel standpoint. The three counties share common borders and many residents of Clearfield and Clinton work in Centre County. This also made sense because, by law, Pennsylvania must make a good-faith effort to ensure that districts are compact and preserve “communities of interest.”

Then, in 2000 and in order to make it politically safe and convenient for Sen. Jake Corman, the district was changed so it ran from Centre County down US 322 toward the state Capitol, and through Mifflin, Juniata and Perry Counties. It now included more rural Republican counties, making it easier for Jake to campaign on his way to work in Harrisburg. After all, the changes didn’t make sense in any other way.

Now, after calling his promotion to president pro tempore of the Senate an “honor of a lifetime,” Corman says he is NOT seeking reelection to the state Senate. Suddenly, Centre County will be split in half, handing the county to two highly partisan incumbent Republican senators based in other counties. Yes, you heard that right. We will no longer have a Centre County-based state Senator.

To add insult to injury, neither Republican senator is up for reelection this year so Centre County citizens will go six years, not four years, before voting again for a State senator.

Mary D. Watson
Pennsylvania Furnace

Toomey’s response a partisan charade

We recently wrote to Senator Toomey asking why he voted against Congressional legislation that would end gerrymandering and outlaw unfair voting restrictions that have sprouted like dandelions across Republican-controlled state houses. Unfortunately, his responses ignored our concerns and contained numerous examples of misinformation and outright lies.

Toomey falsely claimed that voter suppression is absent as evidenced by increased Black voter turnout in recent presidential elections. But his superficial analysis did not explain why only 58.4% of nonwhite citizens voted in 2020 compared to 70.9% of white voters, a 12.5% gap that grew from an 8% gap in 2012. Substantial evidence indicates voter suppression is alive and well in Georgia, Texas and Florida.

Strangely, Toomey never addressed gerrymandering, a glaring example of partisan politics that concentrates selected groups of voters into as few voting districts as possible. Fair-minded citizens want this partisan practice to be abolished so that Alabama and other states cannot create districts resembling “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.”

Like other Republicans, Toomey denounced voting rights legislation as a “federal takeover.” Apparently, Toomey has not read the Constitution. Madison, Hamilton and other Founders recognized the need to counteract state electoral rules that would subvert the rights of citizens to fair and equal representation in Congress. Article 1, section 4 of the Constitution gives Congress authority to regulate state elections for federal offices.

Thankfully, Toomey’s partisan charade will end soon. We must elect someone who will preserve, protect, and defend our Constitutional rights.

Kevin & Cathi Alloway
Patton Township

Casino sets a bad example

Children watch adults with keen interest. As an educator and parent, I understand how closely children observe and learn from the adults in their lives. They want to know how we think and why we make the decisions we do. If a gambling casino is approved for our community, how are we adults going to explain this to children? What will a child think when they learn about their grandparent’s or older sibling’s addiction to gambling that has been fostered and supported by a local casino?

The children are watching, I can assure you. Today’s children are very informed and aware of societal issues, in ways my generation never was. The message we are conveying to the children in our community if we condone a gambling casino in our community is this: promoting addictive behavior is OK and exploiting weakness is legitimate.

I can still recall how it slowly dawned on me during my preteen years that some of the adults in my family struggled with addiction. The sadness and helplessness I felt about their pain and suffering is something I can never forget. This experience motivates me to do well by children by showing them things that are worth aspiring to, such as mental wellbeing.

Children put their trust in the adults who care for them. That’s us – all of us. Let’s come together and insist that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board put the wellbeing of children first, today and always. Please e-mail [email protected] to let the board members know that a casino should not be approved for our community. Make your voice heard loud and clear: a casino does not belong in State College.

Anne Elise Burgevin
Pennsylvania Furnace

Be honest about corporate tax increases

Have you ever noticed that Republican politicians, when considering an increase in the corporate tax rate, are incapable of referring to it simply as a “corporate tax increase?” They insist on calling the proposal a “jobs-killing corporate tax increase,” in an attempt to scare up opposition to the proposal.

The implication is that an increase in their income tax will, inevitably, force a corporation to eliminate jobs to be able to pay the new (higher) tax.

Anyone who understands corporate tax accounting knows that this is nonsense. An increased tax rate does not impair the company’s ability to pay its employees, for a very simple reason: Payroll expenses are deducted from gross revenue before arriving at taxable income. The rate could be set at 100%, so all the taxable income goes to the IRS, but the employees would already have been paid.

Of course an increased tax liability reduces a corporation’s after-tax retained earnings, and likely also the level of corporate dividends, so a tax increase could adversely affect the investor class, but not the employees.

Surely these Republican legislators have competent economic advisors to explain this simple truth to them. Why do they keep lying about it?

Do Republicans argue for lower corporate taxes so grateful corporations will return, in the form of campaign contributions, a portion of their tax savings to these Republican legislators who made the tax reduction possible?

Could it be just that simple?

Richard London
State College

‘Useful idiots’

Against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Republican Party is sinking deeper and deeper into the muck.

This invasion blatantly violates both international law and basic aspects of human decency. If our intelligence assessments are correct, we can expect political persecution, civilian casualties and human suffering on an epic scale.

For many years, our Republican Party took the lead in criticizing and opposing such criminal behavior. Now our former president applauds the Russian action, our former Secretary of State gushes about the “respect” he has for the president of Russia and various Fox News hosts are cheering from the sidelines.

Have the Republicans completely lost their moral compass?

Of course, not all Republicans have jumped on the Russian bandwagon, but, as usual, most of those who have not still fail to call out those who have. Is the Grand Old Party totally bereft of honor and integrity?

The Russians have become very clever at bending unthinking Americans to support them in their shenanigans. They have a colorful phrase to describe these folks. They call them “useful idiots.”

Are they really useful to Russia? Likely so.

Are they really idiots? What do you think?

Stephanie Szakal
Pittsburgh