February 1, 2006

WRTA

Brown Shoes Diary

Doing My Homework

I was castigating Rick Geist on Doug Herendeen's Open Mike Too program yesterday (Tuesday, January 31, 2006) and got a scolding myself from a caller who claimed to be Steve Clark.  I have a hard time believing that the real Steve Clark, who rubs elbows with the biggest of bigshots in our country, would actually call when I'm on the air.  But God bless him if he did!  Anyway, my complaint with Mr. Geist was that he seems to have turned invisible while all sorts of tax and policy proposals are being bandied about in Harrisburg.  Mr. Clark's complaint against me is that I'm lazy.  It's not the Representative's fault if I don't know how he's representing me, it's my fault for not getting him on the phone.  Seems a bit inefficient to me to have elected officials take calls from media and citizens all the time, but I took Mr. Clark's advice and did a little homework.

First, I visited rickgeist.com and what do you know?  There's a link there labeled "homework help".  Just what I needed, but when I clicked on the link, a blank page came up.  Thanks for nothing, Rick.  It's just lucky school kids don't vote, because they wouldn't be happy with that gag.

I did hit upon a link for bills currently in committee and it turns out there are three bills being handled by the transportation committee, which Mr. Geist chairs.  What are these momentous bills, necessary to the transportation needs of Pennsylvania?  Well, two of them are about naming bridges in Pennsylvania.  Certainly won't do to have a bridge without a name.  The other bill critical to the health of the republic is a matter about appointments to the Aviation Advisory Committee.  How the Chairman handles such heavy responsibility we can only guess. 

Surely Mr. Geist has been busier than this!  So I clicked on the "latest news" link at his website.  In reverse chronological order, here's what is there: 

January 9, 2006--military license plates become available for vets;

December 8, 2005--Mr. Geist hosts tribute to vets;

December 6, 2005--Philadelphia Red Light Camera project data is made available to the public (who knows what this is and who cares? Let Philly take care of Philly's business);

November 14, 2005--Mr. Geist announces Pearl Harbor day event (see December 8 news release above);

November 3, 2005--Mr. Geist claims that California type car emissions policy is not for Pennsylvania (Do you really think so, Rick?).

Well, maybe there is more information in the newsletters that he sends to us at our expense.  So I clicked on the link for newsletters and there are a total of three there.  The most recent one at the website is from June of 2004.  That's not even from his current term, although from his perspective, it's probably just one never-ending term that he's serving. 

As it turned out, that same day a very fancy newsletter from Rick Geist arrived in my mail.  Page 1 of the newsletter tells us that "Geist led the charge supporting our troops."  Well, that had to be a tough battle, no wonder he's too busy otherwise to let us know what he's up to.  That story covers most of page 1 and page 4 of his 4 page newsletter.  Pages 2 and 3 display pictures of his Pearl Harbor Day tribute to vets and the thank-you notes he received from the vets.  If I look up self-serving in the dictionary, I fully expect to see Mr. Geist's picture.  And that, fellow citizens, was Mr. Geist's January, 2006 newsletter.  That's it.  Wasn't there a special session of the legislature going on in November and December?  Nothing of interest for us there?

So perhaps the reason Mr. Geist is so quiet is because he's doing so little.  Any chance he's going to launch a fight to cut state spending?  He hasn't in his 27 years of service so far, so probably not.  Any chance he's going to support a reduction of all state taxes across the board--with respect to businesses, consumers, wage-earners, and property owners?  He hasn't in 27 years in office, why would we expect him to do so now?

Well, related to Mr. Clark's suggestion, I emailed Mr. Geist and asked him to answer the questions below.  Don't know when or if he'll answer them, but I'll let you know if he does.

Questions for Mr. Geist:

What do you think of HR 177? [HR 177 is a resolution addressing the concerns of "political correctness" in our academic institutions.]

Where do you stand on tax reform in Pennsylvania? [I know, I know, I should have said tax "reduction".]

Why do you not support making Pennsylvania a Right-to-work state?

How much tax money at federal, state, and local level is involved in the Tour de Toona?

In the 27 years you've been in office, Pennsylvania's economic performance has been poor by comparison with other states and your district has done particularly poorly in Pennsylvania.  Do you bear any responsibility for this?  Anything differently you should have done?

And one more question.  How come I have to give you so much personal information about myself just to send you an email?  You want my full name, email address, home address, etc.  Is this so you can bring the powers of your office to bear on a disgruntled constituent?

Contact John D McGinnis

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