Conservative Reform Blog

Union Wages v. Low Prices and Productivity

Bernie O’Hare runs a good blog called Lehigh Valley Ramblings and a few weeks ago he reported that Mack Trucks was leaving the Lehigh Valley and that  Democratic Challenger Bennett slammed incumbent moderate, super nice and super smart (even if we disagree on some issues ) Representative Charlie Dent for failing to bail out Mack Trucks.

 FreedomWorks Joe Hilliard makes some good points on effect of unionization on jobs and wages.

“Be careful with the declaration that wages are much lower in RTW states. That is the AFL-CIO line and their study is flawed for many reasons.

It does not account for cost of living differences. Nor does it count the benefits of greater economic prosperity in RTW states. Examples: Poverty is lower in RTW states. Unemployment is lower in RTW states. And taxes are typically much lower in RTW states.

The choices are simple. Would you rather have a better chance at a job, or should we merely preserve few, and dwindling, high paying jobs? (Dwindling? Mack 5c plant closed because of the union. Now the HQ has left. Why is the Beth Steel plant becoming a casino and retail area? I know an office worker at the HQ. If you ask the wrong clerk to grab a file, you get slapped with a grievance. You have to ask the CORRECT clerk to grab the CORRECT file…. ridiculous work rules.)

Also, would you rather pay lower taxes and no union dues or have a higher wage that is eaten up with higher taxes and union dues?

The more reasonable studies I have seen show about a 2-3% difference in wages. A lack of union dues makes up this difference immediately.

The battle should be about jobs and economic growth. Not job killing policies. Wait till card check comes (no secret ballot for unionization). Do you think more plants will open overseas and close here? The answer is pretty simple.”

Posted in Free Market - Right to Work | 1 Comment »

More on BonusGate: Senator LaValle’s Wife

Senator LaValle’s wife, working for profitable nonprofit funded with State public taxpayer money used work time to campaign for former Representative Mike Veon who was defeated in November 2006 as the only State Representative who refused to vote for rescission of the Pay Raise of July 2005.

Senator LaValle and Representative Veon, both of Beaver County,  were engaged in joint venture, BIG, Beaver Initiative for Growth,  which received $10,000,000 of public taxpayer money over ten years. BIG purported to be a nonprofit promoting economic development in Beaver County. Mike Veon was arrested as part of bonusgate criminal enterprise and Mrs. LaValle has been separately arrested. Senator LaValle has not been accused of any wrong doing of any kind and is retiring this year. Democratic House member Sean Ramaly was running for the open Senate  seat and has since withdrawn because he was also indicted and charged as a participant in  Veon Bonusgate criminal enterprise.

Key sentences from Post-Gazette LaValle used work time to campaign for Veon

“E-mail messages between campaign volunteers show that she spent at least 13 weekdays campaigning during the five weeks leading up to Mr. Veon’s contentious 2006 primary. E-mail records from other time periods were not available, but three people who worked on the Veon primary campaign said they saw Mrs. LaValle campaigning on numerous other days as well.

“She was there all day, every day for the whole spring up until the primary. She would come in the morning, stuff envelopes, go home to eat and come back to manage our phone banks at night,” one former campaign staffer, who asked not to be identified, said yesterday.”

The Inquirer carried the AP wire

Posted in Elected Officials, State Politics | No Comments »

September Fundraising from the Enemy

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Todd Stephens, Assistant District Attorney, is challenging freshman Democrat Rick Taylor in 151^st. With Democrat Fumo and House Democrats under fire for corruption, one would think the Republicans  had a clear shot at a House Democrat who actually benefitted, (unwittingly as so many of our elected representatives are) from Democrat Veon’s criminal enterprise. Now indicted Rachel Manzo actually worked for Rick Taylor’s private, partisan political campaign while paid with public taxpayer money. But the Republican challenger? . Not illegal and not immoral but, really, what does one think of Todd Stephens, an Assistant District Attorney,  taking campaign contributions from defense lawyers whom he opposes in Court on behalf of us.

Criminal Defense Attorneys Filling War Chest  By RICH PIETRAS      The Intelligencer  July 26, 2008 6:12 AM

The House Democrats have put out this hard hitting ad and they may have a point.

Will they never learn? Oh the fecklessness of MontCo Republicans… with Bonusgate and the House Democrats Criminal Enterprise which stole millions of public taxpayer dollars for private political power as hottest political scandal in thirty years, one would think the Republicans would run a squeaky clean anti-corruption campaign. What would we think of a defense lawyer who was paid by the prosecution. This is election; the voter booth is not the Courtroom, the presumption of innocence does not apply. We are asked to vote for the person who best will represent our interest. The appearance of a “conflict of interest” is not a qualification

The Intelligencer July 26th ran the article cited above about ADA Todd Stephens raising money from defense lawyers. Isn’t this a conflict of interest? or at least suggest that? If you are running an anti-corruption campaign, wouldn’t it be best to avoid the appearance of impropriety? And with the upcoming depositions of Tom Ellis and Jim Matthews in the no bid Xspand contract case, I would think Rs would stay away from any taint of impropriety and hammers Ds on Bonusgate and the House Deocrats Courrpt Organization. 

Posted in Elected Officials, Local Politics, State Politics | No Comments »

Blogs Worth Noting

Three  blogs that you may find tell you things that Inquirer and southeast media don’t.

•1)    The Lehigh Valley Political blog   Joe Hilliard is Limited Government guy. He has an interest in East Penn School District where our colleagues Mark Prinzinger, 24, and Julian Stolz, 20, are school board members battling the profligate and useless spending of the East Penn School Board.

•2)    Great Valley Stakeholders which analyzes and advocates for effective spending at Great Valley High School in Malvern school district Chester County. This is a very sophisticated and detailed web site with careful and thoughtful policy recommendations. See also a posting on our blog

•3)    Save Ardmore Coalition frequently has useful local information not covered elsewhere.

Posted in Conservative Reform Network | No Comments »

IBX, like Highmark, is a Government Sponsored Predator

IBX, like Highmark,  is a government sponsored predator, a Leviathan that controls both supply and demand of health care in Pennsylvania.

IBX, like Highmark, is not Free Market capitalism; it is corporate Statism, a variation of Socialism. IBX and Highmark are government created, government protected, government subsidized entities, very profitable ‘non-profits.’

Competition and choice are keys to quality and affordability for the consumer. Even United Health Care and AETNA cannot compete against

Key Sentences from State Diagnosing Insurance Merger  By Marion Callahan and Tim Darragh Of The Morning Call  August 31, 2008

Bob Kachelries is waiting to see what a merger would mean for more than 100 Lehigh Valley companies for which he negotiates benefits. Kachelries is an insurance broker with Lehigh Valley Benefits Group in Allentown, whose clients include Grand View Hospital and the Allentown Art Museum. Highmark is on the list of insurers his clients can choose from for their benefits packages.

”My main concern is whether they’ll squeeze competition out of the marketplace,” Kachelries said. ”Right now, competition serves our clients very well.”

The Morning Call  Allentown, Pa.

Posted in Health Care Reform | No Comments »