BONUSGATE
Bill would remove temptation
As the Bonusgate scandals continue to broaden with the 456 charges brought against Rep. John Perzel and nine others, perhaps it is a good time to take pause and look at what's going on here.

A number state legislators have been caught allegedly spending millions of our tax dollars to further their personal election campaigns. The most recent finding was that a sophisticated multi-million dollar computer program paid for by our tax dollars may have been used for Republican political campaigning.

The first round of indictments back in 2007 exposed the handing out of bonuses to Democratic party workers, many of whom were hired to work on petition challenges of independent and third-party candidates. These candidates, who were forced to collect many more times the number of signatures as their Democrat and Republican party counterparts, had the weight of our tax dollars being used for attorneys and staffers to get them tossed from the ballot.

The Voters Choice Act, Senate Bill 252, currently in the State Government Committee, would remove the temptation for such shenanigans. This bill would base third-party participation on voter registration totals and eliminate the exorbitant signature requirements altogether.

Please contact your state senator today and ask them to move the Voters Choice Act out of committee. Let's make our candidates stand up to the issues of the day instead of playing political games with our tax dollars.

Stephen E. Baker
Springettsbury Township