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Kid’s trout derby planned in Lovelton

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Lisa Anne Zelinski and Shannon Matthew McCabe wedding announcement

As a conservative Republican, I&#8217;m getting pretty tired of state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski&#8217;s constant whining, finger-pointing and theatrics over the budget impasse. It seems as though every day he blames Republicans and slings barbs at the opposition, when in reality he should be blaming his own party.Ten or so years ago, &#8220;Fast Eddie&#8221; Rendell pushed the gambling bill through with the promise of tax relief for everyone. It was supposed to be the magic wand that would ease the tax burden on all property-owning Pennsylvanians. Little known was the fact that a significant portion of the gambling proceeds were to be siphoned off to either the &#8220;rainy day&#8221; or general funds, with the rest to be distributed as tax relief. It was distributed all right, with the lion&#8217;s share going to the Democratic voter base in the three major cities of Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. For my part, I get a whopping $84 per year tax break, even though my total tax bill has gone up over $900 since the gambling bill was signed.Now here comes Tommy Wolf, another tax-and-spend liberal, with his tax increases for both income and goods and services under the guise of additional funding for schools and indirectly property tax relief. I give Gov. Wolf credit for at least being honest about his intentions. He comes right out and states that the largest portion of the increased revenue will go to the districts in need (again, disproportionately the school districts in the three major cities with no tax base). Again, the rest of us in the state will be hit with higher income and property tax bills and an empty promise of relief.My understanding is the Republicans won&#8217;t sign off on the tax increases until they get the specifics of the distribution and are assured that all Pennsylvanians will benefit from the increased revenues, not only those in the heavily Democratic areas.State Reps. Tarah Toohil and Aaron Kaufer, please stick to your principles and hold Wolf&#8217;s feet to the fire to make sure that there is an equitable distribution of any future tax revenues to all property owners, not only the ones who typically support Democrats.So you see, Mr. Pashinski, most of us remembered what the Democrats promised the last time and what we actually received in return. You only have your own party to blame for this impasse, because you don&#8217;t follow through on your promises.It&#8217;s also sad that Gov. Wolf has to use the school districts and the children as leverage, when it didn&#8217;t have to be that way. His &#8220;my-way-or-the-highway&#8221; style of governing is going to make for a long three years.Charlie PrulaExeter

Letter to the Editor: Stop blaming Republicans for state budget mess that Democrats spawned