It’s really hard to find a Republican candidate in Pennsylvania who doesn’t say they want to cut state spending. Finding one that will actually cut something is much harder. Fortunately the voters in the 37th Senate district this year have someone who has proven he can make the tough choices to actually do it, and persuade others to join him: Jeff Neff.
His latest example: there has been an annual grant for a local business promotional organization, Explore Sewickley. It was started eight years ago when Sewickley had a lot of empty storefronts. If government planning is your thing, you could have made an argument for them in your budget. Since then they’ve received over a half million dollars from the borough. Now the village is thriving, businesses are prospering and…the funding was just floating on.
The vast majority of politicians would let that ride, not rock the boat, keep those constituents happy and others in the dark.
Sewickley can’t run deficits the way the federal government does. Want to cut taxes, you have to cut the budget. Tackling Explore Sewickley’s budget appropriation is a classic case of hard governance. There are about 20 people, connected and active in the community – mostly Republican small business owners – that really benefit from this spending. There are 4000 people taxed for it. Jeff drove a cut of $56,000, virtually eliminating the funding, something the organization of local merchants called “devastating.”
Boo-hoo. Thank you Jeff.
Preening in campaign literature about cutting waste fraud and abuse isn’t enough. We need Senators that are willing to cut the kinda-OK things on autopilot, that accrete year after year, that have a special interest for them. Republican voters in the 37th District (roughly a crescent from the Sewickley area through Moon to Mt. Lebanon) have a chance to make a real impact on April 28th. Neff’s persuasion of council to do that cut is over 1% of the annual budget (see page 17 here.) One percent of Pennsylvania’s budget would be $340 million.
I got to know the Neff family running for School Board and they are gracious people, good parents, and unflagging in their energy and encouragement for public service.
The Pennsylvania budget is burning. Let’s send someone in with the guts to put out the fire. Vote Jeff Neff!
Be First to Comment