Drucker campaign rebuts Tredyffrin GOP statements
In a letter to the editor, Paul Drucker responds to erroneous statements made by Warren Kampf’s supporters in a recent Main Line and Suburban Life column regarding the race for state representative in the 157th District:
To the Editor:
In Ray Hoffman’s May 2, 2012 column regarding the race for state representative in the 157th District in which Rep. Warren Kampf will face off against former Rep. Paul Drucker, supporters of Mr. Kampf made a number of erroneous statements regarding Mr. Drucker’s record and the current direction of public policy in Pennsylvania.
During his tenure in the PA General Assembly, Mr. Drucker supported budgets that provided funding to our public schools that were in line with the education-funding formula developed in conjunction with the 2007 Costing Out Study. The education-funding formula was adopted in the legislature with bipartisan support. The formula proposed gradually increasing funding to the Commonwealth’s public schools each year from 2008 to 2014, with a goal of achieving 50-percent funding at the state level by 2014. The budgets supported by Mr. Drucker advanced this goal.
Mr. Drucker does not support the tolling of Route 422 now, and has never supported it. He was misquoted in 2010, and supporters of Mr. Kampf continue to insist that he favors this measure. He does not. However, Mr. Drucker’s allegation that Mr. Kampf voted against a transportation bill that will create jobs for thousands of Pennsylvanians is completely accurate. Mr. Kampf voted against legislation that will allow innovative funding for transportation projects via public-private partnerships, or P3s. This legislation passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Mr. Drucker has never supported increasing the personal income tax. The comments made by Mr. Kampf’s supporters are pure fiction. During his time in the legislature, Mr. Drucker voted for one and only one tax. This tax was to create a fair and adequate extraction tax on the gas-drilling industry in the Marcellus Shale region.
Mr. Drucker supported levying a tax on the Marcellus Shale gas. All other natural gas-producing states impose such a tax. It is unfair to the citizens of the Commonwealth that we are not reaping the same economic benefit from this industry as our peer states, especially under the current economic conditions. The revenue generated by such a tax would allow for proper oversight and regulation to protect our environment from the harmful effects of hydro-fracking, while also allowing us to close the funding gap on important statewide priorities and invest in our collective future as a Commonwealth. The Impact Fee law, Act 13, supported by Mr. Kampf, is a multi-billion-dollar giveaway to the gas ndustry that jeopardizes the health, safety and economic future of all Pennsylvanians.
Paul Drucker is running for re-election as state representative for the 157th District to restore fairness to Harrisburg by looking out for the interests of all Pennsylvanians. Mr. Drucker supports increased education funding from kindergarten to college, investment to spur economic development and job creation, and protecting our environmental and economic future.
JOE BACHMAN
Campaign Manager
Friends of Paul Drucker
