Republicans: September 2008 Archives

I just returned a call from Lon Emenheiser of York, the Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives' 95th district. He wanted to clarify something from an earlier blog entry.

I mentioned that he and his wife moved here from North Carolina a few yearss back, which is true. But I presented them as relative newcomers to the area.

Mr. Emenhesier wanted to explain that he's actually a native of the region. He went to Eastern High School. Aside from a stint in the Air Force and he and his wife's relatively brief residence in North Carolina, he's lived in the area most of his life.

"I'm a Yorker," he explained.

And for the record, Mr. Emenheiser wasn't the least bit snippy about it. I Iike that in a candidate.

Here's a news release from Lon Emenheiser, a York resident who is running as the Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives' 95th district.

He'll be running against Democratic incumbent state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester. Interestingly enough, Lon's wife, Karen, ran unsuccessfully against DePasquale in 2006. Like her husband, she ran as a Republican in a predominantly Democratic district.

The couple had just moved to York County from North Carolina in 2002. Whether you support them politically or not, you have to give them credit for their willingness to get involved in the civic life of their new community.

Here's another news release by state Sen. Mike Waugh.

I'll be honest. I'm generally not crazy about legislation establishing "Official BLANK Awareness Month." If something's important and relevant to people, they'll be aware of it whether it has an official month to itself or not.

But this, obviously, is a very serious topic. And I have an uncle who died of pancreatic cancer. It never hurts to make more people aware of something like this. So here goes.

Another day, another press release. This one's from Thursday, Sept. 18. Here ya go!

HARRISBURG - In response to a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, Senator Mike Waugh (R-York) and Representative Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin) are calling upon their colleagues in the General Assembly to pass legislation amending the Prevailing Wage Act as it relates to municipal road maintenance projects.

On June 4, 2008, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued on January 22, 2007, in the case of Borough of Youngwood v. Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Appeals Board. The rulings set forth a much broader interpretation of the definition of road "repair work," including many activities and practices that have long been considered "maintenance work." As a result, municipalities are now being required to pay prevailing wages for these projects.

"I don't believe the court's decision is in accord with the intention of the law, and more importantly, it has potentially very costly consequences for local governments in York County and across the Commonwealth," said Waugh.

Senate Bill 333 (Waugh) and House Bill 1515 (Marsico) both amend the Prevailing Wage Act to further define "maintenance work" to expressly enumerate those activities that have traditionally been recognized as such, including milling and resurfacing work. These bills, in effect, revert back to previous PennDOT guidelines for municipal road maintenance and improvement projects that were undone by the Court's ruling.

"The recent court decision placed a huge burden on municipalities. I felt that it was imperative that we remedy this immediately through legislation," said Marsico. "My legislation adds language into the Prevailing Wage Act to state that combination rehabilitation/reconstruction projects where non-maintenance items exceed 15 percent of total project costs shall be considered subject to the act's requirements."

While time is limited in the remainder of the 2007-2008 legislative session, Waugh and Marsico are hopeful the legislature will see the urgency for addressing this issue in order to assist Pennsylvania municipalities in providing well-maintained roads at a reasonable cost to their taxpayers.

I owe Muriel Crabbs of Hanover, delegate to the Republican National Convention, a big apology.

Yesterday, she was kind enough to e-mail me an account of her experiences in the Twin Cities and a bunch of photos. I never posted them.

My excuse, if you can call it that, is that I was beat after covering Barack Obama's appearance in York County yesterday. I ended up working 13 straight hours on four hours of sleep, and I was just too fried to deal with posting on my blog after that.

In other words, I got my butt kicked after doing FOR A SINGLE DAY what 72-year-old John McCain has been doing for the better part of a year. God, I'm a wuss.

Anyway, here's the stuff that Ms. Crabbs sent me. And I'd like to thank her and alternate delegate Jeff Gay of Springettsbury Township for the astute and insightful observations on the convention they've provided me this week.