Lame effort by DeFelice
In a recent issue of the Northeast Times, your newspaper published an advertisement paid for by the Philadelphia Republican Party that read “For Trump? Against Trump? Make Your Voice Heard on April 26th!” The advertisement then asks your readers to switch their registration to Republican so that they can vote in the April primary, presumably for (or against) Mr. Trump.
As a reader of your paper, I’m a bit insulted at how transparent the actual purpose of this advertisement was. In fact, this might be the lamest attempt at a voter registration drive in our city’s history. If the best that the Philadelphia GOP can do to swell their ranks is to use the spray-tanned reality TV show star as a lightning rod it’s no wonder why the party has been hopelessly inept at making any inroads in Philadelphia.
I was born and raised in Mayfair and I live here now. I know who GOP party chairman Joe DeFelice is, and I know he means well for the community. I also know that he desperately wants to be in office. The way to get there is to prove you’ve got what it takes - — not to attempt to dupe voters by using Donald Trump to get a reaction. Mayfair and Northeast Philadelphia deserve better than that, Joe. I think we all expected a little better from one of our most prominent community leaders.
Frankly, if the best the Philly GOP can do is ask people to vote against their likely nominee, maybe it’s time for Philadelphia’s Republicans to ask why they are Republican in the first place.
Colin Walsh
Mayfair
Gun violence must end
To think that there has been a shooting almost every day.
And to think that only three months have passed in the year 2016. The right to arm, is not a right to the people who have been shot and killed.
Neither is it a right to those whose lives have been changed forever. Possibly, due to fear, people will start packing guns on their hips.
Oh well. It comes across that those who may be able to bring some change, don’t give a damn.
What a disgrace.
Marie Patton
Fox Chase
Henon is a hypocrite for supporting sugar tax
I fear that Councilman Bobby Henon may have an irony deficiency. How else to explain his proposed bill to give food manufacturers who move their operations into the city a 10-year tax abatement while simultaneously trying to drive Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola out of town through his staunch support of a regressive sugary drinks tax?
The reason Amoroso’s Bakery, Nabisco, Hostess, Wonder Bread and so many other companies left the city, taking hundreds of good jobs with them, is Philadelphia’s already astronomical business taxes.
This regressive sugary drinks tax will lead to more job loss, a diminished taxpayer base, and the potential departure of more major businesses from the city.
How would Councilman Henon — a former union official — like it if the sugar tax was applied to all sugar-infused foods sold in the city like, say, Tastykakes? The Tastykake plant employs many of his IBEW Local 98 brothers and sisters.
Would he still support a sugar tax if it adversely impacted his union’s workforce? I highly doubt it. Henon’s tax abatement plan is hypocritical. One can’t profess dismay over businesses leaving the city while simultaneously trying to drive others out of town.
The sugary drinks tax punishes one industry to the exclusion of all others. It’s unfair, regressive and an unreliable source of revenue.
Mayor Kenney’s programmatic goals are laudable, but he and City Council need to find a better, fairer way to fund them.
Daniel H. Grace
Secretary/Treasurer, Teamsters Local 830
