Government Reform

By Tom Quinn

It Should Be About You, not Me

Pledge to conduct open, town hall type sessions once a month to meet with you. These sessions will be similar to what I will be doing throughout the campaign where I will take your questions on any and all topics. These will rotate between Springfield, Marple and Radnor. As your Representative you should expect to see and hear from me a lot. I will be there to listen to each and every constituent.

Work to redraw district lines to create bipartisan, fair, sensible districts. Through a bi-partisan commission, we can have districts that make sense. Our current districts for State House are drawn to create political advantage, not based on communities and shared interests, not based on geographical boundaries that work. This runs counter to the spirit of democracy. To ensure we receive the best representation, we need competitive elections. Real competition means sitting lawmakers will have to defend their records, and voters will have a chance to hold them accountable.

Look to decrease the size of the Legislature. The Legislature as it stands is too large: 203 representatives for the state is too many. Legislature is bloated with bureaucracy: fewer members will increase efficiency. An efficient legislature can respond quickly to voter needs.

Call to limit Legislature budgets. Freeing money from administrative costs will allow a greater percentage of our taxpayer dollars to be spent on taxpayer needs. Do we really need over $300 million dollars to fuel the business of state government? We must respect every dollar that comes into Harrisburg and spend it wisely and efficiently.

Reform judicial appointments. Our judges should be appointed by merit and confirmed by the Legislature. Judges as campaigning politicians just doesn't make sense. As judges, they can't speak to the issues that may come before them in court: judicial campaigns become reduced to popularity contests. This is no way to ensure the best qualified candidates end up on the bench. Campaigning and fundraising have little to do with interpreting law.

Why not Saturday? Voting should be easy for all. Why not conduct our election on Saturday and Sunday instead of only on Tuesday. I want everyone to have access to vote and we should create more time, not less, to celebrate the fundamental right we should all cherish: the right to vote.