Voters Have Two Poor Choices to Succeed Browne in Pa. Senate 16

 

Above you can see the map for the newly configured Pa. Senate District 16, which is currently represented by Senator Pat Browne. He won't be in office much longer. He was ousted by fellow Republicans in the primary. I suspect his alcohol abuse played a huge role in his defeat. His role in the Allentown State Hospital fiasco (in which the state spent $15.5 million to sell for $5.5 million) probably had some people scratching their heads. But I think the main reason he lost is because voters were simply tired of him. He's held public office since 2005. He clearly in out of touch with his district, and perhaps reality itself. It's time to give someone else a chance. But of all the people in that district, you'd think there'd be better alternatives than Republican Jarrett Coleman and Democrat Marc Pinsley. They both represent the extremes of their party. No matter who wins this race, the constituents are going to suffer. 

In the Democratic corner, Mark Pinsley is perhaps the most blatant opportunist I've seen since I began blogging. No sooner was he elected South Whitehall Tp Commissioner than he announced he was running against Pat Browne. Undaunted after losing that race, he took on Lehigh County Controller Glenn Eckhart in the next election cycle and knocked him off.  As Controller, he proposed both an increase in sales tax in Lehigh County as well as an income tax that would hurt low-income families that work multiple jobs just to put food on the table.  He called for UN observers in the 2020 presidential election, He also revealed his true feelings about Allentown and Bethlehem when he objected to them being combined as part of redistricting. "We don't need another ghetto," he said. Well, we don't need Pinsley. 

In the Republican corner sits airline pilot Jarrett Coleman. I saw him at Dr. Oz's fundraiser, He made no effort to socialize with anyone. He has no fear of COVID, but must be worried that he could be infected with a liberal or centrist idea. He was recently elected to the Parkland School Board on an anti-mask and anti-CRT platform. But just like Pinsley, he has used that position to springboard himself into the state senate race. He is backed heavily by the LV Tea Party, which is trying to rid the party of what it calls RINOs to replace them with "true conservatives."

Both of these are lousy choices.