Conservative NorCo Republican Calls For One Mill Tax Hike

Ben Hedrick (L) and Hayden Phillips (R) at a debate last year.

Some of you like to disparage conservative
Republicans as "teabaggers" who only watch FOX news and do nothing unless they have orders from Rush Limbaugh. This is a distortion. To be sure, there are intolerant and unthinking ideologues on both sides of the political spectrum. But I thought I'd focus a bit on one of the tea party types who are regularly maligned. His name is Ben Hedrick.

He is an old fart and white. He has a beard, too, and is often featured in the Republican Action Team. That's the right wing of the right wing of Lehigh Valley Republicans. I'm pretty sure I've seen him at a few tea party meetings.

On October 2, at a Council meeting attended by close to 300 County workers who are rightfully upset about major reductions in their health coverage, Hedrick spoke up and asked them to to think about fixed income senior citizens like himself. But before you stereotype him, let me tell you I see him at nearly every County Council meeting, along with nearly every meeting of the Bethlehem township Board of Commissioners. I even see him, usually with Hayden Phillips, at local debates. He cares about his government.

He also thinks.

At a sparsely attended budget hearing last night, this conservative Republican delivered an eloquent address, calling for a tax hike. Here's what he said.

Good evening, guardians of the county fisc. I recently cam before you and, in my own awkward way, asked you to show restraint in the budgeting process so as not to balance the budget on the backs of fixed income senior citizens. The corollary to that is that I doubt anyone here dislikes taxes more than I do.

But reality intrudes.

It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that something must be done to help this new administration dig out of the inherited budgetary hole in which they find themselves.

Mr. Brown has proposed a plan of budgetary constraint, with no tax increase, that he says will solve the problem. Maybe so. Others have called for a large tax increase as a way out of the mess. Maybe so. I'm here to ask you to consider a compromise approach that involves moderation and control.

I believe we should give credence to Mr. Brown's plan to address the problem, but I also think we should put something in place to augment that plan. Bite the bullet, if you will. A half mill seems too small, but two mills seems too much if Mr. Brown's plan works in tandem with the increase. You folks have access to the numbers, but in my opinion, moderation calls for a one mill tax increase.

The second part involves control. We need to make sure that any funds raised are used for their intended purpose.

As a reformed, three pack a day cigarette smoker, having given it up primarily to the onerous taxes that I dislike intensely, I was appalled to see that the tax settlement monies go everywhere but where they were intended. To avoid this, and the possibility of these new funds being used to bail out under water and unsaleable golf courses, we should make sure that the money is only used for emergencies and to replenish the savings, with any expenditures being under your absolute control.

Moderation and control.

Thank you.

I am covering him, word for word, because what he said made more sense than anything uttered by the people we elected.

LV Tea Party at Great Allentown Fair

That's right, folks. The LV Tea Party had a stand at the Great Allentown Fair. On the right is Manchurian candidate Jake Towne. On the left is political genius Joe Hilliard.

Congressman Charlie Dent: Pelosi's Agenda is Frightening

At Friday night's LV Tea Party candidates' night, LV Congressman Charlie Dent echoed Pat Toomey's concerns about just where we're headed.

"Nancy Pelosi and her partisans have taken this country off track in a very serious way and in a direction that many of us find alarming. I have fought against so many of the bad ideas of this agenda coming out of the U.S. House: stimulus; cap-and-trade; card check; to the recently passed health care. The agenda is just simply frightening. And because of the enactment of the health care bill, more is about to come down the pike.

"Because I've stood up and led the fight against so much of this wrong agenda, we've been visited by Nancy Pelosi's top lieutenant, Steny Hoyer. He's coming in here because he wants me out.

"We're going to have Joe Biden come here and visit us on April 15th. Tax day. Tax day. How appropriate! He and John Callahan will have lots to celebrate."

You can see the video here.

Mat Benol, Dent's amiable Republican opponent, had a similar view. Democratic challenger John Callahan, like most Democratic candidates, avoided the event.

Will Democrats Show for LV Tea Party Candidates' Forum?

Lots of groups host candidates' forums. Usually, there are more candidates than concerned citizens. That's why I'm surprised that, so far, there are 122 RSVPs for a Lehigh Valley Tea Party candidates' forum on April 9th.

When I attended one of their meetings last month, I was shocked by the 320 plus crowd packed into Palmer Township's Chrin Community Center, especially since they were listening to a relatively dry speaker. These folks are obviously very conservative, and as I've noted before, lilly white. But it would be a mistake to marginalize them. Are they angry and frustrated? Yes. Would they abolish Social Security, Welfare and Medicare? You betcha'. But are they out on a pass from Allentown State Hospital? No.

Their forum on Friday, April 9th, is at the Chrin Community Center, and starts at 6 PM. All candidates on the Primary Ballot for US Senate, US Congress (15th District), and PA Governor have been invited.

Bobby Gunther Walsh, the LV's Glenn Beck, will emcee the festivities. So far, the following candidates have agreed to appear:

Congress: LV Congressman Charlie Dent and his Republican opponent, Mat Benol.

Senate: Peg Luksik (R), Joe Vodvarka (D), and Joe Sestak (D) (maybe).

Governor: Sam Rohrer (R) and a surrogate for Tom Corbett (R).

No word yet from Democrats John Callahan, Arlen Specter, Jack Wagner, Dan Onorato and Joe Hoeffel? Are they turned off by some of the threats and violence directed at Democratic members of Congress over the federal heath care overhaul? What's really sad is that some of this is coming from Republican Congress members:

Rep. Michele Bachmann: "I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous….having a revolution every now and then is a good thing.”
Rep. John Boehner: "Take [Democratic Congressman] Steve Driehaus, for example. He may be a dead man. He can't go home to the west side of Cincinnati.”
Rep. Steve King: "Let's beat that other side to a pulp! Let's take them out. Let's chase them down."

Maybe it's just me, but I doubt many Democrats will be showing at this forum. They're in no mood to Join the Angry Mob.
How about Pat Toomey, darling of conservatives everywhere? He probably wants a check.

Join the Angry Mob?

I first met Wind Gap lawyer Nick Sabatine, who's running against Marcia Hahn for Criag Dally's seat,
when he and his father were promoting Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign. Nick eventually became the national chairman of the Patriot Party, but eventually reached the conclusion that third parties are ineffective.

I do his title work, so I'm officially Switzerland in his race against Marcia.

But I can tell you this much. Nick is a very nice guy, but he's also very dry. An intellectual who likes to deliberate. And pontificate. His four years on Northampton County Council lasted four decades.

These days, Nick's something of a tea party activist. I can understand that because he's always been very conservative. But what blows me away is that he's formed a rock band. With guitars and everything. Not one violin or harp. Get this name: "Join the Angry Mob." If you click on the link, you can order CDs and buy T-shirts. Here are some lyrics from his first cut.

"All you grandmas and grandpas too/ You better watch out cuz' they're after you / making such a fuss at those rowdy town halls / soon you'll be staring at four small walls / People in Congress aren't used to being told if you don't do your job you'll be thrown out in the cold / it's news to them that they work for us / it's time they learn, so get on the bus / come join the angry mob / if you're mad as hell and can't take it any more / join the angry mob / grab 'em by the neck, show 'em to the door."

Grab 'em by the neck? Angry mob? Nick, what the hell are you doing? Are you going to hit them with legal pads?

I wonder whether Ron Shegda is playing bass.
Update: The Express Times' Tony Nauroth also has a piece on Nick Sabatine's musical debut.

LV Tea Party Advocates Return to Old-Time Book Burnin'

It's what made this country great, right?

Wait, that was Nazi Germany.

On Friday night, I snuck into Lehigh Valley Tea Party's monthly meeting, which was being held in Palmer Township. Sure, I saw a few of the usual wing nuts, like Ron Shegda. Joe Hilliard was sitting up front, saying "here, here" a lot. There wasn't a single black or Hispanic-looking person in the crowded and stuffy room. But there sure were a lot of people, at least 320 of them. And they listened politely for over an hour as some author droned on about "individual rights" and "freedom" and getting rid of social security and Medicare and things like that.

Every now and then, he'd say something like "I hope Harry Reid goes down," and everyone would start clapping and stomping their feet. They're angry.

By the way, did you know that the Sherman anti-trust Act, passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by a Republican President, was the first step on the road to socialism? Neither did I. Imagine that.

Well, after spending an hour listening to a lecture about the importance of our individual liberties, the local tea party decided to get into the book bannin' biz. They're taking aim at a book being used at Easton High School, Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickled and Dimed." That's a story about a year the author spent as a waitress and doing other low-skilled jobs. She's an advocate of a "living wage," and that scares the hell out of Lower Saucon Township resident Eric Adams. He complains that Ehrenreich's tome, like the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, is yet another step along the slippery slope of socialism. He wants the book banned, but the high school has already told him to pound sand.

On March 18, LV Tea Party shock troops will rally at the Easton School Board with their pitchforks and torches. "Let's have a big showing at the meeting to let these people know we mean business!" Here's what one member says. "I know how hard it is to crack the curriculum that is advanced by the libs.

Wait a tic. After an hour of listening to some professor talk about the importance of individual rights, these "patriots" are going to trample all over the First Amendment and censor ideas simply because they disagree with them? I can see the oil painting now, of self-proclaimed Tea Party King Joe Hilliard, courageously burning books they decide are just too damn progressive. For our own good.

What will be next?

Here's a list of the ten most frequently banned books in this nation: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (that damn "n" word); The Catcher in the Rye (farting in church); To Kill a Mockingbird (that damn "n" word again); Bridge to Terabithia (Isn't this now a Disney movie?); The Lord of the Flies (It's pretty much what happens in the blogosphere); Of Mice and Men (Ewww, poor people); The Color Purple (doesn't use the "n" word, but is full of 'em); Harry Potter Series (Hey, it might turn you into a geek); Slaughterhouse Five (probably because it's dedicated to my mother); and The Bluest Eye (I got a black eye sneaking that one around).

What patriots!

When they've finished with the books, what will they ban and/or burn next?

Tea Party Express: "Actions Speak Louder Than Words"

A terse statement from a group that increasingly is becoming a political force.

"Tonight was a night of hot air, delivered in a way too long speech that revisited pledges we've quite frankly heard from Barack Obama before.

"His comments in the State of the Union were similar in tone and substance to his comments made after he won the 2008 presidential election and during his inauguration.

"But actions speak louder than words, and this administration violated its promise for increased transparency. Lobbyists were appointed by the president to positions he swore would never be filled by former lobbyists.

"Worst of all, we've seen out-of-control spending, and an unparalleled growth in the size and power of government.

"We'll start to believe Barack Obama when his actions match his words. Until then, it's just more empty promises, and we've all heard far too many unfulfilled promises from the politicians in Washington.

"In our opinion, the best part of this speech was the end."