Legislators should be part-timers who can focus

Brian O'Neill suggested in his Feb. 25 column, "Outlining the Pros of a New 'Con Con,' " that the proposed state constitutional convention should shrink the size of the Legislature. Mr. O'Neill is rightfully disgusted, as I am, with legislators' behavior in voting for pay raises, giving bonuses to employees, etc. However, reducing the size of the Legislature is not the solution.

The problem is the high cost in compensation and the propensity to take care of special interests. If a convention convenes, the first priority should be to end pensions and health benefits along with a salary reduction to around $1,000 a month (close to the $9,000 per year Allegheny County Council members receive).

Currently, we are paying full time for what is a part-time job. The Legislature could convene one weekend a month, like military reservists, with a one-week session every six months. They need to focus and make their time productive. There are numerous methods to communicate in this information age when not in Harrisburg.

Next increase, not decrease, the size of our Legislature to 700-800. Also, end the bicameral system and go to a unicameral system. There is no need for an upper body to run a state. With more representatives we have much smaller voting districts enabling cheaper campaigns not beholden to special interest money.

Once common sense is restored, the convention must allow future pay raises and other forms of compensation to be voted on by state referendum, not by the representatives.

RONALD ROSENBERGER
Shaler

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Much-needed funds

On behalf of all the individuals with disabilities and their families that we at ACHIEVA are proud to support, I would like to take this opportunity to commend Gov. Ed Rendell on the budget proposal he has submitted.

In what many would consider the leanest of times, we are grateful that the governor was bold enough to remember the most vulnerable citizens in the commonwealth. We are delighted that he has committed an additional $78.5 million for community mental retardation services.

Advocates are elated that the Department of Public Welfare Office of Developmental Programs will be able to provide community-based services for thousands of individuals who have been on the emergency waiting list. Many of these individuals with disabilities have been without any services for years and currently receive 24-hour support from aging caregivers. This budget is a significant improvement from years past. The emergency waiting list will be reduced by two-thirds. It's a tremendous victory for individuals and their families.

Now, the real work begins. It is imperative that citizens encourage their representatives to keep this funding in the budget throughout the legislative appropriation process. We ask that the Legislature be as brave as the governor and pass the budget without removing or reducing this long-overdue funding.

CANDY SMITH
President
The Arc of Greater Pittsburgh
ACHIEVA
South Side

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Terrible idea

What's wrong with the governor's proposition to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike?

1. Remember the uproar when a foreign interest was going to run our ports?

2. Do we want any foreign interest running our national highway system? Could this affect national security?

3. Seventy-five or 100 years is a very, very long time. We have no way of knowing what is going to happen in five or 10 years, let alone a century.

4. What happens when the initial lease money is gone, and we lose that income?

Bad idea, Mr. Governor. The Post-Gazette has a better one: Sell the state "booze" stores ("A Plan We Can Toast," Feb. 26 editorial) and rake in the taxes with little or no overhead.

WARREN E. SHEPPICK
Fallowfield

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We love the PG

I am writing a fan letter. We love the Post-Gazette and were horrified to read that you are in financial trouble.

We appreciate the fact that your editorials show both sides of issues, though they do seem to be slanted to a more Democratic viewpoint with which I agree wholeheartedly.

Our mornings would be lost without your paper. We read the editorials and the op-ed and the comics and foreign and domestic news. I like the layout, and when we go away I wonder why some other newspapers do not have a directory on the bottom of their front pages. We are conscientious about reading the people who do not agree with us and are glad you publish them.

We do wish you success for your future as well as for the future of your Pittsburgh readers continuing to be well-informed.

EUGENIA N. DEVENS
Sewickley

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Optical scan is best

I am pleased that the PG endorses HR 811 ("Votes That Count," Feb. 13 editorial) but am concerned by your opposition to precinct-counted optical scanners. Voter-verified paper ballots, open code inspections and mandatory audits are essential. Without them, touching the screen amounts to little more than playing the slots.

The iVotronic machines, not optical scanners, are a throwback to the hanging chads. The printers negotiated for by Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato produce a continuous cash-register receipt that is prone to printer jams and fading ink, is difficult to read and can be used to match votes with names. Unlike optical scanners, they are illegal in Pennsylvania. Adding them will not change the fact that the iVotronics machines are more expensive and less accessible to voters with disabilities than optical scan.

Allegheny County has 877,999 registered voters. Just imagine auditing an election by hand counting 877,999 Giant Eagle receipts.

With optical scanners we can audit the election by hand counting a random sample of the ballots and fix errors by feeding the rest into a different scanner.

Hand counting the receipts would be long, expensive, maddening and error prone. Rescanning the ballots would not.

In 2000 fewer than 5 percent of the voters in Sarasota, Fla., lost their votes due to hanging chads. In 2006 15 percent of Sarasota voters lost their votes due to iVotronics.

Optical scanners do not mean hanging chads. When it comes to our democracy we want the most secure, accessible and cost-effective solution, and that is a precinct-based optical scanner.

COLLIN LYNCH
President Pro-Tem
VoteAllegheny.org
Squirrel Hill

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My parking penalty

I have lived in the same house in Beechview since I was a child in the 1950s. The house sits on a typical narrow Pittsburgh street, which has always presented a problem for large vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances and Access vans. In keeping with Pittsburgh tradition, for necessity, residents park on the sidewalk.

On Dec. 28, a Pittsburgh police officer came by and ticketed cars for parking on the sidewalk in front of their own home. The tickets were placed on about 12 cars, although there were at least 30 cars parked on the sidewalk that day. When a neighbor questioned this, the officer replied that "there was a complaint."

Since that day neighbors are afraid to park on their own sidewalk and emergency vehicles have to travel at a snail's pace on our street. One neighbor had to walk up a steep hill because her Access bus could not get through.

I paid $92.50 for a ticket for "illegal parking"; I cannot help but wonder how I got away with "illegal parking" for more than 50 years. My wife and I are senior citizens, and we do not have money to spend on such foolishness.

In many neighborhoods, people park on the sidewalk because of the city's quaint narrow streets. We park on the sidewalk out of necessity and common sense. I will accept my responsibility. However, I do not feel it was a responsible act by the city to issue citations at 10:30 a.m. targeting senior citizens and stay-at-home moms.

JAMES N. DITTMAR
Beechview

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The claim of finding Jesus' grave makes no sense

Among several, there is one enormous problem with the so-called grave of Jesus ("Tale of Finding Jesus' Bones Called 'Fantasy': Conclusions of 'Titanic' Director's TV Documentary Are Disputed," Feb. 27). If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, and if his tomb was not empty as his disciples and followers were proclaiming, then it would have been a simple matter for the Roman authorities to produce his dead body. That would certainly have stopped any more talk about a risen Christ.

I am always suspicious about the true motives of those who attempt to disprove the resurrection of Christ. Especially those in the Hollywood elite.

ROBERT MATCHETT
Zelienople

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