Rick Taylor and Todd Stephens on Comment Please by Univest

State Rep.Rick Taylor and his Republican challenger Todd Stephens appeared on one of my favorite radio show, WNPV's Comment Please by Univest,on Oct. 17th. Darryl Berger is a very skillful interviewer

Comment Please by Univest
Host: Darryl Berger

(incumbent Democrat) Rick Taylor and (Republican) Todd Stephens
Friday, Oct. 17
151st district state house district

1 minute opening, questions, 1 minute closing

RT: Thank you. It’s good to be here as always. Thank listeners. [describes district] Two years ago when I ran for this office I ran because I believed I could make peoples lives better. I’ve been fighting for that. Health care, education, dignity for older citizens. Ambler, fight over asbestos. Willow Grove Naval Air Station. Fight for quality of life to be preserved. My experience in public and private industry has taught me how to work with all kinds of people.

TS: Appreciate opportunity to be here. Been an assistant district attorney in Montgomery County for almost 8 yrs. Opportunity to serve the people of Montco in that capacity and US Attorney’s office in Philadelphia. Being a state rep provides opportunity to serve people in a greater way. Disappointed in state house of rep. Too much time spent bickering. Indictments and continuing investigation. As it relates to the average individual. No one says how great state legislature is. In fact, headlines to the contrary. Lived in Horsham all my life. Time we made some changes. Been fighting for people in the courthouse and would like to move on to state house and fight for people there.

Q: bonusgate. Rick, you are involved in this to some degree. One of the people indicted was your cm for a brief time. Have you answered all the questions on that? You ran as a reformer.

RT: Yes, what has happened as far as Bonusgate goes. If allegations are true it is saddening and disappointing. Let me be clear, there has never been an accusation that I did anything wrong. Two weeks before the election there was a need to replace my campaign manager. We called state party as the campaign manager was not my employee. Said I could go it alone but called them first. I did not know she was on state money until the day indictments announced. While in Harrisburg I have worked to change the problems that have eroded the trust. First issues were legislation being rammed down people’s throats late at night. Lessened power of leadership on rules committee. Increased time for legislators to review legislation. Used to be asked to vote on legislation with no time to read it. Worked on open financing. Need campaign finance reform. Worked with Common Cause. Redistricting reform is another thing. Upper Dublin. 8 years ago there was one representative. Now in 4 different districts in Upper Dublin. Would like a nonpartisan commission. Rep. Samuelson has a nice bill on that. As soon as Bonusgate came out I introduced a bill to ban bonuses. We have to deal with systemic issues.

TS: quite frankly, with all due respect to Rep. Taylor it’s great to talk about redistricting reform but now the time has passed. Can’t happen before 2010 when redistricts. Had 2 years to address it and didn’t. Bonusgate issues. Rep. Taylor hasn’t ever shown on his campaign finance report the in kind donation for Rachel Manzo’s work. He hasn’t amended his report to show he received her work for 2 weeks. There was already a bill banning bonuses sitting in the house, passed in the senate. Sat in committee. But he introduces another bill. This whole notion that the rules were tightened is wrong. The most important bill that comes up is the budget but they suspended the rules on the budget bill. We need to make sure the caucus expenses are put online. I and others have asked about the amount spent on Rep. Taylor’s newsletters. He didn’t start putting his expenses online until Dec. of last year. Nothing in there about newsletters or tv commercials. Need to make sure one committee chair, like chair of State Govt committee chair, can’t derail legislation. We have got to stop allowing our tax dollars to defend against criminal investigations. When legislature said they were in favor of open records but D caucus fought Bonusgate subpoenas they were using tax dollars. Whole lot of lip service but no substantial changes.

RT: As far as the bonus issue goes. The existing bill banning bonuses was on all of state government. Too broad in scope. We were really concerned about people using it for political purposes. So that’s why I introduced the bill to fastrack it. On committee chair bottling legislation, just had a discharge resolution on MCare abatement (helps doctors pay medical liability). On the budget. I voted against suspending the 24 hour deadline. I agree the budget is important but the majority voted to suspend.

Q: Leadership has too much power?

RT: Having a strong leadership is frustrating. They still have a lot of powers. It’s not all bad. The legislative accounts not all bad, sometimes all four caucuses will share costs of something with the governor. I believe in kind services were reported from HDCC. They gave us a statement saying what services were rendered. Both campaign managers were same, an in kind service provided. On the mailings, I think these mailings serve an educational purpose for constituents. For example, announce free breast cancer screenings for low income women. Not excessive. Property tax rebates for seniors. Education people about these services. Has gone to visit constituents even in off years to help them and educate them. I have more constituent service hours than any other rep according to a survey. Televised publis service announcements also serve to educate public. One early PSA on TAP 529 programs. Dual enrollment, get college credits while in high school. Work on making college more affordable.

TS: Still confused. Open records. How much did we spend on newsletters. You don’t’ even know how much you spent?

RT: That comes through the caucus.

TS I don’t disagree that there is important issue information to disseminate to constituents. I worked on Internet crime safety. Developed on my own time and distributed Mouse pads with Internet safety. Got corporate sponsorship. Ricks’ tv ads, 45K spent on 529 programs. If every state legislator spent that kind of money wouldn’t it be smarter if there was one commercial from the treasurer’s office instead of individual ad from each legislator.

Q: RT not the only one doing this.

TS: We need to change these things.

Q: Willow Grove Naval Air Station (Joint Air Reserve Station at Willow Grove)

RT: There are 3 principles I’ve been working with. Base and runway is important. After 9/11 it became apparent that the old way of working needed change. We need to keep it and keep runway. Need for national defense, emergency preparedness. Whatever happens at the base should not diminish quality of life who live in the surrounding communities. Been a strong proponent of working with both sides. Been working with the state and local representatives. Greatest concern being commercial flights. Two pieces of legislation given to locals to mark up until they are comfortable with it. I’ve been working in a very bipartisan fashion. Have worked with different cultures and be an honest mediator. Legislation would block commercial flights and narrow definition of associated user. I’ve spurred the debate and brought Gov. Rendell in to meet with some of the township officials. At the end of the day you cannot diminish quality of life in Horsham.

TS: On Horsham planning commission for years. We need to abate traffic around Horsham. Maybe use some of the land to decrease traffic. When the military said they don’t want it ever other gov’t agency given the option of coming to WG for free. All declined. Gov. came in and said it should be preserved as joint agency installation. I have mixed feelings on whether it is necessary or not. All agencies had previously declined. Gov. has found he can’t possibly afford to maintain base with just gov’t monies. Kimball Report said some private use. RT said he endorsed Kimball Plan, more buildings and hangars. Issue is you will be using commercial air traffic to foot the bill for the base. Congress passed legislation to allow for commercial and cargo air traffic for WG. Keeps trying to wrap this up in national security but ask and pharmaceutical companies keep coming up. I was at the meeting when Burger King was listed as being part of national security. [read from committee minutes]. If you told me this was going to be a gov’t facility with gov’t planes and gov’t pilots for national defense and homeland security, I could support it. I’ve been a neighbor of the naval air base all my life. There’s nothing like watching a fighter taking off. But that’s not what is happening here. Those associated users would access to the runway so they will foot the bill.

RT: What I endorsed was the vision of a homeland security hub with a runway. The associated user is part of the discussion the township and the state need to have. We do need to make sure the township has a say. The governor said the township would have a say. I am trying to work with the township to make sure they have a say. Trying to be an honest broker. I’ve knocked on thousands and thousands of doors. We’ve got to define what associated users are. Taxation issues. Sovereignty of the state should not be given up. Fed legislation said no commercial and cargo flights.

TS: You can’t be a broker you’ve got to take a side. Horsham declared a great place to live. We didn’t get that by letting the state come in and dictate what happens to all these acres. The decisions need to be made in Horsham and Montgomery townships. If we’re going to relocate businesses from Montgomery Township to federal land in Horsham where they won’t pass taxes; that is a concern. Never once has RT talked about land use or local taxes. Just ban non-gov’t flights. None of that has happened. We heard from the state there would be a public meeting back in March. There have been no public meetings. All closed door meetings. Kimball Plan made in closed door meeting. Footing the bill for that facility is wrong. I would fight tooth and nail.

RT: Horsham also part of this Kimball Report. I was supporting the vision. There was legislation we were going to run right before we broke for the budget. A lot of the issues the twp wanted to deal with and they asked me to hold up that legislation. We redrafted the legislation.

TS: When you were asked if you will support this legislation you said you didn’t know and then made a phone call and said you would support it.

RT: At the meeting I said to the twp I said I supported what they were doing in principal but wanted the conversation to continue. You have to have a number of legislators and the governor to pass legislation. I told Horsham I believed in the principal but did not want dialogue to end.

TS: you didn’t go and introduce the legislation. Tom Murt did and you jumped on. How are you going to pay for that runway unless you’re going to use commercial tenants to pay the bill.

RT: We drafted the legislation, sent it to solicitor of Horsham twp, didn’t hear back. It was after Murt’s bill was introduced that we heard back. Rep. Murt and I are communicating but I heard about the bill after it was introduced.

Closing

TS: I certainly appreciate you having me here. I would love to have another debate. We need some new leadership, someone who understands the issues are it relates to WG, traffic issues. I have a 98% conviction record in DA’s office. Deserve and opportunity to go Harrisburg www.toddstephens08.com

RT: In the last 2 years I have worked hard to make a difference in people’s lives. Helping push Bo-Rite on national list. Dual enrollment. Asbestos. Work for those who don’t have a voice. www.taylorforpa.com