Not seeing many ‘wins’ from Gov. Tom Wolf

I read with interest the Spotlight PA article “Here’s what outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf will be remembered for” (Jan. 12, TribLIVE).

I noticed the authors mostly sought the opinions of politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, in order to propose Wolf “leaves behind a long list of policy wins.” Except for a reference to “grassroots activists” furious with the governor’s pandemic public orders, the writers did not seem to mention the opinions of the general public.

Please allow me to express my opinion of the Wolf administration.

I was alarmed when one of Wolf’s first proposals was to increase both the sales and state income taxes, the most regressive and harmful of all taxes to Pennsylvania citizens. His failure to increase the taxes was a “win” for residents.

The above-mentioned “grassroot activists” were not the only citizens furious with Wolf’s pandemic response. The damage done to small businesses, working people and public school children by his government edicts led to a majority of Pennsylvania voters approving limits to his emergency powers. I think this is another “win” for residents.

The authors’ mentions of increased education funding as a Wolf win ring hollow without a single mention of any evidence of increased improvement in the performance of Pennsylvania public school students. Current performance decline in our public schools is a defeat for residents.

Finally, Wolf’s desire to allow biologically born boys to compete and dominate in girls’ sports and his efforts to keep abortion legal after 20 weeks of pregnancy are not victories in the opinion of myself and many other Pennsylvania citizens.

Ken Kretschman

Crafton

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Ban gas stoves? Never.

So the federal government is considering banning gas stoves. In RVs? BBQ grills? Furnaces? Hot water heaters? Where does this government overreach end? The federal government will have to take this iron skillet from my cold dead hands before it takes my gas stove.

Diana Fredley

West Deer

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Tired of tax money going to leaders’ perks

After reading the details of Nicole Ziccarelli’s “minor” accident, I believe the repairs should have been completed at her expense or at the expense of her personal insurance carrier (“West­moreland DA: Crash involving county vehicle was ‘minor,’” Jan. 7, TribLIVE).

Furthermore, why do we continue to supply vehicles to elected officials at taxpayer expense? Imagine what our commonwealth could do with the money that is being used for all the perks our elected officials receive. As we, the taxpayers, struggle to keep gas in our vehicles, food on our tables and roofs over our heads, it is heartwarming to know that our taxes are being used in such a responsible manner. Let the roads and bridges crumble! Raise the taxes to cover the needed programs; just don’t take away the perks.

I am disgusted and weary of how my taxes are being used.

Cynthia Madoni Ansani

New Kensington

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These Steelers are heroes, too

I agree with the writer of the letter “Essential workers, not football players, are heroes” (Dec. 29, TribLIVE) that workers who bear the burden of bitter cold temperatures should be applauded. He also said that football players, (who also endure the cold) should be ashamed and embarrassed as football is not work. I disagree. Football is hard and dangerous work.

In addition, allow me to provide examples of several outstanding Steelers football players.

Cameron Heyward’s story begins long before he was drafted by the Steelers. In 2015, he established Pittsburgh’s Heyward House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to impacting the lives of underprivileged children.

T.J. Watt supports 412 Food Rescue, which provides food that would otherwise be wasted to nonprofits that need it. His brother, J.J. Watt, through his foundation has provided funding to 770 schools to the tune of $6.7 million.

The Mel Blount Youth Home is a shelter and mission for victims of child abuse and neglect.

Current Steelers made $432,400 in donations to the Steelers Social Justice Fund in 2022.

These football players, off the field, should be acknowledged as true heroes as well.

Kathy Slomka

Leechburg

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Dems can’t pick Biden as next presidential nominee

President Joe Biden just tossed a giant bone to the Democratic Party with the revelation that, like broadcasting confetti, he distributed classified top-secret government documents throughout his home, inside his Corvette, at the University of Pennsylvania and God only knows where else.

I cannot imagine a political party would even consider nominating such a dishonorable, untrustworthy, frail and feeble person to be president in 2024. The Democrats must surely have better selections.

Biden now has given them an extremely strong incentive to make another choice; absent such a decision, in my opinion, their chance of winning the next presidential election are slim to none, regardless of who the Republican nominee is.

Wayne E. Baughman

Salem

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Let’s get over ourselves and work for good of America

I don’t often voice an opinion publicly on politics, but with that being said: It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat or Republican; I think if we all stand back and look from a bird’s-eye view, which is the way the rest of the world is looking at us, we’ll see that we are all acting like a bunch of idiots.

There are friends and relatives who don’t speak anymore over political opinions and events over the last few years especially. That’s just terrible! Finger-pointing, placing blame, trying to one-up the other party’s bad or illegal actions.

Let’s face it, folks — no one is without fault or guilt in the last 50-plus years that I’ve been aware of.

We all just need to forget, forgive and move forward in turning this country back around so that our political leaders, and I mean all of them, don’t look like a bunch of small children battling in the back of a minivan. Right or wrong, when we were children, we would have been slapped and told, “knock it off already.”

The past is the past and that can’t be changed, but we sure need to take a look at our future without worrying about party lines or someone else’s shortcomings and mistakes and remember we were all once God-fearing and believing Americans who want to do what is right for generations to come.

We need to get over ourselves, just keep it simple and do what’s best for the country. Period!

Bryan Harhai

Hempfield

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Immigrants can help fill jobs

Regarding the many opinions on the lack of blue-collar workers: Our area loses about 1,000-plus people per year to overdoses, plus the thousands who are addicted or imprisoned. Our schools and parents push young people away from the blue-collar lifestyle of getting up every morning, packing your lunch and going to work, and toward athletics and college instead. Many kids don’t want it but are made to feel like failures when they don’t conform to these ideas of success.

If we are smart, we can help our community. There are thousands of good people waiting at our border like our ancestors. We should go there now and find the best of the best and invite them to Western Pennsylvania. Immigration is inevitable. Let’s be smart and take advantage of this opportunity.

Todd Neptune

Hempfield

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