To the Times:
Across the commonwealth, moms like me are more concerned than ever about the future of our public education system. Despite Gov. Tom Wolf winning a resounding mandate last November, Harrisburg Republicans have rejected his proposal to fully and fairly fund education, provide property tax relief, and create thousands of good-paying local jobs. Instead they have, once again, chosen to give gas drillers and out-of-state corporations a pass on paying their fair share of taxes.
The same Republican legislators who approved a billion-dollar cut to public education have proposed a budget that will mean more than $100,000 less in funding for the Penn-Delco, Ridley, and Wallingford-Swarthmore school districts; these reductions on top of already-catastrophic cuts are unacceptable and Governor Wolf was right to use the veto.
My campaign opponent, Republican Paul Mullen, claims to support a severance tax on Marcellus shale gas, property tax relief, and public schools — the same claims made last November by other Delaware County Republicans, including state Reps. Bill Adolph, R-165 of Springfield, and Jamie Santora, R-163 of Upper Darby, and state Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26 of Springfield. But once they got back to Harrisburg, they voted for a budget that supports none of these things.
So, as a mother, a business leader, and a taxpayer, I am asking Paul Mullen to tell voters: Will he side with the children and families of Delaware County or will he vote for the disastrous GOP budget and forget about us like the rest of our Republican representatives?