Jim Christiana – 9/15/09

This page was last updated on September 15, 2009.

Education is a top priority in budget; State Rep. Jim Christiana (R-15); Beaver County Times; September 15, 2009.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I believe the education of our youth is one of the pillars of our society.

“When voting on the state budget, I cannot vote yes to one part of the budget and no to another. We must understand that any tax increase would be crippling to Pennsylvania’s economy.”

[RWC] So far, so good, but the wheels are about to fall off.

“However, I do believe that being fiscally responsible needs to come with a social conscience, or it is not responsible at all. This is why I support significant funding increases for education, seniors, hospitals and veterans.”

[RWC] “[S]ocial conscience?” This sounds too much like the left’s use of “social justice” as a euphemism for income/wealth redistribution.

“This is evidenced by my support of an initial 12 percent increase in education funding and then an additional $150 million more. We cannot afford to take education lightly, nor can Pennsylvanians afford a tax increase.”

[RWC] We have at least two problems here. First, why do we need to spend even more on “education, seniors, hospitals and veterans?” Mr. Christana gave no justification other than “social conscience,” whatever that means. Using education as an example, and ignoring the extreme ends of the spectrum, study after study has shown no correlation between spending and achievement, and PA already ranks around the top ten in terms of spending per student. (That is a bad sentence.)

Second, Mr. Christiana makes no mention of where he would get the money for his “significant funding increases for education, seniors, hospitals and veterans.” As the saying goes, there is no free lunch.

“I encourage members of our community to stay involved in the legislative process, as it is them who I am representing. I want to thank Frank Bovalino for his initial letter and for providing me with this opportunity to discuss important issues with the residents of Beaver County.”

[RWC] Perhaps I’m jumping to a conclusion, but though he’s a Republican, Mr. Christiana appears not to be a conservative. Based on this data point it appears Mr. Christiana is simply a Democrat-lite.