State+Rep.+Rick+Saccone

= Committee members met with State Rep. **Rick Saccone** on Friday, 5/27/11 at 3 p.m. at his office along 1002 Old Hickory Lane, Jefferson Hills, PA 15025, (412) 653-1025 = = = = TEACH member Jodi Geyer lead the meeting. =

= Saccone only won the election by 150 votes. Our goal was to have 151 letters from constituents who will not vote for him if he supports the governor. We had over 200 letters and presented them to him. He now knows his slim margin of victory will not be there next time if he does not change his ways. =

= Jodi found the representative confusing. On Tuesday (5/24/11) he voted for a budget that reduces education funding by over $1 billion. On Friday (when we met with him) he pledged to support Senate Majority leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) to increase education funding in amending the budget that Saccone just voted for. =

= What the???? = = =

= Has Saccone changed his mind in 3 days? Is he just telling us what we want to hear? Time will tell. = = We need to remind him of his pledge and the consequences of an empty promise when it comes to our children's future! = = =

= Why we're confused about Saccone: = =This is Rep. Rick Saccone (R-Jefferson Hills) two days before we met with him defending the House Republican budget plan and blaming increasing teacher salaries for shortfalls.= media type="youtube" key="kWkeN598cDc" height="510" width="640"

= Jodi's thoughts about the meeting: = = =

= I am pleasantly surprised, and a bit confused, after the meeting with Representative Saccone. Christy, Rob, and I went together and I anticipated that the Representative would be a jerk. To the contrary, he was kind and gracious and listened respectfully to our concerns. He said the following (in no order, this is just as I remember it): =

= *he supports putting money back into education and would support Pileggi's restoration of funds to education, but the money has to come from somewhere. He said that it would be hard to make the decision to take from one public need to give to the other. I asked about getting the money from businesses and he said he was in support of that. =

= * he said that Gov Corbett has NO WAM FUND!!! He said this is a misconception, that the Liberty Fund has no money in it and was created to take control of 5 other funds that weren't being managed well. He absolutely stated that the Liberty Fund is not a WAM. = = = = Rebuttal: However, we know the Liberty Loan is a WAM fund pure and simple and the Governor is using this for his Business buddies. That fund has $2 billion in it and $334 million of that came from the Tobacco settlement monies. That money (by law) has to go towards health Care for Pennsylvanians. The Governor terminated AdultBasic health care to 42,000 working Class people on March 1st. =

= * he stated that he can't answer whether or not he is in support of SB1 (School Voucher bill) because the Representatives aren't even voting on it yet and when they do, the bill will be so different with its various changes that he has no idea what it would look like. =

= * he stated that he is planning to visit a charter school in Eastern PA that is one of the top schools in the state, to see how it is run and what is working for it. =

= * he agreed with Christy when she expressed concern that Corbett's educational committee should not be comprised of so many charter school representatives and that public schools needed better representation on that committee. =

= * I gave him statistics about education in PA-we are in the top 10 in the country, we are number 4 in the world in math scores-he was unfamiliar with these statistics. I did not have them with me but told him that I would forward them on Tuesday. =

= * He said that the reason the dollar amount is the same on the graph from pre-stimulus til now but the cuts are so extreme is because of salaries and benefits. I said that salaries and benefits can't be commensurate with the depth of the cuts in education and asked him to reexamine. =

= * we discussed reallocating the funds as opposed to giving more money. he said that block grant money had been given back, and I said 30% he said it was closer to 40%. he said that he would be in support of funds reallocation. =

= * Christy invited him to visit the kindergarten because that program is absolutely working. He said that he would be happy to and to set it up. =

= * he said that he would be holding more town hall meetings throughout the summer. =

= * we told him that his constituents at those town hall meetings probably don't really represent all of us because the only people who can really go to those meetings are the retired/unemployed. He conceded t hat the meetings could be held at better times. =

= * he said that there is no surplus-those figures are projected. he also said we can't spend that money when we have debt to pay off. he referenced Rendell taking 700-800 million dollars from a medical line item and bumping it into education. doctors are now suing and may win the case, which means that the state would have to pay that money. =

= * he said that he is not a politician and doesn't plan to be in office long. This is everything that I remember, but I will ask Rob and Christy for additional input. = = = =Saccone REPRESENTS: Clairton, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Township, Forward Township, Jefferson Hills, South Park, West Elizabeth, Carroll Township, Finleyville, New Eagle, Nottingham Township and Union Township.=

= Saccone will only meet with 3-4 people at a time. Apparently crowds scare him. I dunno. = = If you'd like your own special time with him, please call and make another appointment. I'm sure he'd just love to hear from three or even four different groups! Call him and then let us know if and when he'll meet with you. = =If you live in his area (or if you just want to pay him a visit), please contact me.=

=Jodi Geyer 5: Letter to Those in Rep. Saconne's Coverage Area=

= Rick Saccone on his Close Relationship with Gov. Tom Corbett =

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= State Reps. =


 * Rick Saccone ||
 * Rick Saccone ||

=[|Represents the 39th District]= =**E-Mail:** [|Click here to contact Member]= = = =**Home Page:** [|http://www.repsaccone.com]= = = =**Hon. Rick Saccone**= =1002 Old Hickory Lane= =Jefferson Hills, PA 15025= =(412) 653-1025= =Fax: (412) 653-1275= = = = = =**Hon. Rick Saccone**= =6B East Wing= =PO Box 202039= =Harrisburg, PA 17120-2039= =(717) 260-6122=

= = = Wow! State Rep. Rick Saccone (R - Elizabeth Township) admits to playing politics with our children's future! And the former Elizabeth Forward school director is proud of it! "All schools will have to take cuts to help cover the $4 billion in debt the (Democrats) created," he says.= ="They keep insisting that property taxes will go up but that will only happen if school districts fail to make the proper cuts needed to rein in years of overspending. Eventually, the state and school districts will have to deal with the salaries, pensions and benefits problems many have avoided for far too long," he says.=

= So it's politics FIRST and children SECOND! Way to go Rick Saccone! = =|| =

=Read it here and then take action!=

=Saccone Defends State GOP Budget Proposal=

= = = = =Notes from Local Legislators= =home=