Pat Howard: On college, raw politics and bad faith
Community college opponents seek to overturn the democratic process in Erie County. There was an extensive public debate over years about whether Erie County — in the face of a workforce development deficit and generational poverty that saps human potential and opportunities — should sponsor a community college. It culminated in 2017 when the county’s duly elected legislators voted in the affirmative and its chief executive promptly submitted that decision to the powers that be in Harrisburg. All by the book. Democracy in action, right? It’s best not to get one’s hopes up in Pennsylvania. Ever since then, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, who represents a rural district, has been seeking to substitute his judgment for the democratic process in one of the state’s urban population centers. Because he can. Scarnati was at it again a couple of days ago, via an op-ed in this newspaper. It’s a litany of tax aversion and false choices, capped by an invocation of “more bloated government.” And it again holds out a shotgun marriage between the county and the distancelearning Northern Pennsylvania Regional College as the only reasonable course. He even counseled the Erie Community Foundation on how it could use its money to do his bidding rather than what its leaders decided is right. Because he said so. Opinion P