Chamber says yes; NewsLanc says no

The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce is making an all out effort to convince voters they should vote for the Home Rule Charter.

This in itself is reason for concern for many.

NewsLanc has not made a study of the issue but opposes the change in local government for two reasons:

1) If it isn't broke, we see no reason to fix it. Although mistakes were made in not allowing more time for public discussion of the sale of Conestoga View and it was dumb to purchase election machines without a verifiable paper trail, the Shellenberger Board showed great bravery and wisdom in defending county tax payers against greedy special interests. And the current Board seems to be competently carrying out county business.

2) Currently Democrats are virtually assured of being represented by one out of three commissioners. This a vital check on one party abuse. Under the proposed approach, Democrats would likely only have one in five commissioners and, even worse, the Administrator Czar who would then be actually carrying out the business would have little reason to be responsive to Democrats.

Below is a copy of a letter from Tom Baldrige, President, The Lancaster Chamber, to Home Rule Charter supporters.


From: Home Rule Charter [mailto:homerulecharter@lcci.com]
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 10:37 AM
To: Tom Baldrige
Cc: Sally Bair
Subject: Home Rule Charter Update

TO: SUPPORTERS OF A HOME RULE CHARTER

On this last day to register to vote, we have FOUR QUICK UPDATES on our ongoing efforts to secure a "YES" vote for the Home Rule Charter. Anyand all help is GREATLY appreciated...

1. YARD SIGNS ARE IN! Please help us blanket Lancaster County with "Vote Yes for Home Rule Charter" yard signs. Signs can be picked up during normal business hours at The Chamber (100 South Queen Street; M-F, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.). If you need to make other arrangements to get your sign(s), please let us know via return email.

Please note, at this time we are not interested in placing them at random intersections or just along the road; rather, we would like them to be associated with a person/house as a way to establish a "If he/she is for it; I guess I will be to" mind set.

2. POLL WORKERS NEEDED! We cannot underestimate the importance of having "VOTE YES" poll workers at every voting location in LancasterCounty. Please respond to this email to let us know if you would be willing to work a poll. Please note your hours of availability and preferred poll location, if any. We do not want to wait until the last minute to have all our poll workers in place so anything you can do to
help NOW is greatly appreciated.

In addition to working the polls, we could really use some help with the work involved in coordinating poll workers between now and Election Day. If you are willing to dedicate some volunteer time in that regard, please let us know via return email.

3. FUND-RAISING NECESSARY! We continue to actively solicit funders in support of the "VOTE YES" campaign. Won't you please consider being a donor, if you have yet to do so already? Simply respond to this email with a pledge or visit our website at www.citizensforhomerule.org for further information.

4. SPREAD THE WORD! You are getting this email because you have demonstrated past and/or current support for the cause and you happen to be in our database. Let's not limit the message to so few. Please feel free to distribute this email to your friends, neighbors and co-workers as we continue our efforts to spread the word. [And, to those who are getting this email as a result of it being forwarded by a friend, please feel free to visit our website at www.citizensforhomerule.org to learn
more about the issue. Priority One throughout this campaign is to make certain people are educated when they get to the polls on November 4!]

For those of you who have already responded with your help to any and all of the above, our thanks. But the effort is far from over and everyone's help will be required if we are to succeed on November 4. WE GREATLY APPRECIATE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP!

Stay tuned for more updates....

Tom Baldrige, President
The Lancaster Chamber
tbaldrige@lcci.com
(717)397-3531