Rep Justin Simmons (R-Lehigh) is far to young to have fallen this far off his rocker. Simmons one of the rising stars of the Pennsylvania Tea Party, the 21st century version of the Nineteenth Century Know-Nothing's might be able to have resounding success during a midterm election with a little better then 40% turnout. However with a Presidential season and two years of a Tom Corbett led Tea Party agenda cutting and shifting the common good to the special interest, Republicans like Justin Simmons will have to do more than be liberal with their facts to win.
After hearing Justin Simmons claim the Corbett sponsored Budget spends more on education than ever before, I can see where Mr. Simmons would have a problem with funding public schools. Especially if he thinks 12 millions in cuts to Lehigh Valley Schools adds funding PSEA Corbett Budget App I guess the math department at Southern Lehigh High School definitely did not help Mr. Simmons much. At least not enough as the special interest money flooding campaigns like Gov Corbett and his seeking to turn a profit from our kids education is.
The main reason the Tea Party agenda targets education in our state and around the country is not the interest of the kids. It's a not so subtle assault on Unions and how they support Democrats, kind of the same way tort reform has nothing to do with costs in business but is about crippling trial lawyers donations to Democrats and lowering corporate accountability. Teachers Unions like the PSEA make it hard for Tom Corbett's
policies from turning our children's education into little more of the concern of a CEO's bottom line. Policies which Justin Simmons has consistently voted for during his time in Harrisburg
Our communities don't need anymore political staffers like Rep. Justin Simmons. Staffers who learned from Pat Toomey and Bob Mensch how to put CEOs of for profit education and the party line ahead of the needs of our communities. Hopefully the voters of HD131 will cut his three term promise, two terms short.
The tea party anchor that Justin Simmons, Tom Corbett, Majority Leader Turzai and many in the Pennsylvania Republican Majority House wear with pride is weighing down our future. Shoddy math, deceit and all the campaign contributions from For-Profit Education and AstroTurf organizations won't change that. If it was all about making the tough budget choices, why do we need misleading politicians like Justin Simmons relying on low information voters to propel the tea party agenda.
The answer is simple. The Republican Party can no longer rely on the issues and with the radical tea party base holding a once proud party hostage, politicians like Justin Simmons who can smile while deceiving the voters is the best they can do.
