Letters to the Editor | Dec. 30, 2025

Paul Davies is right to worry that campaigning can distract officials, invite misuse of public resources, and deepen voter cynicism. Those risks are real. But Philadelphia’s resign-to-run rule addresses them by turning a run for higher office into a luxury purchase.

If candidates must quit a six-figure job for a year to campaign, the field skews toward the independently wealthy, the well-connected, and those backed by private money. That is not a theoretical concern. It is part of what is broken in American government today: representation filtered through privilege and increasingly detached from the daily realities of most voters. It also discourages experienced public servants from stepping up, even when they know the work and the neighborhoods best.

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas is right to push for change. The better approach is to strengthen guardrails and enforce them. Require clear firewalls around staff and city resources. Publish transparent schedules, travel, and spending during campaign season. Investigate violations quickly. If an officeholder neglects constituents while campaigning, voters can punish that. If they misuse taxpayer-funded resources, prosecute them.

Good government should prevent corruption without shrinking democracy to only those who can afford to buy their way into candidacy.

Brandon McNeice, head of school and CEO, Cornerstone Christian Academy, Philadelphia

My husband and I are senior citizens living in West Philadelphia near not one but two SEPTA trolley lines, which have allowed us to fully enjoy the riches of our city. Thanks to SEPTA, we can make a trip to the library, the bank, the grocery store, or wherever — and be back home in minutes. The trolley also makes it easy for us to grab lunch from our favorite vendors at Reading Terminal Market, slip into our seats for concerts at the Kimmel Center, make it on time to doctor appointments, patronize stores along Chestnut Street, explore culture and history sites with out-of-town visitors, and, even with the trolley-to-subway transfer, speedily made it to Citizens Bank Park in ample time to catch the first pitch.

Now, though, that’s all changed, thanks to the ongoing ineptitude of SEPTA. The route diversions make trips much longer. Contending with crowds of frustrated, tense riders waiting to make the trolley-to-El transfer at 40th and Market. The physical demands that the transfer places on us older folks. All this has pushed us increasingly into our car for suburban shopping, since parking downtown is hard to find, or relying on ride-share options that tax our budget and do nothing to help the environment. And news reports these days say there’s no end in sight. So everyone loses — retailers, restaurateurs, cultural institutions, and especially those of us who’ve relied on SEPTA as a vital resource. It defies understanding how the public transit operator of a major city has been so utterly unable to fix something that its incompetence caused in the first place — and, by the way, nothing but resounding silence from City Hall and City Council.

Beth Palubinsky, Philadelphia

Donald Trump has all but conceded that his focus on toppling Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela is about the oil and not the drugs. He’s demanded that Venezuela return the assets it seized from U.S. oil companies, and uses Venezuela’s reluctance to comply as justification for his blockade of oil tankers. This raises questions about who the men killed in “drug boats” were. And if he really wanted to interdict drugs coming into the country, he would be working with Mexico.

Trump has always put the needs of the rich and powerful ahead of the average American. It is all about oil and helping the Big Oil companies. It is American imperialism dressed up as concerns about people dying from fentanyl. Amazingly, Sen. John Fetterman has bought the baloney about the “drug boats.”

Another lie that Trump has told is that he inherited an economic mess, but contradicted himself by saying the economy is great and America is the hottest country right now. That last claim sounded like a Realtor selling a property, and not a president. And, ignoring his “Day One” promises, he pledged that the economy would be great in 2026. And then when that doesn’t happen? 2027? 2028? His third term?

It should be very clear from his speech that he has no clue about what he is doing regarding the economy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is too much of a sycophant to tell him the truth. In politics, when you go on the defensive, it means you’re losing with the voters. Trump is certainly doing that, and he can’t make the higher prices disappear.

George Magakis Jr., Norristown

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