Millennials to candidates: Support progress

ISSUE | CAMPAIGN 2016

Support progress

When I'm leaving a concert late at night, I call an Uber to get me back to my University of Pennsylvania dorm. Uber is cheaper and more reliable than cabs and faster, safer, and more convenient than public transportation. Within minutes, my driver is taking me home.

I get to talking with him. He's a part-time student at a local university, studying to get the skills necessary for a full-time job. He drives with Uber at night to help pay for his education.

Some politicians, such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, would like to see Uber regulated into extinction. They do not understand that innovations such as Uber drive our economy forward in the 21st century.

Marco Rubio, on the other hand, is the strongest defender of innovative business models such as Uber. He understands that new technologies and industries are what advance the economy. To stifle them is to stifle progress.

Millennial voters ought to remember this when they head to the polls next year.

|Nathaniel Rome, chairman, Pennsylvania Students for Rubio, Philadelphia, studentsforrubiopa@gmail.com

ISSUE | LOGAN SQUARE

Costly mistakes

Jessica Parks' story told the ugly truth ("Montco officials settle for a big loss," Oct. 9). Previous Montgomery County commissioners invested millions in the failed Logan Square development in Norristown. Eight years later, the current administration is settling for a small return on that investment. I am angry, and the taxpayers should be too.

The previous board did not do due diligence on a project that was destined to fail, and after receiving a written warning from staff that the project was not viable, it invested millions more. The developer approached the current board for more money weeks after we took office. We refused.

We have tried to fix the damage we inherited. We negotiated nearly $1 million off a federal loan the county had guaranteed for the developer and took the developer to bankruptcy court.

Our administration invests in economic development, but in smart, targeted ways. We do our homework and do not have one or two people cavalierly investing millions. We have a team that knows business and evaluates projects on their merits. We take action only after a consensus has emerged.

Montgomery County will be paying for the mistakes of the past for up to two decades, but we are moving in the right direction.

|Josh Shapiro, chair, Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, Norristown, josh@montcopa.org

ISSUE | SPORTS BETTING

Fantasy money could affect games

Ruling bodies of professional and amateur sports have long feared the potential influence of gambling on the performance of athletes. Yet the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association have hooked up with fantasy sports gambling enterprises such as FanDuel and DraftKings.

Since the fantasy teams aren't actual teams but collections of players chosen by gamblers, the NFL, MLB, and NBA deduce that professional athletes will not be influenced by gambling interests.

Why? An athlete on a team that has clinched a playoff spot or has no playoff hopes could be persuaded to upgrade or downgrade his performance and statistics with money from gambling interests.

Amateur and professional sports had it right when they prohibited participation and investment in sports gambling. As for legal gambling on real teams, it seems unfair to limit it to four states. People will always gamble legally and illegally. And gambling may influence outcomes. But you can only control the performers, not their audience.

|P. Boyle, Philadelphia

ISSUE | GAMBLING IN PENNSYLVANIA

No way to solve budget impasse

I read last week's article about bipartisan support in the legislature for gambling options to increase state revenue ("Lawmakers may agree on gambling,"

Oct. 13). This is too absurd to be true.

The legislators are failing to look after the well-being of our state. They hold on so strongly to their so-called principles, which creates months-long gridlock, which puts further hardship on the most vulnerable people in our society - school employees, children, and the elderly. Then, in a cruel irony, they take the expedient road of supporting more gambling in a state where the market is saturated and won't deliver the funds they're dreaming of.

Research suggests that gambling takes advantage of the poor more than any other group. Our leaders are demonstrating a lack of morality, business acumen, and true leadership.

I thought I had to go the Onion for absurdist views of government, but it seems that state lawmakers have given us their brand of absurdist governance.

|John C. Livio, Philadelphia

The poor will get poorer

Does a letter writer really believe that balancing a state budget with revenue from people chasing the dead American Dream through online gambling will have no negative effect on society (Wednesday)?

Affording people new avenues to waste their fading resources on long-shot payoffs can only lead to new strains on an overloaded safety net. As states nationwide rely more on money from people who no longer have it, the country can only continue to crumble.

|Roy Lehman, Woolwich Township

ISSUE | PORN EMAILS

Time for an independent investigation

Whether reading Signe Wilkinson's political cartoon on Hillary Clinton (Thursday) or the "Justice delayed" editorial, the letter on police brutality, and the article "City backs Eastwick's community effort" in Friday's paper, I am reminded why I appreciate the Inquirer that shows up every morning on my doorstep.

The editorial urges the appointment of an independent special prosecutor or task force to investigate the trading of distasteful emails by judges, prosecutors, and other state officials. Gov. Wolf, we need you to step forward and get an independent look at what is going on with the outrageous and incredible misuse of state resources by employees of our state agencies. Please take charge and let's stop the drip, drip, drip of pornographic, racist, and misogynist emails.

It is time for more people to leave our payroll. Not on my tax dollars should this ever happen; people should be punished with the loss of their public jobs.

|M. Patricia West, Philadelphia, westvernon@gmail.com

ISSUE | CIVIC EDUCATION

Learning the law

According to a recent survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, two out of three Americans cannot name all three branches of government. This lack of knowledge about the basic framework of our Constitution is disturbing and unacceptable in a nation based on government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We can and must do better.

On Oct. 29 and 30, the American Bar Association will convene a conference at the National Constitution Center for teachers, lawyers, and civic leaders from across the country to discuss ways to engage students of all grade levels and the general public in learning about law, the justice system, and the Constitution. (Visit www.ambar.org/lre2015 for details.)

We as Americans must promote civic education as though our future depended on it - because it does.

|Paulette Brown, president, American Bar Association, Chicago