Pennsylvania currently  first with the highest gas tax in the nation.

1. Pennsylvania - $0.59 per gallon
2. California - $0.58 per gallon
3. Washington - $0.52 per gallon
4. New Jersey - $0.41 per gallon
5. New York - $0.40 per gallon

Other oil rich states like Texas and Alaska have some of the lowest gas taxes in the country (both at under 20 cents per gallon).

The question is, where in the world is this money going?  If Pennsylvanians have one of the highest gas tax rates in the country, then they certainly expect to have the best roads and bridges.  We all know that is not the case.  We need State representatives like Jamie that are willing to fight for answers for his constituents.

Many of us rememember the outrage in response to the pay raise that occurred in the early morning hours of July , 2005, when the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed pay increases for state lawmakers, judges, and top executive-branch officials. The vote took place at 2 am without public review or commentary and Governor Ed Rendell signed the bill into law.

Now here we go again.  Starting January 1, 2022, state reps and other executives will receive a record $5,100 raise.  Pennsylvania already has the largest house of representatives in the nation.  At a salary approaching $100,000 per year, we must ask if these reps are out of touch with their constituents.  Jamie will work to repeal the law that gives automatic pay raises to state reps.

Why are corporations departing from Pennsylvania at a record rate?  Well it could be because Pennsylvania levies the second highest statutory corporate tax rate in the country at 9.9  percent.   Compare that to places like North Carolina where the rate is 2.5 percent and it becomes a "no-brainer" for corporations to move or to open a business anywhere other than Pennsylvania.   We need small business owners like Jamie to work on reducing the tax rate to make the area more appealing and to bring good paying jobs to the district.

The Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax is one of the most onerous state death tax in the entire nation. It impacts citizens who worked hard and saved over the years to leave something behind for their families, including many small business owners who labored their entire lives to build a business.  

Only a small number of states still have an inheritance tax, and none but Pennsylvania and Nebraska still tax children. Nebraska’s rules are much more lenient than Pennsylvania’s. For example in Nebraska children are only taxed after the first $40 thousand at a rate of 1%. Pennsylvania charges children 4.5% after a child inherits more than 3500 dollars. Our state charges 12% to a brother or sister who inherits.

Simply put, this insanity has to stop.  Jamie will work hard to pass a bill to completely eliminate the state's death tax.

Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states where there is NO LIMIT to what lobbyists, Political Action Committees and special interest groups can donate to candidates.   This "legal" bribery needs to come to an end now.  Year after year candidates talk about Campaign Finance Reform in Pennsylvania and yet nothing is ever done.   Jamie doesn't just "talk the talk".  He has refused to accept a single dollar from any corporation, lobbyist, or special interest group and has limited any donation from individuals to $200.   For too long there has been too much outside influence on candidates.  Jamie will work to put an end to this poltical corruption. 

One of jamie's first bills would be to require all 203 State Reps to list all donors in both their district offices and in Harrisburg - and also on their websites.  If special interests groups and lobbyists are going to continue to bribe their state reps, the citizens deserve to know who they are.  Until we have true campaign finance reform, Pennsylvania will continue to be one of the most corrupt states in the country.

We are so busy worrying about making things perfect for everyone that we have forgotten the silent majority. Read More

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians pay inflated taxes because the state's public corruption rate is among the highest in the nation, says a scholarly study based on data from the Justice Department.

The report in Public Administration Review shows public corruption “implicitly causes taxpayers to pay more,” said John Mikesell, an economics professor at Indiana University and co-author of the study.

Corruption costs taxpayers about $1,308 per person more per year in states with the most corruption, compared to states with average corruption levels, the study says.

Justice Department data place Pennsylvania historically among the 10 most corrupt states. Statistics from 1976 through 2008 rank the state with Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, South Dakota and Alaska.

The Justice Department defines public corruption as “crimes involving abuses of the public trust by government officials,” including crimes ranging from bribery, extortion and vote-buying to obstruction of justice, money laundering and fraud.” The data included 25,000 government officials convicted of crimes.

More recent federal figures, from 2001-2010, show Pennsylvania in the top 10 based on every 10,000 government employees, but ranked below that tier on a per-capita basis.

The research by Mikesell and Cheol Liu of City University of Hong Kong goes a step further, saying public corruption “distorts” the direction of state spending. “Compared to less corrupt states, more corrupt states are likely to spend more on corrections, construction and police,” on average, than on “education, welfare and health,” Liu said.

Higher spending in areas such as construction, road building and prisons provides greater chances for corrupt officials to use projects for personal gain, the study suggests.

“I'd say, based on my experience, it is true,” said former U.S. Attorney James West, who was the chief prosecutor in Central Pennsylvania and handled several high-profile corruption cases.

Yet former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge said Pennsylvania shouldn't be categorized as a corrupt state.

“There have been investigations that led to the trials and convictions of some public servants; you can't deny that history,” Ridge said on Tuesday during a Pittsburgh visit.

The Justice Department figures don't count at least 26 public corruption convictions in Pennsylvania courts since 2010, mostly for using public resources for campaigns.

Those cases include the guilty plea of ex-House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, and jury convictions of former Speaker Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, and Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, R-Marshall. Perzel oversaw the theft of $10 million in computer data and equipment for campaigns.

Separately, ex-House Democratic Whip Mike Veon, formerly of Beaver Falls, approved the use of $1.4 million in tax money as incentive for Democratic staffers to work on campaigns, a Dauphin County jury decided.

“There's a direct connection” between increased government costs and corruption, said West. In the 1970s, that sometimes amounted to 10 percent tacked onto the cost of a public contract and funneled to political operations — costs ultimately borne by contractors and citizens, West said.

“The commonwealth's political culture has shown a tolerance for politicians who use their offices for personal and political gain,” said J. Wesley Leckrone, a political science professor at Widener University. “The fact that corruption is correlated with higher spending on capital projects, construction and transportation is not surprising since the distribution of contracts in these areas could be advantageous in a pay-to-play culture.”

-by Brad Bumstead, Trib Live

Jamie Flick first became an educator at the very tender age of just 20 years old, accepting a adjuct professor offer from the Pennsylvania College of Technology, formerly the Williamsport Area Community College.  During his years teaching Computer Science at the college, he gained valuable insight into how students learn.  He also saw first-hand how different High Schools prepared children for post secondary education.

Though Jamie left his career at the college to start a very successful IT company, he has never stopped teaching kids.  For many years, he taught students create problem solving techniques in his partnership with Odyssey of the Mind; and funamentals and teamwork through coaching baseball, football, basketball and soccer.  When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he organized a group of adult volunteers and ran a "life skills" program at no cost.  The life skills included simple things such as:

• Fiscal Responsibility (investments, debit cards, etc)
• Automotive (driving, hooking up a trailer,etc)
• Firearms Safety (Shooting Range)
• Baking
• Paramedics (Applyimg tourniquets)
• Exercise and life sports
• Astronomy (Find North in the Sky)
• Public Speaking

This simple class proved that more money from taxpayers is not the answer.  Jamie had no trouble getting volunteers from all walks of life to donate a few hours a week to teach kids things that they were not being taught in the classroom.  His simple yet innovative ideas and ability to cut through red tape are exactly what Harrisburg needs.  Money is not always the answer.

Issues in public education today are far and wide including, quality of education, budgeting, drop-outs and discipline, charter reform, bullying and much more.  Jamie is prepared to deal with these issues head on.

Here is a simple fact.  SAT scores for reading in 1972 were better than SAT scores for reading in 2020.  After spending billions of dollars on education and technology, kids are no smarter today than their grandparents were.  What does that tell us?  It tells us that more money is not the answer.  Jamie will bring creativity, hard work, and fresh ideas to the classrooms.