Letter to the Editor:

I recently received a large postcard showing incumbent John Lawrence beneath a Tastykake logo.  Mr. Lawrence congratulates himself on expanding the Tastykake plant in Oxford through a state program called an enterprise zone.  As a result, Georgia-based Flower’s Baking, which now owns Tastykake, got a sweet abatement deal on their local and state taxes.

 I like Krimpets as much as the next person. However, I know as a business owner that someone’s tax break is someone else’s tax hit – especially when Governor Corbett and Mr. Lawrence are all about zero-based budgeting.  In other words, if Tastykake is going to get a little corporate welfare then someone else is going to have to make up the difference. Thus, homeowners in Avon Grove and Oxford are paying higher property taxes.

 Mr. Lawrence claims that his initiative brought jobs to Oxford – but at what cost?  How much did Pennsylvania have to subsidize Tastykake for each job?  What kind of jobs are they, and how many of the workers actually reside in Pa.?  Good luck trying to find answers to these questions because they are either buried or unknown to the general public and press. 

 Bottom line?  While taxpayers and public schools suffer from the Corbett/Lawrence cuts, Flower’s Baking got some icing on its cake.  In the final analysis, Lawrence favored Krimpets over our kids.

 Hal Cohen

West Grove