Letters to the Editor for May 21

Here are today’s Letters to the Editors…

Submitted by Falls Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Harvie:

On May 18, a letter to the editor from Mike Falkevitz appeared on this website. Mr. Falkevitz is one of the frequent writers of letters to the Courier, and also constantly posts his thoughts under the “comments” following various articles in the paper.  In his May 18 letter, Mr. Falkevitz attacks myself, Jeff Dence and the other members of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors. He has done repeatedly. Its clear why he directly attacked myself and Mr. Dence since our seats are the ones up for re-election next year.  I find it interesting though that when he attacks myself, or Mr. Dence, or State Representative John Galloway, or any other Democratic official, he always forgets to tell people that he is not just a resident of Falls, he is the Chairman of the Falls Republican Party. As a Tea Party supporter of people like former Pennsbury School Board director Simon Campbell and current director Chris Cridge, I can understand why he might want to hide his true associations.  What I cannot allow though is for Mr. Falkevitz to hide the facts, or invent his own, which he blatantly did in his recent letter.

He begins by stating that the Falls Board of Supervisors is implementing an earned income tax (EIT).  This is false, and Mr. Falkevitz knows it.  Over the past few months a Falls resident has repeatedly come to our meetings to encourage us to look into creating an EIT because he believed the Township could collect tax money that people (like myself) are already paying through EITs in other municipalities.  What the Board of Supervisors did was direct the Township Manager to gather some facts about EITs in our area to see if the resident’s claims were accurate.  It turns out that they were not accurate – just like Mr. Falkevitz’s accusations.

Mr. Falkevitz further states his thoughts on how Falls Township can save money.  He attacks Mr. Dence for running up legal bills by calling the Township solicitor to discuss, and ask questions about various issues.  This is a ridiculous criticism for two reasons. First, the solicitor doesn’t charge for phone calls or emails and secondly, how is a member of a local government supposed to do his job and represent the people of his community if he isn’t allowed to speak with the professional expert on legal matters? Mr. Falkevitz also states that the Township is paying $600 per hour for the solicitors who are at the Township Board meetings.  This is also completely dishonest.  Falls Township pays its solicitor $170 per hour, something that was publically stated at the reorganization meeting in January and was published in the media.  This information is also available on the Township website.  Also, the Township has stated publically, several times, that when more than one solicitor attends the Board meetings the Township does not pay for both.  This was another dishonest attack by Mr. Falkevitz.

In a democracy everyone is entitled to their opinions and the right to express them. But every Memorial Day I think about those people who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our democracy and our basic rights.  We owe it to them to live our lives in ways which honor those sacrifices.  It is worth asking whether those people we remember on Memorial Day are having their memories dishonored by those people who take the rights they have and use them to deliberately spread dishonesty.

Bob Harvie

Falls Township Board of Supervisors

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