Page 4 | October 10, 2008
I
Gib Armstrong leaves the stage
n 1977, Jimmy Carter was President, Star Wars dominated the box office, Elvis overdosed, and Gibson E. Armstrong began his career in the Pennsylvania State Legislature. In less than a month, voters will choose a new state senator to represent the 13th District for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, and Gib will retire to his spread in Refton. Armstrong, who spent eight years in the Assembly before moving to the upper house, was known for his indolence for most of his years in Harrisburg. It wasn’t until 1999, with the introduction of Dale High’s and Lancaster Newspapers’ scheme to use taxpayer money to fund a hotel and casino, er, convention center, that Armstrong became activated as a legislator. “Get on the train, or get run over,” Gib said crudely in front of a lot of people, in response to opposition to the project, now the largest capital project in the history of the county, at $176 million dollars and counting. The vast majority (90+%) is taxpayer paid and guaranteed. As a senior senator – and recently the Appropriations Chairman – Armstrong was able to leverage his position to enable his beloved project. He rewrote laws requiring a tax on local hotel and motel owners to pay for the center. He pushed laws that sharply penalized these county businessmen who were late with tax payments. He rewrote a law eliminating a prohibition on building a publicly owned convention center if there were comparable private facilities nearby. This is only a partial list of Armstrong’s legislative maneuvers. Even now, when the State is facing multi-billion dollar deficits, Gib is trying to pry another six million dollars for the bloated, nonsensical project. When asked by a County official why he was helping the project to this extent, Armstrong reportedly said, “It was time to pay Dale back.” Our question: When will it be time for Gib to pay the taxpayers back? The Lancaster Post
© Copyright Lancaster Post 2008
F&M’s Railyard Relocation
Publishers Ronald P. Harper, Jr. Christiaan A. Hart Nibbrig Editor-in-Chief Chris Hart Nibbrig
News Editor Ron Harper, Jr.
Layout & Graphic Design Limehat & Company Staff Illustrator Jordan W. Martin Contributors Melody Harper Ron Harper, Sr. Artie See Mascot Zeph Contact the Post: Email: Letters@LancasterPost.com Phone: 717.431.8145 | Fax: 877.832.8760 Mail: 19 N. Mulberry Street | Lancaster PA 17603
Illustration by Jordan W. Martin