Town hall meeting in Mt. Lebanon addresses state issues
More than 75 people gathered in Mt. Lebanon Public Library May 30 for a town hall meeting held by state Rep. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon.
Miller spoke and answered questions about several topics, such as the judiciary committees on which serves, government reform and the status of the state budget to his constituents in the 42nd district.
Each person in attendance was given a sheet of paper to vote for three of eight selected topics for Miller to address, with the most popular topics being chosen and a question and answer segment following each topic.
“We answered questions directly from them, topics that they’re interested in,” Miller said. “It is the best representation of what are on people’s minds by doing these events.”
After an introduction about his background, Miller spoke about his service on five judiciary committees. He explained why, using his background as an Allegheny County public defender and solicitor, he is against merit selection for judges, which uses a nonpartisan committee to select judges rather than an election.
“I just don’t feel like telling 4 million Pennsylvanians that you can’t vote for it anymore. It’s a hurdle to say that the solution for good government is to get the people out,” Miller explained. “I don’t like the idea of legislators sitting back and saying, ‘We don’t think the populus is informed enough.'”
Miller then talked about his work on other committees, such as addressing body camera laws for police officers and various pieces of criminal justice legislation.
After speaking about the House’s Children and Youth Committee, Miller discussed the Education Committee, including charter schools, pensions and special education.
When asked by a person in attendance about U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ vision for educating American children, Miller said he is concerned.
“I was very critical of her understanding, or what I believed to be a lack of understanding of special education,” Miller said. “It concerns me, and although I’m chartered by my constituents to focus on state issues with it, we do watch these issues that I know will come back to us. It’s a major issue.”
Miller concluded the town hall meeting by addressing government reform, such as redistricting and the size of Legislature, and the state budget.
He said gerrymandering is an issue that both political parties do to hurt the other. A bill is being considered right now to bring in an independent redistricting commission that he believes would “better mitigate the effects of politics on the maps,” Miller said.
“(Gerrymandering) is a dance that really hurts us as a democracy,” Miller said. “Gerrymandering has existed (for a long time). It’s a problem.”
While it’s still uncertain, Miller’s “optimistic” that the state budget will pass on time.
Miller said he believes holding town hall meetings is important for him hear the thoughts of his constituents.
“I love doing (town hall meetings),” Miller said. “We’ve done it every year I’ve been in office, and we’re going to keep doing them.”