We had a visit from Pa. Rep. Mike Sturla yesterday. He wanted to chat with our editorial board.
Name not ring a bell? I’m not surprised. Sturla does not represent anyone in Delaware County. He’s a Democrat from Lancaster County.
He’s the boss of the House Democratic Policy Committee, which is planning to hold public hearings in this neck of the woods later this summer, before he and his compatriots head back to Harrisburg for the fall session and what promises to be a huge workload.
He arrived bearing bad news, especially if like me you one day dream of being able to buy beer, wine and spirits in one place.
Don’t hold your breath. That’s the word from Sturla.
He doesn’t believe the push by Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, to sell off the state stores and dismantle the LCB is going to happen. More than that, he doesn’t think it should happen. He says the numbers don’t add up.
He might as well have plunged a dagger into my chest. I’m on a one-man campaign to get the state out of the booze business, and dismantle the archaic way Pennsylvania handles the sale of alcohol. I want to include sales of beer, which the Turzai legislation doesn’t even consider.
All I want is to go to one place to buy everything I want, preferably at the same time I am getting my groceries at the supermarket.
You know, the way many other states do. I am always flabbergasted by the reaction of visitors to our fine state at the way we deal with the sale of alcohol.
They don’t call us the Land of Giants for nothing.
Sturla also had some interesting things to say about the move to enact a tax or fee on extraction of natural gas from the state’s Marcellus Shale regions.
I give Sturla credit. He didn’t have to come here to the Philly suburbs and go before our board. But he did. That’s because he’s an anomaly in Harrisburg. He’s an engaging, entertaining guy.
And he actually has something to say.
You can read all about it here.
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