According to state Rep. Stephen Barrar, Democratic Party
politicians are out of touch with economic realities.

Barrar, a Republican, is the representative from the 160^th
Legislative District is running for an eighth term in office. He hosted a
health fair Saturday in the parking lot of Endo Pharmaceutical in Chadds Ford
Township.

“In this campaign,” Barrar said,
“we’ve seen an awakening of the voters and they’re asking a lot more questions
than I’ve ever seen them ask. And, I think, fiscal responsibility is going to
be the biggest issue in this campaign.”

He said most of the questions he
gets from constituents as he knocks on doors now are about the budget, spending
and taxes.

Cutting state spending is a big
part of getting the fiscal house in order, he said.

“You can’t just cut taxes. One
thing I hear from the voters everywhere I go, they say ‘have to get your house
in order.’ The people that I represent, I know they’re facing tough times. A
lot of them have cut back on a lot of things. I think it’s very unfair for
government not to do the exact same thing.”

Barrar brought up his well-known
disagreement with Gov. Ed Rendell. He said the governor says the people want
more and higher taxes.

“This just shows how out if touch
the governor is and the entire Democratic Party. If they’re out there thinking
[they’ll] get support for higher taxes in this commonwealth…I just can’t
imagine where they’re getting this information.”

Barrar said he opposes any sort
of increase or expansion of taxes such as the governor has proposed. The
governor’s plan includes adding professional fees to things subject to the
state’s sales tax.

“That would just go to increased
spending at the state level, and that’s what the governor wants to do…He has no
support in his own Democratic Party. The only Democrats I see supporting him
that are Democrats from inner city areas, which are the biggest beneficiaries
of these tax increasers.”

Barrar said that job creation
should be the focus for the state. To help that along, he advocates regulatory
reform.

“A lot of times regulations are
written by the bureaucrats; they’re not necessarily approved by the
legislature. So, we see all kinds of new regulations from the EPA, from the
DEP, that are killing jobs in the state of Pennsylvania,” Barrar said.

As an example, Barrar cited
regulations regarding the building industry. He said 30 percent of the costs in
building a house happen before a shovel ever hits the ground, costs associated
with regulatory reviews, approvals and permit fees.

”Now we’re looking at additional
mandates…One of the rules I want to propose to the House is that when
regulations are approved, there has to be a cost benefit analysis done to every
regulation so that we know exactly what that regulation is going to cost a
business or a homeowner when we approve that regulation,” he said.

Barrar said it was happenstance
to have the health fare at a time when healthcare and health coverage have been
a dominant topic in the news.

He said he’s a proponent of
allowing people to buy health insurance from insurers in other states to make
the market more competitive.

“Look at Blue Cross. Blue Cross, in this area, has about an
86 percent market share. When you have 86 percent of the market, you have a
monopoly on the consumers here. So, I really feel the only way to address this
issue is to make the market more competitive by allowing people to buy their
health insurance wherever they feel they can get the best deal,” Barrar said.
“We can buy auto insurance from any state in the union, so I would think that
buying health insurance that way would make us just as competitive.”

Barrar’s Democratic Party opponent, Nick DiGregory, has not
made any public appearances in the Chadds Ford area. On his Web site, www.nickdigregorypa160.com,
he says using green technology will reduce costs and that taxes need to be
“more evenly shared.”