Citizens concerned about Harrisburg’s Act 47 debt plan arrived at Commonwealth Court hearing today with written objections in hand.
They unfortunately did not know that the objections had to be filed with the court before the start of the hearing.
As such, Judge Bonnie Leadbetter ruled that the time for objections had passed, and that no objections could be entertained.
Since there were no objections filed, Leadbetter said, she would confirm the complicated plan without objections or citizen input.
A surreal air permeated the roughly two-hour hearing.
Receiver attorney Mark Kauffman told the judge what critics had been saying: aspects of the complicated plan were as yet unfinished.
Exactly how citizens could intelligently object to an unfinished plan remains in question. And why there should be a hurried deadline for filing objections to an unfinished plan also remains in question.
Receiver’s attorney Kauffman seemed aware that the public did not like the plan or how it is being implemented. He asked Judge Leadbetter to bless the plan, in hope that the public would be reassured.
Leadbetter said she would issue an order confirming the Harrisburg bailout plan in the next day or two.
Normally parties would have 30 days to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
But because objections were not filed, Leadbetter said, critics would have no appeal rights.
After the hearing, shocked, disappointed and confounded plan critics left the courtroom wondering what they could do, or what their next step could be.
A petition for extraordinary relief with the state Supreme Court is being considered.
But for the last two years, this has been an insiders’ game, run by Tom Corbett’s governor’s office.
Will the state Supreme Court allow citizens of Harrisburg to be involved in a plan that affects their city’s vital interests for the next 40 years?
Stay tuned.
