Dear Editor:

I support Tina Burns. These are key issues I have with Rep. Jamie Barton.

His AI Data center support. At a meeting in Rush Township, Jamie started talking about how little water the Data Centers use and how little noise they emit. He sent out a video with an interview he had with an executive of a data center in northern Virginia. He implied that there were no issues with the northern Virginia community. The truth is that 59% of the northern Virginia community are against these data centers. They cite grid strains, higher electrical bills, noise, environmental issues, and more. I called him out on his statements. Gartner (a research company) predicts that 80% of the neocloud AI data Center providers (such as the one in Nesquehoning) will cease operation by 2030. And, in my opinion, leave a mess for us to clean up.

The Delaware Loophole. Jamie is against closing the Delaware Loophole. The loophole allows large businesses to avoid paying a chunk of tax on their Pennsylvania income by moving money to shell companies in Delaware. This obviously disadvantages local businesses who can’t afford to do the same. They avoid paying somewhere between 600 million and 1 billion Dollars in Pennsylvania taxes.

Minimum wages. Jamie Barton has consistently voted against raising the minimum wage. In 1966 the minimum wage was $1.25. That is equivalent to over $13 today. Our minimum wage is $7.25,well below inflation. Increasing the minimum wage increases local spending (unlike giving more money to the wealthy who will not spend much locally). Spending locally creates what they call the multiplier effect. For every dollar spent locally it is worth between 2 and 4 dollars to the local economy. It will help everyone and help keep our kids from leaving the area.

Tina Burns supports strict regulations on AI Data Centers, closing the Delaware Loophole, and increasing the minimum wage and other important initiatives for the people of the 124th district.

Evan Evans

Nesquehoning