Burns questions misrepresented vote

Rep. Frank Burns    April 1, 2024 | 12:56 PM

Given the Tribune-Democrat’s antipathy toward me – which became palpably heightened after I called out its previous publisher's conflict of interest as a Vision 2025 board member – my concern is understandable when the newspaper prints that I voted “Yes” on a bill when I actually voted “No.”

This misrepresentation in your March 25 edition is heightened by the fact that, instead of voting “Yes,” I was the only House Democrat to vote “No” on S.B. 654, which would generate an additional $300 million for mass transit in Philadelphia through an increased transfer of state sales tax.

Is it too much for me to ask that the Tribune-Democrat at least get my voting record right? All I want is to get the same treatment and accuracy standard afforded to state Reps. Jim Rigby, Carl Metzgar and Dallas Kephart, whose “No” votes on this bill were correctly published.

As I noted in an email to current publisher Chip Minemyer requesting a correction, “As much as you and others may have wanted my vote to be ‘YEA’ on Senate Bill 654, it was actually a ‘NAY.’”

To his credit, Minemyer apologized for the error and promised to print a correction, which appeared as a tiny blurb at the bottom of page 2 in the March 27 edition. It is my hope that in the future Minemyer ensures such “errors” do not occur, because when they do it erodes the Tribune-Democrat’s credibility as an accurate and fair news organization.

State Rep. Frank Burns
72nd Legislative District