In the interest of belt-tightening, my wife and I decided to save a few bucks a month by cutting back on the TV channels we get from Comcast.

Did I second-guess that decision when the Flyers were making their thrilling run in the Stanley Cup playoffs? You bet.

But life is about choices, and I found I could scratch my Flyers itch by listening to the radio and watching highlights at NHL.com. We found another use for the money.

Now along comes county commissioner Scott Martin with questions about the need for the $470,000-a-year Human Relations Commission.

Martin, a Republican and spending hawk, said the commission will be among three programs to undergo a review to decide if what they do is worth the money spent.

He says bias complaints can be handled by the state's Human Relations Commission.

Open minds needed

The Human Relations Commission is a defender of the underdog and a symbol of civil rights. It's understandable that Democratic county Commissioner Craig Lehman and others are leery that an efficiency review is just an excuse to get rid of an agency perceived to be serving a liberal constituency.

"It just makes no sense whatsoever that we would not value efforts to ensure equality here in Lancaster County," Lehman has said.

It would be a crime, indeed, if Martin and fellow GOP commissioner Dennis Stuckey have already decided to ax the commission and their hearing July 29 is a mere formality.

But it's also unreasonable if Lehman enters the hearing with his mind made up.

Discrimination is always wrong, of course. This is America, land of diversity. If we're not free, as law-abiding citizens, to be different from the norm and still be protected from discrimination where we live, work, shop, get health care and so on, then the flag is a joke.

The county established the anti-discrimination commission the same year President Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights Act. What a powerful message our local commissioners sent.

This overwhelmingly white county, which has the Mason-Dixon Line as its southern boundary, declared that treating people differently because of color was not going to be tolerated.

No doubt racism is still alive and well here 46 years later. No doubt discrimination still happens. And racial bias is not the only harm. Women, the disabled, immigrants and people of minority faiths should not be subject to unfairness.

No sacred cows

And it hardly needs to be said that gay, lesbian and transgender people are vulnerable to prejudice. No one knows how many complaints would surface if sexual minorities, who are not protected under the county's Human Relations ordinance, had protection here, as they should.

But for now the question on the table is: How necessary is the commission for the complaints it is allowed to investigate?

Would asking the state to redress wrongs result in unreasonable delays and hardships on a county resident making a complaint?

If the answer is "no," then couldn't the $470,000 be better spent? Advocates of a county health department, Lehman among them, say only $110,000 in county funds is needed to get one started. Is public health less important than equal rights?

The bottom line is that asking any agency to justify its budget and even its existence should not be controversial.

These days, many families are looking hard at their spending. I even gave up the Flyers on TV.

When it comes to public funds especially, every dollar must be open to question.

jhawkes@lnpnews.com