| There's lots of news other than the 12th CD and we need to do some catching up. I attended the President's speech on health insurance reform (their term) this morning at Arcadia University in Glenside. The crowd was electric, more energized and enthusiastic than any I've seen and this is my seventh Obama event. I'll have more on that event separately (I need to edit and upload the video). How many of you were there? I saw Kevin Shaw of Montco DFA. Here are a few pictures:
Jonathon Saidel filed his nominating petitions today for Lt. Governor: "I am excited to make the campaign official today and, in a case of perfect timing, I am equally excited to thank the Allegheny County Labor Council for becoming the first local labor council in Pennsylvania to make an official recommendation to the Pennsylvania State AFL-CIO for an endorsement in the Lieutenant Governor election,"
I had a minute to say hello to Congressman Joe Sestak today. We both ducked out quickly Sestak was endorsed by the UFCW today in a big endorsement. The United Food and Commercial Workers is a major union and they represent thousands of workers in SE Pennsylvania alone.
Citing Joe's consistent support for labor issues and tireless advocacy for working families, Local 1776 President Wendell W. Young, IV and Local 23 Director of Public Affairs Kevin Kilroy, representing Local 23 President Tony Helfer, delivered the endorsement on behalf of their combined 37,000 members and the 1.3 million workers represented by UFCW. Pictured from left to right are: Kevin Kilroy, Congressman Sestak, Wendell W. Young, IV, Al Vincent (Director of Region 2 for UFCW International) and John Myerson (Director of Legislative and Political Action, UFCW 1776)
"The UFCW is proud to endorse a true Democrat for the United States Senate, a candidate who will work as hard for Pennsylvania as the men and women we represent," said Young, who spoke at Joe's field office in Philadelphia.
"Our members know we can count on Joe Sestak to stand and fight for the issues that matter to working men and women, issues such as the Employee Free Choice Act, ensuring fair wages and benefits, and passing real health care reform. Over the last 30 years, Arlen Specter has repeatedly let us down when it matters most, waffling on the public option, delivering a crippling blow to card check, casting the deciding vote for the Bush tax cuts, and letting Wall Street gamble away our savings and pensions."
Sixth District Congressional candidate Doug Pike issued an interesting statement today. In it he pledges to run a "clean campaign" and makes the following promises:
1) Focus my campaign on policy differences with Gerlach and the Republicans.
2) Discuss policy differences between myself and Manan in a respectful manner.
3) Never question Manan's motivation or qualification to serve.
4) Never attack Manan's character or family.
5) Never use Manan's name or likeness in paid campaign communications.
6) Make clear to my staff, volunteers and supporters that they must abide by these same guidelines.
7) Call Manan personally if I hear of an attack before responding."
Pike's Democratic opponent is Manan Trivedi, a physician from Berks County who served in Iraq.
Ryan Bucchianeri also filed his petitions today for the 12th Congressional District. "It is official. Our campaign to bring about change to southwestern Pennsylvania and more importantly, change to Washington is now a choice that voters will have in this primary election," said Bucchianeri. "We filed with 1640 signatures today. While I may not have the most, we accomplished this goal through an all grassroots effort. I am very grateful to everyone for all their hard work and am honored that they have joined our campaign to bring about new ideas and new leadership,"
I couldn't watch all of the Oscar's due to this morning's early alarm clock. I did love Neil Patrick Harris however. When he sang that line about the soap I almost died. As usual I didn't see any of the movies so for me it's simply a matter of enjoying the spectacle. Kirk and I did go see "Alice in Wonderland" this afternoon in Imax 3D. Wow, what an experience! It was a quick trip from Glenside back to Reading. I swear I didn't speed! (Much....) I thought I could exit before the President but lost the race. I think he got a better parking space...
Bob Cesca, Berks County's most famous blogger, hit the nail on the head about the Tea Partiers in this HuffPost article. They were out in force today. I was sorry I couldn't get more fascinating video interviews of them.. Considering these people were invisible during thirty years of massive budget deficits, the shredding of our rights and the choice of the last President to lie us into war their motivation boils down to one issue: race.
Lois Herr, running in the 16th CD against Joe "He's The" Pitts, attacked the Congressman for voting against last week's jobs bill. Pitts has become the poster boy for The Party of NO: "On both his official website and his campaign website, Joe Pitts says that lowering taxes on small business is the best way to create new jobs. But today he voted against a bill that directly cuts taxes for small businesses that create jobs," Herr said. "We already knew that Pitts doesn't make sense for the 16th District, but now he's stopped making sense to himself." |
