The Rest of the GOP Candidates

I'LL post 2 blogs entries today, one for Republican voters (below) and another for Democrat voters. Remember, you can find voter info at https://www.montcopa.org/753/Voter-Services.





REPUBLICAN US SENATE CANDIDATES

Jim Christiana has been a PA State Representative (Beaver County) since 2008, (since he was 25 years old). His issue statements (at https://jimchristiana.org/why-jim/) follow current GOP thinking in Congress, though he seems to have a poor understanding on some of the issues (for instance, his solution to the opioid crisis (his #3 issue) involves border agents, but opioids are more a domestic pharmaceutical and health problem). He also, with every issue, lists what he says Senator Casey is doing wrong (and sometimes what his GOP opponent is doing wrong), so I fact checked several of these. Most are gross exaggerations, bending of the truth, or outright lies.

Lou Barletta has served in the US House of Representatives since 2011. Before that he was mayor of Hazelton. His issue statements are at https://barletta.house.gov/issues. He lists his #1 issue as Defense, but it's really more about taking care of the soldiers. Most of his issues really say nothing (for instance, under energy, he doesn't say what types of energy he supports as long as it's made in PA, though there IS a photo of him beside a nuclear cooling tower). Under Gun Rights, he merely quotes the 2nd amendment, without saying what he thinks it means. He seems afraid to take sides on anything. But read his issues yourself and you can view his voting record at this link. Maybe you'll have better luck figuring out where he stands.

~ ~ ~
Candidates for REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE

I tried to look up what the PA GOP State Committee actually does, but couldn't find no explanation in their own words. According to Wikipedia, a political party committee is an organization, officially affiliated with a political party and registered with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), which raises and spends money for political campaigning. So I'll go with that. I'm not going to look up every one of these candidates, but below is how you'll see them on the ballot. Google them yourself. My advice is to pick people who seem to represent you and your family and would support your best interests. You'll vote for no more than 19, up to 9 males and 9 females, plus one of either gender. None are from Norristown. You can, of course, vote for less than 19, or write in candidates.

GOP Candidates for Governor / Lt. Gov

I'm doing separate articles on the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, separated by party, so you only need to read the one you'll be voting for in the election. Today's is for Republican voters, tomorrow's (Wednesday) Democrat.


GOVERNOR ~ Frankly, watching the 2 male GOP candidates snipe back and forth on their TV ads is like teaching middle school all over again. I want to give them detentions.

Laura Ellsworth is a lawyer (though she calls herself a "business leader") in Pittsburgh. It sounds like she does corporate law, especially litigation for large companies. She also calls herself a community leader, though adamantly claims she's not a politician and has never served in public office. Her issue statement has "Property Tax" right at the top and the rest contain phrases like "It is a failure of government to allow communities to be overrun with immigrants". The only citizens she mentions are veterans and seniors. Nothing about regular working people, nor women, and especially nothing about minority communities. Read her issue statements at http://ellsworth2018.com/category/issues/

Paul Mango was a businessman for 25 years (so says his website, Wikipedia says 28, working for McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, working somehow with healthcare). Before that, he was in the military. No government experience at all. On his website, he says he's a "strong pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith" candidate. His issue statements are hard to read-you have to click on each from a drop down menu, then as you read each, different issues seem to be somewhat jumbled together on each page. Read them for yourself at https://www.mangoforpa.com/ He does spend a good amount of TV time assuring his voters he's not a liberal and talking about Scott Wagner's shortcomings (some of which are lies).

Scott Wagner is a state senator from York County. He comes across as a Trump clone (not in a good way). He's already issued a TV ad promoting homophobia and hate, and another telling a slew of lies about his opponent Paul Mango. He doesn't come across in any ad as a particularly pleasant person. Unfortunately, he's the only candidate who seems to have a clue how government works. He only lists 4 issues: Economy, Budget, Education, and the Political System (legislators who go into politics to make money, then become lobbyists). Read them at http://wagnerforgov.com/scotts-plan-to-fix-pa/


LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

Jeff Bartos is from Montgomery County. It was difficult to find anything about him. The only website for his election (https://wagnerbartos.com/) is more about Scott Wagner than Bartos. It says he's on the Wagner for Governor team, though he's not mentioned at all on Wagner's site above. Bartos is a real estate exec from Lower Merion. No experience in government. He lists no issue statements of his own. He comes across as Wagner's puppy (or he wants to be).

Kathy Coder is a businesswoman who founded Inta-Great, a company that trains executives and sales personnel (clients seem to be big corporations, healthcare and Big Pharma, and private colleges and charter schools). She's served as a councilwoman (suburb of Pittsburgh, population about 8400) and she's on the Republican State Committee. The words "leader" or "leadership" can be found in nearly every paragraph on her website. Her #1 issue is lowering the corporate tax rate. She also talks about leadership (there's that word again) training for, apparently, our politicians (I wonder if she'd want her company to provide that?). She does seem to address the opioid epidemic as a health issue (not many Republicans do that) and supports medical marijuana. Read her issues for yourself at https://www.electkathycoder.com/platform

Diana Irey Vaughn is a Washington County Commissioner, in her 6th term. Supposedly, she's Paul Mango's running mate (though again, no mention on his site). She launched her own business (SucSeed) that provides a personal and professional development curriculum. She lists every one of her volunteer accomplishments on her website. I'll let you read them for yourself. She lists The Opiod Epidemic as her first issue. She even lists a few action points, though most of her statements are general and rather 2-dimensional. She's a lifetime member of the NRA. Her website takes a long time for each page to load. http://dianaforpa.com/the-issues/

Peg Luksik grew up in the Philly burbs, was a teacher near Erie PA, and now lives in Cabria county (possibly retired?). She helped the PA Homeschool Association pass homeschool legislation. I could find no issues on her page. All I did find was a rambling lecture on "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" from the Declaration. If I had to guess, I'd say she was a Tea Party holdover. https://www.pa4peg.com/about-peg/