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PA GOP News Brief – Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Posted on: January 31st, 2012

PA GOP News Brief
Keeping you current and connected.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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The Rundown

Monday, State Rep. Sam Smith (R-66) announced he will run for re-election to Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this year.

“It is a privilege to serve the hardworking men, women and families of the 66th Legislative district in the state legislature,” Smith said.

“Our shared values are what guide me as Pennsylvania’s Speaker, and they are what drove me to help guide state government back on track after eight years of out-of-control spending and borrowing. We’ve taken the first steps to fiscal sanity, and the next steps are to restore Pennsylvania’s economy and create the jobs our families need, which will take discipline, commitment and experience.”

With a record of working with county and municipal officials, Smith said, “Good jobs continue to be the No. 1 one priority, and it is the main reason we are fighting to balance the development of the Marcellus gas industry with the rights and necessity we all have for clean water and air.”

The Pennsylvania Republican Party endorsed businessman Steve Welch to take on Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) over the weekend, a major boost in a crowded GOP field.

Welch, a wealthy businessman who has the ability to self-fund, was backed by 57 percent of state party officials, while the second-place candidate was at just 16 percent.

Welch’s advantage came partly from the strong backing of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R).

Some party officials have tried to pressure Tim Burns, who lost two races against Rep. Mark Critz (D-Pa.), to drop out of the Senate race and take a third shot for Congress in a district where Critz and Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) are running. But Burns said after the vote that he’s staying in the race.

Some Tea Party supporters are unhappy with the process, however.

Whichever Republican winds up with the nomination will have an uphill battle: Casey has been strong in polls. If the Republican Party can unite behind one candidate, they will have a better shot at giving Casey a tough challenge.

The idea seemed so right, so obviously necessary, that even a Congress known for its partisanship had to get on board.

Or so U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta thought of his proposed Disaster Loan Fairness Act, which he came up with after September flooding devastated dozens of businesses in his congressional district.

The proposed law says that after a natural disaster, a damaged small business could get a 1 percent federal loan to rebuild, a rate far lower than the free market.

“I’m going to tell you there wasn’t anybody that I talked to, Democrat or Republican, that when I explained (the bill), they didn’t think this was a great idea,” Barletta, R-Hazleton, said. “When I talk about the fact that we gave Pakistan $215 million for flood disaster relief, zero interest, no payback, but yet we’re going to charge Americans 6 percent interest? How is that fair?”

Introduced in late September, the bill picked up 23 co-sponsors, Democratic and Republican, and was referred to the House Small Business Committee, where it remains “a great idea” unfulfilled.

Seated behind his desk in his downtown Hazleton congressional office, the mayor-turned-congressman rubs his forehead in frustration, even though a freshman congressman getting a bill passed is rare.

“In the campaign, I said Washington was broken and that was the feeling from an outsider looking in â?¦ but now being somebody who’s been there a year, I’m convinced it’s broken,” Barletta said.

Using an argument hotly disputed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats who say Republicans are the obstructionists, Barletta said the House Republican majority could have fixed Washington further if it weren’t for balky Senate Democrats.

More than 130 local elected officials, from school board members and borough council members to township supervisors, state representatives, state senators and congressmen, gathered at the Allenberry Playhouse Monday night for the annual Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce Elected Officials Mixer.

The featured speakers were U.S. Reps. Todd Platts, R-19, and Lou Barletta, R-11.

Platts, a 12-year veteran of Congress, announced earlier this month that he will not be seeking re-election. At the time, he said he wanted to spend more time with his family, a sentiment he echoed Monday night.

“It was a very difficult decision. My boys are in seventh and ninth grades, and when I dropped him off at the first day of ninth grade this year, I realized how fast middle school had gone for him, and the other one is already half-way through middle school,” Platts said.

Platts has been a fixture at the Chamber mixer during his time in office, said Michelle Crowley, president of the chamber.

While Mitt Romney shook hands with the Republican voters who he hopes will support him in today’s Florida presidential primary, state Sen. Mike Haridopolos stood to the side of the swarming news media, his arms folded and a proud smile on his tanned face.

Not so much because Mr. Romney, the candidate he has endorsed, leads in all the polls, but because Mr. Haridopolos has been vindicated.

Mr. Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, is president of the Florida Senate and the man who championed moving Florida’s primary from Super Tuesday in March to its own date in January, a controversial step that prompted Iowa and New Hampshire to respond in kind.

“It was a risk,” he said, “but it’s paying off. It’s nice to be proved right.”

For years, Florida’s growth has not been limited to its burgeoning population. It also has been growing more influential in terms of national politics.

Monday, January 30, 2012

 

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