Toomey for Senate

By PAT TOOMEY
July 29, 2010
Erie Times-News

I decided to run for political office because I believe there are serious changes needed in Washington so we can reduce our country's exploding deficit, create the jobs we desperately need and reduce the rising cost of health care.

I believe it is important to discuss these issues so voters can make accurate, informed decisions about whom to support.

Unfortunately, my opponent Joe Sestak does not feel the same way. A couple of days ago, he wrote an Op-Ed piece that dramatically distorted a vote I took in 2001, claiming I support drilling in Lake Erie ("Toomey wrong on lake drilling," Erie Times-News, July 15). That is not the case.

The vote in question would have imposed an across-the-board federal prohibition on oil exploration in many bodies of water across the United States. I, along with half of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation, voted against this federal prohibition. I do not believe that it is the federal government's job to dictate to the people of Erie or anywhere else in the country whether or not they can engage in oil and gas exploration in their local bodies of water.

The Canadians have long drilled for natural gas on their side of Lake Erie. It should be left to the people of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio -- those with the most at stake -- to decide whether or not to drill on our side.

My opponent, Congressman Joe Sestak, does not share my faith in the people of Erie or all Pennsylvanians for that matter. On a host of issues, he has taken the approach that the federal government knows best.

According to Congressman Sestak, the federal government knows how to spend your hard-earned money better than you do. According to Congressman Sestak, federal bureaucrats know what kind of health insurance is best for you. And according to him, politicians who have never run a small business should tell Pennsylvania businesses how to operate.

For example, Congressman Sestak has voted for record deficit spending over his three years in Congress. He supported trillions of dollars in bailouts -- from Wall Street to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the auto companies. Joe Sestak voted for the $787 billion stimulus bill that spent your tax dollars on major league baseball stadiums and a bridge for Microsoft, and even argued that Congress should have spent $1 trillion. I believe, that if given the choice, Pennsylvanians would not choose to spend their tax dollars on such outrageous projects.

My opponent also voted to impose tremendous new burdens and costs on Pennsylvania's small businesses. He voted to impose new health-care mandates on businesses, which the Congressional Budget Office found will cause health-care premiums to rise 10 to 13 percent. In addition, Congressman Sestak even voted for a new cap-and-trade energy tax that will cost Pennsylvania as many as 97,000 jobs. Apparently, he believes the federal government should tell Pennsylvanians what type of energy they should use, even if it will cost them jobs and cause their electricity and gas bills to skyrocket.

This is a fundamental difference between myself and my opponent. As a former small businessman who ran several restaurants with my brothers in the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster areas, I know that job creation comes from the hardworking men and women in the private sector, not from Washington bureaucrats.

I am running for the U.S. Senate because I believe that Washington's one-size-fits-all solutions are preventing the economic recovery we are capable of achieving. Rather than massively growing government, as Joe Sestak has done, Washington should be encouraging growth in the private sector.