Toomey kicks off his bus tour - GOP candidate seeks U.S. Senate seat
Posted: August 24
Updated: Today at 9:47 AM
The Times Leader
BILL O ’ BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
KINGSTON – Bob Alpert is a 77-year-old Korean War veteran who is undecided on who he will vote for in the U.S. Senate race between Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Joe Sestak.
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Times Leader Photo StoreThat’s why Alpert showed up Monday at the Pierce Street Deli to hear Toomey speak and to ask him questions.
“I asked him if he intends to visit the Veterans Administration Hospital,” Alpert said. “I told him it serves 17 counties in the area. He wouldn’t commit to saying he will visit there.”
Alpert, who lives near the deli, said Toomey’s answer reminded him of an old saying.
“The saying goes, ‘If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got,’ ” Alpert said. “I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for.”
Toomey, 48, a former congressman from the Lehigh Valley and a former small-business owner who also worked on Wall Street, kicked off his four-day bus tour across Pennsylvania, sharing his vision. He was accompanied by his wife, Kris, and children Bridget, Patrick Jr. and Duncan. His tour will take him through 23 of the state’s 67 counties over the next four days.
Toomey and Sestak, 58, are seeking the seat now held by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican-turned-Democrat whom Sestak beat in the May primary.
Toomey said he favors creating jobs through ending bailouts and runaway Washington spending, reducing taxes for workers and job-creating businesses, and lowering health care costs by making health insurance companies compete with each other.
“We have to stop the serial bailout and nationalizing all industries,” Toomey said. “That’s why we’re not having a strong economic recovery.”
“Look, Joe Sestak is probably a decent guy,” Toomey said. “But he’s very liberal – he votes with (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi almost 100 percent of the time.”
The former congressman charged Sestak supports liberal Democratic policies that are obstructing, instead of helping, the economic recovery. Toomey said he would reduce taxes, federal spending and the role of the federal government.
“As I travel across Pennsylvania, I will share my plan for creating jobs through reducing the deficit, implementing job-creating tax cuts and eliminating big-government obstacles to small-business growth,” Toomey said.
“I believe we can achieve a booming recovery if we institute the right kind of policies and stop the fiscally irresponsible path Washington is taking our country down right now,” Toomey added.
Sestak sees things differently, saying Luzerne County has seen growth over the years, and Toomey’s plan to privatize Social Security would put at least 24,970 county seniors in danger of losing their benefits.
Toomey denies Sestak’s accusations about his position on Social Security.
“Congressman Toomey may claim today that he is on the side of Pennsylvanians, but his agenda that puts the wants of Wall Street and Washington special interests over the needs of working families have already harmed and would continue to impact Luzerne County,” Sestak said in an e-mailed release. “Congressman Toomey supported and even voted for the same failed economic policies that led to record unemployment, the collapse of the housing market and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
Meanwhile, former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, told The Associated Press on Monday he is throwing his support behind Sestak.
Hagel said Sestak has demonstrated during his two terms in the U.S. House that he puts his country before his party.
He said Sestak’s courage and integrity as a legislator are qualities the nation needs.
