- Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:28 pm
#262287
Saturday morning August 16th the Democratic Candidates for State and Federal office introduced themselves to voters at the Norristown Library auditorium.
Seated from left to right at the Library are candidates:
Daylin Leach - PA 17th State Senate District -> www.votedaylin.com/
( Senator Connie Williams is retiring from the district)
Bob Roggio - US Congress for the PA-6 District -> www.bobroggioforcongress.com/
Matt Bradford - PA 70th House District -> www.mattbradford.org
Kelbin Carolina - PA 150th House District -> http://votecarolina.org/
Their Republican opponents were invited to join the forum but sent their regrets that they were unable to attend. Too bad. The Democratic candidates presented many ideas about health care, education and the economic condition of working families. I would like to know if the Republican candidates agreed with those ideas or had better ones.
Matt Bradford addressed the issue of State funding for education. He noted that the State no longer paid its fair shared of school costs since Governor Ridge was in office. The lack of State funding has made property taxes higher forcing seniors out of their homes and making it more difficult for young families to buy a home. Kelbin Carolina promoted more funding for vocational training and special education. He noted that Employers in the area complain about the difficulty of finding qualified employees. He suggested that Corporations should be more involved in their local schools. He also proposed that Corporations could support the community college so the local work force could be trained with low or no tuition fees. There seemed to be general agreement among the candidates with Senator Obama’s proposal to forgive Student loans in exchange for public service. The candidates also felt that there should be more Pell grants and lower interest on student loans. They all believed that education was key to better employment and reduced crime rates.
Because the Republican Candidates did not show up, we had more time to ask questions of the remaining candidates and even talk to them after the forum. We could express our concerns and see how ready they were to respond to them. It is easier to judge their enthusiasm for your ideas talking to them in the same room than from a web site or a TV ad.
Among the questions asked:
Addressing the concerns of working families, ‘MzPaula’ asked if the candidates would support a thirty day delay on a home foreclosure, while the homeowner received public supported credit and loan counseling. There was general recognition of that need among the candidates. Having spent 32 years working as an accountant for various financial institutions and banks, Kelbin Carolina felt a critical need to teach consumer finances to high school students.
Another older man was concerned about the high truancy in our school district. To cut down on truancy Kelbin Carolina said the School district needed volunteers that would be willing to call the parents of children that had not reported to school that day. Apparently Mr. Carolina is not so liberal as to suggest more government as the solution to all problems.
When Mr. Roggio was principle partner of Zenith corporation, the company provided health care to several hundred employees. I assumed that he would be keenly aware of health insurance costs. So I was stunned when he proposed a universal single-payer health care system that would reduce the cost of insuring a family of four from $12,000 to $3,000. I challenged him on that statistic. He claimed other industrialized countries with universal health care had much lower cost and the quality of their health care is rated higher than the USA ( Infant mortality and life expectancy are common measures). He cited the administrative, advertising and inefficient duplication costs of our current system. There is no central data base on the cost effectiveness of various treatment procedures, which would be possible under a single payer system.
These forums don’t happen often and they are a great opportunity to learn much about the people who will impact our lives in many ways. Glad I went. Hope you can come to the next one.
Seated from left to right at the Library are candidates:
Daylin Leach - PA 17th State Senate District -> www.votedaylin.com/
( Senator Connie Williams is retiring from the district)
Bob Roggio - US Congress for the PA-6 District -> www.bobroggioforcongress.com/
Matt Bradford - PA 70th House District -> www.mattbradford.org
Kelbin Carolina - PA 150th House District -> http://votecarolina.org/
Their Republican opponents were invited to join the forum but sent their regrets that they were unable to attend. Too bad. The Democratic candidates presented many ideas about health care, education and the economic condition of working families. I would like to know if the Republican candidates agreed with those ideas or had better ones.
Matt Bradford addressed the issue of State funding for education. He noted that the State no longer paid its fair shared of school costs since Governor Ridge was in office. The lack of State funding has made property taxes higher forcing seniors out of their homes and making it more difficult for young families to buy a home. Kelbin Carolina promoted more funding for vocational training and special education. He noted that Employers in the area complain about the difficulty of finding qualified employees. He suggested that Corporations should be more involved in their local schools. He also proposed that Corporations could support the community college so the local work force could be trained with low or no tuition fees. There seemed to be general agreement among the candidates with Senator Obama’s proposal to forgive Student loans in exchange for public service. The candidates also felt that there should be more Pell grants and lower interest on student loans. They all believed that education was key to better employment and reduced crime rates.
Because the Republican Candidates did not show up, we had more time to ask questions of the remaining candidates and even talk to them after the forum. We could express our concerns and see how ready they were to respond to them. It is easier to judge their enthusiasm for your ideas talking to them in the same room than from a web site or a TV ad.
Among the questions asked:
Addressing the concerns of working families, ‘MzPaula’ asked if the candidates would support a thirty day delay on a home foreclosure, while the homeowner received public supported credit and loan counseling. There was general recognition of that need among the candidates. Having spent 32 years working as an accountant for various financial institutions and banks, Kelbin Carolina felt a critical need to teach consumer finances to high school students.
Another older man was concerned about the high truancy in our school district. To cut down on truancy Kelbin Carolina said the School district needed volunteers that would be willing to call the parents of children that had not reported to school that day. Apparently Mr. Carolina is not so liberal as to suggest more government as the solution to all problems.
When Mr. Roggio was principle partner of Zenith corporation, the company provided health care to several hundred employees. I assumed that he would be keenly aware of health insurance costs. So I was stunned when he proposed a universal single-payer health care system that would reduce the cost of insuring a family of four from $12,000 to $3,000. I challenged him on that statistic. He claimed other industrialized countries with universal health care had much lower cost and the quality of their health care is rated higher than the USA ( Infant mortality and life expectancy are common measures). He cited the administrative, advertising and inefficient duplication costs of our current system. There is no central data base on the cost effectiveness of various treatment procedures, which would be possible under a single payer system.
These forums don’t happen often and they are a great opportunity to learn much about the people who will impact our lives in many ways. Glad I went. Hope you can come to the next one.
If you don't take care of the land, it can't take care of you
