What would Bob Do -- not Bob O'Connor, but Bob Casey.

The Pennacchio for Pennsylvania email from November 8, 2005, was interesting. It has spunk. He needs it. Our community needs leaders with the right kind of spunk as well. Pennacchio is a Dem who is gearing up to run against Santorum for US Senate in 2006. But, he'll need to be the big boy from his own party, Bob Casey, to get a whack at PA's Junior Senator, the guy most in Western PA love to hate. Well, here is the email, reposted here.

Note, I post a lot of info at the blog. Some I like and agree with -- other times is is just for everyone's awareness. I don't have much to say about the candidates for the US Senate race -- yet. So, don't fly off and think that this posting is an 'endorsement.' Rather, it is a good sign of spunk in a place and time when we need it.

The Congressional Quarterly is reporting that Bob Casey, Jr. has agreed to meet a challenge issued by Rick Santorum's campaign to say "how he would vote on the important issues before the United States Senate." Hey, when they're right, they're right; and it isn't often so let's not discourage them. Santorum's campaign has asked for Casey's position on twenty-two issues. Given Mr. Casey's refusal to address any issue of substance publicly, we'd settle for two.

Living Wage: Chuck supports a living wage; Rick Santorum opposes it. Where does Bob Casey stand? One out of five American children lives in poverty. Last year, 1 in 10 Pennsylvania households experienced food insecurity. 1.38 million Pennsylvanians have no health insurance. The majority of these citizens are employed or from working families. In 1968, the federal minimum wage was 86% of the poverty level. Today, it is 64%. Business interests have predicted disaster every time the minimum wage was raised. It has never happened. Legislators' wages are cost-adjusted; government benefits are cost-adjusted. Where does Bob Casey stand on a living wage for workers?

Alito Nomination: Judge Samuel Alito voted to overturn the Family and Medical Leave Act passed by Congress, upheld the strip search of a woman and a ten year old girl based on a warrant to search a man and his house, and ruled that the government could force a woman to notify her spouse before seeking an abortion -- with no exception for abuse or estrangement -- in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA v. Casey. Judge Alito is more concerned with business interests than with the freedom of citizens, especially women and minorities. Chuck opposes Judge Alito's confirmation; Rick Santorum supports it. What would Bob Casey, Jr. do?

If you agree with Chuck on living wage legislation and the Alito nomination, help us take the fight to the US Senate. Someone once said if you want to keep gettin' what you're gettin', keep doin' what you're doin.' If we keep electing the same kinds of politicians, politicians who are indebted to corporate interests, we're going to get the same old non-solutions that keep monied interests happy and the rest of us struggling. You can change politics by backing candidates who refuse corporate money and influence. Chuck doesn't take any PAC money; Casey and Santorum do -- lots of it.
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Pennacchio for Pennsylvania