The PA Congressional District DINO

Yesterday, Representative Tim Holden sided with the Republicans and the Tea Party by voting against the best interests of his constituents.  He voted “NO”, twice, for health care reform.

The historic health care reform bill that just passed the House will immediately provide the following benefits to Pennsylvanians in the 17th Congressional District:

. Improve coverage for 444,000 residents with health insurance.
. Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 168,000 families and 13,000 small businesses to help them afford coverage.
. Improve Medicare for 120,000 beneficiaries, including closing the doughnut hole.
. Extend coverage to 18,500 uninsured residents.
. Guarantee that 7,300 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.
. Protect 900 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
. Allow 47,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.
. Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 7 community health centers.
. Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $59 million annually.

Read more about the benefits of health care reform here…

Support a REAL Democrat by voting for Sheila Dow Ford at the Democratic Primary in May.  Here’s a link to Sheila’s statement regarding yesterday’s historic vote.

More On That Midnight Pay Raise

From an email…

Friends of Congressman Tim HoldenContact:  570-429-0397

Statement from Congressman Tim Holden regarding PA Senator Dave Argall’s announcement:

Today’s announcement from Dave Argall should be very troubling to the constituents he currently represents as he was just entrusted less then a year ago with the Senate seat of the late Jimmy Rhoades.  Senator Rhoades was a colleague and friend of mine. He coached me in my early football years.  He and I worked closely together for the people we represented and we upheld the long tradition of bipartisanship which has served our constituents well over the years.

I am proud to share this same tradition of bipartisanship with other elected legislators throughout the 17^th Congressional District.  It is disturbing to me that Dave Argall has chosen to disregard this policy for his own personal gains, but now that he has made this choice, let’s take a close look at his legislative record.

While serving as a State Representative, Dave Argall voted to increase his own pension by 50%.

Then, while serving in a leadership position in the PA House, he wrote, signed and was responsible for rounding up the votes for the infamous midnight Pay Raise legislation.  That’s right, Dave Argall gave himself a 34% pay increase.  Let the record be clear, without Dave Argall, this bad legislation would never have seen the light of day, much less be passed into law.  It was Dave Argall, working closely with his colleague, the now indicted former Speaker of the House John Perzel, who made sure that the votes were there to pass this appalling pay increase.

At the same time he was lining his own pockets, Dave Argall routinely voted to increase taxes on his constituents and voted against funding health insurance programs for people who most needed the assistance.

One thing is for sure, Dave Argall is not a leader and he is not concerned about average working men and women.  Dave Argall has demonstrated time and time again he is only concerned with one thing…. Dave Argall.

Denver – Sunday’s Pictures

The PA 6th Congressional District and PA 17th Congressional District Delegates have safely arrived in Denver along with their spouses.

Ray had this to report:

Here are some pics from Sunday. We arrived in Denver about 12:30 in the afternoon and it was a beautiful day. Got to our Hotel at about 2 and were on a bus headed to a reception by 4 We took a bus up into the mountains and eat and drink until 7 and then a free concert started with Cheryl Crow, Sugarland (Country) and Dave Matthews. We got back about midnight and were up at 5:30 because our internal clocks haven’t adjusted yet. I am sending 2 e-mails because of number of pictures.

Here’s the Delegates. They look excited!

Eileen Prussman, PA 17 CD, Cynthia Baughman, PA 6 CD, Jim Mickle, along for the ride.

Here are some pictures from Denver:

Denver Over Top of the Stage

More below the fold.