The Pennsylvania Senate Race: Distinguished Public Service vs. Extreme Wall Street-backed Agenda
September 19, 2010

Six weeks to go in the race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. President Clinton praised Joe Sestak for his integrity as Joe continued his campaign to put working families first. Meanwhile, Congressman Toomey defended his position opposing hate crime legislation while his efforts to create a more far-right conservative Republican party were given a boost in Delaware’s primary where fellow Tea Party Express supporter Christine O’Donnell won.

Admiral Sestak’s Distinguished Service on Display

“Bill Clinton lauds Sestak economic plan during visit”
►    “The first thing is to put the American people back to work,” said Clinton, who enjoyed a booming economy during his tenure in the White House. “Now, Joe Sestak is the only person, as nearly as I can tell, running for the Senate, who’s offered a detailed plan to do that.” [Delaware County Daily Times, 9/14/2010]

“Biden Praises Sestak, Contrasts to Other ‘OK’ Democratic Candidates”
►    “I have campaigned for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of candidates. … Some folks I campaign for were OK, some were great,” Biden said, according to pool reports. “But I can say I have never campaigned for a man with more character, integrity and capacity than the man I am campaigning for here tonight.” [Roll Call, 9/13/2010]

 “If the party’s wrong, I’ll vote on the side of the working family. … Party is secondary.'”
►    “Sestak met with about 30 Jewish leaders, who also had backed Specter. He met with black clergy at Philadelphia’s Bright Hope Baptist Church for a unity breakfast to rally the powerful political leaders. And he met with Democratic state lawmakers in July to urge them to come together behind his candidacy. Just don’t expect Sestak to kowtow to the party. ‘I am running as an independent-minded person,’ Sestak said in an interview with The Associated Press. ‘If the party’s wrong, I’ll vote on the side of the working family. … Party is secondary.'” [Associated Press, 9/17/2010]

“Sestak gloves off with new website attacking Toomey”
►    “Democrat Joe Sestak’s campaign launched a website today called The Real Toomey for Senate … The site holds nothing back with an issues section that highlights Social Security privatization and big business protections and a biography section that mentions Wall Street 12 times.” [Morning Call, 9/17/2010]

A Toomey Senate: Extremist, Wall Street-backed Agenda 

“No anxiety in Pennsylvania, as Toomey and Corbett fit GOP to a tea”
►     “Pennsylvania did not need a tea party candidate to yank the GOP back to the right. It had Pat Toomey… Toomey’s conservatism became a selling point to Republican Party officials after reading the tea party leaves in April 2009.” [Patriot News, 9/16/2010]

“An enabler of extremism of tea party candidates”
►     “Toomey, a former congressman from Allentown, served four years as head of the Club for Growth, a group that finances primary challenges to Republican politicians deemed insufficiently conservative. The group also helped fund the 9/12 tea party group in 2009.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/16/2010]

“That Toomey is very conservative is beyond debate”
►     “Pat Toomey, however, is another story. To wit, four years ago, even two years ago, Toomey was generally considered too conservative to be a serious candidate. Indeed in some respects he was right of Rick Santorum, once the reigning enfant terrible of the far right. That Toomey is very conservative is beyond debate. If he is elected, he will arguably be the most conservative U.S Senator Pennsylvania has elected since before the New Deal days.” [Real Clear Politics, 9/18/2010]

“Toomey is a proponent of ending Social Security”
►     “Toomey is a proponent of ending Social Security as it now stands by allowing younger workers to invest part of their Social Security contribution in private markets. He has written and spoken about it extensively … Sounds wonderful on paper, but removing any money from Social Security jeopardizes a system that, with a few minor tweaks – increasing the earnings cap, phasing in a higher retirement age and incorporating means testing – could be self-sustaining for another 75 years.” [Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, 9/15/2010]

“Wall Street ties are a major player in midterm election”
►     “Sestak continues to hammer on Toomey’s Wall Street ties. ‘I don’t go bash Wall Street. I think they have a value,’ Sestak said. His complaint is that after Toomey left Wall Street, he went to Washington and fought ‘for removing rules from Wall Street that will protect the working family. He says, ‘Trust Wall Street.’ People don’t trust Wall Street.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/17/2010]

“Franco Harris outraged over Toomey’s ‘hate crime’ view”
►     “Harris contacted the Courier to explain the importance of hate crime legislation and what Toomey’s remarks say about him as a candidate. ‘I feel that hate crimes are more premeditated in a way and because of that I think that’s why they should be treated differently,’ Harris said. ‘When you have a crime against a certain community of people it turns into fear tactics, it gets to be psychological. We need to look at that in a bigger, broader sense and realize that there’s bigger, broader consequences.'” [New Pittsburgh Courier, 9/15/2010]