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Updated: Team Romney’s PA “Build That” Blitz

Update II: Here are Friday’s events.

“We Did Build This” Event
Allentown
11:00 AM
ASGCO Manufacturing, 301 West Gordon Street, Allentown, PA 18102
Featuring:
Senator Pat Toomey
Todd Gibbs, Owner ASGCO Manufacturing
Bill Ginder, Owner Climate Specialists
Ben Beiler, Owner, Benco Technology
and the Romney campaign bus

Romney for President Mobile Campaign HQ Bus at Barley Creek Brewing Company
Tannersville
4:30 PM
Barley Creek Brewing Company, Sullivan Trail Road, Tannersville, PA 18372

Romney for President Mobile Campaign HQ Bus at International Gymnastics Camp for Olympic Opening Ceremonies watching party with campers
Stroudsburg
7:00 PM
International Gymnastics Camp, 100 Gymnastics Way, Stroudsburg, PA 18360

And the Obama campaign continued its rollout of PA small business owners who thank the President for his policies. This time, though, they broke the geographic trend and highlighted one from McMurray, in the Pittsburgh suburbs:

After many ups and downs during the financial crisis, a $350,000 loan backed by the Obama Administration allowed Abeer Kronawetter to start her own restaurant franchise in McMurray, Pennsylvania, which now has almost 30 employees. In 2007, before President Obama took office, Abeer was laid off from a Florida company where she had worked for 26 years. Seeking an opportunity at a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, Abeer and her husband Richard moved north, only to find that job disappear at the peak of the financial crisis in early 2009. To support their family and provide them health insurance, Richard was forced to go back to working in high construction, which he had left 20 years earlier.

Unemployed, Abeer decided to shape her own destiny: after six months trying to obtain a loan from financial institutions to open her own restaurant franchise, Abeer finally found one financed by President Obama’s Small Business Administration, allowing her to open a restaurant in McMurray, just south of Pittsburgh. Today, Abeer has nearly 30 employees, and hopes to open more restaurants in the years to come.

“After three decades of job security, the financial crisis threw my life into chaos in 2007—but I never lost hope,” said Abeer Kronawetter. “I moved my family to Pennsylvania, and took matters into my own hands after seeing an opportunity in a loan backed by the Obama Administration. Thanks to the President’s support for entrepreneurs, I was able to create my own job – and jobs for many others – by opening my own restaurant franchise. Those who twist words to say that President Obama doesn’t support small business owners are dead wrong: just ask my husband, my family, and the employees who come to work in my restaurant every day.”

Update: Here are Thursday’s events.

“We Did Build This” Event
West Chester
12:30 PM
Chester County Courthouse, 2 North High, West Chester, PA 19380
Featuring:
Val DiGiorgio, Chester County Republican Committee Chairman
Ryan Costello, Chester County Commissioner
James Gasho, Owner, Gasho Inc.
Ted Delgaizo, Main Line Engineering

“We Did Build This” Event
Bensalem
3:30 PM
PennFab, Inc., 1431 Ford Rd., Bensalem, PA 19020
Featuring:
Mike Mabin, Owner PennFab, Inc.
Pat Poprik, Bucks County Republican Committee Chairwoman
Lou Jammer, Owner, Jammer Door
Rob Leipszinger, Owner, Rob’s Complete Truck Service

Romney for President Mobile Campaign HQ Bus at Iron Pigs Game
Allentown
6:00 PM
Iron Pigs Game
Coca Cola Park, 555 Union Blvd, Allentown, PA 18109

The Obama camp has responded to one of Romney’s events in West Chester by highlighting a small business owner who is in their corner – third generation owner Joshua Young of Young’s Garage, Inc. in West Chester, an auto repair shop opened by Young’s grandfather in 1960.

Young said the downturn in the economy made the last few years some of the hardest, but that things are turning around and being able to turn a profit again has allowed the company to invest in the future and make it easier to provide employees full healthcare coverage – a policy started when the shop first opened.

“A President can never – and should never – buoy every small business out of its tough times. But what a President can do is create an environment that nurtures the growth of small businesses like Young’s,” he said. “That’s exactly what President Obama has done, and it’s the reason I’m supporting him in November.”

Mitt Romney’s campaign is launching a full court national press over Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remarks, featuring local surrogates, business owners, and the campaign bus. Here are the events they plan for PA.

A more full reading of Obama’s comments suggest that the President was referring to public education, infrastructure and other elements of American society as essential for the success of each individual. But the the GOP has pounced, citing the quote as evidence of the President’s anti-business worldview.

Here are the events on Wednesday’s schedule. More are expected to follow.

“We Did Build This” Event
Ebensburg
9:00 AM
Cambria County Courthouse, 200 South Center Street, Ebensburg, PA 15931
Featuring:
PA GOP Chairman Rob Gleason
Tom McAneny, McAneny Brothers, Inc.
Rex McQuaide, McQuaide Inc.
and the Romney campaign bus

“We Did Build This” Event
Harrisburg
11:45AM
State Capitol Rotunda, 225 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Featuring:
Kevin Shivers, Pennsylvania NFIB State Director
Tom Smith, Former Small Business Owner and Candidate for U.S. Senate
David Cranston, Cranston Material Handling Equipment Corporation
Janis Herschkowitz, PRL, Inc.
David Brooke Rush, David Brooke Rush Builders

“We Did Build This” Business Tour and Event
Loganville
2:30PM
Brown’s Orchard and Farmer’s Market, 8892 Susquehanna Trail South, Loganville, PA 17342
Featuring:
Ron Miller, Pennsylvania State Representative (R-93)
Bob Wilson, York County Republican Committee Chairman
Stanley Brown, Owner, Brown’s Orchard and Farmer’s Market
and the Romney campaign bus

Cumberland County Victory Office Opening
Mechanicsburg
6:30PM
Cumberland County Victory Office, 1 South Frederick Street, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Featuring:
Tom Smith, Candidate for U.S. Senate
and the Romney campaign bus

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has its own push, highlighting PA small businesses that have benefitted from the President’s policies. First up, two construction companies and a BBQ restaurant.

Two small business owners, Charles Overholser and Kathy Packrall, own small construction companies on opposite ends of Pennsylvania. During the recession, Overholser was forced to lay off workers; but as the economy recovered, his clients, many of them also small businesses around Philadelphia, returned. Thanks to increasing demand and the small business health care tax credits from President Obama’s healthcare law, Mr. Overholser’s Philadelphia business was able to rehire all of its staff following the recession.

Similarly, business was tough for Kathy Packrall and her husband during the financial crisis; but since then, the economy has started growing again under President Obama, demand has increased, and Kathy and her husband are now hiring workers at their Pittsburgh area headquarters.

Keith Taylor, owns Zachary’s BBQ in Norristown and received a Small Business Association loan to open his restaurant after he struggled to get his feet off the ground. Taylor also received rebates for new equipment he purchased as part of the Small Business Jobs Act, allowing continual growth and success for his barbeque restaurant.

They also tapped a Cambria County small business owner to respond to the GOP there:

In response to the Romney campaign’s distortions, small business owner and Chef Charles Heinrich – owner of Everyday Gourmet & Fine Food in Ebensburg – released the following statement:

“As a small business owner in Cambria County, I am puzzled by the Romney campaign’s attacks on President Obama and their efforts to twist his words around. About 18 months ago, I had the confidence to open my very own small business here in Ebensburg, and since then, I’ve been able to add more employees—growing from a staff of 4 to a staff of 10 employees today. Because of a tax break from the federal government, the costs of my kitchen equipment have gradually decreased over time, allowing me to keep my cash flow in the black. Without that extra money, I may not have lasted this long.

“I took a risk, and it paid off. But I also know that if President Obama didn’t act quickly to turn our economy around and promote investments in American workers – like tax credits, new roads and bridges, and access to technology – small businesses like mine wouldn’t be able to expand. President Obama supports small businesses and entrepreneurs like me, and Everyday Gourmet is evidence of that commitment. I can’t say the same for Mitt Romney.”

10 Responses

  1. My small business became smaller during the years of the Obama presidency. I found it harder to meet my bills as the price of everything went up and up. I had to pull tighter. And I worked more jobs. I saw the same things happen to my friends and business associates. Everyone suffered. And what do you know – the airbase I work in got gutted by the base relocation deal under our present administration. The drastic downsizing of the military hit home – hard. It is no wonder we have been perceived by our enemies as being weak.
    Since the downturn, I have made the decision that this country needs a change in direction. I do not need to hear anymore talk from anyone in D.C. They have by and large let us all who work for a living down. So, I am convinced that we need a new man to lead us on to better times.

  2. He said, ” If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” It wasn’t selectively edited. The quote was part of a bigger rhetorically socialistic line of speech from the President. Everyone should be congratulated when someone suceeds because everyone allowed that someone to suceed.

    Face it, Horatio Alger is dead, bring on “everything for everyone and Nothing for ourselves…”

    The fact that anyone would even defend a man who uttered something so anti-american is just a confirmation of how far gone we actually are. The whole country feels entitled to something. We’ve gone from a population of rugged, hard-working, idealistic and driven men and women who got to where they were by fighting for it, to a bunch of whiny liberals who want everything given to them and cry the second the government trys to cut back.

    Just remember, “the problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other peoples money.” just look at Europe.

    Below is the text of the presidents comments from think progess. Certainly not fox news sheep the enlightened Montco Dem presupposes rather ignorantly. It shows a true socialistic thought process in our israel hating commander in chief.
    “I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.”
    “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

  3. I am so glad Mitt Romney will be our nominee. I believe Romney has proven his case that he is the right person for the job because what we need are…J O B S. Obama does not have a clue how to improve the environment for businesses to create jobs. If Obama had been successful, he’d be running on it. Every time he says “it worked”, I am appalled as I have seen no evidence of success.
    If roads etc. made it possible for a business to be successful, why aren’t all businesses successful? The difference in successful & non successful businesses is the person running it. I’ve seen Obama’s whole speech and I just became more nauseous.

  4. Well, in fairness, Tim, if they’re the typical Fox News-watching sheep they’ve never seen the complete quote. Fox News made sure they sliced and diced it so that it out completely different than what was actually said. That’s pretty much standard procedure over there.

  5. The government used to build the roads, but then the Republicans saw that their friends could make money by paying priviate companies more money to build roads.

    If you think the President didn’t say that there are a lot of smart hard working small business owners in that same paragraph as his comments about the government helping building infrastructure, you will never take the time to listen to anyone that isn’t a card carrying conservative.

  6. Nothing negative about this at all. Sue your a little off your rocker here. Democratic spin doesn’t work in Pennsylvania. We don’t buy the bullshit. This President truly believes that small business owners, the ones who took the risk and put their financial lives on the line ultimately succeeded because of the government. This line of logic is ridiculous.

    This is the food stamp President in all of his glory. He disparages those who work, and props up the leeches sucking the blood out of this country. Just drive through any major city, you’ll see how well this President’s ideology works.

    I’m for the American ideal of hard work. I won’t disparage someone for being successful. I’m for success and hard work. This President stands for the ideals of entitlements, welfare, and food stamps. Why? Because they vote for him.

    It’s time for those Americans who believe this country was founded on hard work and sacrifice to take it back from this nut job.

    Oh, and the government didn’t build the roads my goods go to market on. The government confiscated my money, bid out the constrcution of the roads, hired a private company, then gave my money to the private contractor to build the road. The government doesn’t build wealth, they confiscate it. They’re not entitled to it, they take it. There is a big difference there.

  7. a completely negative campaign built completely on LIES! perfect representative for today’s republican party

  8. Etch-a-Sketch Mittens is an unmitigated disaster. Short of nominating Failin Palin, Mitty is the worst choice the Republicans could have made.

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