Joe Sestak Rallies Supporters in West Chester and Media

Builds Statewide Momentum Leading up to Election Day

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Before enthusiastic crowds in West Chester and Media, U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak urged those gathered to get out the vote. He laid out the stark contrast between his strong record of standing up for middle class Pennsylvanians, and Congressman Toomey’s consistent advocacy for Wall Street special interests. Here he is addressing supporters at the West Chester event.

“We face a clear choice in this election – between moving forward, or going back. Between someone who will do what it takes to create jobs and get out economy moving again, and someone who’s only interested in standing up for Wall Street,” Joe told supporters at West Chester University’s quad. “I’ll never stop fighting for small businesses and the middle class, because I know they’re at the heart of our prosperity. Congressman Toomey is more interested in helping his friends on Wall Street, and he just doesn’t understand ordinary Pennsylvanians.”

Admiral Sestak has proposed many practical steps the country can take to create new jobs, including reigning in foreign export subsidies that kill American jobs; closing the loopholes for corporations that ship jobs abroad; helping small businesses that create up to 80 percent of all new jobs; and ending the special treatment for Wall Street financiers that lets them pay a lower tax rate than the workers in their mailroom, while extending middle class tax breaks.

Congressman Toomey has spent his career in the House and with the Wall Street-funded lobbying group Club for Growth fighting for policies that kill American jobs, including: voting for tax loopholes that allow American jobs to go overseas; voting against measures that would help small businesses succeed; and opposing efforts to crack down on Chinese currency manipulation that costs jobs here in Pennsylvania.

“Congressman Toomey actually supports corporations that invest in a factory in China, close their business in America, and fire American workers,” said Joe. “They get their profits exampt from taxes in his plan. He doesn’t understand that it should be about ‘we the people,’ not ‘we the corporations.'”

Admiral Sestak told supporters at the Media rally that Congressman Toomey’s extremism goes beyond corporate favoritism to include privatizing Social Security.

“Congressman Toomey wants to gamble our Social Security benefits in the stock market, generating billions in fees for his friends on Wall Street, but saddling Pennsylvania seniors with an enormous amount of risk,” said Joe. “He wants to take the ‘security’ out of Social Security. But I know we need to protect this vital program and stand up for our seniors’ retirement security.”

Admiral Sestak said the program keeps 20 million seniors out of poverty, including 700,000 across Pennsylvania. He understands the importance of keeping Social Security solvent for generations to come, and has urged Congress to keep all options on the table in order to do so. One responsible solution would be to allow the Bush tax cuts for the super-rich to expire, which would constitute sufficient funds to keep Social Security solvent for roughly 75 years. But whichever approach policymakers take, Joe would not support any effort to cut benefits or gamble with such an essential program.

Congressman Toomey’s plan to privatize Social Security would add $4.9 trillion to the deficit, force benefit cuts for today’s seniors, and allow Wall Street brokers to play roulette with the retirement security of future generations. At the same time, it would net billions in new fees for the Wall Street brokers who have funneled millions to Toomey’s campaign.

“I’m asking you to join me in this fight, for working families and all those who want to work,” said Joe. “We just can’t afford to go back to Congressman Toomey’s failed policies. That’s why we need to get out and vote for practical solutions, accountable service, and independent leadership.”

Joe Sestak was elected to Congress in 2006 after a distinguished 31-year career in the United States Navy, and he is honored to represent the Southeastern Pennsylvania district where he was born and raised. He is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania.  During his Navy career, Joe attained the rank of 3-star Admiral, served in the White House as Director for Defense Policy on President Clinton’s National Security Council, served in the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, and led a series of operational commands at sea, culminating in command of the USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier Battle Group (30 ships, 100 aircraft, and 15,000 sailors/marines/aviators/SEALs) during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In our nation’s time of crisis in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the Navy turned to Joe Sestak to serve as the first Director of “Deep Blue,” the Navy anti-terrorism unit formed in response to the attacks. Joe is the highest-ranking former military officer ever elected to either branch of Congress. He graduated second in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. Joe lives in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Alex, and proudly represents the 7th District, where his mother and many of his seven siblings still reside.

###