PT Republican Voters Guide - Primary 2013

 Tomorrow Tuesday 5/21 is the primary election, and like any election day it’s always important. You will be voting for people that will closely impact your wallet via taxes. They will be responsible for the security of your property and your family, the well being and education of the children in our area, and finally the application of election law rules. If you think primaries don’t matter, think of this: if a candidate doesn’t make it past the primaries, they are not on the fall ballot. This gives voters the chance to pick the best and also get rid of rascals. 

The short story is

1)      Tuesday 5/21 is Election Day.

2)      Write-in campaign, Nancy Carr for recorder of Deeds (you might want to write this down )

3)      School board , 8 on ballot of which 7 cross-filed, pick 4

4)      Judges, 8 cross-filed on ballot pick 2

5)      Peters Township council

6)      Judges of election and inspectors of election

7)      Washington County Row offices ( Sheriff, controller, recorder of deeds, etc)

8)      Statewide Judge Races ()

 The long story is

 First off, if you’d like a choice this fall, The Washington County Republican Party has a write-in campaign for Nancy Carr for recorder of Deeds. She’s been involved with Washington County Republicans for several years, and she ran as a Republican for mayor of Washington PA a couple years ago.

Second, if you received the prior PTR email, I encourage you to review it for my notes on School board. The candidates are all cross-filed, except for Jameson Hardy (PhD) who is running as a Republican. Strategy-wise, since he’s not cross-filed, he won’t end up accidentally winning on the Democrat ballot. Some incumbents have done much good and deserve consideration. The 5 candidates that I like personally ( in no particular order and definitely not a PT Republicans endorsement!! ) Dr. Jamison J. Hardy, Rebecca Bowman, Lori Cuervo, Sue Smith, Cynthia Golembiewski. Since we must choose 4 you don’t really know who I will vote for exactly. You should vote depending on your personal bias, for example political registration, gender, track record, new talent, willingness to raise taxes, etc. Personally, I pay the same in school taxes as a lease on a Mercedes E350, so I’m paying attention to the big spenders on the board, and also the lobbyists from the PTA that show up at every other meeting pleading to build a new school. Projections using census data show we might get at most 25 extra students at the end of the next 10 years. I agree with a periodic renovation, and I also completely disagree with hundreds of millions for a new school. Just so you know, the PT school board approved this spring, on the verge of statewide pension crisis,  to reduce the retirement age and also offered to pay for full benefits, and in the dismissive comments of some Democrat registered Board members “this is a standard agreement”. I won’t be getting anything close to this sweet PTSD unfunded retirement deal, but you and I sure will get to pay for this largesse and all the other “free money” until death do us part.  Note that based on the US Census of 2010, 59.3% of PT households have zero children in school at any given time, so not everyone benefits from the school services or knows of the deeds of the PTA. If you talk to any realtor, PT homes typically sell fast, inventory is low, and we get our asking price mainly because the low taxes in PT are a big attraction and big selling point, as much or more than good schools. High taxes and irresponsible spending would make us the same as Democrat strongholds in neighboring USC and Mt Lebanon.

Third, if you thought it was tough picking someone for school board, I have a treat for you. We have 8 cross-filed candidates, and we have to pick only two of them. Many people have weighed in on who’s the best and who’s the brightest in the local media as well as colorful fliers in your mailboxes. First, as voters, we look at experience and variety of cases they deal with. All 8 candidates reported a stint in a DA’s office at one time or another.  Lane Turturice is also cross-filed but he is the only registered republican, just so you know. The Washington County Bar association polled its 320 members and received 192 ballots. Their top 3 picks are Mike Lucas, Blane Black, and Valarie Constanzo. All four listed here performed extremely well at the League of Women Voters panel based on my personal impressions and also from media reports on Patch.com, Atlantic, and Observer-Reporter. As is with Washington County politics, you can expect a bad story to surface around Election Day, so search your local news sites for these candidates and stories about them. You’ll have to decide if it’s a big deal or not.

Fourth, all the incumbents on PT Council are running again. There is a contested primary, incumbent Monica Merrell vs. Ted Taylor IV in Ward B, so you’ll need to decide on Monica’s track record versus Ted’s new ideas.

Fifth, we have the Judges of Elections and Inspectors of Elections. As local PT Republican Chairman, I am extremely proud that we have a PT Republican recruitment team that was able to find candidates for a rather complete roster of 12 Judges of elections and 11 Inspectors of elections. These dedicated people will help ensure that election rules are followed and that properly documented voters can vote.

Election Board Candidates 2014

Precinct

Judge of Elections

 Inspector of Elections

A 1

Vira (Vi) Doughton

Beth Ann Coonrod

A 2

Phil Dott

Karen Yocca

A 3

Harry Verlato

Laura Zuloga

B 1

Ann Sexauer

Kathy Crosby

B 2

Lawna Blankenship

David Hummel

B 3

Randy O'Connell

No candidate

C 1

Bob Woeber

Lucy Shoupp

C 2

Joan Paul

Dick Kelly

C 3

Sas Argentine

Dave McCombs

D 1

Mary Jane Cichowicz

Gail Denton

D 2

Neal Roth

Roxanna Ellis

D 3

Phil Lamb

Dana Ploschnitznig

Last but not least, we have our unopposed Republican candidates at the county and state levels, PT Businesswoman Angela Carrier for Washington County Controller and Attorney Vic Stabile for Superior Court. Unfortunately, we have row offices in Washington County with no Republicans, like County Sheriff. This is clearly something we will need to address in the future.

Thanks again for voting. Your vote will help keep our township, county, and our state strong.