LaVallee has family focus
PENN TWP — “We can do better” was what congressional hopeful Dan LaVallee told a roomful of Butler County Democrats Thursday night.
The government needs to do better and stand up for working families, he said.
“It's time to put the needs of Western Pennsylvanians ahead of big corporations, of billionaires and millionaires,” he said.
Twelve days before the Nov. 4 election the county Democratic Committee held its fall dinner at Conley Resort where several candidates and elected officials spoke to 100 people.
Speakers included LaVallee, who is running against Republican Rep. Mike Kelly for Pennsylvania's Third Congressional District seat, and Lisa Zucco, who is running against Republican state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe in the 12th District.
Joining them were retired Admiral Joe Sestak, state Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn; Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, state 22nd District Rep. Erin Molchany and 2015 state commonwealth court candidate Todd Eagen.
LaVallee of Cranberry Township quoted Kelly as saying that the U.S. government is doing “good work.”
“Mr. Kelly thinks good work is raising taxes on middle class families by $1,400 a year while cutting taxes on the wealthiest, like himself, by nearly $200,000 a year,” he said.
LaVallee said one of his goals, if elected, would be to create jobs. He would achieve this by expanding job training, increasing research and investment in the natural gas industry and opposing unfair trade deals that lead to jobs moving overseas.
Zucco, also of Cranberry Township, said that she first got involved in politics at age 5, when she volunteered at a polling place with her mother.“Politics and community involvement have long been a staple in my life,” she said.In talking with voters, Zucco said she has heard that people want a change in leadership.“We hear from people just like you, just like us, that are tired of the incumbent politicians who run this area for their own benefit having long forgotten their constituents. We understand that now is the time, our time, to make the changes we need to better this community and this commonwealth,” she said.Zucco said the current leaders have not addressed issues such as crumbling roads and $1 billion in cuts to education.To win their races, Zucco said she and LaVallee need help from volunteers.“We need all hands on deck, Dan and I,” she said.The evening started with Sestak, the keynote speaker, who served in the U.S. Navy for 31 years and four years as the congressman for Pennsylvania's Seventh District. He talked about issues including health care, education and taxes, and he gave his support to Zucco, Lavallee and gubernatorial hopeful Tom Wolf.Because of the Affordable Care Act, Butler County has low health insurance premiums on the individualized market and everyone has access to them, Sestak said.Health care is an important issue, and it is one that LaVallee has a background in, he said.“Dan comes from the health care industry and understands that. You couldn't have a better representative to go down and fight and understand the ins and outs,” he said.He also said the state should more heavily tax natural gas drilling companies, which have benefited by government-funded technology, such as sonar, and by tax credits.“They wouldn't be doing what they're doing today if wasn't for our $10 billion in additional tax credits we gave them between 1974 and 2002,” he said.“To me it's not about trying to just get the oil money from them. It's: 'I invested in you, you're doing what you can, now we want the commonwealth to benefit with money for education.”
