Site last updated: Thursday, March 28, 2024

Log In

Reset Password
MENU
Butler County's great daily newspaper

LaVallee: Voters want a new face

Dan LaVallee

Dan LaVallee says voters in the 3rd District want a new face in Washington.

“They’re looking for new leadership to stand up for working American families,” LaVallee said.

Democrat LaVallee, 26, of Cranberry Township is running to represent the 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House. He faces incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, 66, of Butler in the Nov. 4 election.

He said Kelly has raised taxes for middle class people while cutting taxes for wealthier people.

“Families are struggling,” LaVallee said.

Although he recently spent time in Washington working on the Affordable Care Act, he said he is not an outsider to the 3rd District.

“My family has been in Western Pennsylvania for over 100 years,” LaVallee, who grew up in Wexford and graduated from North Allegheny High School in 2006, said. “Western Pennsylvania is my home.”

For the most part, he said that voters he has talked to in Erie and other northern parts of the district want the same things as voters in Butler County. He said that jobs and the economy are the top issues for the district.

LaVallee said that energy sources such as the Marcellus Shale natural gas are great for the district.

“It’s a real benefactor for jobs,” LaVallee said.

As long as the gas is extracted safely and efficiently, he said it will be a big help for the local economy.

“That is exciting for me,” LaVallee said.

Job training programs, such as ones offered at the Butler County Community College, should be expanded, LaVallee said.

Trade schools also are important, he said, as well as four-year colleges. However, recent cuts to Pell Grants for students have made it harder for students to go to college, he said.

“That’s devastating to our kids and our future,” LaVallee said.

He also said the government has to deal with mounting student loan debt, saying he supports debt refinancing and reforming interest rates.

Before coming back to Western Pennsylvania, LaVallee was with a health care industry group in Washington that worked on the Affordable Care Act. Although he supports the act, he said that “kicking folks off their plans” was a bad move and that there were problems with the implementation of the act.

However, he supports the act overall, saying people with preexisting conditions cannot be denied insurance.

“We can’t go back,” LaVallee said.

He said Kelly and other Republicans wasted time by symbolically voting more than 50 times to repeal the ACA. “I will be a part of finding the solution,” LaVallee said.

With the Ebola virus being a recent issue, LaValle said he would like to see additional funding for the National Institutes of Health, which he said lost funding recently.

He supports air strikes against ISIS and Syria, which he said were recommended by national security experts he spoke to.

He said immigration reform is needed. He supports a pathway to citizenship, including a method to get people who have lived in the U.S. illegally to pay back taxes, and said he wants to look at a way to penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Additionally, he said he supports gay rights and equality for everyone, and believes that abortion should be a decision between a woman and her doctor.

When controversy surrounding the VA health care system began this year, LaVallee said he was the first congressional candidate in the state to call for former Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign.

“I believe in accountability,” LaVallee said.

He said the way the Farm Bill is structured puts small farms at a disadvantage, which he said is a concern with so many family farms in the district.

He also said he believes the Export Import Bank should be reauthorized.

If elected, he said the first action he would take is to work with Republicans. He said Kelly has not done this with the Democrats.

“The results aren’t there,” LaVallee said.

He said Kelly has voted with House Republicans 96 percent of the time.

“For me, that’s not right for Western Pennsylvania,” LaVallee said, claiming he would work to be bipartisan. As an example, he said he wants to work with Republicans to lower the corporate tax rate to help job creation.

For the 2013-14 election cycle, LaVallee has raised $369,231 and spent $234,674.

More in Local News

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS