It\u2019s barely June, and the gloves are coming off in the race for the Ninth Congressional Seat currently held by Bill Shuster.
\nYesterday, when he announced his candidacy, Michael DelGrosso outlined a plan for economic growth for the region. The plan comes in three major factors that DelGrosso will help make the District competitive.
\n\u2022 Establish a District Economic Development Council: \u201cRight now, each county is working against each other,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cYou have the ABCD Corporation, who does a wonderful job, but there are corporations in other counties who are doing similar things. Instead of competing against each other, we should work together as a region.\u201d
\n\u2022 Fostering the Spirit of Entrepreneurship: \u201cIt is one thing to attract business from the outside, but it is very important to grow a small business from the inside out,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cMost of the job creation during the recent tough economic times was through small business. Small business operators are more responsive to the community needs and are less likely to leave the country. We also need to look at partnering high school and college students with small business. We need them to learn the entrepreneurial mindset. This will help teach them to create business instead of going to work for someone else.\u201d
\n\u2022 Retooling the workforce: \u201cWe have to train our workers to be part of the \u2018knowledge economy,\u2019\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cThe \u2018knowledge economy\u2019 demands different things from workers, employers, lawmakers and need a different type of leader for a different type of economy.\u201d
\nWith the retooling the workforce that DelGrosso is talking about, that message hits northern Blair County perfectly. Over the past few years, workers in our area were displaced with the closing of Westvaco, C-Cor, Sam Ray Shops and Corning have put many people who work in manufacturing out of jobs. The economy of the 21st Century is more with the mind than with the hands.
\nDelGrosso talked in his announcement about the money Shuster can spend on his re-election campaign.
\n\u201cIn 2002, Shuster spent over $1 million while his opponents in the primary and general election spent a combined $19,000,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cHe will outspend me by probably 10 to one, but I am going to be on the front porches and town halls meeting real people that I would like to represent. My goal is to find out the real concerns of the people not the big money special interest groups.\u201d
\nWhen asked if he is playing both sides of the coin by talking about Shuster\u2019s spending when the DelGrosso family does well, the candidate said no.
\n\u201cCorporate contributions are not allowed and individual contributions are capped at $2,000,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cI know every member of my family is not going to give me $2,000 to run for congress. This will take thousands of small donations to help make this campaign successful.\u201d
\nDelGrosso is running against 31 years of the Shuster name holding the Ninth Congressional District seat.
\n\u201cThe Shuster name scores at about 95 percent in name recognition,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cI need to be knocking on doors and spreading my message. Once people get to know me and compare backgrounds, I feel it will be an easy decision.\u201d
\nWhen asked why he announced his candidacy a full 11 months before the primary election, DelGrosso said, \u201cto get out and meet the people.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Republican voters were handed a candidate in the special election,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cI know I can\u2019t go to all 400,000 homes in the next 11 months, but I can visit a significant portion of Republican households. Republican voters have a choice in next year\u2019s primary. They have a candidate who is not only qualified to do the job, but also a candidate who is also capable of winning the election.\u201d
\nSenator Robert Jubelirer sent a release to the media yesterday afternoon stating his support for Shuster.
\n\u201cBill Shuster has done an outstanding job as our Congressman,\u201d Jubelirer said in the release. \u201cHe is intelligent, accessible and effective. I supported him from the moment he decided to seek the Congressional seat, I worked on his behalf during the special election and the regular election and my support is just as strong today.\u201d
\nJubelirer also took a shot at DelGrosso for entering the race.
\n\u201cI fail to understand why there is a challenge being undertaken by Mr. DelGrosso, and why there is such an early announcement,\u201d said the Senator. Just last November, Bill (Shuster) won an overwhelming re-election victory. Nothing in his record or his performance since would cause a drop-off in public support.
\n\u201cPeople should question why DelGrosso, who has been away from this area for so long, who has not contributed to this area, and has very little knowledge of the people and communities across the Ninth Congressional District, should be asking for our support in this critical position.\u201d
\nWhen asked about the senator\u2019s comments, DelGrosso said, \u201cI understand where the Senator is coming from. He feels he has to stand in a certain corner.\u201d
\nThe Daily Herald contacted Congressman Shuster\u2019s office in Washington and Press Secretary Angelo Terrana said the Congressman has no comment on DelGrosso\u2019s entry in the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s barely June, and the gloves are coming off in the race for the Ninth Congressional Seat currently held by Bill Shuster. Yesterday, when he announced his candidacy, Michael DelGrosso outlined a plan for economic growth for the region. The plan comes in three major factors that DelGrosso will help make the District competitive. \u2022 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}