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With only 100 of them in existence, we felt privileged today to be able to conduct an in-depth interview on Monday morning with Sen. Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican in the U.S Senate.
Toomey’s office contacted us last week and asked to meet with our news staff to discuss issues we thought important. (See part one of our series on page 1.)
Our range of questioning was vast, from fracking for natural gas to his take on the bank bailouts. We tried very hard to localize the questions to make them interesting for our readers in Wayne County.
One focused question was about what appears to be vast corruption in Pennsylvania — from Penn State to Honesdale Borough to Starrucca.
Toomey said he believes in most cases, those issues should be handled by the local and state governments.
He did, however, say there could be instances when the federal authorities have to intervene if a situation gets way out of hand. This was refreshing to hear since it seems there are instances when local and state authorities decide not to pursue issues which seem almost blatant violations of the law. We’re not sure where that line is drawn but we will be in contact with the senator’s office if and when the need arises.
One encouraging area of discussion, in our view, was Toomey’s statement that he’s willing to work with Democrats to solve issues which impact everyone in this county and around the nation. He told us of three bills he is currently co-sponsoring with Democrats which he believes can help in the world of business, especially smaller and medium type businesses. Toomey said he didn’t care if there was an election cycle involved and believes that should not be a factor when it comes to legislation.
We also asked Toomey about the pledge he signed with the group Americans for Tax Reform headed by lobbyist Grover Norquist.
Toomey did say he signed the pledge but claims it was a “pledge to the people of Pennsylvania” and not a pledge to Norquist.
We question this answer because the pledge was to Americans for Tax Reform. Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., has said he doesn’t understand why anyone would sign any pledge other than the one to uphold the constitution of the United States. Toomey said he has a lot of respect for Simpson but felt the former senator was wrong in this case. Toomey said a “spending binge” on the part of the federal government is the root of the problem and that raising taxes is not the answer.
With only 100 of them in existence, we felt privileged today to be able to conduct an in-depth interview on Monday morning with Sen. Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican in the U.S Senate.
Toomey’s office contacted us last week and asked to meet with our news staff to discuss issues we thought important. (See part one of our series on page 1.)
Our range of questioning was vast, from fracking for natural gas to his take on the bank bailouts. We tried very hard to localize the questions to make them interesting for our readers in Wayne County.
One focused question was about what appears to be vast corruption in Pennsylvania — from Penn State to Honesdale Borough to Starrucca.
Toomey said he believes in most cases, those issues should be handled by the local and state governments.
He did, however, say there could be instances when the federal authorities have to intervene if a situation gets way out of hand. This was refreshing to hear since it seems there are instances when local and state authorities decide not to pursue issues which seem almost blatant violations of the law. We’re not sure where that line is drawn but we will be in contact with the senator’s office if and when the need arises.
One encouraging area of discussion, in our view, was Toomey’s statement that he’s willing to work with Democrats to solve issues which impact everyone in this county and around the nation. He told us of three bills he is currently co-sponsoring with Democrats which he believes can help in the world of business, especially smaller and medium type businesses. Toomey said he didn’t care if there was an election cycle involved and believes that should not be a factor when it comes to legislation.
We also asked Toomey about the pledge he signed with the group Americans for Tax Reform headed by lobbyist Grover Norquist.
Toomey did say he signed the pledge but claims it was a “pledge to the people of Pennsylvania” and not a pledge to Norquist.
We question this answer because the pledge was to Americans for Tax Reform. Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., has said he doesn’t understand why anyone would sign any pledge other than the one to uphold the constitution of the United States. Toomey said he has a lot of respect for Simpson but felt the former senator was wrong in this case. Toomey said a “spending binge” on the part of the federal government is the root of the problem and that raising taxes is not the answer.
He’s probably right on that one, however, it’s also possible that raising taxes might have to happen at some point in time. Look what just took place in Honesdale. So to pledge “never” is a pretty big promise and one that may turn out difficult to keep.
But overall, we were impressed with the senator and very much appreciate him taking the time to visit with us. Too many times only the major media markets are given access like we had and we do thank him for thinking of “the little guys” when traveling in this part of the state.
