Thursday's 52nd District's Candidate Forum

My first candidate's forum went well.

The Fayette Civic Forum held a Candidate Question & Answer forum at the State Theater in Uniontown on Thursday April 27th.

It was broadcast live on AM590 WMBS and it was taped by Armstrong and HSTV to be broadcast at a later date.

I will post it here when we get the dates and times.

My phone has been ringing off the hook and I received a ton of emails from people congratulating me on how well I did last night.

I was shocked to say the least. I didn't think I did that well, because I thought I was talking too fast, but 237 (at last count) people can not all be wrong.

Most have told me that they were surprised how well I did among the 9 career politicians that were there.

They also congratulated me on how well I knew the issues and how well thought out my solutions for the Fay-West area's problems are.

I received an email from Sgt Rogers who is stationed in South Korea. He listened to the forum on line and he said he couldn't wait to get his absentee ballot so that he could vote for me.

**EDIT** I received another email from Sgt Rogers apologizing to me, because he is a democrat and can not vote for me in the Primary Election. I told him "No Problem. Just Vote. God Bless and Thank You for your service!" You got to love your veterans! **EDIT**

Isn't it good to see veterans sticking together.

You can take the man out of the military, but you can't take the military out of the man.

I hope you all get the opportunity to watch the program and decide for yourself.

I will be very busy for the next few days with the Connellsville Parade, my daughter's softball, and of course...the Fayette Republican's Spring Dinner with Lynn Swann.

That should be fun!

The next time I post, I will begin listing the organizations that are endorsing me.

The endorsements keep rolling in...and they are from good groups, not the usual union endorsements that most career politicians receive.

Stay Tuned!

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!

Clean Elections PA

Who isn't for clean elections and campaign finance reform?

Career politicians that's who.

Check out this site http://www.cleanelectionspa.org/p43/ and see which of the candidates in the 52nd District support clean elections and campaign finance reform and which ones are content with the sleazy status quo.

I will give you a hint...I am the only candidate, so far, who has made an official statement for clean elections and campaign finance reform.

We don't need any more career politicians lining their pockets, we need a representative to represent the people.

That's why we need to Elect Earnesty on May 16th.

The Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Check out this site http://www.atr.org/content/pdf/2006/apr/042506pr-pa-primaries.pdf

It's the Taxpayers Protection Pledge.

I am the only local candidate to take the pledge as of April 25, 2006.

Notice that none of the other candidates in the 52nd District signed the pledge to protect the taxpayers, so they must only be protecting themselves.

As this site says, "By signing the pledge, a candidate commits “to oppose
and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”"

Why wouldn't a candidate oppose any and all efforts to increase taxes?

I know one candidate that opposes eliminating property taxes, but that is because she is a tax collector.

I wonder why the others wouldn't oppose increasing taxes?

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!

Connellsville Bicentennial

Connellsville's Bicentennial Parade is on April 29th at 11 AM!

It should be a really great time, but the Bicentennial Committee has said they do NOT want it to be political.

Let's hope we can have a good time without the career politicians disrupting our families from having a great time!

If anyone sees any of the career politicians from the 52nd district campaigning during any Bicentennial events, please send details and/or pictures to electearnesty@zoominternet.net and we will post the pictures here!

Let's see who really is the "voice of the people" or "for the people" and who are only "for themselves" or "looking for a bigger paycheck."

Happy Birthday Connellsville!

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!

Connellsville Little League Season Opener

Today was Connellsville's Little League Season Opener. It was a lot of fun.

My son was excited and it was his day, but it was almost ruined by someone campaigning during and after the ceremony.

Ms. Butela had an old pickup truck there with 2 giant signs on each side of the bed and it was the loudest truck I have ever heard.

During the opening day ceremony, the MC was announcing the teams and the coaches and then one of the players sang our National Anthem (he did a great job).

Ms. Butela's truck was running while the young man was singing the National Anthem. I was embarrassed for Ms. Butela.

How can this career politician disgrace and insult our veterans and country by ruining this young man's great rendition of our National Anthem?

Then to top it off, she has US flags on some of her campaign signs. Now, if she's running for a state position...shouldn't she have state flags on her signs?

You would think that you would get the point and leave after seeing 20 or more people throwing away the flyers that you are handing out, but she didn't get it.

Many people actually approached me and thanked me for NOT campaigning during the opening day.
They told me it was very tacky for her to be campaigning, especially since she didn't even have kids playing.

Why must career politicians always put their noses where they are not welcome?

Today was these kids' day. They have practiced hard and they looked forward to this day and it was ruined by one woman trying hard to being a state rep, because the county commissioners cut her tax collector salary.

Like they say...Let the kid's play!

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!

Happy Easter!!!

I love Easter! Well, actually, I love all Holidays.

As usual, it was a great family holiday. We colored and hid eggs. We put baskets together and of course, we had a great dinner.

But, of course, the most important part of Easter is church and seeing old friends who you only get to see a couple of times a year.

Now, that the Easter holiday is over, I can get back to campaigning and putting up some signs.

Have you seen all the signs? Where did these candidates get all of this money? WOW!

Thank goodness the voters will vote for the candidate with the best solutions to our problems and not the one with the most signs.

Happy Easter!

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!

Watch Out for Candidates and Little White Lies

My parents had a visitor the other day.

A woman stopped outside of their home blowing her horn like crazy. My 68 year old father and 70 year old mother ran out to see if she needed help.

Well, lo and behold, it was Butela's mother campaigning for her.

Butela's mother told my parents that Butela has spent her "entire career" working hard reducing Senior Citizens property taxes.

Now, I am not an expert on property taxes, as a matter of fact, I pay mine through my escrow set up through my mortgage company, but how in the world can a tax collector reduce anyone's property taxes?

There is no legal way for a tax collector to reduce your property taxes.

Then to top it all off, she wrote a letter to the Herald-Standard complaining about the county commissioners reducing the amount of money that tax collectors receive for collecting taxes.

This savings is passed on to the property owners, so basically Butela is complaining about saving the property owners money.

In her press release announcing her candidacy in the Herald-Standard, the article says Butela chastises those (candidates) who propose the complete elimination of property tax, stating that another taxation program will be necessary to generate the lost income.

Why would she not want to eliminate property taxes?

Who in their right mind would be against eliminating property taxes when that is one of the main reasons so many of our senior citizens and families are losing their homes?

How can you be "the voice of the people" when you are advocating property taxes and directly saying it's ok to throw people out of their homes?

The most ironic thing about Butela being a PROPERTY tax collector and her being against eliminating property taxes is that Butela is NOT a property owner!

She pays no property taxes!

If I didn't pay property taxes, then I wouldn't want to eliminate them either, unless it was to improve the 52nd District and in turn our children's educational and financial futures.

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!

Dunbar Township Elementary Math Night

It has been a very full and busy week for me.

Mondays and Thursdays my son has baseball practice and Wednesdays and Saturdays my daughter has softball practice and she has girls scouts on Tuesdays.

Plus on Tuesday night, the first and second grade teachers held their 3rd annual Math Night at Dunbar Township Elementary School!

It was fantastic! The first one was a great experiment and I am glad it worked out, so well. My daughter was in second grade when they held the first and my son attended this year, since he is in first grade and it was even better than the first!

It's nice to see teachers doing things to help the children enjoy learning! My son asked me if there was another math night next week!

There was a horse near the front door, Chris Higbee (Poverty Neck Hillbillies) signed autographs, Principal DiPaolo and the first and second grade teachers, plus some of the support staff (counselors and computer lab) were there.

I admit I am a skeptic when it comes to spending 75% to 80% of your budget on staffing, but on nights like this, I am proud to be a parent, property owner, and tax payer, because you get to see education in action helping young students enjoy learning.

Hey, school board, don't take the above statement as an ok to raise my taxes...take it as an ok to cut spending on non-educational items.

Most teachers deserve every penny they get, but just like any profession, there are good and bad teachers, welders, policemen, firemen, Walmart employees, street workers, mayors, tax collectors, etc. etc.

We need to be able to weed out the good from the bad and be allowed to discipline the bad up to and including termination without the unions saving bad employees from termination.

Now, I would like to say to all of the staff at Dunbar Township Elementary School that helped with math night... Thank you!!! My son and I look forward to next year!

And on a side note...Did anyone notice that the PSEA (teacher's union) is NOT endorsing any candidate in the 52nd District primary?

That has got to be a huge blow to any candidate that is a retired teacher and can't get the endorsement of their peers.

Until Next Time...Have a Great Day!!!

Follow the Money!!!

The best way to see who a candidate will represent, IF they are elected is to FOLLOW THE MONEY to see who is paying them the big bucks to represent them.

I did a search on the PA Department of State website www.dos.state.pa.us/dos/site/default.asp
and I found Deberah Kula's first campaign report here http://web.dos.state.pa.us/cgi-bin/CampaignFinance/cover.cgi?reportid=41572

Wow! She received $1,225 in contributions, but it looks like $725 (59%) came from outside of the 52nd District! There is $25 from a Ms. Black from Pittsburgh, $500 from a Mr. Filiaggi of Barton, MD, and $200 from a Mr. Shaffer of Uniontown, which to be completely honest may live in the 52nd District, but you can't really tell from the address, since some people who live in North Union Township have a Uniontown address.

Why do candidates accept money from outside of their district? Who will they represent? The big money donors or the poor voters?

We already know the answer! That's why we must always FOLLOW THE MONEY before we vote!

You know what they say...Money Talks and the voters pay the bills!

'Politicking" On Palm Sunday?

I once again was shocked by the things that career politicians will do to extend or promote their careers in politics!

Can you believe that career politicians would be out bothering people and putting up signs on Palm Sunday?

What's next? Maybe on Easter Sunday they will walk into our churches and start handing out chocolate bunnies with their names on them!

How many times can they disgrace Christian's Holidays?

We were told about candidates standing inside and on the steps of churches on Ash Wednesday getting their petitions signed.

I would never stoop so low as to bother people while they were trying to practice their religion.

Today, I was told that their were a couple of Connellsville Democrats actually campaigning during a Palm Sunday ceremony at the Lion's Square in Connellsville.

Wow! Can you believe that?

I haven't put any signs up, yet, but I guarantee that no one within my campaign will ever bother people nor put up signs during any religious holiday.

How in the world can you say that you are a "voice for the people" or "for the people" or such a great mayor that you should be promoted to State Representative when you can not even respect the people's religion and show them some respect?

Please, 52nd District candidates, please leave our people celebrate their Easter without having to worry about you bothering them.

I Love Spring...

I love spring, because it can be cold and raining and then all of a sudden it is warm and sunny.

I woke up early this morning looking forward to knocking on doors and meeting with more of the fantastic people living with us in the 52nd District!

But, it was raining, so I decided to do the next best thing...call people and discuss the issues with them.

I prefer calling myself or having a few dedicated people to help me, but I hate the automated pre-recorded calls.

I think they are a waste of money, because I know I hang up on them all of the time.

I think it is too impersonal, because if you want to be my State Representative, then you should call me yourself and not use a machine to do it for you.

Well, between 3 helpers and myself, we called about 200 homes and talked to about 150 people and out of those 150 people approximately 100 of them took the time to discuss the issues and 92 of them said that they would either vote for me or consider voting for me, because of our discussion.

92 out of 150! That is 61%!

I would have been out knocking on doors, since the sun came out, but my son has his St. Rita's Basketball Banquet at 5pm.

And as I said before...family has to come first no matter what.

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!

Another Cold and Wet Spring Day

I didn't campaign at all today, because my family comes first.

I help coach my daughters softball team in Connellsville. This is her third year and she loves it.

It's great to see kids getting active in sports and other activities that work their bodies as much as their minds AND helps them stay out of trouble.

My daughter is a straight A student and, like most girls her age, doesn't get into any trouble, but I am glad she enjoys softball and basketball.

Well, after her practice I decided to pick up some trash and broken tree limbs and large rocks I saw on the field.

Why wait for a scheduled "Clean up" day? We all should try to pick up trash when we see it lying around cluttering up our scenery. I try to teach my kids not to litter, I even put small trash like gum and candy wrappers in my pocket when their is not trash.

It's those little things that kids will remember and will help them become better citizens in the future.

After a quick sprucing up of Trotter Field, I came home and tried to spruce up Earnesty field...my yard.

Let me tell you, when you have to work 40-60 hours per week to make a living, plus put in 20-40 hours volunteering in the community, it doesn't give you much time to have fun with your kids, let alone take care of your yard.

Then try to find some time campaigning for State Representative, because I want to make our district #1 in the state instead of last like our past few representatives have made us, that doesn't allow much time to sleep.

But, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the better good or find a job that you don't have to work full time or get paid by tax dollars without any responsibilities, but that's not my style.

I like to give 100% or none at all.

I heard Connellsville was having a clean up day, but like I said before, every day should be clean up day. We have street and recreational department employees that should make an effort to get out of their trucks if they see trash lying around.

I wish I would have known, because my family and I would have helped out, but at least I cleaned up Trotter field and a little bit around the Trotter American Legion. I helped our youth and our veterans all at the same time.

It's because of our veterans that we are still Americans speaking English and our youth are the ones that will keep it that way in the far far future.

Well, I got to go and get ready for my daughter's St. Rita's Basketball banquet tonight and I get to go again next Saturday for my son.

Until Next Time...Have A Great Day!!!