I reside in the 7th Congressional district of Pennsylvania. It was represented in the House of Representatives until Jan. 2011 by Admiral Joe Sestak. Since he chose to seek a seat in the US Senate, he did not run for a third term in the House. The seat was won by a Republican, Pat Meehan. It was one of the seats that Republicans took from Democrats enabling them to hold a majority in the House, a majority in turn controlled by the right wing radical tea party crowd. PA 7 is one of those districts that Democrats must win back if they are to re-take a majority in the House in the 2012 election. Conventional wisdom holds that incumbents like Meehan are most vulnerable in their first attempt at re-election and subsequent to a reapportionment. Next year both of those factors will come into play in PA 7.
Democrats would like to see Admiral Sestak run for his former seat in the House. They believe, accurately, that he would defeat Meehan as handily as he did twenty year veteran Congressman Curt Weldon in 2006. But winning alone doesn’t justify a candidacy. There are too many politicians who run for what they can or think they can win and not what they are best capable of serving at. Joe Sestak is not one of those politicians. In fact, Joe Sestak is not a politician. He served in the US Navy for over twenty years rising to the rank of a four star vice-admiral (had to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate). He served on President Clinton’s staff in the West Wing of the White House. And for four years he represented the people of Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties in Washington D. C. He did so as a liberal progressive but not an ideologue. He did so as an independent voice, not in the pocket of any leaders or party machine (I know because I was a party leader running part of the machine).
Joe Sestak was a pragmatic and practical, consensus building Congressman. When he saw a problem he sought solutions and then determined for himself what he thought was the best answer. How better off today this country would be if we had 235 like him in the House of Representatives (and we could have had more like him in the Senate). Curt Weldon, the former Republican congressman was a center-right sometime moderate who until the end of his service did not wear his conservative positions on his sleeve - he sought to reflect the moderate nature of the district. And before Weldon the district was represented by Bob Edgar, a liberal Democrat but an independent one.
Not so now - with Meehan we got a lock-step follower of the radical right wing tea party controlled party leadership. He voted early on for the Paul Ryan budget plan that would have voucherized Medicare (that is, turn it into a another money maker for the big insurance companies) and has since then voted with his leadership time and again as they have tried to bring this country to crises - destroy our economic recovery by forcing extension of tax cuts for the rich and massive spending cuts in middle class programs - holding the debt ceiling hostage and threatening government shutdowns rather than authorize hurricane relief. Always casting his votes with the radical right wing tea party Republicans.
Today many of the men and women Admiral Sestak served with in the Navy are unemployed. Their middle class livelihood is threatened. Their parent’s health care and social security are threatened. Their children’s access to public education and college financial aid may be problematic. The people of Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district, and the working class men
and women, veterans, and seniors of America need Joe Sestak in the halls of Congress. If the voters of the state would not send him to the upper house - be assured the people of PA 7 will send him to the people’s house.
There are political reasons for Joe Sestak to run next year for another term in the House of Representatives, but I doubt they will impress him. There are more important reasons. When Joe first came to Delaware county Democrats and sought our support in January 2006 he said it was because he wanted to repay his country for the education he received, the years of fine service he was able to perform, and the health care he and his family, particularly his daughter, received. He had already repaid his country and for four years he repaid his community. He does not owe more to either. But there is one motivation that in my opinion has driven Joe Sestak his entire career since the days at Cardinal O’Hara High School -- DUTY. He has never shirked his duty whether in the Navy, or in the West Wing, -- whether on the George Washington or in Washington D.C. And when duty calls Joe Sestak has been ready to serve. Admiral - Duty Calls.
1 Oct 2011
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