10th CD Republicans

The 10th Congressional district that includes part of the west side of Luzerne County and all or part of 12 others has 2 Republicans bidding for the nomination. WNEP has posted interviews with them and a host of others running for various offices. I doubt if I will get to them all before the primary but I will try to summarize as many as I can.

First up is incumbent Don Sherwood. When asked why he is running he said there is a lot more to do. His priority is bring jobs to NEPA and claims to have had some success. He also listed as his priorities as protecting seniors and the homeland. As far as the war goes he supports our troops and the President and claims to have secured more money for personal and vehicle armor. He said health care is the most intractable problem he has ever had to deal with. His strongest accomplishment is the new Medicare drug plan and securing better reimbursements for area hospitals. On agriculture he claims credit for better price supports for the dairy farmers. He said we have always been a "little short changed on jobs." Then he talked about getting a contract for Lockheed -Martin to build laser guided bombs and keeping the Tobyhanna Army Depot open. It was interesting that Scott Schaffer didn't ask him about the stroke' em and choke'em lawsuit.

His primary opponent Kathy Scott wasn't so shy. She stated that Don Sherwood is a great example of why we need change in Washington. His personal/private morality and ethics don't represent us well. She doesn't want someone representing her who settled a $5 million lawsuit with his 29 year old mistress because of domestic violence. Then she blasted him for taking millions from PACS and special interests. He takes money from the oil industry and votes their interest, not ours, when people are having trouble paying heating bills and ever rising prices at the pump. She said "the country is going in the wrong direction." On the the economy she is concerned about deficit spending saying the $8.2 trillion debt opens the US to economic blackmail by other countries. She advocates changes to tax and trade policies that result in outsourcing of American jobs. On the war she asked how we can pour so much money into Iraq and our troops don't have adequate armor. She advocates an exit strategy saying the war is unwinnable. This has turned into a civil war and we should stop sacrificing our troops. On domestic issues she wants to provide health care for all our people and opposes privatizing Social Security. She also points out that people have to save for retirement. She wants to see our borders secured to stem illegal immigration and wants the laws enforced that punish employers for hiring illegals.