Jeffrey Dahlander for State Represenative

Jeff Dahlander is the Democratic candidate in the 111th State House District taking on longtime incumbent Sandra Major. Major has not had a serious challenge in the last few elections winning with 75% of the vote in 2010. Jay Sweeney of the Green Party has run against her in the past but it doesn't look like he is in the race this year.

Check out his website http://www.jeffdahlander.com/home and Facebook page.

He sent along his reaction to the state budget:

Major/Corbett Budget to Slash Social Services

Late in the evening on Thursday, June 28th, the House passed a $27.7 billion state-wide budget for the fiscal year 2012-2013. State bill 1466 passed the House with a vote of 120-81, with the support of almost every Republican, including Representative Sandra Major. Not only will the new budget grant colossal tax breaks to a chemical refinery, but the bill also cuts funding for social services by an additional ten percent. Democrat candidate Jeffrey Dahlander, who is running for the 111th district, commented that, “Sandra Major and Tom Corbett’s budget clearly identifies that their priorities are not with the people of Pennsylvania. Although members of the House and Senate call this budget a compromise, the number of votes in favor of it clearly illustrates the dominant parties’ inability to work together in both houses for the benefit of Pennsylvanians.”

Governor Corbett negotiated the state budget along with other Republican House leaders. Although his original proposal suggested cutting back to a $27.1 billion budget, some legislators fought tooth and nail to make an additional $500 million available, to thwart the Governor’s proposed cut of 30 percent to university funding. Much to the dismay of many educators, public education funding will remain the same as last year, following the previous ten percent reduction. Dahlander indicates that the new budget will, in effect, “negatively impactchildren, education, and services to those in need and launch a terribly frightful attack on the middle class.”

Dahlander predicts that the new budget will be difficult for many of Pennsylvania’s struggling residents to swallow and willleave a bitter aftertaste. Dahlander cautions, “Like a mad scientist, Corbett has lined up his party as a twisted ‘human-centipede.’  The end result is a budget that is hard to digest and defines a party that would rather feast upon their own self-serving waste than serve the citizens of the Commonwealth.”