Chester County Democratic Committee

You are cordially invited to participate in a fun outing that will also raise funds to support the Democratic candidates for West Chester Area School Board (Susan Carty, Deb Liczwek, Lisa Samuel and Sue Tiernan). We have arranged with the BlueRocks to buy 50+ tickets for “Joe Biden night” on July 30. There is even hope of meeting the VP there.

The tickets, fundraising included, will cost you $15 each, for box seats behind home plate on the first base side. The first 1,000 fans through the gate will receive a Joe Biden bobblehead. The deadline for you to sign up is extended to July 10, because we sold over 50 tickets by June 29.

Don’t miss the fun! Invite your friends and neighbors!

The tickets will be at the “will call window” in the name of the person who paid for them. Transportation is on your own, though of course we encourage you to find others going and carpool.

Please get the form and payment to us, as indicated on the form, by 5 p.m. Friday July 10 and we will make all the arrangements with the BlueRocks.

DOWNLOAD THE FORM HERE:

bluerocks2.doc

Any questions or suggestions email gcarty1507@comcast.net or call George at 610-692-5811.

(info from Megan Lynott for Coroner, 6/29/09)

Did you know that: Women represent 53% of registered voters in Chester County.  Women make up 52% of the population of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania ranks 46th when looking at the number of women holding elected office

Pennsylvania ranks 47th in terms of women’s overall political participation

14% of the Pennsylvania Legislature is comprised of women (10 Senators and 27 Representatives)

Pennsylvania has never had a women governor

Pennsylvania has never had a woman in the US Senate

Two women are currently elected to the US House delegation

(For info on Megan’s July 11 fundraiser/pool party, see the CCDem Calendar.)

[N.b. John McHugh, chairman of the Honey Brook Township agriculture preservation board, is a Democratic committeeperson]

By Darrin Youker
Reading Eagle

A Honey Brook Township citizens group is trying to eliminate the township tax for farmland preservation by putting the issue before voters.

For three years, residents in this Chester County municipality have paid a 1.5 percent earned income tax, with one-third of the levy going to the farmland program.

The other 1 percent is split between the township and the Twin Valley School District.

So far, Honey Brook has preserved two farms and is finalizing details for four more. Read more »

eNewsletter - June 18, 2009

Dear Constituents of the 7th District,

Our efforts both in Washington and here in the 7th District to overcome the economic challenges we face together continued throughout May and into June, and were highlighted by the passage of critical credit card legislation to stop unreasonable practices such as retroactive interest rate hikes. In addition, bills to address our housing crisis will curb “predatory” lending and help more families refinance into affordable mortgages. At home, I joined Small Business Administration officials and the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to announce stimulus funding benefiting my District as I continue to closely monitor the accountable and transparent dispersal of funds (a directory of specific information and contacts to the agencies that are administering stimulus funds is accessible on my Web site. To require improved accountability of taxpayer dollars used for defense spending, I introduced two key amendments to the Defense Acquisition Reform bill.

On May 11, I was proud to welcome more than 700 people, including Veterans and active military members, and their family members, to my third 7th District Veterans Summit: “2009 The Year of the Military Family.” Read more »

As many of you know by now, CARES has unfortunately closed its doors and the County has created the CC Food Bank to administer food programs across the county.  The Food Bank is off to a very good start by working on programs to increase awareness of hunger problems in the County.  The Food Bank will eventually spin off as a completely separate 501c3 and, as such, is looking for ways to become self sufficient.  They are accepting contributions through the Chester County Community Foundation.

In addition, they are encouraging food drives to help people in this county. Stephannie and I are coordinating a food drive for the Food Bank in conjunction with our 6/13 fundraiser on Sunday.  Please donate some of the following items: soups, canned pasta meals, dry microwave meals, pasta, rice or dry noodles, canned tuna or chicken, canned veggies and fruit, boxed cereal, fruit or granola bars, grocery store gift cards.

In order to really make a difference in gathering the much needed food, I would also like to ask the committee to extend this food drive for a few weeks with a drop off site at the HQ office in West Chester 37 South High St., phone 610 692-5811.  If you can all arrange to get the food to West Chester, Steph and I will arrange for it to be picked up and delivered.

Thank you,

Kathi,

Kathi Cozzone
Democratic Chester County Commissioner

Barb McIlvaine Smith (D-156) addresses the 6/11/09 single payer healthcare rally in the State Capitol Rotunda.

To hear a news report on the rally, click here

May 29, 2009, 6:15 p.m.
By Shira Toeplitz
Roll Call Staff

Pennsylvania state Rep. Bryan Lentz (D) said Friday that he plans to run for the House seat currently held by Rep. Joe Sestak, who made it clear earlier this week that he intends to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Sestak’s suburban Philadelphia district could be a pickup opportunity for Republicans, but it comes with a huge price tag — the Philadelphia media market is one of the most expensive in the country. Lentz said he has tapped Aubrey Montgomery, a veteran Philadelphia-area Democratic fundraiser, as his finance director to help him raised the $3 million that he needs to run his campaign. Read more »

Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/20/09, Commentary, p. A15
[Leonard Boasberg is a Democratic committeeperson from Tredyffrin]

In World War II, such tactics were inconceivable.

By Leonard Boasberg

I was a Japanese-language military intelligence officer in World War II, trained to interrogate Japanese prisoners of war and translate captured documents.

It never would have occurred to me to humiliate, let alone torture, captured Japanese soldiers. Nor did it occur to our military and political leaders to authorize “enhanced interrogation methods,” to use the Bush administration’s euphemism.

In World War II, Japanese soldiers fought not only tenaciously, but fanatically, as we learned in Guadalcanal, Tarawa, the Philippines, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and elsewhere. As Ulrich Straus noted in his excellent study The Anguish of Surrender, the Japanese army’s field service code, Senjinkun, decreed it impermissible for soldiers to be taken as prisoners of war.

To many Japanese soldiers, capture was a fate worse than death - a dishonor to them, their families, and their country. Read more »

(by email 5/22/09)

I’d like to express my thanks and appreciation both to the voters of Chester County and the folks within the Democratic Party who made this week’s primary win possible.

In the same way so many of you helped to get me on the ballot back in the early spring, you helped get the word out about me and why this race matters. Both in my travels Tuesday and earlier this week, I can’t tell you how gratified I was to see one of my signs tucked into a quiet corner of the county and knowing it was placed there by a hard-working Democrat.

But as you know, the hard work has just begun. Read more »

West Chester, May 15, 2009.

The Democratic candidates for West Chester Area School Board have picked up several important endorsements.

Susan Carty, Deb Liczwek, Lisa Samuel, and Sue Tiernan were unanimously endorsed by the Executive Committee of the Chester County Democratic Committee on May 13.  Several Democratic zones, including West Chester and West Goshen, have also endorsed the four candidates, as has the Chester County Council of the AFL-CIO.

In addition, state senator Andy Dinniman (D-19) has endorsed them with this message:

“As a long-time educator and public official in our community, I am honored to endorse the slate of Susan Carty, Deb Liczwek, Sue Tiernan and Lisa Samuel for election to the board of the West Chester Area School District.

“These four candidates provide the school district, its students and parents the highest level of commitment and dedication along with a wealth of expertise and knowledge from both the academic and business worlds. Read more »