Chester County Democratic Committee

The Patriot-News,
Sunday, December 27, 2009
BY LAURA VECSEY lvecsey@patriot-news.com

While the polls track the three major candidates, Bill Kortz and Peg Luksik campaign for recognition.

Another round of polls has rolled out, taking the measure of how Pennsylvanians might vote in the 2010 U.S. Senate Democratic primary and the general election.

Those polls include the names of only three men.

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is taking on U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., for the right to go up against Republican Pat Toomey, the former Lehigh Valley congressman.
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All of that makes state Rep. Bill Kortz wonder what a lifelong Democrat has to do to gain polling respect.

“Everywhere I go, people relate to what I am saying,” said Kortz, who is running for the Senate. “I’m the only lifelong Democrat in this race. I’m the only guy who has come out of the working class. I worked 30 years in the steel industry. When it all went down in the ’80s, I lived through that. That perspective needs to be taken to Washington.”

The Allegheny County legislator rode into Harrisburg in 2006 with a bevy of reform candidates elected to help clean up Harrisburg. But while serving his second term, Kortz, 54, grew outraged at the economic collapse that he said could have been averted, and he demands accountability.

Kortz takes special exception to the repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagal Act in 1999, which allowed for the removal of important firewalls among the banking, brokerage and insurance industries.

Specter and Toomey voted for the Phil Gramm-sponsored bill that limited the regulatory oversight of banking and insurance.

“Our buddy Arlen helped them. He’s got to answer to that,” Kortz said.

“I hope a miracle happens, and I am the one running against Pat Toomey. Since Jan. 1 of this year, 123 banks have failed. That should have never happened,” Kortz said.