Toomey For Senate
ALLENTOWN — Congressman Joe Sestak has set a new record, issuing two whoppers in a twenty- four hour period, both about his own record and about Pat Toomey’s.
Whopper #1: In a Pocono Record article today, Congressman Joe Sestak denies his demonstrably liberal record, saying, “I’m not a liberal” (Pocono Record, 07/06/10).
The Facts: Joe Sestak has voted in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid on every major issue during his 4 years in Congress. In fact, this year, he has voted with Nancy Pelosi 99% of the time. He has received 100% ratings from liberal interest groups like NOW and NARAL, and was endorsed by the far-left extremist group, MoveOn.Org. In fact, the only time Congressman Sestak has opposed his Party is when he thought they weren’t far enough to the left:
– Congressman Sestak thought the stimulus wasn’t big enough and he wanted it to be $1 trillion (NBC WCAU, 02/22/09).
– Congressman Sestak thought the cap-and-trade energy tax did not go far enough and “should have been even more” (Senate Forum Urban Issues, 05/03/00).
– Congressman Sestak was “disappointed” in the final government-run health care bill (MSNBC, 12/17/09) and even voted for a version that would have allowed states to outlaw private health insurance altogether (Education & Labor Committee, 07/17/09).
– Congressman Sestak opposed a bipartisan effort to end the Wall Street bailout (Press release, 09/26/09).
Whopper #2: In a press release today, Congressman Sestak argues that Pat Toomey was “never a small businessman … he invested in a restaurant chain, left it to others to do the work, and then cashed out on his shares.”
The Facts: From late 1991 through 1998, Pat Toomey was a small business owner, starting and running a chain of restaurants in the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster County with his brothers. These restaurants were Pat’s sole form of employment until he was elected to Congress in late 1998. Like most small business owners in Pennsylvania, Pat was involved in every aspect of running the business. Early on, as the restaurants were getting off the ground, Pat swung the hammers for weeks, hanging decorations on the walls and getting the restaurants ready to open. He personally interviewed many of the people hired and occasionally filled in when a restaurant was short staffed, whether it meant sweeping floors or unloading the trucks.
“Only a Washington politician like Congressman Joe Sestak thinks that voting for billions in new taxes, government-run health care, Wall Street bailouts, and record-breaking deficit spending isn’t liberal,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said. “Only a Washington politician like Congressman Joe Sestak who has never spent a day in the private sector in his life would fail to acknowledge and appreciate the difficulties and challenges faced by small business owners. Pat Toomey ran a small business for seven consecutive years, and he understands that Congressman Sestak’s big-government policies will cost Pennsylvania’s small businesses jobs.”
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