4 Dems seek to replace English in Pa.’s 3rd District primary race

The candidates are concerned about jobs, the environment, health care, education and Iraq.

STAFF REPORT

Four Democratic challengers are competing for the chance to take on Republican Phil English in November’s 3rd District congressional representative race.

Tuesday’s primary will see Kyle Foust, Kathy Dahlkemper, Mike Waltner and Tom Myers on the ballot in the district, which includes all of Erie County and parts of Mercer, Butler, Crawford, Armstrong, Warren and Venango counties.

Foust, who lives in Harborcreek Township near Erie with his wife, Bridget, and their 9-month-old son, is a two-term Erie County councilman.

He graduated in 1985 from Harbor Creek High School and from Mercyhurst College in Erie with a bachelor’s degree in 2001. He received a master’s degree from Edinboro University in 2001 and is writing his doctoral dissertation at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

He is the assistant director of career services at Mercyhurst College.

The economy, Foust says, is the most important issue facing the country.

“Not only jobs, but also health care, education and the environment are wrapped up in that,” he said.

Foust believes the region should be “an incubator” for green technologies that include developments in wind and solar power and in biofuels. He said the first bill he would introduce would include grants to companies who develop those technologies.

He said universal health care is important, and he believes Medicaid should be expanded along with programs that cover children.

He said businesses and individuals should receive tax breaks to help them pay for health care.

Foust proposes fixing No Child Left Behind, the act that was supposed to help bridge the gap between the United States and other countries who have better education policies.

He said the act makes special-education pupils and pupils who don’t have a command of English take the same tests as everyone else. He said schools’ funding is based on test scores, and NCLB sets schools up for failure.

He also said college loans need to be more affordable, and he proposes “cutting out the middle man” to let colleges make loans directly to students.

Dahlkemper lives in Erie with her husband, Dan.

They have five adult children, with the last one set to graduate from high school this year.

Dahlkemper graduated from Villa Maria Academy in Erie in 1976 and from Edinboro University in 1982 with a degree in dietetics.

She was a dietician for 20 years. She and her husband run a business, Dahlkemper Landscape Architects and Contractors, in Millcreek Township near Erie.

The congressional race is her first run for political office. She said she was prompted to run by concerns “for the direction of this country” and for her children’s future.

Health care, jobs, education and the war are also priorities for her.

Businesses offering health care to employees, she said, is the “right thing to do.” She said her business, with 27 full-time employees, offers it.

She said tax breaks for businesses would help with the “huge costs.”

Dahlkemper also criticized No Child Left Behind, saying it has tied teachers’ hands. She said schools have become “testers” as opposed to educators, and that loss of funding is a punishment if schools don’t meet adequate yearly progress.

She said college-level educators are saying students aren’t as prepared now for higher education. “We’ve lowered the bar rather than raised it,” she said.

Dahlkemper said that the economy in the district has “seen a downturn.” She said foreign trade deals are only part of the problem.

“Some companies have just move to other parts of the country. Why?” she said.

She said she wants to look into keeping businesses here and attracting new ones.

Mike Waltner lives in Erie with his wife, Heike, and their 4-month-old daughter.

He graduated from McDowell High School in Erie in 1994, and received a bachelor of arts in religious studies from Penn State University in 1998. He graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York with a master of divinity in 2003.

His most recent job was outreach program coordinator for St. Paul’s Cathedral in Erie. He said he left the position to campaign full time.

Two issues, he said, keep coming up in northwestern Pennsylvania: jobs and health care.

Waltner said that by attaining energy independence, the country can create jobs.

He said that with revenue from a windfall profits tax on oil companies, the country can invest in new sources of energy.

People in building trades can be trained, he said, to make buildings green — environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

He said the manufacturing of clean, green products should also be encouraged.

Waltner said he also supports expanding Medicaid and eliminating the need for employers to subsidize health care.

Tom Myers lives in Millcreek Township with his wife, Kendall, and their 7- and 10-year-old daughters.

He graduated from Seneca High School near Erie in 1978 and from Penn State with a degree in labor studies in 1982. He graduated from California Western School of Law in San Diego in 1985. He has been a practicing attorney for more than 20 years, and is a partner in Nicholls and Myers in Erie.

Iraq, he said, is “our greatest priority.” He called it the most costly blunder in American history, and said the country’s ability to devote attention and resources to domestic issues is compromised until Iraq is resolved. He said he will support bringing troops out “safely and swiftly.”

Myers also criticized No Child Left Behind, saying it’s been underfunded by $70 billion. He said the Bush administration provided tax cuts for the country’s wealthiest one percent and funded the war, but grossly underfunded the NCLB mandates.

Health care, he said should be universal. He said he supports a system of tax credits for individuals and businesses, paying for it by rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy and streamlining health-care administration.

He also said the country has to fix unfair trade agreements, ending tax breaks that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas.

He, like the others, advocates a clean energy policy, “ending foreign oil’s stranglehold.”

“In the process, we’ll create a green economy with millions of jobs and curb global warming,” he said.