Daley, Cook squaring off in 49th District
Donald “Bud” Cook is a Mon Valley native who wants to see the area make a comeback from the decline of the steel industry in the 1980s.
As the Republican candidate in the heavily Democratic state House 49th District, Cook, dressed in his neon green campaign jacket, is making the rounds of municipal government meetings and campaign stops to explain his plan to promote the Mon Valley through the Internet and various marketing initiatives focusing on tourism. He will face off in Tuesday’s general election against longtime Democratic incumbent Peter J. Daley.
“The biggest export for the valley is our young, talented people,” Cook said, calling the Mon Valley “a great place to raise a family but a terrible place to find a job.”
He is hoping to “put out the welcome mat” for people traveling the Interstate 70 corridor through the area by placing more signs promoting local attractions and using various marketing tools. Cook has the background to lead such an initiative, working in e-commerce and marketing.
The 49th District was reconfigured after the last census to take in most of the Mon Valley and some of Fayette County. Cook, who was once a Democrat and then an Independent, served on Buckhannon, W.Va., city council before moving back to this area in 1990.
The other focus of Cook’s campaign is demanding accountability from politicians, by making pay and per diem information easily available on the Internet, and requiring receipts for per diem payments.
“Leadership in the valley is the big problem,” Cook said. “Is this the best we can do after 32 years?”
Daley differs in his view. The 32-year Democratic incumbent pointed to millions of dollars worth of projects that have been funneled to the 49th District during his time in office, including the Mon-Fayette Expressway and various sewer and community projects. He said he also led the fight in the House to approve the PACE program, which provides low-cost prescriptions to senior citizens, and helped to create tax-free Enterprise Zones to attract new industry.
“It was a team effort to make sure we got the money” to complete the Mon-Fayette Expressway, Daley noted. “You have to be part of a team.”
Daley said that the area’s economy has been in transition since the decline of the coal and steel industries. Pittsburgh has been of the fast track to evolving with the growing health care and high-tech fields, and he noted that Washington County is the second fastest-growing county in the state.
“The Mon Valley isn’t, but we’re working on it,” he said, adding that he and others have been attempting to bring a “mini-cracker plant,” where the byproducts of natural gas would be processed, to the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Allenport plant.
Daley pointed to the Marcellus shale industry as the key to the county’s economic resurgence. He supports placing a severance tax on gas being extracted and does not believe it will hurt the industry.
“No company drilling in Washington County is going to leave” if a tax is placed on gas, he said. Right now, the state charges an impact fee on each new well drilled, which has raised millions for counties and communities where drilling activitiy is taking place.
Daley said the money from a severance tax should be used to offset the $3.5 billion budget deficit the state is facing next year.
Cook is against a severance tax. “Act 13 is providing a tremendous amount of income right now (through the impact fee). There would be a tremendous amount of municipalities in a world of hurt without that income,” he said.
Both men acknowledged that a solution to the state’s pension fund deficit must be found.
Cook said pensions now in place should be honored, but the system should be changed for new employees. Meeting the unfunded liability will take some sort of tax increase, but Cook said he was not certain just how that should be done.
Daley proposed an early retirement offer for older employees, but he was not certain if moving to a defined contribution program for new employees was the answer.
“It is the No. 1 issue we have to deal with,” he said.