Two Republicans vying for 9th Congressional District seat
Two candidates are vying for the Republican nomination in next week’s primary election that will most likely decide who represents the sprawling 9th Congressional District that reaches from the Mon Valley to Gettysburg and all the way north nearly to Punxsutawney.
But the vast majority of voters in the Mon Valley and Greene County won’t have a say in who will be their congressman because the precincts in this part of the district are overwhelmingly filled with registered Democrats and independents, and only the two Republicans are on the ballot in this primary.
Bill Shuster, the eight-term incumbent congressman from Blair County, is facing a challenge from businessman and retired U.S. Coast Guard captain Art Halvorson of Bedford County.
No Democrat is running in the congressional race in the district that is considered a safe Republican seat because of heavy concentration of conservative voters in the central part of the rural district.
Locally, the district includes municipalities in the eastern section of Greene County, nearly all of the Mon Valley communities in Washington County, along with Monessen and North Belle Vernon in Westmoreland County. About 74 percent of registered voters living in those communities in this part of the congressional district are registered as either Democrats or independents, so they will not be able to make a selection in the congressional race in the April 26 primary.
The rest of voters in the district who are registered Republicans will have the choice between the longtime congressman who chairs the House’s Transportation Committee and his challenger, who claims the incumbent is too closely aligned with the establishment.
Halvorson, 60, has pledged to serve no more than three terms in Congress. He said his 29-year career in the Coast Guard, in which he piloted rescue helicopters and later worked in Washington, D.C., to transform the service after 9/11, shows he has the leadership to initiate changes.
“We have a country that is in decline. It’s hopeless,” Halvorson said. “We don’t have leaders.”
Shuster, 55, was born in McKeesport and said his Mon Valley roots reach to his great-great grandfather, Alpheus Shuster, who was the equivalent of mayor in Monessen in the early 1900s. He said he tries to visit this area despite the massive size of the district.
“I try to get out here out as much as possible,” Shuster said.
Blight and economic redevelopment is a major problem for many parts of the district, including the Mon Valley, and both candidates have varying opinions on how to fix it.
Halvorson said his work as a commercial developer and investor would give him the perspective needed to transform economically depressed communities.
“I know what it takes to build value into something. That’s the jewel of this country and targeting Mon Valley as a prime example,” Halvorson said, adding that the natural gas drilling industry should be the focus of economic development when it returns from its current downturn. “There’s no reason that place shouldn’t be booming in a matter of years.”
Shuster said he supported initiatives driven by local and county governments to combat blight.
“I’m always supportive of local efforts. At the federal level, there isn’t money available and, if it is, it’s not readily available,” Shuster said. “We’re trying to bring industry back to the Mon River Valley. We thought it was coming back with Marcellus Shale.”
Shuster said his work on the Transportation Committee is trying to improve the locks and dam system in the Mon Valley, although he blamed the federal government for “disastrous” projects farther down the Ohio River that he claimed pulled money from local infrastructure improvements. He said barge operators are willing to pay more for a “user fee” to rebuild the aging locks and dams along the Monongahela River.
“That’s a positive thing for locks and dams,” Shuster said. “We’re trying to be more flexible with non-federal sponsors where we have a wide variety of agencies and organizations (participating) while federal dollars catch up to them. There’s a new water resources bill on the way. They’re so critical for the transportation system.”
Although many transportation experts say increasing funding for infrastructure projects should be a priority, Shuster dismissed any possibility of raising the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents a gallon that has been unchanged since the mid-1990s. Instead, he said the federal government will eventually move to a “user fee” by tolling interstates or charging for miles driven.
“I’m open to talking to the stakeholders (but) they’re all over the board and that doesn’t give us a solution,” Shuster said. “The gas tax at the pump is not sustainable. We’re all going to be driving cars that get 50 miles to the gallon or run on electric or natural gas.”
Halvorson suggested the federal gasoline tax revenue be directed back to the states to allow them to make decisions on how to spend that money.
“We have enough money, but it’s the way it’s distributed,” Halvorson said. “It’s misapplied now. The problem isn’t that there’s not enough money, it’s the way it’s being distributed. We need to fight harder to get it across Pennsylvania.”
Heroin is also an issue in the district and the two men view the problem differently.
Shuster said that federal, state and local governments should work together to stop the “terrible scourge” that opiate abuse is leaving across the country.
“We need to double our efforts, not just with painkillers. In general our health system overprescribes to folks,” Shuster said. “The federal government already has rules, but the health care system needs to step back and see if they can reduce the amount of prescription drugs they’re prescribing.”
Halvorson said he would push to interdict drugs coming across the border, but that the issue stems from cultural and economic issues.
“I will be hands-on and working with people in the district from a leadership standpoint to talk and meet with people who are working with treatment,” Halvorson said. “I will be providing leadership for those types of cultural issues. We need to bring together pastors, counselors and the community to restore that hope.”
Halvorson is attacking Shuster’s leadership and pointed to the more than 60 attempts by House Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act – better known as Obamacare – that he called “fake, phony show votes” to allow party leaders to claim they’re standing up to President Obama. Instead, Halvorson said he would propose dismantling the law piece-by-piece and replacing it with something similar to a health savings account for some plans, although he admitted many of the details would still need to be ironed out.
“These guys are followers and reactors,” Halvorson said of Republican Party leaders. “They respond to events and don’t articulate a vision or formulate a plan to form a consensus. That’s why we’re going down the wrong road.”
Shuster has fended off criticism in recent months after it was revealed last year he was involved in a personal relationship with Shelley Rubino, a high-ranking official with the Airlines for America lobbying firm, and whether that was influencing him to push changes with the Federal Aviation Administration. He had been steering legislation through the Transportation Committee he chairs to move the air traffic controller system out of the FAA and privatize it, but those plans have since stalled.
“I can assure you that it has nothing to do with it,” Shuster said of his relationship. “Transforming the FAA is good for America. We will lose our lead in transportation if we don’t transform the style. This has nothing to do with my personal life.”