Bill Clinton makes surprise visit to Shelley’s Pike Inn
Kenton Klink didn’t vote for Bill Clinton.
That didn’t stop the lifelong Republican from crying when he met the 42nd president, a Democrat, Friday.
“I told him it was an honor to meet him,” said Klink, who still plans to vote for GOP candidate Donald Trump Nov. 8. “We didn’t talk politics, because then he would’ve cried.”
Klink, 61, of Canonsburg, was among the patrons Clinton surprised with a lunchtime visit at Shelley’s Pike Inn in Houston.
Clinton, who’d spoken at a rally in Aliquippa, Beaver County, earlier in the day, made the stop to campaign for his wife, Hillary Clinton, who will face Trump in less than two weeks.
Kelly Pahel, 39, a lifelong Democrat from Chartiers Township, was eager for a chance to meet the former Arkansas governor.
She favors Hillary Clinton over Trump, who’s frequently been criticized for misogynistic and bigoted remarks directed at women and minorities.
“Hillary is the most matched to the things that I believe in,” Pahel said, describing the former New York Senator and secretary of state as a role model for her daughter. “She’s 4. She doesn’t have a voice in this election. So, I feel like I am my voice and her voice.”
Guests eager to meet Bill Clinton crowded close to the entrance of the restaurant, mixing with campaign operatives as a security detail circulated throughout the small, homey diner.
Meanwhile, wait staff squeezed back and forth behind the counter, where the former commander-in-chief held court for much of the hourlong visit, and line cooks provided a backdrop as they worked in kitchen.
Clinton discussed his wife’s economic development platform, which includes her plans to step up enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act – a federal law aimed at encouraging banks to lend to consumers and businesses in poorer communities.
As chief executive, he pushed for changes – touted as reforms – adding teeth to requirements that banks lend to low- and middle-income borrowers.
Critics of the law said it induced banks to adopt risky practices in granting mortgage loans by banks, contributing to the 2008 financial crisis.
Hillary Clinton’s platform includes enforcing the act to “ensure that large and regional banks are serving small business customers, including small businesses in low-income and minority communities,” according to her campaign website.
While most polls show Trump trailing Hillary Clinton statewide, the number of Democratic voters in Washington County has recently dipped below 50 percent for the first time since the New Deal in the 1930s.
Asked whether he expected Hillary Cinton to prevail locally despite the growing number of Republicans, her husband wouldn’t offer a prediction but pointed again to her economic development proposals.
He did, however, give one GOP voter second thoughts.
“To be honest, right now, he swayed me a little bit,” said Angelo Tatano, 54, of Chartiers Township. Tatano, son-in-law of Shelley’s owner Gregg McElhaney.
Tatano planned to vote for Trump, whom he called “crazy, but what you see is what you get with him.”
Nevertheless, Tatano, who an ex-Democrat who jumped ship because he disagreed with what he called “massive entitlement spending” under President Barack Obama, was no longer sure after a 10- or 15-minute conversation with Clinton.
“I’ve got to do a little soul-searching,” he said.