By Tom Waring
Wire Staff Writer
The two Democratic candidates in the 8th Congressional District will square off twice next week, once at a forum and once in a debate.
The public is invited to both events.
On Monday, April 14, Shaughnessy Naughton and Kevin Strouse will attend a forum sponsored by Lin-Pac Civic Association and the NAACP Bucks County Branch 2253. The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m. at Linconia Tabernacle Christian Center, 2460 Paris Ave., in Trevose. The public will be able to ask questions. Light refreshments will be served.
On Tuesday, April 15, Naughton and Strouse will debate at Bucks County Community College’s Lower Bucks Campus, 1304 Veterans Highway in Bristol. The debate will go from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in the Student Commons. It’ll be moderated by BCCC social science instructor William Pezza, who will ask questions about economic, social and foreign policy issues. Each candidate will make opening and closing statements.
Naughton is a scientist and publishing company owner from Point Pleasant. Strouse, who lives in Middletown, is a former U.S. Army ranger and CIA counterterrorism analyst.
The primary is May 20. The winner will face Republican Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. The district includes all of Bucks County and a portion of Montgomery County.
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Strouse is criticizing what he calls a “damaging” budget plan that was introduced last week by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin. Ryan would balance the budget in 2024, largely with spending cuts.
Strouse said the budget would hold the country back by cutting jobs and slashing infrastructure spending. He said it would jeopardize retirement security for all Americans by ending the Medicare guarantee and turning it into a voucher program, raising seniors’ costs.
“It’s time that voters of Bucks and Montgomery counties had someone who will fight for their jobs, cut spending the right way and reduce our deficit — but not on the backs of seniors and the middle class,” Strouse said.
Strouse is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a married father of two who is program director of Teach2Serve, an education nonprofit that teaches young people to give back to their communities.
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State Treasurer Rob McCord, a Democratic candidate for governor, released a plan to invest more than $1.3 billion in early learning and K-12 programs.
“My plan not only invests in today’s students but it makes sure that we fully fund our classrooms — from pre-kindergarten through high school and every step in between — so everyone can take advantage of our world-class teachers, schools and early learning centers,” he said.
McCord’s education agenda includes special education, a review of charter and cyber charter school funding, and standardized test reforms.
In other campaign news, McCord released a plan to create a drillers’ tax of 10 percent on the net value of natural gas after extraction. At that rate, the plan would generate $1.63 billion in the first year, the most revenue of any plan under consideration.
“We’re sitting on top of one of the largest natural gas formations in the world,” McCord said. “And yet for the privilege of allowing drillers to make billions of dollars in profits from our resources, we receive less than any other state in the country. That makes no sense at all. These natural gas resources belong to the people of Pennsylvania, and the people deserve to be fairly and justly compensated for allowing drillers to profit from their resources.”
McCord would use the revenue generated by the drillers’ tax to protect the environment and to invest in education. Since the first well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 2005, the state’s annual production of natural gas has increased more than 1,200 percent.
“The natural gas in the Marcellus shale isn’t going anywhere, and neither are the companies who are seeking to make billions of dollars in profit from it,” McCord said.
