As a native of the Lehigh Valley my Congressman and Senators may be familiar to some. My representative is Republican Congressman Charlie Dent (PA 15th) who, like myself is a life long resident of the Valley. My Senators are Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey. Pennsylvania has a rich political history and played a major role in the formation of the United States. It holds an interesting political dynamic in that its two largest cities (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh) are Democrat strongholds while most of the rest of the state has Republican leanings. This unique political atmosphere is reflected in our choice of Elected officials.
First, Congressman Charlie Dent will be examined and discussed in an attempt to better inform the reader of his personal and political roots, educational back round, and legislative history. Dent was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania to a working class family. His father worked for Bethlehem steel and his mother was a court reporter. He is a graduate of William Allen High School and also attended The Pennsylvania State University for undergraduate studies and gained his MBA from Lehigh University. Some of political inspiration can attributed to dissolution of Bethlehem Steel as it affected not only his personal life but the life of every Lehigh Valley resident. Prior to him being elected to the U.S Congress he served on the Pennsylvania Legislature for 15 years as both a State Representative and State Senator. He took over the 15th Congressional District from current Senator Toomey. Dent is the most interesting official discussed in the post because he is not a traditional Republican and is seen by many as very Bi-Partisan. Dents district is a very interesting one in that is follows that I-78 corridor from Easton, Pa to Hershey, Pa. Although a majority of this district is rural and holds republican leanings the Lehigh Valley has a strong democrat presence. This is important because Dent is after all a republican who has been elected multiple times by both republicans and democrats. Congressman Dent holds a number of important committee assignments the most prominent being the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, he also sits on the House Ethics Committee. Dent and his staff do a tremendous amount of constituent outreach. Dent is also a huge proponent of fiscal responsibility and tends to be fiscally conservative. Currently the congressman and his staff are getting ready for the annual End of the Summer picnic that he hosts in order to do face to face constituent outreach. Dent has Senatorial aspirations, however, it may be hard for him to run until Toomey is gone because it would be hard to justify both PA senators being from the Lehigh Valley.
Secondly, Senator Pat Toomey will be briefly analyzed and discussed. Toomey was elected to the U.S Senate in 2004 when he beat Arlen Specter. Prior to serving in the U.S legislature, Toomey made a lot of money in the private sector, chiefly in finance. He also attended Harvard University and earned a B.A. His area of expertise is economics and finance and because of that he holds multiple committee assignments including The Committee on Finance, The Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and The Committee on the Budget. Toomey is a very well connected individual and has been known to raise very large amounts of money for his campaigns. Being a senator from Pennsylvania he, like Dent, deals with a dynamic political environment.
Finally, senator Bob Casey will be touched on. Casey is a democrat and comes from a Pennsylvanian political family. His father was former Pennsylvanian Governor Bob Casey Sr. His fathers political connections helped jump start his political career and ultimately contributed to his election to the U.S legislature. The Casey family had ties the Rendell administration which helped his appointment as State Treasurer. Growing up in Scranton, Pa he witnessed the death of American industry, chiefly the coal industry, similar to Dent and Bethlehem Steel. Casey is a Liberal Democrat with ties to organized labor. Casey has higher aspirations and may run for Governor of Pennsylvania again in the future.
5 comments:
I found your post to be very interesting, seeing as we come from the same district. One thing in particular that stands out in your post is your emphasis on Charlie Dent's bipartisan style, something that certainly has made him very popular with his constituents, who, as you mentioned, are quite politically diverse. This bipartisanship on Dent's part makes me wonder if he consciously employs this "Lowest Common Denominator" approach to representing, as described in our textbook. Regardless of whether or not he consciously puts aside this partisanship in an attempt to connect with his district, though, it seems to definitely be working. Additionally, you didn't mention this explicitly, but I think it's also interesting that, although Casey is fairly liberal on most issues, he breaks away from mainstream Democrats on some issues, most notably abortion (he is pro-life). It seems, then, like being politically moderate—or at least making great attempts at crossing party lines—is key in a state and district such as ours, where there are a range of ideologies present in the constituency.
I found your post interesting mainly because I am from this district but unfortunately have paid little attention to and spent little time researching the political figures that compromise it. While I am unclear if this was done on purpose, I liked how you mentioned the End of Summer Picnic that Dent is hosting immediately before you mentioned his Senatorial aspirations. It ties into the idea that it is critical for a politician to be connected with his people and to appear as approachable and helpful.
On another note, in a sense, it appears to me that the Congressman seems closer to the people than the senators simply in the way that they were raised. While I understand that this is quite an assumption, and could be considered judgmental, the information you gave seems to support the notion that we discussed in class regarding the idea that Congressmen appear to be more relatable than Senators. I say this because Dent came from a working class family whereas Casey and Toomey come off as those who were raised in a more exclusive part of society (one coming from a political family while the other worked in a private sector and attended Harvard). I can again tie this back to the idea that you mentioned Dent's event to connect with the people while the other two politicians received no mention of constituent friendly events.
I had no idea that Dent was from Allentown, but it makes a lot of sense in the scheme of things. It's interesting to think about whether or not "hometown" politicians play to where they came from to get a huge boost in votes from that exact area. Obviously Dent was elected from all Pennsylvania voters, but I think it would be interesting to look at the data from his elections and see how many of his votes came directly from Lehigh Valley constituents? It would also be interesting to see any data on what Congressman Dent has voted for or against in correlation with how it may have affected this particular area.
I live in the sixth district, which has a very similar make-up to your district, and it's fascinating to see how House Representatives struggle to appeal to both the liberal and the conservative sides of their district. I grew up in Hershey, and it is a very, very conservative town, and I'm impressed that Dent is able to appease both sides of his district, which I'm sure is incredibly polarized.
Obviously going to school at Muhlenberg, I hear a lot about Congressman Charlie Dent. I've seen him speak once on campus, and though I don't really remember much of what was specifically said, I remember coming out with good thoughts. I don't really know much about Congressman Dent, but working in the polling center I have heard many republicans and democrats say they are very satisfied with him in office. But looking at the two Senators from PA (one Republican one Democrat) it's not surprising that Dent appeals to members of both parties, and I'm sure if you look at each Representative from PA, you will see more moderates than those with strong ideological alignments.
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