Sestak or McGinty?

Let me say off the top that I am supporter of Admiral Sestak. I've met him many times over the years, we have held long conversations, and we met again Saturday, April 9 for brunch.

I watched two "debates" between the three candidates for the Pennsylvania Senate seat now occupied by Senator Toomey. The last was on WTAE Pittsburgh in which Admiral Sestak corrected Ms. McGinty on two points she raised in criticizing his position.

Ms. McGinty claimed that Admiral Sestak supported reducing Social Security and favored raising the retirement age to 69. Independent fact-checkers reported this claim by Ms. McGinty to be untrue. The same report fact-checked McGinty's claim that Admiral Sestak supported unregulated fracking and found it to be untrue. The fact-checking by WTAE found not a single misrepresentation in Admiral Sestak's criticism's of Ms. McGinty.

Many Americans support the Affordable Health Care Act, and we have seen the first benefits of it, he has been proven correct in his final decision and, indeed, prescient in doing so.

So Katie McGinty resorts to the same untrue negative campaigning as did Governor Ed Rendell. Is it any wonder? Guess who her campaign chairman is? Rendell himself has assumed this honorary position.

Ms. McGinty has to resort to untruths because she is otherwise singularly unqualified to be a US Senator. She has never held an elective office. She was appointed to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Agency and a Chief of Staff for Governor Wolf, where she served with distinction in both positions. However, when she ran for governor of Pennsylvania in the most recent gubernatorial primary, she placed 7th.

Sestak has been a public servant for 36 years, including 31 years in the Navy and 4 years in the House of Representatives. He was elected as a Democrat to Congress in the predominately Republican 7th district, only the second Democrat elected by that district since the Civil War.

2010 was a year in which Republicans swept Pennsylvania, in many cases, by double digits. Yet Sestak lost by only 2 percentage points. This despite the Philadelphia Democratic Machine's opposition which is visible again this year.

The Party Machine was against Admiral Sestak because in 2010 Arlen Specter switched parties, from the Republican to the Democratic. The national Party agreed to support Specter for the US Senate. They approached Sestak, whom they had asked to run previously, and asked him to step down. Sestak courageously refused. He defeated Specter in the primaries.

I support Admiral Sestak because of his honesty, trustworthiness, courage (he was 'transmoted' for ruffling the feathers of Donald Rumsfeld by suggesting a reduction in defense spending), and his experience in public office. I also like his electability. When he ran for the House, he was told over and over, "I'm a Republican, but I'm voting for you because of your military record." Remember: Republicans are pro-military.