Free Press – October 9, 2008

Tom Peterson Clymer Campaign

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Tom Peterson is running an uphill battle with a legislator who’s been in Harrisburg for 28 years. Does the Milford Township resident have a chance against Paul Clymer, the state representative from the 145^th district?

“Paul Clymer is 0 for 5 for the things that people want,” Peterson began. “People want relief from property taxes; help for the environment, health care, quality schools…and change.

“Paul,” Peterson asks rhetorically, “Why didn’t you get things done when you had seniority and your party was in the majority?”

Peterson has a plan to beat Clymer.

“I’m letting people know what Clymer hasn’t done,” Peterson continued, and gave an example. “Clymer hasn’t allowed the schools to be properly funded. When he was first elected, state funding provided 41 percent of the Quakertown school district’s budget. Today it’s less than 21 percent. So, Pennsylvania’s schools lost 50 percent of their funding in 28 years…in Quakertown, it’s $16 million alone. Most states fund their schools 50/50.”

Peterson does not use bumper stickers to spread the news, relying instead on the Internet, text messaging and campaigning door to door. “I’ve knocked on 7,000 doors,” he told me.

“Pennsylvania is the most expensive legislative body in America,” he said. “People want the legislature to stop bickering.

“I’ve prepared myself for this [legislative] job for the last ten years,” Peterson continued. “I learned how to make big organizations more efficient, more accountable. We don’t have to raise taxes.” Referring to his experience at Oracle, where he worked for years, Peterson added, “I saved $1 billion for the company five different ways. And I can help the state the same way.

“We need to reduce the cost of health care and attract green energy jobs,” Peterson said. “We need to fix our health care costs. We waste 31 percent of the health care dollar. It could be a $10 billion savings.

“We need to cover everybody [universal health care],” he added. “Every year in America, Pennsylvania’s medical schools produce one in seven new doctors but we can’t keep them. They flee this state. Pennsylvania’s in the top 20 percent for quality health care but the bottom 20 percent in efficiency.

“I’m a bi partisan person,” Peterson said. He’s a democrat but a fiscal conservative he says. “I’ll get Republicans [legislators] to help me save money,” he continued. “I’ll get things done as a freshman. But I’ll only serve four, two year terms.”

So, he’s a proponent of term limits. Will voters be impressed with his promise to stay in office for only eight years?

Peterson’s career began as a science teacher. He left the classroom for the business world for 32 years where he specialized in technology. Some of his clients were Oracle, VISA, Hewlett Packard, and McDonalds. “Each of them saved over $1 billion,” he said.

But the memory of academia took him back to teaching. However, this time, he wanted to serve in Philadelphia’s inner schools. It hasn’t been easy. “I was punched by five different students,” his door hanger brochure reads. “The second punch knocked out my front tooth. The next year, I transferred to a better [city] school where over 90 percent go to college with a scholarship.

“I haven’t found anyone around who’ll swap jobs with me,” he laughed. “But I can make things happen.”

Peterson is not happy that there are only two debates (one is tonight at the Michener Library in Quakertown and the second is on October 13, on radio station WNPV 1440 AM at 12:10 PM.). “I wanted to do more debates but Clymer’s refused to hold them,” Peterson complained.

He expects that a larger Election Day turn out will help him. Sharing the same ticket with Barrack Obama and Congressman Patrick Murphy could swell the vote. Peterson is counting on 18 to 29 year olders to surprise Clymer. “Pollsters call addresses, not cell phones,” Peterson says. “Young people connect to me.”

He saved his strongest charge against Clymer to the end of my interview.

“Paul Clymer has never complained about schools getting less from the state…and every year the funding gets less. In contrast, He’s been paid $1 million [in salary] during his 28 years in the legislature,” Peterson concluded. “Has he saved the tax payer $1 million?”

Peterson has a website. You can find more about him at Tom Peterson 08.com. He believes that 30,000 of the 41,200 voters in the 145^th district will turn out on Election Day and predicts that younger voters will carry the day. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith