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Democrat Slater aims for Pitts’ 16th District seat
By Mary E. Young,
Reading Eagle; Date: Jun 17, 2007; Section: Berks & Beyond; Page
Number:B3
The will of the majority
of his constituents and what is in their best interest would carry the
greatest weight when the time for a vote comes, congressional
candidate Bruce Slater said.
The Lancaster County
Democrat is seeking to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts in
the 16th Congressional District.
Slater said that as a
congressman he also would take into account the potential for
legislation to harm his constituents or the jobs that provide their
livelihood.
“I put big business in
the third spot because I think the need of the constituents comes
first,” Slater said. “I would help big business only if it would add
jobs. I don’t want to lose any more jobs in this country.”
Slater, 50, of Salisbury
Township said he is running against Pitts in 2008 because he thinks
the congressman is out of touch with the needs of the middleclass
working people he represents.
Health care is bleeding
individuals and small and medium businesses dry, but Congress has been
unable to stem the flow, he said.
“I feel they should step
up and afford us the same level of health care they give themselves,”
Slater said of members of Congress.
Other issues that Pitts
and the Republicans have failed to adequately address include
prescription drug prices, the minimum wage, alternative energy
sources, gasoline price gouging, water quality and disaster assistance
for farmers, he said.
The Republicans are
protecting large corporations and allowing huge bonuses for executives
while people in Louisiana and Mississippi still are living in
trailers, Slater said.
“The discontent is not
just (among) Democrats,” he said. “Republican moderates and some of
the very right-wing voters in the district are very discontented and
voted Democratic.”
Slater said he does not
like the way the government handled the war in Iraq but believes
America has a duty to stay in the troubled country until order is
restored.
Even his Old Order Amish
friends agree with that, he said.
“I don’t like the way we
did this,” Slater said. “But as Americans we have to stand up and
clean up the mess we started. We have to do the best we can without
leaving Iraq in chaos.”
Slater said his stint in
the Navy and running his own business taught him to be a selfstarter
and prepared him to work with others to solve problems.
“But more important is
getting the job done,” he said. “You take one task and finish it and
go on to the next. You can apply that to anything.”
The 16th District
includes part of Berks, including sections of Reading, part of Chester
County and all of Lancaster County.
Representatives serve two
year terms.
The current annual salary
is $165,200. A 2.7 percent cost of living increase is scheduled for
January 2008, raising the salary to $169,660. Annual cost-of-living
adjustments are automatic, but Congress has the ability to refuse the
raise, as it did this year.
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