2 I The Behrend Beacon
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) holds town hall Q&A
By Connor Sattely
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Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
held a town hall meeting
Wednesday afternoon at the
Raymond M. Blasco Memorial
Library in Erie, trying to calm
fears and obtain feedback from
constituents in the midst of tough
economic times.
While local politicians and
office holders such as State
Senate hopeful Cindy Purvis
made an appearance, Specter
took the stage after a brief intro
duction by Erie mayor Joseph
Sinnott and spoke alone for a half
hour before taking questions
from attendees. Specter insisted
that the main point of the town
hall meeting was to keep in touch
with the chi/ens that he repre
sents.
"These meetings provide me
an opportunity to give you a brief
report on what's going on in
Washington, - Specter said. "Or,
more fundamentally, to find out
what is On your minds...
On the minds of the majority
of the speech's attendees seemed
to he the economy. and the grim
joh market faced by many people
trying to enter into a career. The
5700 million bailout. passed by
Congress last month, raised ire
amongst many who believed that
the bill contained too much
"pork... When a frustrated
woman demanded answers as to
why the bill was passed with
these earmarks included, Specter
asked that Americans keep in
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LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWS
meeting with Erie citizens at Blasco Library
DANIEL SMITH / The Behrend Beacon
.Specter opened the Pram to attendees (above) and answered questions on a number of issues (right).
mind the urgency of passing the
bill.
"My staff was on the job the
entire time." Ile said. "1 asked
that the Senate take their time
read and analyze everything,
hear witnesses. cross-examine
them and they short cut it." The
reason for the short cut, said
Specter, was that when the House
Specter has served in the United States Senate for 28 ears
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Editorial Board
of Representatives voted on Sept.
29 the market went down 700
"We came back from [Rosh
Hashanah] and had to vote right
away. Had there been amend
ments, that pork would not have
been in there. But, we were
backed against the wall out of
concern that if we didn't act, it
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would have been worse."
Healthcare was another major
concern for many who attended,
including an elderly woman who
informed the Senator that she
needed a heart transplant and
"fell into a gap" amongst work
ers without healthcare. "I pay my
taxes," she said, "and am glad to
do so. I'm not looking for a hand
out from the government, but I
find this very much against who I
am as an American citizen. What
can the government do to change
these kind of issues?"
Specter's response was to
promise the woman that his
office would do its best to help
her individually, and to assure the
crowd that healthcare remained a
concern in Washington. A mem
ber of the Health and Human
Services Subcommittee of the
Senate for 23 years, he reminded
attendees that he had "crossed
the aisle" several times to spon
sor bipartisan medicare reform.
Specter, who in 2005 became
Pennsylvania's longest termed
Senator in his fifth appointment,
also spoke regarding college stu
dents. He responded to one stu
dent's concern that as a
Republican in a typically
Democratic area his vote woul
not matter. "Does your vote mat
ter? The answer is yes. With
enough people voting in one
WHAT'S INSIDE
Behrendstock closes Flashback Fridays with a bang
Being a hippie, I couldn't resist when I heard that the Lion Entertainment
Board was putting on something called Behrendstock. The two bands per
forming were Hot Rocks and Hard Day's Night, a Rolling Stones cover
band and a Beatles cover band. PAGE 6
Lady Lions defeat Hilbert Hawks
The Lady Lions ate the Hilbert Hawks for din-
ner during the soccer game on Wednesday at
the Behrend Fields. The score was a sturdy 2-
0 with Behrend ahead during the first half and
added five goals to total seven. At the end of
the game the score was 7-0 which left the
Lions with a spotless victory. PAGE 7
Who are you calling a socialist?
After months of scattered and uneven messages on the campaign trail, John
McCain and Sarah PalM have finally found their voice, or at least that of
`Joe the Plumber.' Like "Remember the Maine" and other rallying cries of
yesteryear, "Remember Joe" has become a central theme of the campaign,
a rallying cry to incite the masses, but devoid of any substantive points.
way, you can enact change. If
everyone has the view that their
vote doesn't count, nobody
votes, and nothing change s ."
In an interview with The
Beacon, Specter acknowledged
that funding for college students
must remain a priority in the
midst of tough economic times.
"I think [the economy] is going
to rebound," he said. "If you
study hard, if you work hard, you
can find a good job." When
asked if helping students make
Friday, October 24, 2008
their way through college
retained its importance, Specter
said that the problem may lay
with the universities.
"We need to call on the univer
sities not to [raise tuition] above
the inflation rate." he said. "I've
heard a lot of college students
who are worried about their
loans, and we have to keep the
loans coming. We don't want to
have any interruptions in stu
dents' educations."
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