CLEARFIELD – Members of the Clearfield County Democratic Committee held their annual spring dinner April 18 at the Florian Banquet Hall.
The speaking program opened with Admiral Joe Sestak, who campaigning for the U.S. Senate in the 2016 election. Sestak spoke of his recent candidacy announcement in Philadelphia followed by his 422-mile walking tour across the state of Pennsylvania.
Judge David Wecht and Judge Christine Donahue were on hand to talk about their candidacies for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Both Wecht and Donahue stressed the importance of this year’s Supreme Court race because this is the court that decides issues, including voting rights and reapportionment of congressional and legislative districts.
Other Supreme Court candidates were represented by Paul “PJ” Monella speaking for Judge Anne Lazarus, Diane Bernardo speaking for Judge John Foradora, Brad Koplinski and Kerith Strano Taylor speaking for Judge Kevin Dougherty and a representative from Judge Dwayne Woodruff’s campaign.
Todd Eagen of Dunmore, candidate for the Pennsylvania Superior Court, stressed his background working in the field of labor law, where he has represented clients in all levels of the courts across Pennsylvania.
Former State Rep. Camille George spoke about the important legislation that Democrats have enacted that benefits the middle class and senior citizens.
County Democratic Chairman Charlie Lombardo opened the county and local candidate portion of the program by introducing municipal level candidates Diane Bernardo for DuBois City Council, Fred Weaver for Clearfield Borough Council, First Ward, and Robbie Moore for Curwensville Borough Council.
Lombardo thanked all the people who worked to make the spring dinner a success. He concluded his comments by detailing the work he has done over the last year to bring success to the county party and encouraged everyone to get out and support Democratic candidates running in 2015.
Next up was District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr., who is running for his fourth term. Shaw noted the success of the Fugitive of the Week program that he introduced and stressed that he has done more courtroom trials than most of the DA’s in Pennsylvania.
The candidates for county commissioner started off with Trudy Lumadue, who spoke of her experience working in the District Attorney’s office and her work in private practice, first with James A. Naddeo and Associates and now with her own practice.
Commissioner Mark McCracken, who is seeking re-election, talked about the recent decision by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Projection to reject the permit for the Camp Hope Run Landfill in Boggs Township, the Regional Rail Authority project that is being considered and the success the county employee’s retirement fund is having.
The final commissioner candidate was Tom Scott, who spoke of his experience growing up working in his father’s grocery store, Herb and Tom’s Market, and his experience running his own business in the DuBois area.
The final candidate speaking was county Treasurer Carol Fox, who is seeking re-election. Fox noted the work her office does to serve the citizens of Clearfield County and also spoke of her role with the Retirement Board and the investment policy changes the board has made in recent years.
Keynote Speaker was Brad Kirsch, who is chairman of the Senior Caucus of the Democratic State Committee. Kirsch highlighted many of the successful programs enacted by the Democratic party during the last century and the leaders who were responsible. He also detailed his work to establish the Senior Caucus and urged everyone in attendance to vote for their preferred candidates on May 19.
MC’s for the event were Tia Lombardo and Nick Hudson, who both recently turned 18 and registered to vote for the first time in the May 19 Primary Election. Lombardo announced her acceptance to Mount Aloysius College and Hudson announced that he has been accepted to the University of Southern California. Both will be starting classes in the fall and all those attending the dinner gave a round of applause for the achievements of the two young Democrats.
The benediction, meal blessing and closing prayer were conducted by Pastor Bob Henry.