No Negatives… Just the Facts

No Negatives… Just the Facts

Recently, you may have received a plain white envelope, no return address. This piece was sent standard presort, so it was probably sent 7-10 days ago. If you even bothered to take the time to open it (knowing it was probably junk mail), you would have found a black and white letter, claiming to be “Just the Facts”.

I received a copy of this letter from a concerned friend. He was quite upset, knowing that it wasn’t about the facts… it was a campaign hit piece, designed to confuse and upset potential voters.

After a few deep breaths, we sat down to figure out what we should do: maybe a sleazy letter ourselves? Maybe buy a thousand more yard signs and use them to build a fort in the middle of Route 19?

No.

We decided to do what we’ve done all along in this campaign: Inform and enlighten Cranberry Township residents and make sure they have all the facts they need to make their choices this Tuesday, May 21st.

So here are the REAL facts about me:

Community Service

Eric: Has faithfully served his country as a member of the United States Navy since 1999. He completed seven Strategic Deterrent Patrols, totaling 13,440 hours of time underwater and away from his family, all to protect our freedoms. Eric currently volunteers as a Funeral Honor Guard member, traveling to veteran funerals to honor their memory and present a folded American flag to their family. He also volunteers his time to serve as a school director for Seneca Valley, currently totaling over 500 hours. During the last election season, Eric volunteered over 520 hours helping residents register to vote and resolve registration issues with the Butler County Election Bureau.

Community Leader Supporters

Eric is supported by many independent local conservative leaders including:

Sherry Maudie – President of the Republican Women of Butler County

Beatrice Turner –President of the Pittsburgh 9/12 Project and Constitutional Scholar.

Daniel Page – Cranberry Township Constable

Patricia Stirling – Candidate for Jury Commissioner

Judi Rexford – Candidate for Seneca Valley School Director, Region 5

Jim Wood – Cranberry Twp resident since 1956 and owner of Wood Electronics

Many of his colleagues on the Butler County Republican Committee and others

Position on Issues

Eric: Has sent out three mailers to concerned residents stating his positions on a variety of issues, all with plans for the future. Eric has described how he supports responsible governance that limits government growth and is honest about long term costs. He has addressed traffic concerns and described plans to improve safety, reduce traffic congestion and reduce travel times across town… improvements that will benefit everyone! He supports our community parks, police force and volunteer fire company. He also believes that an efficient local school system providing a superior education is essential to promote business development in the Township.

Thinks that Cranberry is on the RIGHT Path

Cranberry Township is a uniquely wonderful place to live. People feel safe, they talk to their neighbors and they send their children to superior local schools. Like most of you, he is proud to live here. He also believes that Cranberry Township has a model government and a solid plan for the future. Most Township residents rate their quality of life as "good" or better, 89% to be exact.

Eric believes that it requires constant vigilance and awareness to keep it that way. Right now, the Township is benefitting from a boom in development, bringing in traffic impact fees and new residents that contribute to Earned Income Tax (EIT) revenues. Unfortunately, when people compare Cranberry to other “full service” communities, they are really comparing apples to oranges. Those communities have higher taxes because they are mature communities with little growth. He believes we need to take the opportunity now to build necessary roads and bridges, and put away money to defray future maintenance costs. He knows we need to limit how much we spend on growing government and extra frills because in the end, there’s no free lunch and we’re all going to get stuck with the bill.

Community Leadership

Eric: The true fiscal conservative that has experience and a proven track record of balancing budgets in hard economic times, through personnel reductions, spending cuts and responsible tax increases. No one can deny that the school employee pension crisis, created in Harrisburg, has hurt local families and forced local school districts to raise taxes. He took charge and voted to cut approximately 10% of the entire workforce, many who were hired under the leadership of Dean Berkebile, a person his opponent is proud to have as a supporter. He cut building budgets every year and found alternative ways to generate revenue that would reduce the burden on taxpayers. He is proud to say that he voted to make Seneca Valley a more efficient school district during his term on the board, without sacrificing the quality of education provided to our children.

Eric has been an active leader in the Butler County Republican Party since 2008. He is the current Treasurer where he developed a custom electronic financial management system, allowing the committee to develop in-depth balanced budgets and more efficiently utilize resources, resulting in a 300% increase in assets in one year. He also recently volunteered to serve as Office Manager of the BCRC Southern HQ in Zelienople, assisting residents from across Butler County register to vote and resolve registration related issues.

Summary

As the great Paul Harvey would always say, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you can tell who believes in manipulating facts and who really supports negative campaigning. I have gone to great lengths to maintain a 100% positive campaign, filled with actual ideas and solutions, utilizing multiple avenues to reach Cranberry voters. It saddens me that my opponent has resorted to negative messaging and attempts to paint me as someone that I am not.

These are the real facts, my friends. I hope that you consider everything you’ve read during this campaign and PLEASE VOTE ON MAY 21st !