Update II: Here are Friday’s events.
“We Did Build This” Event
Allentown
11:00 AM
ASGCO Manufacturing, 301 West Gordon Street, Allentown, PA 18102
Featuring:
Senator Pat Toomey
Todd Gibbs, Owner ASGCO Manufacturing
Bill Ginder, Owner Climate Specialists
Ben Beiler, Owner, Benco Technology
and the Romney campaign bus
Romney for President Mobile Campaign HQ Bus at Barley Creek Brewing Company
Tannersville
4:30 PM
Barley Creek Brewing Company, Sullivan Trail Road, Tannersville, PA 18372
Romney for President Mobile Campaign HQ Bus at International Gymnastics Camp for Olympic Opening Ceremonies watching party with campers
Stroudsburg
7:00 PM
International Gymnastics Camp, 100 Gymnastics Way, Stroudsburg, PA 18360
And the Obama campaign continued its rollout of PA small business owners who thank the President for his policies. This time, though, they broke the geographic trend and highlighted one from McMurray, in the Pittsburgh suburbs:
After many ups and downs during the financial crisis, a $350,000 loan backed by the Obama Administration allowed Abeer Kronawetter to start her own restaurant franchise in McMurray, Pennsylvania, which now has almost 30 employees. In 2007, before President Obama took office, Abeer was laid off from a Florida company where she had worked for 26 years. Seeking an opportunity at a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, Abeer and her husband Richard moved north, only to find that job disappear at the peak of the financial crisis in early 2009. To support their family and provide them health insurance, Richard was forced to go back to working in high construction, which he had left 20 years earlier.
Unemployed, Abeer decided to shape her own destiny: after six months trying to obtain a loan from financial institutions to open her own restaurant franchise, Abeer finally found one financed by President Obama’s Small Business Administration, allowing her to open a restaurant in McMurray, just south of Pittsburgh. Today, Abeer has nearly 30 employees, and hopes to open more restaurants in the years to come.
“After three decades of job security, the financial crisis threw my life into chaos in 2007—but I never lost hope,” said Abeer Kronawetter. “I moved my family to Pennsylvania, and took matters into my own hands after seeing an opportunity in a loan backed by the Obama Administration. Thanks to the President’s support for entrepreneurs, I was able to create my own job – and jobs for many others – by opening my own restaurant franchise. Those who twist words to say that President Obama doesn’t support small business owners are dead wrong: just ask my husband, my family, and the employees who come to work in my restaurant every day.”
Update: Here are Thursday’s events.
“We Did Build This” Event
West Chester
12:30 PM
Chester County Courthouse, 2 North High, West Chester, PA 19380
Featuring:
Val DiGiorgio, Chester County Republican Committee Chairman
Ryan Costello, Chester County Commissioner
James Gasho, Owner, Gasho Inc.
Ted Delgaizo, Main Line Engineering
“We Did Build This” Event
Bensalem
3:30 PM
PennFab, Inc., 1431 Ford Rd., Bensalem, PA 19020
Featuring:
Mike Mabin, Owner PennFab, Inc.
Pat Poprik, Bucks County Republican Committee Chairwoman
Lou Jammer, Owner, Jammer Door
Rob Leipszinger, Owner, Rob’s Complete Truck Service
Romney for President Mobile Campaign HQ Bus at Iron Pigs Game
Allentown
6:00 PM
Iron Pigs Game
Coca Cola Park, 555 Union Blvd, Allentown, PA 18109
The Obama camp has responded to one of Romney’s events in West Chester by highlighting a small business owner who is in their corner – third generation owner Joshua Young of Young’s Garage, Inc. in West Chester, an auto repair shop opened by Young’s grandfather in 1960.
Young said the downturn in the economy made the last few years some of the hardest, but that things are turning around and being able to turn a profit again has allowed the company to invest in the future and make it easier to provide employees full healthcare coverage – a policy started when the shop first opened.
“A President can never – and should never – buoy every small business out of its tough times. But what a President can do is create an environment that nurtures the growth of small businesses like Young’s,” he said. “That’s exactly what President Obama has done, and it’s the reason I’m supporting him in November.”
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Mitt Romney’s campaign is launching a full court national press over Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remarks, featuring local surrogates, business owners, and the campaign bus. Here are the events they plan for PA.
A more full reading of Obama’s comments suggest that the President was referring to public education, infrastructure and other elements of American society as essential for the success of each individual. But the the GOP has pounced, citing the quote as evidence of the President’s anti-business worldview.
Here are the events on Wednesday’s schedule. More are expected to follow.
“We Did Build This” Event
Ebensburg
9:00 AM
Cambria County Courthouse, 200 South Center Street, Ebensburg, PA 15931
Featuring:
PA GOP Chairman Rob Gleason
Tom McAneny, McAneny Brothers, Inc.
Rex McQuaide, McQuaide Inc.
and the Romney campaign bus
“We Did Build This” Event
Harrisburg
11:45AM
State Capitol Rotunda, 225 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Featuring:
Kevin Shivers, Pennsylvania NFIB State Director
Tom Smith, Former Small Business Owner and Candidate for U.S. Senate
David Cranston, Cranston Material Handling Equipment Corporation
Janis Herschkowitz, PRL, Inc.
David Brooke Rush, David Brooke Rush Builders
“We Did Build This” Business Tour and Event
Loganville
2:30PM
Brown’s Orchard and Farmer’s Market, 8892 Susquehanna Trail South, Loganville, PA 17342
Featuring:
Ron Miller, Pennsylvania State Representative (R-93)
Bob Wilson, York County Republican Committee Chairman
Stanley Brown, Owner, Brown’s Orchard and Farmer’s Market
and the Romney campaign bus
Cumberland County Victory Office Opening
Mechanicsburg
6:30PM
Cumberland County Victory Office, 1 South Frederick Street, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Featuring:
Tom Smith, Candidate for U.S. Senate
and the Romney campaign bus
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has its own push, highlighting PA small businesses that have benefitted from the President’s policies. First up, two construction companies and a BBQ restaurant.
Two small business owners, Charles Overholser and Kathy Packrall, own small construction companies on opposite ends of Pennsylvania. During the recession, Overholser was forced to lay off workers; but as the economy recovered, his clients, many of them also small businesses around Philadelphia, returned. Thanks to increasing demand and the small business health care tax credits from President Obama’s healthcare law, Mr. Overholser’s Philadelphia business was able to rehire all of its staff following the recession.
Similarly, business was tough for Kathy Packrall and her husband during the financial crisis; but since then, the economy has started growing again under President Obama, demand has increased, and Kathy and her husband are now hiring workers at their Pittsburgh area headquarters.
Keith Taylor, owns Zachary’s BBQ in Norristown and received a Small Business Association loan to open his restaurant after he struggled to get his feet off the ground. Taylor also received rebates for new equipment he purchased as part of the Small Business Jobs Act, allowing continual growth and success for his barbeque restaurant.
They also tapped a Cambria County small business owner to respond to the GOP there:
In response to the Romney campaign’s distortions, small business owner and Chef Charles Heinrich – owner of Everyday Gourmet & Fine Food in Ebensburg – released the following statement:
“As a small business owner in Cambria County, I am puzzled by the Romney campaign’s attacks on President Obama and their efforts to twist his words around. About 18 months ago, I had the confidence to open my very own small business here in Ebensburg, and since then, I’ve been able to add more employees—growing from a staff of 4 to a staff of 10 employees today. Because of a tax break from the federal government, the costs of my kitchen equipment have gradually decreased over time, allowing me to keep my cash flow in the black. Without that extra money, I may not have lasted this long.
“I took a risk, and it paid off. But I also know that if President Obama didn’t act quickly to turn our economy around and promote investments in American workers – like tax credits, new roads and bridges, and access to technology – small businesses like mine wouldn’t be able to expand. President Obama supports small businesses and entrepreneurs like me, and Everyday Gourmet is evidence of that commitment. I can’t say the same for Mitt Romney.”
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By: Keegan.Gibson
Title: Updated: Team Romney’s PA “Build That” Blitz
Sourced From: www.politicspa.com/updated-team-romneys-pa-build-that-blitz/38633/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=updated-team-romneys-pa-build-that-blitz
Published Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:30:45 +0000
