Open Left:: Joe Torsella Already A Serious Primary Challenger to Specter

Joe Torsella Already A Serious Primary Challenger to Specter | 14 comments

Looking at his 2004 run (4.00 / 2)

I found an editorial endorsing him which gives some of his positions back then. Similar editorial endorsements for Torsella or his opponent, Allyson Schwarz, are the easiest researchable clues to his policy positions.

Joe Torsella has never held elective office - Northeast Philly has not sent somebody like that to Congress in decades - but he has served some of the best and brightest.
As deputy mayor under Rendell, Torsella helped Rendell bring Philadelphia back from the financial abyss created by Mayor Wilson Goode. And, while Torsella was Goode's Northeast coordinator in 1983, voters ought not hold that against him. Every candidate is entitled to one mistake in life.
The sparkling new Constitution Center downtown is perhaps Torsella's crowning jewel. Before it opened, it had a $200,000 operating-budget deficit. As president of the center, Torsella turned that into a $200,000 operating-budget surplus. He did that, in part, by working with the Republican leadership in Congress and the Republican-controlled U.S. Supreme Court.
Torsella vows to give back 5 percent of his salary - "I want to lead by example," he says - and his bold plan to maximize the development potential of the Delaware riverfront should be exploited for all it's worth, with the aid of his pal in Harrisburg, the governor.
With health care near the top of the domestic agenda, Torsella has some good ideas. He says an electronic record-keeping system would help to save money and slice medical errors, and he wants the Food and Drug Administration to make prescription drugs available over the counter.
Like Taubenberger, he supports extending Woodhaven Road to Philmont Avenue, and he pledges to introduce legislation in his first term to allow the federal government to limit the number of Section 8 houses on a given block.
Torsella is personally opposed to abortion, but unlike Taubenberger, he supports abortion rights. "I believe in Roe vs. Wade. There is a constitutional right to privacy," he says.
Torsella's pragmatism on the war in Iraq is impressive. He says U.S. troops should stay in Iraq until the job is done, and he says the Islamic nation is capable of eventually having democratic rule.

Then there is the info from his old campaign website via archive.org.

* Finding solutions to the concerns of our District's elderly - controlling prescription costs, promoting access to long-term care and protecting retirement savings.
* Fighting for universal health coverage.
* Fulfilling the vision and bringing home federal funds to promote housing, recreation, job development along the Delaware river waterfront.
* Keeping America safe and strong by supporting increased funding for critical homeland security priorities such as port safety, drinking water protection, and first responder training and resources.
* Preserving precious open space and reducing traffic congestion.
* Voting for common sense spending practices that reduce the federal deficit and stand against wasteful pork barrel projects.
* Bringing innovative ideas to Washington, eliminating government waste and promoting government integrity and openness.
* Implementing needed reforms in the Section 8 housing program.
* Obtaining full funding in Washington for public education reform.
* Working to resolve traffic and transportation issues in Northeast Philly - particularly around Roosevelt Boulevard.

Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company: Religion, Politics, the Occasional Intersection of Both

by: Anthony de Jesus @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 15:22:33 PM CDT

Pork (0.00 / 0)

I love this:

* Voting for common sense spending practices that reduce the federal deficit and stand against wasteful pork barrel projects.
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* Working to resolve traffic and transportation issues in Northeast Philly - particularly around Roosevelt Boulevard.

No Pork! Uhh, except possibly spending a bunch of money on roads in the CD I want to represent...

From what I remember from 2004, Torsella is basically a hack.

by: Pesto @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 16:03:19 PM CDT

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Are you sure it's pork? (4.00 / 1)

I drive on Roosevelt Blvd every day. Somehow I think you don't.

Let's put it this way - the traffic issues on that road are worthy of solving. It's not so much "spending a bunch of money on roads in the CD..." as it is acknowledging a problem affecting thousands of people every day and wanting to address it.

I think you can probably find better examples of pork. Torsella may indeed be a hack; I honestly don't know. But telling people in NE Philly that he would like to resolve traffic issues on the Boulevard isn't unreasonable. I'd look elsewhere for hackness (hackiness? hackitude?)

Karl in Drexel Hill, PA

by: KB @ Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 08:29:21 AM CDT

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