One of the men who wants to be governor dropped in on us here in downtown Primos yesterday.
It’s hard not to like state Sen. Anthony Williams.
Williams, a Democrat from Philly who also covers a portion of Delaware County, has a big, engaging personality.
He speaks his mind, and her doesn’t particularly care whose toes he steps on in the process.
Take education, for instance. Most candidates are very wary of crossing the powerful teachers unions in this state. Not Williams. He makes it clear that he’s a proponent of school choice. And he doesn’t back away when he’s confronted with a question of several of his biggest financial backers, who also just happen to be big fans of school choice.
They’ve given him a million bucks, by far his biggest backers. He makes no bones about it. They see eye to eye on education issues. They get no special deals out of it, no sweet contracts.
But it’s in talking about the economy that the ebullient Williams really comes to life.
He paints a fairly stark picture of the Pennsylvania economy: “We have cancer,” he says. “It’s the economy.”
Williams does not talk like a Democrat who has just enjoyed eight years of working with a Democratic governor. He says the state’s problems go back much farther than Ed Rendell, and they’re deeper than simply Republican or Democrat. They’re both at fault.
He believes Pennsylvania has fallen behind economically because we have not made the connection that we are not just competing state and region-wide, but world-wide.
He wants to push business incubators, not only to get more business to invest here, but to stay here. Today he believes too many business that start here move elsewhere because we don’t work with them nearly enough.
He makes it clear that people also have to take responsibility, including young people. They need to understand what tools it takes to compete in the marketplace and what to do once they get there, including something as simple as showing up for work on time.
He doesn’t want to hear about the tough circumstances many young people find themselves in. He consider much of it excuses.
He faces several other Democrats in the primary on May 18. Right now he’s busy building his name recognition in other parts of the state.
That’s where all those TV commercials urging people to “think outside the box” come in.
He’s already very much “outside the box,” at least in terms of what most politicians deliver.
All you have to do is talk to him for five minutes to understand that.
It’s hard not to like state Sen. Anthony Williams.
Williams, a Democrat from Philly who also covers a portion of Delaware County, has a big, engaging personality.
He speaks his mind, and her doesn’t particularly care whose toes he steps on in the process.
Take education, for instance. Most candidates are very wary of crossing the powerful teachers unions in this state. Not Williams. He makes it clear that he’s a proponent of school choice. And he doesn’t back away when he’s confronted with a question of several of his biggest financial backers, who also just happen to be big fans of school choice.
They’ve given him a million bucks, by far his biggest backers. He makes no bones about it. They see eye to eye on education issues. They get no special deals out of it, no sweet contracts.
But it’s in talking about the economy that the ebullient Williams really comes to life.
He paints a fairly stark picture of the Pennsylvania economy: “We have cancer,” he says. “It’s the economy.”
Williams does not talk like a Democrat who has just enjoyed eight years of working with a Democratic governor. He says the state’s problems go back much farther than Ed Rendell, and they’re deeper than simply Republican or Democrat. They’re both at fault.
He believes Pennsylvania has fallen behind economically because we have not made the connection that we are not just competing state and region-wide, but world-wide.
He wants to push business incubators, not only to get more business to invest here, but to stay here. Today he believes too many business that start here move elsewhere because we don’t work with them nearly enough.
He makes it clear that people also have to take responsibility, including young people. They need to understand what tools it takes to compete in the marketplace and what to do once they get there, including something as simple as showing up for work on time.
He doesn’t want to hear about the tough circumstances many young people find themselves in. He consider much of it excuses.
He faces several other Democrats in the primary on May 18. Right now he’s busy building his name recognition in other parts of the state.
That’s where all those TV commercials urging people to “think outside the box” come in.
He’s already very much “outside the box,” at least in terms of what most politicians deliver.
All you have to do is talk to him for five minutes to understand that.
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