PRESS RELEASE Smith PASen: TOM SMITH STOPS IN SOMERSET

Tom Smith Pennsylvania Senatorial Candidate

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TOM SMITH STOPS IN SOMERSET

Senate candidate Tom Smith stops in Somerset

Somerset Daily American

Michelle Ganassi

March 12, 2012

…Tom Smith elicited several rounds of applause and a few “amens” during his visit to the Roof Garden Patriots meeting Monday.

Smith is a farmer and coal mine owner from Armstrong County. He started out as a farmer and heavy equipment operator. In the mid-1980s he decided to start his own coal mining business. At the end of 2010 his company was producing 100,000 tons of coal per month and employed 130 people.

“My wife Sa[u]ndy and I lived the American dream,” he said. “I feel the opportunities to live the American dream are fast diminishing.”

Smith said there are three negative factors affecting the United States: a lack of jobs, deficit spending and the national debt. He referred to a quote by PresidentRonald Reagan as the best way to describe the direction the federal government needs to go.

“Get government out of the way,” he said.

One way to improve the economy, Smith said, is to lower the corporate tax rate, which at 35 percent is one of the highest in the world.

“It needs reduced so the companies can invest in innovation, newer equipment and jobs,” he said.

He also supports overturning the federal health care bill. He said the House of Representatives passed a measure to repeal the bill, but it died when it got to the Democratic-run Senate.

“That’s why the election in 2012 is so critical,” he said. “We have to take the Senate. We have to take the presidency.”

He would also like to see changes to the federal tax code. He supports a flat tax that eliminates loopholes and would like to see the federal government rein in spending.

“We have to live within our means,” he said.

If elected he would also review the necessity of each department…

He is a supporter of the Department of Defense and said he has two children in the military. Providing funding for the Department of Defense is critical to ensure the safety of the men and women in the military, he said…

He is also a supporter of term limits.

“You don’t have to worry about that with me,” he quipped. “Father time will take care of that.”

Smith said he is a citizen’s candidate. He has never run for state or federal office before but decided to run to help turn the country in a different direction…

Smith said he would have been fine retiring and spending time with his grandchildren, but instead decided to spend his time, and his own money, to run for office. He said it is funny how destiny leads people in different directions.

“I bring a lifetime of work in the private sector and an inkling of common sense,” he said, asking for the group’s help in the April 24 primary…

Read the full report HERE.