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Cohen officially gets into PA-6 GOP primary

Former Thornburgh administration Revenue Secretary Howard Cohen formally entered the race for Congress in the 6th District Thursday, promising to campaign in a “civil manner and with an adherence to authentic, conservative Republican principles.”

Cohen’s candidacy makes the GOP primary to replace incumbent Jim Gerlach a four-way race, and undoubtedly one of the most interesting House primaries in the state. As a longtime worker in state and federal government who has never sought elected office, Cohen brings a different resume to the table than the other candidates.

“I am not a career politician, but I know how to cut government spending and to maximize the use of the public dollar,” Cohen said Thursday morning in prepared remarks during an announcement at his home in Bala Cynwyd.

Later, in an interview with pa2010.com, he said he was best positioned to hold the Republican seat that Democrats have been chipping away at for years.

“If this is going to remain a Republican seat,” he said, “the only one who can do that is Howard Cohen.”

Cohen faces Chester County Recorder of Deeds Ryan Costello, state Representative Curt Schroder (R-Chester) and Phoenixville businessman Steven Welch in next year’s primary.

See the full text of Cohen’s remarks as prepared for delivery below:

Thank you for joining me this morning as we begin the effort to choose a Congressman to represent the citizens of the Sixth Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

After considerable thought and long discussions with my family, I have concluded that my life experiences have equipped me to go to Washington to help create an environment in which meaningful solutions to our country’s serious problems can be put in place in Congress.  I believe this can be accomplished in a civil manner and with an adherence to authentic, conservative Republican principles.  Therefore, today I’m formally announcing my candidacy to become the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from the Sixth District.

Standing beside me is Barbara, the love of my life and my wife of more than 37 years.  We first met in Washington in the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee hearing room. When she asked me the hard questions about making this race and what it might mean to our lives together, I reread David McCullough’s award-winning biography of John Adams, especially John’s correspondence with Abigail.  Like Abigail, Barbara understands the “arduous task” and my determination to succeed in this undertaking.  As Abigail wrote: “You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spectator…. We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.”

In addition to the qualifications I’ve gained in both the private and public sectors, I’m running for this office because those in control in Washington today are giving away our children’s and our grandchildren’s futures, and I just can’t sit here and watch it happen. And let’s be fair-minded about this.  This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. The Bush Administration got this spending ball rolling.  But President Obama and his Democrat colleagues have enlarged the problems, made things worse and upped the ante three and four fold.  Our party has the responsibility to return us to fundamental, proven Republican principles.

My dad was a policeman; a street cop in Newark, New Jersey.   I think that once you’ve had a cop in your family you never lose the sense that you can do something to make things better, safer, more secure.  Washington needs a cop mentality.  It needs representatives who understand the differences between good and bad policies.  It needs folks who will put the brakes on the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

My campaign will have a few constant themes:

• First, the economy.  We must get people back to work. We must oppose those who pass huge, unfunded spending bills on Capitol Hill.  We must provide an economic environment that encourages the creation and growth of small and family businesses.  Right now, the powerbrokers in Washington are killing small and family businesses, while spending billions of our dollars to see that the big boys survive and thrive.  And government grows unchecked.  We must provide the economic environment that allows these businesses to grow.  That is where the good jobs will be.

Our current economic situation requires that we reduce the wage tax so individuals can keep, spend and invest more of their hard earned dollars. Workers and those employing workers would see an immediate increase in disposable income if the wage tax were reduced.  Family owned businesses would have more money to invest to grow their businesses, to better train their workers, to add to the wealth of the Nation.  When the Congress and President Obama had the choice between cutting taxes and empowering people or increasing the role of government, they made the wrong choice.

Economics is in large part about expectations.  We need optimism, not pessimism.  If every worker had additional disposable income, they could spend more.  Demand would go up.  People would go back to work, and work is what America is about.

• The second theme of my campaign is that we must integrate our thinking about America’s energy needs and our environment.  The two are not necessarily incompatible.  Simplistic, bumper sticker answers will not solve our problems in these areas.  I have not given up hope that there is a bipartisan spirit in Congress that has not yet been tapped.  I intend to work on that when I get to Washington in January of 2011.

• Third, and this is very important, we Republicans in the Sixth District should nominate a candidate for the U.S. House who understands the huge enterprise that is the Federal government.  While we should apply private sector principles whenever appropriate, operating a large public bureaucracy is different than running a private business.  I understand these differences.

I am not a career politician, but I know how to cut government spending and to maximize the use of the public dollar.  My background in private businesses, meeting payrolls in large and small companies both here and abroad, has taught me a lot about management.  My decade in the Federal government and then as Governor Dick Thornburgh’s first Revenue Secretary have provided valuable lessons about public sector management.  No other candidate has this experience.  My years as a professor at Georgetown, Boston College and Dickinson law schools, combined with more than 25 years of teaching business and public sector management at The Wharton School and The Fels Center of Government have given me the balance between theory and practice. I intend to carry the skills and lessons learned from all of these experiences to Washington and make a difference in ways that count.

But I can’t do any of these things alone.  I need the assistance of you, the citizens of the Sixth District.  We are establishing a website www.howardcohenforcongress.com, where you give me your views, suggestions and ideas on the important public issues facing us today.  I want your input and will read your messages.  In this way, I am asking you to go with me to Washington.  I cannot reach my goals without you, the voters of the Sixth Congressional District, either in this campaign or during my service in Washington.

Barbara and I have lived in this historic house, on this special street in Lower Merion Township for more than 32 years.  This is our home.  We are proud residents of Montgomery County and the Sixth District.  We have always been active in Republican politics.  Barbara was a GOP committeewoman for more than 10 years and an officer of the Lower Merion Republican Committee.  My candidacy is an opportunity for us to give back to the community that has been so good to our family, including our son David and daughter Sarah.

Perhaps my feelings about all this can be summed up in the prophetic words of the early American patriot, Thomas Paine, who said: “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men and women, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”  I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

November 12, 2009 at 12:54 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Curt Schroder, Howard Cohen, PA-6, Ryan Costello, Steven Welch

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