Our new Senator and Congressman
A report on the swearing in ceremonies in
Washington D.C.
I got the opportunity Thursday to go down to
Washington to observe the swearing in of our new Senator, Bob Casey and our 4
new congressmen. It was exciting. The whole atmosphere was electrifying. There
was a real feel in the air of hope for a new day for workers and the middle
class.
It was really gratifying to see
Bob Casey take the oath. After 12 years of Rick Santorum's anti-union,
anti-worker attacks we helped elect a person who cares about average
Pennsylvanians. After Senator Casey (I love that: Senator Casey) hosted a party
that had to be the biggest in the Capitol that day. There must have been 2500
Pennsyvanians and other well wishers who came to offer Bob their
congratulations. And as he always does he stayed until he talked to
everyone.
On the House side I ran into
labor activists at every party for our new congressmen. At Joe Sestak's party I
talked briefly with Joe and he was excited about the new challenges that the
Congress was going to take on.
At Jason
Altmire's gathering there was a large group of labor activist who had helped
make this tough race possible and Jason graciously and profusely acknowledged
the role labor played in his
election.
Pat Murphy's party was a
terrific time. While waiting for Patrick's return from his historic vote for the
first woman speaker, Nancy Pelosi, there was excitement and enthusiasm still
overflowing from his come from behind victory in this swing district.
Finally I stopped by Chris Carney's
celebration. Chris was there and he was very thankful for the role labor played
in his election in this very tough district. As I was talking to him about
working with Congressman Holden, whose district is similar in registration, Tim
walked in joined the conversation. Apparently both these Congressman were
already working together. They then left to vote on the new rules of the House
that agressively takes on corruption by limiting lobbyists roles in the writing
of legislation.
Finally me and a couple
of labor friends headed over to that famous D.C. establishment, the Dubliner,
where we ran into other Pa. folks and union leaders. We finished with a
discussion of our hopes for the new congress and the feeling that better days
were ahead for the workers in Pa.
Posted: Sat
- January 6, 2007 at 08:01 AM