State Senate Race Pits Incumbent Against Indiana Restaurateur
Democratic Senatorial Candidate Tony DeLoreto (left) is campaigning vigorously against incumbent Senator Don White. DeLoreto appeared on Family-Life TV’s Talk of the Town on October 4 to discuss the philosophical differences between the two parties.
by Jonathan Weaver
For the first time in 16 years, Armstrong and Indiana Counties might have a new State Senator.
While incumbent Republican Don White aims to retain his seat for a fifth term, Democratic restaurant owner Tony DeLoreto hopes to bring change to the 41st District.
“I’m just tired of the way things are going and I think we desperately need a change. I want to go in there and make a difference,” DeLoreto said.
DeLoreto, 55, hopes to bring change with new philosophies on job creation, property taxes and term limits.
“I believe nothing’s ever going to change until we have a rotation in government. Our fore fathers never intended being a politician to be a career opportunity. They relied on their own integrity, DeLoreto said.
“My mother (Diane) said ‘Anthony, don’t make any promises you can’t keep,’” DeLoreto added. “I have an uphill battle, but if I’m fortunate enough to win, I won’t run for more than two terms. I’m a strong believer in a rotation in government with term limits because I think that’s part of our problem – everybody gets entrenched and become concerned wit
h nothing else but getting re-elected.”
DeLorto actually was inspired to run for public office after a post-election party at his restaurant – Spaghetti Benders, in Indiana – this time last year.
“At this time last year, there wasn’t an inkling in my mind that I’d be running for State Senator,” he admitted.
But still, DeLoreto almost backed out of the race until he recalled his biggest regret: quitting football midway through high school.
“I still regret that to this day. What prompted me to run for office was I don’t want to look back and say ‘Why didn’t I do that?’ How can you help if you don’t try?,” DeLoreto said. “It was fear of regret more than anything else.”
DeLoreto said his working-class background differs from incumbent Senator Don White – his Republican challenger next month.
“I think Harrisburg needs more people with a business background,” DeLoreto said. “I don’t think enough elected officials understand numbers enough. You can’t just tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend. You have to know where the dollars are coming from and know where they’re going
Tony attended Bethel Park High School in Pittsburgh after moving from Boston in ninth grade and went on to receive a degree in journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1988 after serving in the active reserves of the U.S. Navy –stationed in South Carolina - for two years.
“Being with the military gives you a lot of pride,” DeLoreto said.
DeLoreto actually spent the first two years of his collegiate career at the IUP branch campus in Kittanning.
“I had a lot of fun – lot of memories,” DeLoreto said. “It was the only school I applied to, and I didn’t even apply to IUP. I applied to Kittanning because I had a lot of friends that were going here at the time.”
He and his wife, Cherry, now own the restaurant together and will celebrate the restaurant’s 25th anniversary next week.
Like DeLoreto, Senator White stated promoting job growth, fighting the current war on drugs in the region and providing property tax relief remain primary goals.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the people of the 41st District. While I am pleased with my accomplishments in the state Senate, these are difficult times for our region economically and there is much more to do. I am committed to moving Pennsylvania forward and continuing the effort to make our communities better places to live, work and raise families.”
The 41st District includes all of Armstrong and Indiana counties and parts of Butler and Westmoreland counties.
Regional News, WTYM AM 1380 Radio | jweaver October 15, 2016
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By jorn jensen, October 19, 2016 @ 3:54 AM
Sad. People will read this and get nothing out of it.
In the article, both candidates sound the same - change, challenges, difficult economic times, job creation, term limits, property taxes, property tax relief, blah, blah, blah.
People in-the-know know that the current fight in the house and senate is property tax elimination, not relief, via HB & SB 76. Understand - relief means the tax is still there and will go up, up, and up. Elimination means goes away - can’t come back. There’s a big difference in the meanings of those words.
Don White supports SB 76, property tax elimination. Property tax elimination is one of the keys to making Pennsylvania great again. Another would be right-to-work legislation that allows a worker to choose to be in a union or not. With Trump promising to lower corporate taxes from 35% to 15%, and these proper changes made to Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania can be great again. Work, factories, businesses can come back and provide the jobs and income to grow the region again.
Sorry, but we don’t need another tax-and-spend democrat in Harrisburg - we have plenty of them, and plenty of RINO’s already holding us back.
Get informed, be informed. Support Don White and support property tax elimination, SB 76 & HB 76. Join up with PTCC - Pennsylvania Taxpayer Cyber Coalition. We are over 10,000 strong!
By jorn jensen, October 19, 2016 @ 8:05 AM
So the 14 state-owned colleges faculty are out on strike. We should be concerned? Sure we should. Observe faculty union president Ben Shavitz as he appears on TV news. We sure should be concerned about sending kids and money to these colleges.
By cartman, October 19, 2016 @ 9:30 AM
First of all, I think we are fortunate to have a senator like Don White, period. As for the college strike, I feel no sympathy, considering their current salaries and workload. It looks like the students’ leftist indoctrination may have to wait for awhile. While on the subject of state schools, the Dems scheme to make them free is nothing more than an attempt to put church related colleges, especially small ones, out of business. That way, there will be fewer alternatives to indoctrination.
By Elderton Parent, October 19, 2016 @ 9:41 AM
Sorry Jorn, I disagree. Don White needs to go - as quickly as possible. He supported community schools up until it was time to support the community schools. He turned his back on a community when he was needed most. Made promises he didn’t keep and made decisions based on personal opinion rather than facts and figures. That tells me his support and decision making is based on “politics.”
I cannot support this career politician and his habit. I can honestly say, I would support anyone running against this creature.
By jorn jensen, October 19, 2016 @ 2:44 PM
Elderton Parent, this is a topic that you and I will always disagree on. I respect your position and opinion - if I were an Elderton resident and that whole consolidation thing happened to me, I wouldn’t be happy either. Don White has zero influence with either school board - the Solak/Stitt one or the Close/Scaife PSEA one.
But reality is reality. 1974 15,000 students in the district. Recent years - 5,500 students and declining yearly. In a declining enrollment market, you downsize and consolidate in order to improve educational offerings and reduce spending. That is reality. I certainly don’t like the way Stop the Madness did it - there’s been no reduced costs and spending is up. We have a raft of superintendents/assistant superintendents. Our school board is tied directly to the PSEA. You’ll never see a strike in this district with this board.
Regardless, we need property tax elimination and Don White is a proponent and leader of that. Don White has my support and vote.
By Elderton Parent, October 20, 2016 @ 12:54 PM
Jorn, you are correct that he has zero influence with any school board. However, he has a big influence with the State Dept of Education. He used that to his full advantage. As far as Solak, Don White specifically told one parent-in writing-that he did what he did because he doesn’t like Jim Solak.
As far as consolidation, when your kids have to travel 40+ miles round trip to school each day, not to mention any evening activities, you may feel a little differently.
By jorn jensen, October 21, 2016 @ 7:43 AM
Elderton Parent - Have you ever, personally, spoken with Jim Solak?
40+ miles travel plus activities - that is a fact of life in a declining economy, declining enrollment market. Home school, cyber school, or move to within 1/4 mile of the school to avoid the 40 mile hassle and costs. I realize that sounds unrealistic, but the brains that put that school out in that old coal surface mine believed ‘build it and they will come’ - there’s plenty of road frontage available all the way out both sides of Buffington Lane.
I explained that if I were an Elderton resident, I’d be unhappy with what has transpired. How much more clear do I need to be?
By Elderton Parent, October 21, 2016 @ 1:36 PM
Jorn, no worries, I know exactly how you feel. I was just making additional comments.
As far as Jim Solak, yes, I have spoken to him many, many, many times…too numerous to count.
Those options are definitely unrealistic. The money parents spend running back and fourth could have paid for that grand football stadium they are wanting (getting). Better yet, how about that field house that has been promised to WSHS that has never been built?
It is what it is.
By jorn jensen, October 24, 2016 @ 7:55 AM
One solution to many of our area’s problems is to take the school board back from the PSEA by running candidates not tied to the PSEA. But, even that would not help the Elderton area because a shrinking economy and declining enrollment simply calls for consolidation.
What would help the Elderton area is a growing Pennsylvania economy. That means that people like Pyle, Oberlander, White have to lead the charge to take Pennsylvania in a different direction. As we are now, we are unfriendly to business and industry. LERTAs and KOZ haven’t even trapped outfits into coming in here and paying much higher taxes later while we residents would pay their initial taxes up front - 10 years or whatever the grace period is.
Elderton needs a strong Pennsylvania to grow again - then Elderton would not need ASD.
By sabrinafair, October 24, 2016 @ 12:34 PM
I keep thinking about what Don White has done for Armstrong County. Wow, he put an office here. Big deal. No job growth, no industry moving in, same old stuff. I really should have moved out of Armstrong when I had the chance. It would be nice to have someone in office that really cared about creating jobs.