Former congressman Joe Sestak, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, last week hosted a town hall event at World Affairs Council in Center City.
Sestak proposed targeting infrastructure and revenue sources that support ISIS, including the oil fields that contribute revenue and establishing a coalition of willing nations to defeat ISIS that includes Russia and Iran.
“This is a critical conversation to have precisely because we didn’t think it through before we toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq,” Sestak said.
Seatak believes that the United States will not be able to destroy ISIS by only targeting mid- and upper-level leaders, cutting off outside funding and providing economic alternatives to would-be recruiters. He suggests destroying ISIS’ oil infrastructure and tax-collecting extortion.
“To accomplish this, we must diplomatically construct a united coalition from the uncoordinated, divided nations fighting disparately against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” he said.
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The campaign of Republican Sen. Pat Toomey criticized Sestak’s remarks, noting that he claimed ISIS was “almost out of gas” last year and has been supportive of President Barack Obama’s policies on ISIS.
“All of a sudden, Joe Sestak has been trying very hard to run from his left-wing foreign policy agenda,” said Toomey campaign spokesman Steve Kelly. “However, it will take more than some new talking points to make up for previously cheerleading President Obama’s failing strategy and bragging just last year that ISIS was ‘almost out of gas.’ “
The America Rising political action committee also ripped Sestak on ISIS, pointing out that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter acknowledged in testimony to Congress that the terror group has not been contained.
“Joe Sestak owes Pennsylvania voters an apology for his outlandish and unsubstantiated claim that ISIS is ‘almost out of gas.’ Will Joe Sestak continue to defend President Obama’s failed ISIS strategy, even as the Secretary of Defense utterly debunks his laughable spin? If past is precedent, Pennsylvanians can expect Sestak to double down on the president’s agenda,” said Amelia Chassé, America Rising PAC press secretary.
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Sestak held a news conference in Harrisburg to criticize public officials who planned to attend the annual Pennsylvania Society events in New York while a state budget has not been enacted. He called it a “dereliction of duty.”
“Anyone who abandons Pennsylvania in the middle of a budget crises that is devastating our communities and our families does not deserve to lead our people,” Sestak said.
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Katie McGinty, Gov. Tom Wolf’s former chief of staff, is also seeking the Democratic nomination for Senate.
Toomey’s campaign is faulting her for admitting that she had incorrectly filed her personal financial disclosure form. The error in question revolved around McGinty’s work at Iberdrola, a Spanish wind company she worked for from 2009–2015.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, McGinty did not list how much she made from Iberdrola during four of those years.
“Katie McGinty took millions from Pennsylvania taxpayers and used it to bolster favored companies, such as Iberdrola. In return, Iberdrola and others rewarded McGinty with lavish positions and paychecks. Katie McGinty owes it to Pennsylvania taxpayers to tell them how much their generosity has padded her bottom line,” said Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly.
America Rising is also taking on McGinty on the financial disclosure form, which revealed that she left her role on the energy company board just two days before becoming Wolf’s chief of staff.
“Katie McGinty’s disclosure ‘fix’ raises more questions than it answers, showing that she resigned her lucrative board gig just 48 hours before assuming one of the most powerful government positions in the state. Katie McGinty’s resume is rife with potential conflicts of interest and blurred lines between public and private sector work, and this latest revelation is yet another red flag,” said Amelia Chassé, America Rising PAC press secretary.
McGinty left the governor’s office in July to launch her Senate bid.
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John Fetterman, the mayor of the small Allegheny town of Braddock, joins Sestak and McGinty in the Democratic Senate primary.
Fetterman released a statement regarding Donald Trump’s recent statements, which have included a proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
“Donald Trump is a jagoff,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman described “jagoff” as a derogatory slang term from Western Pennsylvania meaning a person who is stupid or inept. ••
