Live Coverage of Simmons/Deely Debate
Republican state Rep. Justin Simmons and Democratic challenger Kevin Deely meet in debate tonight for the 131st House seat. Follow live coverage here or through Facebook and Twitter (Hashtag #simmonsdeely or #deelysimmons). We go live at 4:30 p.m.
The mood was explosive as Rep. Just Simmons met challenger Kevin Deely at DeSales University for the first of two televised debates.
From Shale to education to jobs, the two went back and forth during the taped debate, which will air Monday evening Oct 22 on WFMZ at 7:30pm.
The two candidates were met with a racuous crowd, many of who had no issue cheering and jeering the candidates while they tried to answer questions lobbed by Tony Iannelli, president of The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Congress.
The two will meet again next week during a debate hosted by PBS Station 39 at Steelstacks.
Bob Thomas
11:15 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I was at this debate and have never seen a beat down like Kevin Deely received. Deely had his teachers union script and when he had to veer from that script he looked like a deer in headlights. He had know knowledge about the Quarry in Lower Milford. Hello, you supposedly knew all about the Allentown School District but you have no knowledge about the Quarry? May explain why you sent one of your surrogates to the Lower Milford fall festival.(Who was asked to leave by police because he wanted to campaign) You don't care about Lower Milford. You only care about Allentown. Mr. Deely the 131st district isn't just Allentown. Let me sum up Deely in the debate. More money for schools more money for schools more money for teachers. Wow the Democrats must have a weak bench if this is the best they have.
Simmons should be careful with the beat down he gave Deely, he may lose his Humane Society endorsement!
Jay Impink
5:47 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
In response to Mr. Thomas' comment. To set the record straight. I did not attend the Lower Milford Community Day to campaign. My wife and I attended to experience the event. It just so happened that we were wearing buttons that showed our support for Mr. Deely. In fact we were at the event for about 90 minutes, had visited most of the stands (purchased a few items) and were contemplating some food purchases prior to leaving, when we were approached regarding our "campaigning". Truth be told, there were two instances when Mr. Deely's name did come up in our conversations with vendors. In one, I was mistaken for Kevin Deely in the other a woman, from which we had just purchased a wood cutting board, stated that she received a phone call from the campaign and was going to vote for Mr. Deely. That was the extent of the interactions that we had that were campaign related. Back to the story, after we were stopped I refused to take off the button which I considered a violation of my civil rights we were confronted by the chief of police and a patrolman and escorted into the police station. I asked for and received a copy of the rules which we supposedly violated. None of these rules applied to the wearing of campaign buttons. At this point, realizing that discretion is the greater part of valor, we voluntarily left the grounds.
Phillyboy
9:59 am on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Rep Simmons crushed Kevin Deely last night. Mr.Simmons was on point and has a grasp of all the issues whereas Deely was uncomfortable throughout the debate particularly when not discussing education. Even then, Rep Simmons schooled Deely.Last nights debate proved that Rep Simmons is the right man for the job and CLEARLY deserves reelection.Deely is not in Rep Simmons league...PERIOD!
John Fox
12:10 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Did you see, even the Express Times endorsed Mr. Simmons saying:
"The battle for Pennsylvania’s 131st District House seat comes down to a freshman lawmaker who is familiar with most issues and willing to take stands vs. a newcomer who is spending most of his energy on one subject."
basically Simmons knows what he is talking about, Deely is a one trick pony.
Michael
12:34 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Justin Simmons simply reiterates the party line when it comes to education and that is to let our children sink or swim with Corbett's defunding of schools. Deely should have known better than to fail to research environmental issues such as the quarry. And both candidates are completely ignorant of the devastation that gas drilling is doing to our state, especially in our state forests and now our state parks. Did either of them comment on the resignation of John Norbeck 5 days ago? The DCNR director of state parks after pressure from the Corbett administration. Corbett is a shill for the big oil and mining companies who want to drill and mine in our state parks. Jan Jarrett, the former head of the environmental group PennFuture, speculates on her blog: “Abruptly yesterday, Norbeck submitted his “resignation.” Word has it that he was fired. Why would Secretary Allen fire an award-winning, competent senior official? Does the administration have plans for our state parks that would run counter to Norbeck’s vision of what our parks should be and provide to all Pennsylvanians?” When you accept millions of dollars in contributions from big oil, you owe them something. Our state parks and forests are for our children. Do these guys know ANYTHING about the danger of the hundreds of thousands of abandoned and orphan wells allowing fracking chemicals and methane to return to our aquifers? Pennsylvania leadership,really?
slyfox
1:15 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Good points.
John Fox
4:28 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
But Deely didn't tow the party line on anything right? If Deely doesn't tow the party line on an issue it would be because either
A) he doesn't even know enough about the issue to know the party line for it,
or
B) it is one of the few things that the teacher union disagrees with the Dem party on... Like Race to the top, which he rejected because teachers would get part of their raises determined by merit, not automatic increases based only on seniority and education level.
Last night he clearly displayed the only thing he knows anything about is how to be a mouth piece for the teacher union
Michael
1:53 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012
More details concerning the resignation of DCNR's John Norbeck, and drilling in Pennsylvania's State Parks and Forests can be found here:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/10/04/dcnr-resignations-point-to-fissures-frustration/