Baldwin-Whitehall Patch: 2012 Election Guide

As we look ahead to November's elections, the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch remains devoted to bringing you the information that you need about every race in town. Here's our start on some of the candidates and issues that we'll be covering as November draws near.

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President Barack Obama vs. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

History

Pennsylvania has delivered its 20 electoral votes to the Democratic nominee for U.S. President in each of the past five elections, and if  hold steady, incumbent Barack Obama will make it six in a row in November.

Obama has not taken Pennsylvania's support for granted and has made  to the western Pennsylvania area in the past several years, even going as far as choosing Pittsburgh to host the G-20 summit in the fall of 2009. In his most recent , the president lobbied for his $447-billion American Jobs Act, which continues to face an uphill battle in a Republican-controlled Congress.

The president has also sent what many consider to be his most potent weapon, his wife, to shore up support in the Pittsburgh area.  visited with service members of the 911th Airlift Wing and 171st Refueling Wing in April. Vice President Joe Biden also .

Mitt Romney is no stranger to the Pittsburgh region either, even though  suggest that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seems to place little importance on winning votes in Pennsylvania.

Romney  in October. The event was closed to the media.

He returned for an April , where he outlined his plans for the economy.

"I'd like to reduce the burden on middle-income taxpayers," Romney said. "I'd like to see anyone making $200,000 to $250,000, or less—which is 98 percent of Americans—save their money tax-free—no capital gains.

"It'll make filing taxes a lot easier, and people can save money for things they care about."

Romney was back in Pittsburgh about one month later, criticizing the president for the nation's unemployment rate during a visit to a family-owned manufacturing plant in O'Hara Township.

Key Issue

The No. 1 issue for western Pennsylvania voters, as with many voters across the country, is jobs and the sluggish economic recovery.

Obama continues to campaign for the American Jobs Act, which the White House says will prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, allow for the hiring of tens of thousands of police officers and firefighters, encourage the hiring of returning veterans, and invest billions of dollars into roads, rails, airports and waterways.

The president blames Congress for not doing enough. Congress "hasn't acted fast enough," Obama told his supporters at a recent rally. "Congress," he said, "can't just sit on their hands."

Romney—the former Massachusetts governor—and other Republicans suggest that the Obama plan is nothing more than a payoff to Democratic constituent groups, particularly organized labor, which would benefit from federal grants to states to keep government workers on the payroll as well as construction projects to be completed by union job crews.

On his campaign website, Romney blames the president's policies for a lack of job growth.

"We can count the vast expansion of costly and cumbersome regulation of sectors of the economy, ranging from energy to finance to health care," Romney said. "When the price of doing business in America rises, it does not come as a surprise that entrepreneurs and enterprises cut back, let employees go and delay hiring."

Erin Molchany vs. Chris Cratsley

One of the biggest races in Baldwin-Whitehall in November will be between Democrat Erin Molchany and Republican Chris Cratsley, who will compete to represent Pennsylvania's 22nd House District, including at least parts of Whitehall Borough and Baldwin Township.

Molchany pulled off a bit of an upset by defeating former B-W School Board member Martin Michael Schmotzer in April's Democratic primary race. Cratsley, meanwhile, was unopposed in winning the Republican nomination.

Can a Republican possibly win Pennsylvania's 22nd District? Cratsley, with far less name recognition than Molchany, will try to do just that.

Read here. Read .

Property Tax Reform

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell promised that revenue from slots parlors and gaming tables would greatly reduce, or in some cases, eliminate property taxes. Years later, that promise remains unfulfilled, with the average savings per household at $186 in 2011, according to data from the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations.

There is new legislation, albeit in limbo right now, which would eliminate a school district's ability to levy a property tax, replacing that funding with an increase in sales and personal income taxes statewide.

The state House Finance Committee tabled that  on Monday, but the issue is not likely to go away.

Sponsored by Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks County, the measure would make the statewide sales tax at least 7 percent and raise the personal income tax rate from 3.07 percent to 4 percent. In Allegheny County, the sales tax would rise to 8 percent.

In addition, many goods and services currently exempt from state sales tax would be taxable under this new bill, which aims to raise $10 billion to replace the revenue that would be lost by the elimination of school property taxes.

Liquor Store Privatization

Gov. Tom Corbett is trying to do what two of his Republican predecessors, over a span of 30 years, could not: privatize state stores so that private retailers can sell wine and liquor.

The bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods Borough, could come up for a vote in the House by week's end. If approved, it would go on to the Senate for consideration in the fall.

" is about divestiture," Turzai said when first introducing the measure last July. "House Bill 11 is about the consumer. It is about reasonable prices and better selection and more convenience. It is about upgrading law enforcement. It is about moving from a public sector dinosaur into the modern 21st century."

Only two U.S. states, Pennsylvania and Utah, have complete control of all aspects of wine and spirits distribution, according to a report that Corbett's budget office commissioned.

Not everyone agrees that House Bill 11 is the way to go.

"The House Liquor Control Committee passed a version of HB 11 that would leave the Liquor Control Board intact, a major turnaround from Turzai's original proposal to completely privatize liquor sales," states a story from 90.5 FM Pittsburgh Essential Public Radio.

The union that represents state liquor store managers has lobbied against the bill, and two Pennsylvania chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers, representing state store employees, also oppose the bill, according to the 90.5 radio story.

"The Independent State Store Union (ISSU) says that the bill's provision to allow beer distributors to begin selling wine will cause the state store system to slowly diminish," according to the story.

The ISSU also opposes the bill.

Marcellus Shale

Baldwin-Whitehall residents are paying close attention to this energy resource, which can be found throughout Pennsylvania, especially since  has  to allow  in Whitehall.

Marcellus Shale presents a large opportunity for Pennsylvanians to , but hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is a controversial component of Marcellus Shale natural-gas drilling that has been linked to dangerous levels of pollution.

The recent passing of a joint bill by the Pennsylvania Legislature that amends the state's Oil and Gas Act to allow drilling in all municipal zones—also known as Act 13—trumps any "fracking" ban that Whitehall, Baldwin Borough or Baldwin Township could enact.

But because "fracking" near homes could adversely affect the property values of those homes, how difficult some local politicians make it for drillers to do business will go a long way toward determining those politicians' electability.

Read more on local Marcellus Shale drilling here.

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