The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, often referred to as the bipartisan infrastructure law, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Nov.15 represents the single greatest investment in American workers since the New Deal legislation of the 1930s. As Forbes magazine recently reported, infrastructure spending is expected to reinvigorate and stabilize American manufacturing and create “a powerful multiplier effect of job creation, productivity improvements, lower costs of doing business and, ultimately, a surging GDP.”
While we can be proud of the jobs that President Biden and the Democratic majorities have brought to Pennsylvania, thanks in large part to the bipartisan infrastructure law, that progress is threatened by the widening partisan divide in Washington, D.C. Bringing those threats to bear is a cornerstone of Republican David McCormick’s candidacy for the United States Senate.
For the past few months, television airwaves across Pennsylvania have been overrun by this millionaire’s bid for the Republican nomination. The ads began with kitschy everyman profiles of McCormick having beers with the friends he left behind in Bloomsburg and have evolved into extreme, out of touch ads that have become raw meat for the Republican base.
His most recent ads take aim at President Biden and the policies that will rebuild this country, while claiming to believe in American workers and the industries that have supported American families for generations. McCormick can’t be both the partisan weapon that the Republican Party seems to court and the advocate that American workers need. Not only are the ideas in conflict with one another, McCormick’s professional track record shows us all — Republican and Democrat — that he has not made decisions with the best interests of the American worker in mind.
Here in Erie, we take pride in our work. Erie’s workers built the trains that move American goods and natural resources from coast to coast. They’ve produced the mixers that pour the concrete for bridges and highways, and they’ve designed the logistics that move trucks and trains on the roads and rails that Erie has helped build the world over. Erie is proud of the role this community played in building this country, and the role it will play in its revitalization.
In my view, David McCormick doesn’t know Erie and he doesn’t represent Pennsylvania values.
McCormick spent his career as a proponent for globalization — a process that too often sells out American workers in exchange for corporate profits. It’s a story that the people of Erie and communities like ours know too well. McCormick served as the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world and one of the largest private investors in China. He spoke out against Buy American provisions and said that local companies losing their business to international firms were simply “winners and losers” of the “necessity” of globalization.
As CEO of FreeMarkets, he cut jobs right here in western Pennsylvania.
As undersecretary for Export Administration during the Bush Administration, he joked that his title should be “undersecretary of globalization.”
Now that McCormick has moved to Pennsylvania to run for the U.S. Senate, he’s singing a different tune. He’s using the fortune he’s made selling out American workers to buy ads claiming he’s “America First.” He wants the images of him drinking light beer and standing in American factories to replace the outsourcing of American jobs and ties to China that truly illustrate the legacy of his corporate career.
Pennsylvanians can’t afford to fall for this false prophet of the American worker. Too much is at stake when we have so much on the table.
The fight for our workers is one we take very seriously here in Erie, and it’s a cause I am proud to work for every day.
The bipartisan infrastructure law is the greatest chance we’ve had in a very long time to create new opportunities for the people of Erie and for all of Pennsylvania. We can’t let power brokers squander it for us, whether they sit in boardrooms or in the United States Senate.
McCormick has prioritized corporate profits over the American worker. He sold out Pennsylvania once before. It would be foolish to expect anything different from him as a United States Senator.
As Pennsylvanians, we need someone who will go to Washington and fight for American workers and American families. We need someone who will be our voice in the daily fight to strengthen our communities and ensure our children have the future they deserve right here at home in Pennsylvania
David McCormick’s track record proves he cannot be trusted with this task.
Jim Wertz is chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party, a former member of the National Association of Broadcasting Employees and Technicians, and a current member and statewide delegate for the APSCUF, which represents teachers and coaches in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
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