The weather outside Magerko Auditorium on Penn State’s Fayette campus was warm and clear Saturday morning, nothing like the climate inside, where two rock-ribbed Republicans competing for the 9th Congressional District seat cast a dark cloud over each other.
Incumbent Bill Shuster, R-Bedford, accused challenger Art Halvorson, a retired Coast Guard captain from Bedford County, of running a negative campaign. Mr. Halvorson’s rebuttal: His campaign is negative only because Mr. Shuster’s record is so negative.
“It’s a record of failure. It’s a record of failing to achieve,” Mr. Halvorson told a crowd of about 120 who gave up an hour on the most gorgeous Saturday of the year to hear each candidate claim to get the best marks from groups viewed as the ultimate arbiters of conservatism.
“Build the wall. Make sure we get control of the border,” Mr. Shuster said in response to a question about immigration policy.
“You have failed to build a wall,” Mr. Halvorson responded.
The candidate forum was hosted by the Uniontown Herald-Standard; PSU’s Fayette campus is in Uniontown.
Since no Democrat is seeking the seat, the winner of the April 26 primary will represent a sprawling district that includes all of Bedford, Blair, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton and Indiana counties as well as parts of Cambria, Greene, Huntingdon, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
Mr. Shuster, a 15-year incumbent, could be facing his toughest challenge since taking over from his father, Bud Shuster, who served for 28 years before suddenly announcing his retirement in January 2001. The elder Shuster had been cited a year earlier for ”serious official misconduct” for his ties to a lobbyist.
Mr. Halvorson believes Bill Shuster has more serious ethics problems than his father, citing the incumbent’s relationship with Shelley Rubino, a lobbyist for Airlines for America who Mr. Shuster has been dating. Mr. Shuster is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which develops legislation that affects the industry Ms. Rubino represents.
“He cavorts with a lobbyist,” Mr. Halvorson objected. “I think that is a disgrace and it’s grounds for him to resign.”
Mr. Shuster has said he forbids Ms. Rubino from lobbying him or his staff, adding that she lobbies only Democrats. In an interview after the debate, Mr. Shuster said he had expected Mr. Halvorson to raise the issue.
“It’s just a negative, personal attack on my family,” Mr. Shuster said.
Mr. Shuster said his accomplishments include legislation that provides better funding for locks and dams that are important to the Mon Valley economy as well as a fiscally responsible highway funding bill. He said he is pushing to connect the Mon-Fayette Expressway to Pittsburgh.
Pundits believe Mr. Shuster could be vulnerable because, in a year when voters are expressing disgust with Washington insiders, he comes from a political family and has been part of Republican House leadership that has failed to accomplish some of the goals most cherished by the party’s most conservative faction.
“Our Republican leaders have betrayed us,” Mr. Halvorson said.
“It’s unconscionable that people like Mr. Shuster have made no progress cutting taxes.”
Len Boselovic: lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.
First Published: April 17, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
