Ready for rematch against Rep. Milne; backed by Dinniman
State Sen. Andy Dinniman is backing Easttown’s Anne Crowley in her rematch with State Rep. Duane Milne for the 167th State House District race. She formally kicked off her campaign, Sunday.
MALVERN — Anne Crowley says she is more than ready for a rematch with State Rep. Duane Milne for the 167th State Representative seat, and kicked off her 2014 campaign Sunday, with a gathering of supporters and a big boost from State Sen. Andy Dinniman, who announced his support for her race.
In the 2006 election, Crowley, an Easttown Democrat, lost her bid for the State House by just 144 votes, a mere one half of a percent of the nearly 27,000 votes cast. Now, after serving one term on the Tredyffrin/Easttown school board, she is again challenging Milne, a Willistown Republican, to represent the 167th Legislative district, which includes the townships of Charlestown, East Whiteland, Easttown, West Pikeland, West Whiteland and Willistown, plus Malvern Borough.
“I’m running because I want to move our state forward,” Crowley announced at her campaign kick-off on Sunday. “With my personal and professional background, I know what we need to create the conditions where businesses can thrive and grow. And the building blocks to get there are great schools and a healthy environment.”
Crowley touted her credentials as an education professional, environmental consultant, and businesswoman when she spoke to a room full of her supporters. But above all, she said, it is her qualifications in education that make her uniquely qualified to fulfill the duties of a state representative.
“As a parent of two grown sons who attended our local schools, a certified teacher and school psychologist, I value public education,” she explained. “I have been an education professional in seven public school districts – in five states – while my husband Jim was a career Air Force officer.”
She said she is well aware of how local schools operate and how they are struggling financially under the burden of state mandates as well as funding cuts. “I will stand up for our children in Harrisburg,” she announced, “to stop this attack on their future.”
Dinniman, the Minority Chair of the Senate Education Committee, also attended the gathering and offered strong praise for Crowley.
“Anne Crowley has the experience and knowledge to be an outstanding representative for the people in the 167th house district,” Dinniman said. “She is especially knowledgeable about education, and she will be a strong voice on that issue, which is a top concern of voters this year.”
Crowley’s other key issue is the environment. As a former consultant for the National Audubon Society and the Union of Concerned Scientists, and a former employee of PennFuture, she has traveled the Commonwealth.
“The job growth so desperately needed in Pennsylvania must not be at the expense of a safe environment,” she asserted. “We must have thorough and transparent oversight of the drilling in the Marcellus Shale. If Pennsylvania powers the world with gas, yet poisons our children’s future, what is the point?”
She added, “The PA Constitution emphatically states, ‘The people have a right to clean air [and] pure water.’ ”
Crowley has deep roots in Pennsylvania. After 22 years as a military family, she and her husband moved home to Berwyn, where she was an elected school board director and a member of the Chester County Board of Health.
Anne is a strong intellectual with an appropriate sense of practicality and fair mindedness. Power brokers will not be able to sway her, yet at the same time, I believe she can compromise in the same great traditions as our founders respected. She has a balanced and realistic view of the world well tempered by her life experience and professional background. Her drive is unbending witnessed by her stepping forward again to unseat her opponent who seems to flinch under scrutiny and close inspection of his true views. Conversely, Anne stands forthrightly before her constituents and lets you know what she thinks, believes and what she is not certain of. The last of which is often the most telling standard for evaluating integrity of all. We want people we can trust in government. People who have integrity of character. People who will vote and advocate what is best for us when faced with complex and charged issues. Even if it means we must rethink our personal hopes and wishes. In hearts, we know we don’t have all the right answers. There are lots of tough questions even at the local government level. I, for one, trust Anne’s judgment implicitly to find the right answers. Vote for Anne.
Finally a candidate for state office that understands that we cannot pollute the air &contaminate our drinking water and still survive as a species. We must protect the planet for our children and Anne Crowley gets it.
Anne Crowley is an intelligent, educated, independent, balanced voice for our citizenry. She is not beholding to the powers that be. Anne Is fair minded and we would do well to send her to Harrisburg.