Trey Casimir

A funny thing happened to me recently. I got an email from a candidate who had met me at the Young Democrats breakfast a couple months ago and wanted to meet in person. Mysteriously, AOL hadn't thought this was spam. For once, they were right!

The candidate is Trey Casimir, running for State Senate in the 23rd district. He's running unopposed for the Democratic slot; three Republicans face off in the primary on the 22nd to see who'll run against Trey. I'm sure the senate seat has been traditionally Republican, but stranger things have happened than that a Democrat has successfully contested the conventional wisdom about who would be best to respresent a predominantly rural section of Pennsylvania in the state legislature!

(Trey's district runs right up the middle of the state, or slightly east of the middle: Parts of Union County, all of Lycoming, Sullivan and Bradford Counties, and the western and northern bits of Susquehanna County. I am not in his district, but that doesn't stop me from supporting him.)

After establishing that I can't vote for him, Trey and I agreed to meet yesterday at a mutually inconvenient spot off I-81. I had a great time talking with him. He's smart, he listens well, he's quirky (that's a compliment coming from me), and he actually reminds me why someone smart would want to run for office. Understand, I'm as cynical as the next person, so of course I assume that people run for office to wield power, or because they're narcissistic and the job supports that, or because they're too stupid for a real job. Or some combination of all three. (Any resemblance to a current president is purely intentional...)

But Trey is none of those things. I actually believe that he wants to make his part of Pennsylvania a better place, and if that means driving hundreds of miles to crisscross five counties, then that's what he'll do. Wow! That's dedication, particularly with gas prices as high as they are.

So where do I come in? Well, it's not because of this blog, which I've neglected mercilessly (insert woefully inadequate excuse here: sickness, planning an overseas wedding, rendered mute by the brilliance of Barack's March 18 "race" speech, etc.). And it's not my sparkling personality, as he could find many more interesting people to approach. Nor is it that I uniquely have my finger on the pulse of the electorate in Susquehanna County. I'm not sure anyone does, but I know I don't!

But Trey's got a much cannier approach to these things. He's on the lookout for smart people to help him with his campaign, and when he finds them, he latches on. Again, the cynical view would be that he just wants my money. He does, but that's not all. He wants my help to get elected, and if he finds a dozen or so more people like me, he's doing well. I can't guarantee votes, but I can work hard and enthusiastically.

What's he got then, to promote such enthusiasm? Well, smarts is the first thing. He's thought about a lot of issues I hadn't even contemplated, such as the effect of making I-80 (which runs through the southern part of his district) a toll road. (His approach: make it a toll road going into Pennsylvania, but not leaving the state. That will capture a lot of the revenue from traffic travelling the length of the highway, but leave alone those drivers just going 30 miles in one direction or another.) He's thought about truckers, and says that trucking is one of the few remaining blue collar jobs available. I respect that sort of thinking -- I wonder if the current crop of millionaire Republicans running for local office have really thought about the effect of diesel fuel costs on the welfare of a substantial population in the area? And he's thought about the ecomony. He's in favor of state-generate tax rebates to stimulate the economy. I don't necessarily agree with him about that, but I respect his wanting a statewide approach to the economy.

Most of all, I'm encouraged by candidates like Trey and Chris Carney. They bring a comprehension to the issues of life in rural Pennsylvania -- they understand why people want to live here, and what those people need to make it here. And most of all, they get it that what we really need is not to be ignored by Washington or Harrisburg. I want someone smart talking about the issues important in our part of Pennsylvania. And even if he won't be my senator in Harrisburg, he'll do a great job looking out for my neighbors just a few miles to the west of me. I take the approach that if my neighbors are better off, I'm better off.

So, yeah, I'll send him money. And I'll host an open house in the summer. I'll even drive down to Lewisburg and stuff envelopes. I want to do this, but I also feel I have to do this. A prosperous future here means having guys like Trey stepping up and saying, "Yeah, I'll run. I'll serve." And that future is achieveable if people like me say, "Yeah, I'll help out. Just tell me what you need."