By Vince Sullivan
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

DREXEL HILL - Republican Congressional candidate Pat Meehan spoke with members of the Upper Darby/Lansdowne Rotary last week and, as has been the norm this campaign season, talked mostly about jobs and the economy.

Meehan, a Drexel Hill resident, is running for the 7th Congressional District seat about to be vacated by Rep. Joe Sestak (D). Meehan is a former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and a former Delaware County District Attorney. He is facing Democratic nominee State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D-161). The two have been sparring all summer long via press releases and sound bites, and have met to debate twice over the last month.

Meehan's visit to the Rotary Club luncheon at the Drexelbrook comes as the latest in a line of talks with citizens of the district about the economic situation facing Delaware County. He was introduced by Upper Darby Chief Administrator Tom Judge Jr. and jumped right into talking about how to get people back to work in these tumultuous times. Meehan talked about the Obama administration's failure to turn the economy around.

"We got change, but we also got an $800 billion stimulus package," he said. "And unemployment is still hovering near 10 percent."

Meehan discussed how important these issues are to the voters, talking about how many residents he's spoken to since his campaign began.

"We’re talking at time in which the challenges of the economy are the front and foremost on everybody's minds," he said. He believes that the country is able to pull itself out of this financial quagmire.

"I have a great sense of optimism for the future and our capacity to deal with this as a country," Meehan said. "We're at a crossroads as a nation. The decisions we make over these next four years are going to influence where we’re going to be going for the next 40."

Recent government expenditures fell in Meehan's crosshairs, as he condemned what he called an economic "double down" in reference to TARP spending, bank bailouts and the GM takeover. He believes that the banks bailed out by the federal government are hoarding their cash instead of giving out loans to small businesses, which is a staple of Meehan's platform. This has exacerbated the hemorrhage of jobs in the country over the last year, according to Meehan.

"The big banks up in New York are as wealthy as they've ever been but loans are $200 billion less than the year before," he said. "Eight million people have lost their jobs in the private sector since this recession began, but jobs in the public sector have actually expanded by 650,000. We've got our priorities out of whack."

Meehan wants to create incentives for businesses to hire, and his plan to foster that inclination is to allow a payroll tax holiday for small businesses who hire a first and second employee. He believes that this will help jumpstart the economic development so sorely needed.

"That's where most of the jobs are going to be created in the short run," he said, referring to small businesses.

Corporate tax policy is also not in line with what Meehan proposes. He believes that corporate taxes are driving American companies overseas and forcing outsourcing that eliminates jobs for Americans.

"Our corporate income tax is not competitive," he said. "We need to drop that back to allow our corporations to compete globally."

Meehan criticized the Obama administration for its approach to the economy, saying that they were slow on the draw and caused the situation to deteriorate further.

"There's plenty of blame to go around here for both sides," Meehan said. "I think the Obama administration missed the mark. He should have been focused laser-like on the economy. I think he lost the opportunity and I think that's why the American people are looking for a check [to the power of the Democratic controlled Congress]."

Meehan espoused his belief that the government should get out of the way of businesses and let the free market control where the economy goes.

"The real issue is where are we going to go from here and that's the great challenge that faces the nation now," he said. "I believe the better choice is the limited but effective government that will deliver value for our tax dollars."