Weekly Diaries

Team Tosti-Vasey diary –September 29 - October 19, 2008

Hello Everyone!

I intended to send this email out at the beginning of this week, but due to a family emergency was delayed until today.

This is the 20th email summarizing what's going on with my campaign for the 171st State House District of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are sending this email out to everyone who has either donated or volunteered for Joanne. We hope you enjoy this weekly diary. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email, please "Reply" and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll remove you from this weekly diary email.

We are now less than 3 weeks away from the election. Events are coming swift and fast. There will be three two debates (missed one due the family emergency) and a radio interview focusing on my race over the next couple of weeks. We are continuing to ID voters (which we could really use your help) and are organizing for Election Day.

Meanwhile voter registration ended on October 5. Centre County is now up over 12,000 registered Democrats. Last fall, we were about 6,000 registrants behind the Republicans. Much of this surge was due to the hard work of the College Democrats over the summer and early fall. And a good percentage of these new registrants live in my district.

These new registrants have my opponent concerned. So concerned in fact that he made a speech at a church in Millheim on August 10. According to my source, he said that he wants to limit students’ place of voting solely at their parents’ home rather than where they live for three quarters of the year. This means that these students would be required to vote via absentee ballot. The process of voting by absentee ballot is somewhat cumbersome – you have to request an absentee ballot application, fill it out, return the application, wait for your ballot (which were delayed due to a court challenge to the ballot[1]), and then return by the civilian absentee ballot deadline, which is 5 days before Election Day. As a result very few people complete the process and actually vote. This in my opinion both disenfranchises students and denies them the right to have a say in their local elected officials. When the county tried to shut out student voters at PSU in 1972, Pennsylvania Secretary of State C. Delores Tucker brought in a couple of National Guard members with her to campus to open the voting doors for the students. These doors should NOT be shut again!

Volunteering

Can you help? We need to

1. Finish ID’ing voters.

2. Contact our supporters in the last five days before election to remind them to vote.

3. Do poll watching – volunteers sit in the polls and check off names of our voters as they come in to vote. The check-off lists are then taken back to Bellefonte where other volunteers call those who haven’t yet voted.

Do you like to make phone calls?

· If you live out of town and want to make calls from your home, email me (info@tosti-vasey.com) and I’ll set you up with our “predictive dialing” calling. This involves you using your home phone (no long distance calls) and making calls while reading a script that is on your computer.

· If you want to make calls with others for both me and our Congressional candidate Mark McCracken, you can stop in at the Bellefonte Area office at any time from 11-9 on Monday through Friday and Sat 9-3 to do calling. The Bellefonte office is located at 121 S. Allegheny Street, Bellefonte. Tell the person at the front desk that you are volunteering to make calls for Joanne Tosti-Vasey and Mark McCracken. The instructions for making these calls are posted next to each computer. There should be someone there to help you get started. If you have any problem, give me a call at 814-360-7585.

· If you prefer making traditional calls from a paper list or prefer to make calls from the Penns Valley office at the Old Gregg School Community Center in Spring Mills, you should contact Jared Deloof at 814-206-4834. He can let you know when the office is open and can give you the calling list and script. Should you decide to take the paper list home for calling, then you will need either need to scan in your results and email the paper responses back to us (info@tosti-vasey.com) OR return them to Jared the next day so that we can enter the data back in the computer.

Election Day Assistance

Polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm on Tuesday, November 4.

· We need people who are willing to sit inside their polling place to check off names as people come in to vote. We need people who are willing to work from 7 am to 11:30 am and/or from 11:30 am until 4 pm.

· The County Party in both Mifflin County and Centre County will have runners to pick up the check off sheets. They will be returned to the phone bank offices in Lewistown, Bellefonte, Spring Mills, and State College where voters who haven’t yet voted will be called. If you like to make calls and can put in a few hours starting about noon on election day, please contact Shannon Bilger in Mifflin County (Shannon@padems.com) or our campaign at info@tosti-vasey.com and let us know that you are willing to volunteer and what times you are available. Then we’ll will let you know where you need to go to make the calls.

Fundraising

And once again here’s the fundraising pitch! I am continuing to make fundraising phone calls and talking to people wherever I go about my race. We need to raise monies for literature, advertising, and phone banking. Team Tosti-Vasey needs a solid economic base of support in order to win this race in November. Which we WILL do with your help. You can contribute to Team Tosti-Vasey to help achieve Victory for the people in our district in November.

We are continuing to accept checks for donations. And we once again can accept credit card donations through my website at http://tosti-vasey.com/contrib.html; just fill in the Act Blue contribution box, click the button, and follow the directions. Or you can mail in your donation. Just print out the donation form off of my website at http://tosti-vasey.com/form.pdf and send it along with your check to Team Tosti-Vasey to the address below.

Without you, we could not make this a successful campaign. Once again, I really appreciate your support.

Personal Note

On a personal note, I am out of town until midweek. I received a call last Wednesday morning from my sister. My mother had been unresponsive since Monday afternoon and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. I dropped everything and headed down to say goodbye to her. She woke up on Thursday morning. The doctor says she is still terminal. We now have her hooked up with Hospice and are making arrangements for placement in a local nursing home near my sister. If she continues to maintain her current stability, I will be coming back home on Tuesday.

Thank you all for your support.

Week 19 Team Tosti- Vasey diary –September 22-28, 2008

Hello Everyone!

This is the 19th email in a weekly series summarizing what's going on with my campaign for the 171st State House District of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are sending this email out to everyone who has either donated or volunteered for Joanne. We hope you enjoy this weekly diary. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email, please "Reply" and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll remove you from this weekly diary email.

The Centre County Democrats organized and opened 2 offices within the 171st District. I spoke at both opening events. We had about 80 people at the Bellefonte opening and about 30 people at the Spring Mills opening. People volunteered to help with both the Obama campaign and the down ballot ticket races.

I’d also like to thank Betsy Magley, Georgianne Coleman, and Jeanne Clark for holding a fundraiser brunch in Pittsburgh on Sunday for my campaign.

The major event of the week was a sendoff of the Bellefonte contingent of the Pennsylvania National Guard. On Wednesday, approximately 83 men marched in a parade from the National Guard Armory on Bishop Street down through town to Talleyrand Park (about 2 miles). They left on Friday for training at Camp Shelby, MS before deployment to Iraq. Last year, on July 17, 2007, Kerry voted no to a bill that provides tax credits to companies that armor our Pennsylvania. This is the first time since the Korean War that the entire Bellefonte National Guard unit has been mobilized for combat.

I stood on Allegheny Street at the new Democratic Headquarters while the parade marched by. And thought about the dangers they will soon be facing. And what their families will be doing while they are gone. And hoping that everyone comes back safely, but dreading the likelihood that this will not be the outcome for every family.

I am opposed to the war in Iraq. We need to bring all of our troops home. But until we do, we need to protect the people serving in the military. Part of that duty falls on the state legislature when we are dealing with our citizen soldiers – the Pennsylvania National Guard. And that means we need a legislator who will vote to protect our citizen shoulders: votes that include armoring the vehicles used by the National Guard. Last year, on July 17, 2007, my opponent, Kerry Benninghoff, voted no to a bill that provides tax credits to companies that armor our Pennsylvania National Guard’s vehicles and aircraft because he didn’t want tax credits going to the film industry. He declared his opposition to the bill one week earlier on the House Floor, saying,

“We see films coming out, day in and day out, that are generally in the millions, multimillion-dollar levels, and then to be providing tax credits to entities to that magnitude very much discourages me…. Therefore, I would ask the members to consider whether or not we should be voting for something like this.”

Legislators must make compromises in the interests of our citizens. Although I do not agree with the war in Iraq, I believe that we need to protect our citizen shoulders. Their safety is MUCH more important than whether or not the film industry gets a tax break. Fortunately for our local National Guard, that bill passed despite Kerry’s vote so that these men have a better chance at receiving armored protection while in Iraq.

Volunteering

Phone Banking

Are you interested in making phone calls? We could use your help! Calls can be made from your home or from one of the satellite offices in Bellefonte and Spring Mills. The best times for calling are between 6:30 to 9:00 pm Monday through Friday or during the day on Saturday.

There are two methods of phone banking. If you are interested in making the calls from home where the computer dials the calls for you, all you will need is a phone and broadband access to the internet, let me know at info@tosti-vasey.com. This method will not cost you anything if you use a landline. You will be entering the responses of the person you call while you are on the phone with them.

If you are interested in making traditional calls using a paper phone list, we can get lists to you to call. This method requires you to fill out a response form. You would then either need to scan in and email the paper responses back to us OR put them in the mail the next day so that we can enter the data back in our offices. If you prefer this method, please contact Teresa Welch, my campaign chair at twelchpsychologist@comcast.net or by phone at 814-355-8778. She is the person organizing this method of phone banking.

Door Knocking

We also need people who would like to door knock with me or in a group. I do door knocking on a daily basis. We will be coordinated door knocking events every weekend for Barack Obama and myself throughout the district. If you are interested in meeting and talking to people, please let us know and we will hook you up with the door knocking event of your choice. Contact Teresa at twelchpsychologist@comcast.net or at (814) 355-8778 if you want to do the weekend door knocking or contact me at info@tosti-vasey.com or (814)360-7585 if you want to go door knocking with me.

J Thank you.

Upcoming Events:

· Thursday, October 2, 7:30 am- 6:00 pm – Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women, Convention Center, Pittsburgh

· Saturday and Sunday, October 4-5 – Aaronsburg Fall Festival, Main Street, Aaronsburg

· Saturday, October 4, 4:30-6:30 – Centre Hall Grange dinner

· Tuesday, October 7, 7:00 p.m. – LGBT Forum, PSU

· Thursday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. – Farm Bureau Banquet, Logan Grange Hall, Pleasant Gap

· Friday, October 10, 6-9 p.m. – Wine and cheese fundraiser, Nancy Park’s home, Aaronsburg. If you are interested in coming, Nancy would appreciate you letting her know. Her email address is nfparks2@verizon.net.

· Wednesday, October 15, 6:00 p.m. League of Women Voters’ debate. State College Borough Council Building, State College.

· Tuesday, October 21, noon – Lewistown Rotary luncheon presentation, Standard Steel Burch Hall, Burnham

· Wednesday, October 22, 6:30 p.m. Mifflin County Farm Bureau Debate, Indian Valley High School, Lewistown

Fundraising

And finally once again here’s the fundraising pitch! I am continuing to make fundraising phone calls and talking to people wherever I go about my race. We need to raise monies for literature, advertising, and phone banking. Team Tosti-Vasey needs a solid economic base of support in order to win this race in November. Which we WILL do with your help. You can contribute to Team Tosti-Vasey to help achieve Victory for the people in our district in November.

Thank you all for your support. Without you, we could not make this a successful campaign. Once again, I really appreciate your support.

Week 18 Team Tosti-Vasey diary –September 15-21, 2008

Hello Everyone!

This is the 18th email in a weekly series summarizing what's going on with my campaign for the 171st State House District of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are sending this email out to everyone who has either donated or volunteered for Joanne. We hope you enjoy this weekly diary. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email, please "Reply" and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll remove you from this weekly diary email.

Office Opening

There are TWO satellite Democratic offices opening this week within the 171st House District.

Join the local Bellefonte Area Democrats on Friday evening, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. for our grand opening of the Centre County Democratic Party Satellite Office. Then stay to watch the first Presidential Debate that starts at 9:00 p.m. The address is 121 S. Allegheny Street, Bellefonte.

The Penns Valley Democrats will be opening their office on Saturday, September 27 at 1:30 pm. This satellite office is located in the Gregg Township Community Center (formerly the Gregg Township Elementary School) in Spring Mills.

Both offices are great boon to my campaign as we will now have two local offices where people can come and make calls, enter data, and pick up supplies (like yard signs) closer to home. Less gas and driving. A win-win for everyone. Please come and join us at either one or both of these openings and then volunteer some time for making a change in our leaders both nationally and locally.

And while you are there, pick up a yard sign!

And now back to what happened this last week.

First a sad note. On Friday morning, Bellefonte once again saw one of our historic buildings destroyed by fire, leaving 9 people in seven apartments without a home. The fire occurred in one of the former Valentine family mansions that was located a little over a block from my home. Fortunately due to the quick movements of Dia Fornicola, a 20+ year tenant who lived on the third floor, all of the tenants were awakened and escaped the fire. Our community came together and helped replace clothing and quickly found housing for all of the tenants. The owners are considering rebuilding. The fire appears to have been caused by an inadequate electrical service combined with an aged and apparently defective knob and tube wiring. And the fire wasn’t contained quickly due to an inactive sprinkler system that had been installed but was not activated as the borough’s building inspector had not yet inspected the system. As a result, the Borough will once again review their procedures and regulations to hopefully prevent another tragedy such as this.

One of the major events I attended this week was a WPSU “Lobby Talk” on the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling on Wednesday, September 17. This program had a wildlife biologist, a lawyer from a town in western PA that is attempting to craft local ordinances related to drilling in the Marcellus Shale, the Executive Director of the Texas shale-drilling program, and a Penn State Extension Agent who educates community members about natural gas leases. The wildlife biologist raised concerns about loss of habitat and bird species as forest land is cut into for wells, roads, and pipelines. The Executive Director from Texas acknowledged issues related to heavy truck traffic, gas leaks, higher costs for road maintenance, and the need to safely dispose of the toxic water that result from the hydrofracing process. The other two panelists raised the issues of needing more specialized treatment plants for the water and how to deal with gas wells once they have been “drilled out.” All agreed that, like the issue of the sale of Spring Creek Canyon, planning is essential so as to ensure the safety and acceptability of drilling to our communities throughout the state.

My beliefs on this issue are similar. There is enough gas in the Marcellus shale to provide energy to the entire US for only two years. It is only a short-term fix and the costs are high. Hydrofracing – the costly method used to drill for gas – involves huge amounts of water that become laced with toxic drilling chemicals; these chemicals end up in our municipal water supplies and treatment plants. Tapping our “exceptional value” streams would degrade the quality of our streams. We should instead focus on clean, renewable energy sources. Meanwhile local communities should be given the ability to craft ordinances to give tighter control over drilling in their community to protect our water, land, and wildlife.

FYI, this program will be aired on WPSU-TV, Channel 3 on Sunday, October 9 at 9:00 p.m.

Finally thanks to Phil and Karan Yanak of Millheim and Jesse Barlow of State College for holding two great house parties for me this week. We were able to meet and talk to new supporters and raised a bit of money at the same time. Thank you very much!

Volunteering

Phone Banking

Door Knocking

J Thank you.

Upcoming Events:

· Friday, September 26, 2008, 7:30 p.m., 121 S. Allegheny Street, Bellefonte, PA – Bellefonte Area Campaign Headquarters Office Grand Opening and Presidential Debate Watch Party.

· Saturday, September 27, 2008 – Milesburg Apple Harvest Festival, 205 Market Street
Milesburg, PA 16853. Event includes food and car show from 9 am to 5 pm. Joanne will be attending this event in the morning.

· Saturday, September 27, 2008, 1:00 p.m., Gregg Township Community Center, Spring Mills – Penns Valley Area Campaign Headquarters Office Grand Opening.

· Sunday, September 28, 2008, 1:30-3:30 p.m. – Fundraiser Brunch in Pittsburgh at the home of Jeanne Clark, 414 Stratton Lane, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. Invitation from Jeanne Clark, Betsy Magley, and Georgianne Coleman is at the end of this diary. If you are in the Pittsburgh area, please come and join us.

· Monday, September 29, 5:45 p.m.—Centre County Association of Township Officials dinner, Penns Valley Area High School, Rte 45, Spring Mills

· Thursday, October 1, 7:30 am- 6:00 pm – Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women, Convention Center, Pittsburgh

· Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4 – Aaronsburg Fall Festival, Main Street, Aaronsburg

We are continuing to look for events throughout the district for us to participate in. These could be public events, meetings of organizations that you believe would like to hear Joanne’s message, or a house party in your home, please contact our Mary Watson. Her phone number is 814-238-2137 and her email address is mdwatson@aol.com.

As previously mentioned, I have been door knocking Since Tuesday July 1. Some of you have agreed to introduce me to your neighbors. Thank you! For anyone else… If you would like to go door-to-door with me in your neighborhood and introduce me to your neighbors, please contact the campaign at 814-360-7585 or via email at info@tosti-vasey.com.

Fundraising

We are continuing to accept checks for donations. And we once again can accept credit card donations through my website at http://tosti-vasey.com/contrib.html. You can get a donation form off of our website at http://tosti-vasey.com/form.pdf. Print it out, and send it along with your check to Team Tosti-Vasey to the address below. Or if you prefer to donate by credit card, go to http://tosti-vasey.com/contrib.html and fill in the Act Blue contribution box, click the button, and follow the directions.

Thank you all for your support. Without you, we could not make this a successful campaign. Once again, I really appreciate your support.

Week 17 Team Tosti-Vasey diary –September 8-14, 2008

Hello Everyone!

This is the 17th email in a weekly series summarizing what's going on with my campaign for the 171st State House District of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are sending this email out to everyone who has either donated or volunteered for Joanne. We hope you enjoy this weekly diary. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email, please "Reply" and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll remove you from this weekly diary email.

Office Opening

The local Bellefonte Area Democrats have come together and will be opening a satellite campaign office here in the heart of our district. Thanks to my campaign manager Teresa Welch and former County Commissioner John Saylor and others who found the site, negotiated the contract, and found the monies to pay for this office. We will be holding a grand opening on Friday evening, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. and then stay to watch the first Presidential Debate (as long as Comcast gets the cable in the office on time).

This opening is a great boon to my campaign as we will now have a local office where people can come and make calls, enter data, and pick up supplies (like yard signs) closer to home. Less gas and driving. A win-win for everyone. Please come and join us at the Grand Opening and then join us to watch the debate.

What: Office Grand Opening and Debate Watch Party

When: Friday, September 26, 2008

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: 121 S. Allegheny St., Bellefonte, PA 16823

Activities

We had a bit slower week this week. Only four events this week – a county Democratic meeting, a Human Relations Commission meeting, the Democratic State Committee meeting, and our first house party. As a result we were able to put more time into fundraising and door knocking.

On Monday, September 8, I attended the Mifflin County Democratic meeting after a slight detour. On my way over Centre Hall Mountain, I was confronted with a road block. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had shut down the road this morning for four weeks to lay a gas line across the road. As a result I had to turn around and take a 15 mile detour through State College to get around the mountain and down into Mifflin County. Fortunately I had left about 10 minutes early and arrived at the meeting place just as the person with the building key showed up! While there I met a gentleman from the district who took some of my yard signs and agreed to help with the campaign. It’s great to have another volunteer concerned about our neighbors. Thank you!

On Wednesday, September 10, I attended the monthly meeting of the Centre County Advisory Council to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (it’s a mouthful but that’s its name!). I have been a member of this council since 1991. We spent the evening discussing a couple of housing discrimination issues that I had come across while door knocking and looking at an issue of alleged sexual harassment by a police administrator in Northeast Pa that I had received a call on in my day job as President of Pennsylvania NOW. This case has received a lot of publicity in the Scranton area. We also discussed the need to make some revisions to the new State College Employment Anti-Discrimination Ordinance to bring its review process in compliance with state law.

Background on this ordinance. In 2007, State College decided to create a local employment anti-discrimination ordinance after some people spoke at a town meeting with concerns about employment discrimination against people who are or who are thought to be lesbian, gay, or transgendered. I testified several times during the year and worked with Council and their attorney to craft the ordinance. It passed Council unanimously in December 2007. And on July 1, 2008 became the 14th local employment anti-discrimination ordinance in the state to cover sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status and familial status. It is also probably the first in the nation to expand the familial status protections to include family members across the entire life span. So that people who have or are thought to have the responsibility of caring for elder parents or disabled adult children will not have their jobs threatened because of these family responsibilities.

On Friday and Saturday, September 12-13, I traveled to Harrisburg for the Quarterly PA Democratic State Committee Meeting. There was a reception on Friday evening and then a whole series of meetings on Saturday morning. I am the Treasurer of the Women’s Caucus for State Committee and made my report at that meeting. We also set up the Auction and Candidate Forum Committee. For the last decade I have chaired the Forum Committee, which organizes and puts on the state-wide Democratic candidates debate / forum. In recognition of my pending win for the State House of Representatives, the Caucus decided to appoint co-chairs for the Forum for next year! J

Finally, on Sunday, September 14, we held our first house party at the home of M.J. Hovanec. M.J. was a great hostess. She made a wonderful spread of cheeses, wings, white chocolate mousse, and tea and cider. My son Kenneth joined us and gave us some entertainment. We had a good conversation and ID’d a few more people who will be voting for me. Thank you M.J. for the work you did, your hospitality, and the great food! Kenneth and I really enjoyed your hospitality (and Joe like the leftovers we took home!). Thank you!

Volunteering

Phone Banking

Are you interested in making phone calls? We could use your help! Calls can be made from your home. The best times for calling are between 6:30 to 9:00 pm Monday through Friday or during the day on Saturday.

Door Knocking

J Thank you.

Upcoming Events:

· Thursday, September 18, 2008, 6:30 p.m. – Reproductive Rights Phone Banking Party for Joanne Tosti-Vasey and Barack Obama, Cool Beans, 141 West High Street, Bellefonte.

· Saturday, September 20, 2008, 8:30 – 11:00 am – Pancake Breakfast. Phil and Karen Yanak have a long-standing tradition of occasional pancake breakfasts at their home in Millheim. Their next breakfast will feature Joanne Tosti-Vasey and her race for the PA General Assembly. Location: 132 Race Alley, Millheim, PA 16854. RSVP to Phil and Karen. Phone: 814-349-8147, email: yanaksrus@yahoo.com.

· Sunday, September 21, 2008, 2:00 p.m. – House Party at the Home of Jesse Barlow, 1427 S. Pugh St., State College, PA 16801. Jessie’s invitation: Please join me (Jesse Barlow) on Sunday, September 21 at 2:00 pm at my home for a chance to speak with Joanne Tosti-Vasey, candidate for the State House of Representatives for the 171st district. If it's not raining, we will hold this event outdoors. You will have the opportunity to get to know her views on what she thinks is the best way forward for Centre and Mifflin Counties and their people.

· Monday, September 22, 2008, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. – Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund Meet the Candidates Reception, Dauphin County Bar Association, 213 North Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101

· Friday, September 26, 2008, 7:30 p.m., 121 S. Allegheny Street, Bellefonte, PA – Bellefonte Area Campaign Headquarters Office Grand Opening and Presidential Debate Watch Party. See top of this diary for details

· Saturday, September 27, 2008 – Milesburg Apple Harvest Festival, 205 Market Street, Milesburg, PA 16853. Event includes food and car show from 9 am to 5 pm. Joanne will be attending this event in the morning.

· Sunday, September 28, 2008, 1:30-3:30 p.m. – Fundraiser Brunch in Pittsburgh at the home of Jeanne Clark, 414 Stratton Lane, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. I will forward the e-vite onto all of you as soon as I receive my copy from the organizers (hopefully by the end of the day today).

· Monday, September 29, 5:45 p.m.—Centre County Association of Township Officials dinner, Penns Valley Area High School, Rte 45, Spring Mills

· Thursday, October 1, 7:30 am- 6:00 pm – Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women, Convention Center, Pittsburgh

· Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4 – Aaronsburg Fall Festival, Main Street, Aaronsburg

Fundraising

We are continuing to accept checks for donations. And will be able to accept credit card donations again starting next Monday or Tuesday, September 22 or 23 according to Act Blue.

You can get a donation form off of our website at http://tosti-vasey.com/form.pdf. Print it out, and send it along with your check to Team Tosti-Vasey to the address below. Or if you prefer to donate by credit card, just wait until the 22nd (or 23rd) by going to at http://tosti-vasey.com/contrib.html and filling in the Act Blue contribution box, click the button, and follow the directions.

Will let you all know about some fundraiser parties in next week’s email.

Thank you all for your support. Without you, we could not make this a successful campaign. Once again, I really appreciate your support.

Finally, my heart goes out to the people from Galveston, TX who were hit by Hurricane Ike. If you’d like to help out the people who were hurt by either Hurricane Gustav or Ike, go to http://www.barackobama.com/splash/aid.html?source=feature_gustav. Then click on the map to select the charity to which you’d like to make a donation. Clicking on TX will bring up a list of charities working in the area who were impacted by Ike. Clicking on LA will do the same for those hit by either Ike or Gustav.

Week 16 Team Tosti- Vasey diary –September 1-7, 2008

Hello Everyone!

This is the 16th email in a weekly series summarizing what's going on with my campaign for the 171st State House District of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are sending this email out to everyone who has either donated or volunteered for Joanne. We hope you enjoy this weekly diary. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email, please "Reply" and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll remove you from this weekly diary email.

Well it was Labor Day, back to school, and start of new jobs for many people this week. And more fundraising and door knocking.

Monday, September 1 was Labor Day. Annually Regis Kingera almost single-handedly puts together what I would call a Union Solidarity picnic. Members of Unions that have a presence in Centre County, their families, friends, and elected officials show up at Holmes-Foster Park for hot dogs, hamburgers, pot-luck, and great conversation. The person who came the most distance for the picnic this year was Mike Fedor, Regional Director for the PA AFL-CIO. Thanks Mike for coming and for endorsing us. We look forward to working with you!

Labor Day Picnic Union Solidar_20080901_1824-1.jpg

Commissioner Jon Eich (L), Joanne Tosti-Vasey, and Regis Kingera (R) (organizer extraordinaire) at the picnic.

Discussions this day that I either participated in or overheard included the Presidential race, schools, how some of the unions are faring, and how the unions can help House candidates who have been endorsed can either retain their seats (Scott Conklin) or win back a seat for working families (Joanne).

Labor Day Picnic Union Solidar_20080901_1807-1.jpg

Team Tosti-Vasey Treasurer Mary Watson and Joanne talking to PSEA member Keith Ford about the fall campaign.

Tuesday was back to school. It was back-to-school for my son Kenneth along with all of the other children attending public and private schools throughout the county. This year my son entered 6th grade. He’s now a Middle School student! Changing classes, multiple teaches, lockers, and LOTS more homework!

Education is an important issue in this area that I believe we need to focus on. We need to provide an equitable education for all regardless of where you live. Our poorer school districts must be equipped with the support and resources necessary to educate all of our students to their full potential. In order to do that, the state needs to step up to their Constitutional responsibility to assist school districts across the state. The state has just made a start in reallocating funds based on a formula to help struggling districts, but we need to do more. Also we need to work towards full-day kindergarten programs and better support of higher public education so that families can afford to send their adult children to college or vocational training.

And speaking of higher education, we need to help ensure that students at Penn State University – a public/private institution – continue to receive an excellent education at an affordable level. The College Democrats have agreed to help my campaign so that together we can work toward this goal. But in order to do that we need to register the students here and then get them to vote down the entire ballot. So on Tuesday night, Jeff Helfrich on behalf of Rep. Conklin and I spoke before the students at the first College Democrat meeting of the year, encouraged them to work for the entire Democratic ballot from the top of the ballot all the way to the bottom. And depending on where in gerrymandered State College they live, they will either be able to vote for Scott (the eastern and western thirds of State College or for me (the middle third of State College/University Park). After the meeting, we agreed to set up a planning meeting to strategize campus organizing for my campaign.

College Dems Speech_20080902_1826

3 Joanne speaking at the PSU College Democrat meeting in Thomas Building on the PSU campus. Notice that I was number VII on the agenda that was written on an old-fashioned black board, something we rarely see anymore!

On Friday evening, my family and I attended a farewell party for Ben Brewer, one of my early volunteers in the Primary. Ben was the Managing Editor of Voices of Central Pennsylvania, a progressive monthly newspaper that has been in existence for almost 15 years; I was one of its board members for 10 of those years. Besides working for Voices, Ben was a student activist at Penn State University. He led the Penn State United Students Against Sweatshops "Designated Provider Program" protests at PSU in Spring 2008 as well as organized 5 students to do phone banking for me. He graduated in May and is now leaving to take a job as a field labor organizer with SEIU (Service Employees International Union) of Pennsylvania – another union that has endorsed me.

Ben has done a great job working for the rights of working people and now has a decent paying job that he is excited about. Others in our area also need stable employment. It is one of the stepping stones that gives individuals the opportunity to achieve their dreams by helping them to put food on the table, a roof over one’s head, and hopefully providing access to health care. A living wage combined with economic growth focusing on our basic needs is necessary. And what I want to work for as your legislator.

As part of the legislature, I would listen to and work with others to spur economic growth through increased support of our public education system so that our citizens (adults and children) have access to quality education and training, improving workers’ protections and access to unions, ensuring health care coverage for all, and development of green energy jobs in our agricultural and manufacturing industries.

Volunteering

Phone Banking

If you are interested in making traditional calls using a paper phone list, we can get lists to you to call. This method requires you to fill out a response form. You would then either need to scan in and email the paper responses back to us OR put them in the mail the next day so that we can enter the data back in our offices. If you prefer this method, please contact Teresa Welch, my campaign chair. She is the person organizing this method of phone banking.

Door Knocking

We also need people who would like to door knock with me or in a group. I do door knocking on a daily basis. We have a coordinated door knocking events every weekend for Barack Obama and myself throughout the district. If you are interested in meeting and talking to people, please let us know and we will hook you up with the door knocking event of your choice. Contact Teresa at twelchpsychologist@comcast.net or at (814) 355-8778 if you want to do the weekend door knocking or contact me at info@tosti-vasey.com or (814)360-7585 if you want to go door knocking with me.

J Thank you.

Upcoming Events:

· Friday and Saturday, September 12 and 13 – Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee Meeting, Harrisburg. For details if you are interested in attending, go to http://www.padems.com.

· Sunday, September 14, 2:00 pm – House Party at the home of M. J. Hovanec, 1011 Evergreen Dr., State College, PA 16801, Phone 814-237-4001; email: mj.hovanec@yahoo.com.

M.J.’s invitation: Please join me this Sunday, 14 September at 2:00 pm for a chance to speak with Joanne Tosti-Vasey, candidate for the State House of Representatives for the 171st district. You will have the opportunity to get to know her views on what she thinks is the best way forward for our district and its people. You will also be able to tell her what matters to you. She’s interviewing for a job where you’re the boss.

Light refreshments will be served.

RSVP is not required, but is appreciated.

· Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 11:30 am – Centre County Association of Realtors’ Candidates’ luncheon, Celebration Hall, 2280 Commercial Blvd., State College, PA 16801. For details, go to http://www.happyvalleyhomes.org/cde.cfm?event=200469.

· Sunday, September 21, 2008, 2:00 p.m. – House Party at the Home of Jesse Barlow, 1427 S. Pugh St., State College, PA 16801. Outdoors if sunny.

· Monday, September 22, 2008, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. – Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund Meet the Candidates Reception, Dauphin County Bar Association, 213 North Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101

· Saturday, September 27, 2008 – Milesburg Apple Harvest Festival, 205 Market Street
Milesburg, PA 16853. Event includes food and car show all day. Joanne will be attending this event in the morning and early afternoon.

· Sunday, September 28, 2008 – Fundraiser Brunch in Pittsburgh. Details next week.

Fundraising

We are continuing to accept checks for donations. But we are still on hold with the credit card donation function on my website. We are continuing to work to get the problem resolved. I’ll send out an email as soon as we know it’s up and running again.

So when you make your donations for the next couple of weeks, please do so by check. You can get a donation form off of our website at http://tosti-vasey.com/form.pdf. Print it out, and send it along with your check to Team Tosti-Vasey to the address below.

Will let you all know about some fundraiser parties in next week’s email.

Thank you all for your support. Without you, we could not make this a successful campaign. Once again, I really appreciate your support.

Finally, I hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend and we wish the people in the Gulf Coast region well. We’re glad that Gustav wasn’t as bad as predicted and crossing our fingers for Texas and Hurricane Ike. If you’d like to help out the people who were hurt by Hurricane Gustav, go to http://www.barackobama.com/splash/aid.html?source=feature_gustav. Then click on the map to select the charity to which you’d like to make a donation.

Week 15 Team Tosti- Vasey diary –August 25-31, 2008

Hello Everyone!

This is the 15th email in a weekly series summarizing what's going on with my campaign for the 171st State House District of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are sending this email out to everyone who has either donated or volunteered for Joanne. We hope you enjoy this weekly diary. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email, please "Reply" and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll remove you from this weekly diary email.

Grange Fair! The Democratic National Convention! Crickfest! Meeting people everywhere. What a whirlwind week.

And another endorsement came our way this week. On Thursday, August 28, Dale Pepper, representing the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen Local 5 called and said he had a presentation to make to me. We met at the Democratic table at the Centre County Grange Fair. With my son Kenneth looking on, Mr. Pepper presented my campaign with an endorsement check from the Bricklayers for $250.00. We look forward to working with the union members to elect another pro-union representative to the General Assembly (that’s ME!) :-0

Dale Pepper, Representative of the Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, Local 5 presenting check to Kenneth Vasey and Joanne Tosti-Vasey for Joanne's campaign

Monday saw me head over to Reedsville to train a new volunteer, Deborah Baughman to make phone calls. Thank you, Ms. Baughman for both your support and time. More door knocking happened after that.

Then it was back to the Grange Fair in Centre Hall on Tuesday through Thursday. I “tent knocked” around the grounds and talked to people who came by the Democratic tent on Tuesday and Wednesday. Kids took my balloons. Met people from throughout the district and gave two people contact information for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission so that they could talk to the staff there about some allegations of discrimination in housing. I also spent some time door knocking people at their homes in Centre Hall.

The weather was perfect for every day of the fair, except one. And that one just happened to be Thursday, August 28. The remnants of Hurricane Fay came through Grange Fair starting about noon. By 1:00 p.m. when the annual Grange Fair parade started, we were gifted with pouring rain! State College Council President Elizabeth Goreham, Centre County Commissioner Jon Eich, my husband Joe Vasey and son Kenneth Vasey walked the muddy streets of the fair with me. Linda Jacka-Frantz and her husband drove the Miata convertible with the top up. We handed out about 1500 candy coupons and business-card size cards about me to the many great people who lined the parade route. Back at the Democratic table, my Treasurer waited and then handed out the candy to the people who chose to visit us for this treat.