Matt Cartwright wants the people of Schuylkill County to know he is "not a radical" and that if elected, he will represent their interests as well as his constituents in his own Lackawanna County.
Looking back over a successful legal career, the Moosic lawyer said he would fight for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania in Washington the way he would fight for a client in the courtroom.
"I'm running for this job because I have been standing up for the middle class, for working families, all my life," Cartwright, 51, said during a recent interview with The Republican-Herald editorial board. "It's work that I love. I view being sent to Congress as having a much larger platform to do such kind of work from."
Cartwright, a Democrat, is running in Tuesday's General Election to represent the 17th Congressional District that includes Schuylkill County and parts of Northampton, Monroe, Carbon, Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. He is facing Republican Laureen Cummings, 48, of Old Forge, who owns a nursing service.
Cartwright, who said the middle class is under attack, lists his priorities as job creation; protecting Social Security, Medicare and veterans' benefits; and deficit and debt reduction.
"I think the best approach is a gradual one," he said, referring to the deficit. Referring to the unemployment rate across his district - 9.4 percent in Scranton and 9.9 percent in Schuylkill - he fears cutting government to the bone would eliminate too many jobs and sink the economy.
He would prefer to raise taxes and cut military spending. He would like to go back to the Clinton-era tax formula, saying it would generate $350 billion over the next 10 years from those making more than $1 million a year and $850 billion from those earning $250,000 a year.
For military spending cuts, he said reductions are not going to come as a surprise for those who build the tanks and planes.
"Private defense contractors are expecting this," he said.
However, he said he will not support mothballing the Tobyhanna Army Depot near Scranton, which supports 5,200 families.
Cartwright calls the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "a terrific thing" because it protects patients with pre-existing conditions, extends coverage for young people on their parents' insurance up to age 26, and under it, 90 percent of Americans are covered.
However, he said he would tweak it. Cartwright said he wishes the act included a public option, although he does not favor a universal one-payer system because it would lead to unemployment.
Cartwright does not believe the nation's safety net for seniors is about to break.
"The first answer for Social Security is, 'Don't panic.' As long as I can remember, they have been putting doomsday dates on Social Security," he said. "People want to cut benefits now because they are afraid they will have to cut benefits 15 years from now."
His views on coal are as un-alarmist. Cartwright said it isn't so much government regulation that is killing the coal industry as the disfavor of the economy because gas is so cheap. He does not believe there is a war on coal.
More important is getting the economy moving and Cartwright believes investing in infrastructure would put a lot of people to work nationwide and be a boom for Pennsylvania, which has lousy roads and 4,000 to 6,000 structurally deficient bridges.
Cartwright faults trade imbalances and said he favors "fair trade" over "free trade." He said eliminated barriers have caused the sending of American work to countries that have no labor standards, no safety regulations and no environmental protection.
However, he said he is not a protectionist who would turn back the clock. He favors a more vigorous administration filing more complaints with the World Trade Organization.
In foreign affairs, Cartwright believes the U.S. government's response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya could have been handled "much better," however, "I haven't seen information that leads me to believe we mishandled security."
Overall, he believes the Arab Spring has been a good thing because tyrannical regimes have been overthrown, with America having to "put boots on the ground." Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown in Libya and we didn't send in troops and lose American lives, he said.
Cartwright also believes we must firmly support Israel and Iran must not get a nuclear weapon because it would start an arms race in the Middle East and Iran has never been reticent to deal and trade with terrorists.
Meanwhile, Cartwright will work hard to gain the trust of a county loyal to its native congressman.
"Congressman (Tim) Holden did a wonderful job. He will be a tough act to follow but it is an act I want to follow. Some may think I am not interested (in Schuylkill County) but that is not true. I am in this for the right reasons."
He is critical of his opponent's proposal of a 23 percent national sales tax, which she calls "the fair tax."
"I call it the 'unfair tax.' Politicians love to name bills what they are the opposite of," he said, saying it would raise the cost of medicine, food, nursing care, chemotherapy and many other things.
The candidate
· Name: Matt Cartwright
· Age: 51
· Residence: Moosic
· Office sought: 17th Congressional District representative
· Party: Democrat
· Experience: Shareholder in Munley, Munley & Cartwright
· Family: Wife, Marion; sons, John and Matthew Jr.