Chester County is BLUE for the first time in history!
See the Chester County Democratic Committee Website for details.
West Chester
West Chester mayor backs clean energy despite U.S. backing out of Paris accord
By Bill Rettew Jr., Daily Local News, 6/12/17
WEST CHESTER >> In light of President Donald Trump’s decision to dump the Paris accord, Mayor Jordan Norley is committed to meeting the clean energy goals of the agreement on a local level.
More than 150 mayors in the United States have endorsed the 100 percent clean energy goal, or making all use of energy clean and renewable, as part of the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 Campaign.
“The people of this world have a fundamental right to the ingredients of life — clean air, clean water and a sustainable future,” Norley said. “There is no better place to take a stand than our own homes, our own communities. With our national politics, the action we can take is local.”
Locally, Norley supports the international Paris agreement which sets a voluntary 2 degrees Celsius guardrail, and meets clean energy goals, in a bid to maintain a stable climate and stable economy.
Norley wants local governments to have control.
“We reject the notion that the state or federal government can override our rights as a community to a sustainable future,” the mayor said….
read more at Daily Local News
Primary election turnout May 2017
Dem voters in the Borough turned out on May 16 at a 20% rate. Sure, we’d like 100%, but 20% is the highest anyone can recall for an “off-year” primary election.
The trend began by 2013, when D turnout increased 5% over 2011. In 2015, D turnout gained 48% over 2013. And in 2017, about 400 more Dems voted than in 2015, a 31% increase over 2015 compared to a 13% R increase.
As a result, in 2017 almost twice as many D’s voted in 2017 as in 2013, for an increase of 94% compared to 9% for R’s. The largest % Dem increases were in wards 2E and 4, the lowest in 5 and 6.
Now our task is to hold all our primary voters, and to add a lot more for the November vote!
Celebrate with Mayor & Candidate Comitta!
Pfizer
email from Bernie Sanders, 3/18/16 [n.b. Besides scheming to use a technicality to drop out of the US tax system, Pfizer has also refused to meet its legal obligations, in its role as Wyeth’s successor, to the Borough of West Chester, and has gone to court, at great cost to Borough taxpayers, to stop paying the contracted sewage fees. If Pfizer doesn’t pay, the rest of us in the Borough will have to pay the $750,000 a year Pfizer contracted for when it purchased Wyeth.]
I want to tell you about something that encapsulates so much of what is wrong with our economy, our government, and our corrupt political system. Then I’m going to ask for your help to stop it.
Pfizer is a giant pharmaceutical company based in New York City that has a history of overcharging Americans for prescription drugs. It’s in the process of trying to merge with another company located in Ireland.
If the merger is successful, Pfizer would technically become a foreign company, meaning it could dodge around $35 BILLION in corporate taxes here in America.
Enough is enough. Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies cannot be allowed to evade taxes and rip off American patients who already pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Continue reading
Chester County Leadership: Mayor Carolyn Comitta
By Ken Knickerbocker, VISTA Today, January 21, 2016
Carolyn Comitta, Mayor of West Chester, speaks to VISTA today about growing up in West Chester and moving to West Bradford when she was thirteen, transferring to West Chester College after her freshman year at Muhlenberg, the influence Bill Scott and Madeleine Wing Adler had on her rise to the Mayor’s chair in West Chester and the opportunities she sees for the borough in the New Year.
Where did you grow up, Mayor Comitta?
I was born and in Buffalo, New York. My mother was from Toronto and my father from Malden, Massachusetts. They met when they were both on vacation in Lake George and moved to Buffalo because that’s where my father worked.
When I was two years old, my father was hired by DuPont in Wilmington and we moved to the Merryweather Farms development in West Goshen.
I went to Fern Hill Elementary School and then to Stetson Jr. High before we moved to West Bradford in the Downingtown School District when I was in eighth grade. I ended up graduating from Downingtown High School in 1970….
read more at VISTA Today
Joe Sestak Walks Across Chester County on his way to Ohio!
Admiral Joe Sestak comes to Chester County!
“You may have heard by now that I have officially kicked off my campaign for the U.S. Senate by beginning my 422-mile walk across Pennsylvania, from New Jersey to the Ohio border. I’m doing this because I believe, as Scout recalls in To Kill a Mockingbird, You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.”
Today (March 9) and tomorrow, Admiral Sestak will walk through Chester County, while also stopping for two events. First, at 10:00am today, Sestak will be hosting an event on women’s issues:
Crosslands Community Center
1660 E Street Rd
Kennett Square, PA 19348
Then, Sestak will walk 11 miles from Exton Square Mall in Exton, PA, to Gateway Park in Coatesville, PA, walking along Pottstown Pike and Business Route 30.
Tomorrow at 10:00am (March 10), Sestak will be speaking in Coatesville:
Gateway Park
Corner of U.S. Routes 30 & 82
Coatesville, PA 19320
Sestak will then resume his journey walking along US Route 30 until he reaches Paradise Township in Lancaster County.
Admiral Sestak wants us to join him in his walk! Attend one of these events, then join Joe as he walks in our shoes over the next two days.
Sincerely,
Chester County Democratic Committee
37 South High Street
West Chester, PA 19382
WCU Grace Notes sing for Election Day
Play this 37-second video, WCU Grace Notes Sing for Today’s Election and spread the word!
Press release on Wyeth suit
Borough of West Chester, Pennsylvania
Press Release 7/17/14
On July 13, 2014, following a week-long trial, the Chester County Court of Common Pleas found in favor of the Borough of West Chester on all of its claims in its recent lawsuit with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The dispute stemmed from a 1984 agreement that required Wyeth to pay its fair share of certain costs incurred by the Borough in operating the Goose Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant, which was designed and built in large part to accommodate waste water produced by the Wyeth plant formerly located on the corner of South Bolmar and East Nields Streets in the Borough.
The Court found that the agreement remains valid and enforceable and that Wyeth must continue to make the quarterly payments required under the agreement. The Court also determined that Wyeth must pay the Borough $1,719,235.27 representing the payments Wyeth refused to make through the third quarter of 2013.
The Borough remains hopeful that Wyeth, now controlled by Pfizer, Inc. will demonstrate corporate responsibility by abiding by the Court’s decision, bringing their past due sewer account up to date, and paying their future obligations in a timely fashion.
The Borough was represented by Sigmund Fleck and Anthony Brichta of Buckley Brion McGuire & Morris LLP.
Jordan C. Norley
President of Council
West Chester Borough
Review latest data on rail service before offering an opinion
letter from Jo Ann P. Kelton, Daily Local News, 3/18/14
I write in response to the March 15 “Roses & Thorns” Daily Local News editorial commenting on the public meeting held recently by the Chester County Planning Commission. The editorial stated the planning commission “buckled” to “unrealistic, romantic aspirations to the return of regular commuter train service to the Borough of West Chester.” The planning commission spokesman made no promises to re-evaluate a timeline for an extension of the Media/Elwyn SEPTA line to West Chester Borough, although many attendees supported such a plan. West Chester Borough Council President Jordan Norley made remarks in support of an extension as well.
The population of Chester County has grown since 1986 when train service ceased, and SEPTA ridership is now at an all-time high. Many stations along the Paoli-Thorndale line experience overflow parking during the week. Peak-hour trains often experience standing-room-only crowds. An extension into West Chester could help the crowding situation on that line by diverting some ridership to West Chester as well.
West Chester is the only area county seat without commuter train service….
read more at Daily Local News
West Chester Borough Democrats 
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