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DALLAS — Luzerne County Councilman Harry Haas formally launched his bid for Congress Thursday afternoon with an appeal for fiscal responsibility and civility in federal politics.
In his address to supporters at Leggio’s Italian Restaurant, the Kingston Republican reserved his harshest criticism for what he called government overreach, with one policy in particular drawing his ire, and that of the audience.
“The rain tax has hit our area especially hard,” Haas said, referencing the controversial stormwater fee imposed on area property owners by the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority.
It was put in place by WVSA to comply with a federal mandate to lower sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus in the Susquehanna River, and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.
“I am 100% for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay,” Haas said, calling it “a gross overreach of government.”
“The federal government punted right down to the local level,” Haas added. “We need the federal government to open up that budget, and if they’re going to say they need to clean up the bay, then they need to clean up the bay. We pay our income taxes for things like that. Local property taxes should not be held hostage for that.”
Background
Haas, 44, is a Dallas Middle School history teacher who has served on council since the county’s customized home rule government structure took effect in January 2012.
A Back Mountain native who grew up in Orange, Franklin Township, Haas holds a bachelor’s degree in history and master’s degree in education from The George Washington University. He is married and has two children.
He is seeking the Republican nomination to run for the 8th Congressional District, which includes Lackawanna, Wayne, and Pike counties and portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties.
The seat currently is held by fourth-term incumbent Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic.
Haas’ announcement comes less than a week after Republican Teddy Daniels, 44, of Wyoming, announced his candidacy for the seat. Daniels is a wounded combat veteran, a retired police officer and an entrepreneur.
“This campaign will never speak poorly about the current congressman. I pledge that. I don’t think that’s good politics, and I will not engage in that,” Haas said. “There is at least one other Republican in the race. He is a very decent man, and this campaign will never speak poorly about another Republican. We need to take integrity in Washington and work together.”
‘We can shrink spending’
Haas hearkened back to American growth and progress in the 1920s, which collapsed with the Stock Market crash of 1929. He drew parallels with contemporary government policies.
“The Roaring ’20s collapsed because we had a lot of leveraged borrowing, a lot of leveraged buying. We see the same thing happening at all levels of government,” Haas said.
“The federal government owes $23 trillion … even with Republicans in the Congress,” he added.
Haas said he would bring lessons learned in county government to Washington, discussing how he and fellow council members have pared the county’s debt from nearly $500 million down to $300 million since the beginning of home rule, and continue to seek savings.
“The $23 trillion, we can manage that. We can shrink spending. Like we’ve done on the council, spending tireless weeks working on the budget.”
Other unfunded mandates he cited: Federal education and voting machine purchase requirements.
“Public school funding. That’s my vocation. I’m a big fan of public education,” Haas said.
“We spend a lot of money on testing and pet programs that may not necessarily benefit students. They benefit the politicians and not necessarily the teachers. And I am two-thirds of that, I am a politician and a teacher, so I see it first-hand, and I am not a fan.”
He also criticized Washington for contributing just 10% of the overall cost of purchasing new voting machines that meet federal requirements.
“All this trickles down. We are mandated to fulfill the will of the state and federal government, that they throw us crumbs and we have to somehow manufacture cookies out of that to pay for these things,” Haas said.