Congratulations Coach Ruffner!

Mt. Pleasant hires Ruffner as football coach

Tribune-Review - The Mt. Pleasant school board voted Monday to hire Robert "Bo" Ruffner as football coach. He replaces Mark Lyons, who was not rehired after winning three consecutive Keystone Conference titles.

Ruffner, a teacher at Hempfield, was given a two-year contract that was unanimously approved by the board.

"Mt. Pleasant has a great tradition," said Ruffner. "They won two WPIAL titles in the 1980s and a number of conference titles. I'm looking forward to continuing that tradition and starting a new one in Class AA."

Let's Go Pens!

Bring the cup back to Pittsburgh!

Property Tax Relief??????

Here are the numbers regarding the estimated property tax relief for residents of Westmoreland County School Districts (Dollars per household per year) due to gaming revenue. This is obviously not enough and we need to do more to change the way we fund public education to make it better for our children and more affordable for our taxpayers. The state legislators will try to pass the responsibility to the school districts and blame property taxes on overspending. Sorry, but that is ridiculous. That's an easy "gotcha" political answer and accusation. To see some of my ideas regarding property tax reform, click here.

Belle Vernon Area - $170
Burrell - $162
Derry Area - $197
Franklin Regional - $123
Greater Latrobe - $92
Greensburg Salem - $133
Hempfield Area - $87
Jeannette City - $266
Kiski Area - $141
Ligonier Valley - $68
Monessen City - $226
Mount Pleasant - $164
New Kensington-Arnold - $310
Norwin - $93
Penn-Trafford - $135
Southmoreland - $221
Yough - $165

From our family to yours...

Thank you for your support!!!

Thanks for your support!!!

Post-Gazette - Primary 2008/East: Bompiani wins solid contest

The victory party at the AMS Club in South Greensburg, according to Tony Bompiani, drew more than 200 guests and went on long after early returns showed he led the Democratic race for the state Senate in District 39 with more than 60 percent of the vote.

This ability to unite people behind a common cause is, according to some of his supporters, one of the main reasons for Dr. Bompiani's landslide victory in Tuesday's primary.

"We all pulled together and we knew what we had," said his wife, Renee, of the way family, friends and constituents worked to support her husband, a Youngwood chiropractor.

"We stood behind him 100 percent. Knowing him the way we know him, we knew that there was no one else better for the job."

Dale Hutchinson of Greensburg said: "He's going to strengthen the Democratic Party again, bring it back where it was -- and bring the respect back to Westmoreland County."

According to the Westmoreland County Election Bureau, Dr. Bompiani defeated Chris Huffman, 40, of Rostraver, by gaining 65 percent of the vote -- despite Mr. Huffman's endorsement from the county Democratic committee. Vote totals are unofficials.

Dr. Bompiani, 54, of Hempfield, will face incumbent Bob Regola, R-Hempfield, in the November election. Mr. Regola, who is in his first term, ran unopposed in the primary.

Mr. Huffman said he has "no regrets" regarding his race and hopes his party will come together to support Dr. Bompiani in November.

"We need to join together and make sure that we get that seat back," said Mr. Huffman, a Greensburg attorney.

Dr. Bompiani agreed that unity among Democrats was the best way to defeat Mr. Regola and said he and Mr. Huffman would meet in early May to discuss options to bring party members together.

"We need to meet with the other side of the Democratic Party and draw them together because we can't win in November without both sides together," he said. "More important, the party needs to brought together and to become as one for the future."

Thank you to EVERYONE for your SUPPORT!!!

Hi everyone. This is Anthony, Tony's son. I posted this clip today for various reasons. First, it's a great song and my father-in-law, Larry Rega's favorite. It is also the song that came on the radio as I pulled into Level-Green in Penn Township to work the poll. I worked there for most of the day and Senator Regola was there the entire day. I think the song is very fitting for the campaign.

Should the size of Pennsylvania's Legislature be reduced?

That question was posed to Dr. Bompiani and his opponent by the good people that developed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Voter Guide. Here are the responses:

Dr. Bompiani:

Yes. Reducing the size of our Legislature is a fine idea, but it does not address the real problem of run away spending by the legislators themselves. By now, we are all familiar with bonus scandals from the 2006 legislative session. In the 2006 session House Democrats doled out $2.3 million in bonuses to staffers. House Republicans spent $919,000. In the Senate, Democrats handed out $41,000, and Republicans gave $366,000 in bonuses to staffers. The total of those bonuses is $3,626,000. Additionally, every State Senator gets a $10,000 expense account; $15,000 for their district offices; $26,500 for postage; $480 for flags for their constituents; $600 per month for car rentals; and $124 a day while in Harrisburg. This totals $82,424 if you assume that a State Senator spends 6 months out of the year in Harrisburg. Multiply that number by 50 (the number of Senators), and you get $4,121,200. This calculation does not include the base salaries. Before we focus all our attention on reducing the size of the Legislature, we need to focus on making it less expensive for the people.

His Opponent:

I am willing to look at reducing the size of the Legislature. However, we need to make sure that people will still have access to their legislator when they have an issue to discuss or a problem that they need help with. The 39th senatorial district is very large. It is about an hour drive from end to end. If this Senate district is any larger it would be hard for the people to get help when they need it. I will support any measure that reduces the Legislature so long as it does not have a major impact on the people's ability to have access to their legislator when they need help.

You can decide who you want to vote for to represent you in an overly expensive Harrisburg on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. Don't forget to vote.

Visit the PG Voters Guide by clicking here to find the candidates' stances on other issues.