Pennsylvania's 4th District: Turzai vs. Klink

To lifelong residents, the area of Southwest Pennsylvania that comprises Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District is a land that has given the nation some cherished exports, among them New York Jets great Joe Namath and composer Henry Mancini, both sons of Beaver County.

But there is another favorite son of this area whom many of the folks at home are very proud of: Gary Myers, the only Republican to be elected U.S. representative from this very blue-collar, historically Democratic district in the last 44 years.

The Myers saga is all the more dramatic in that its hero was a steel plant foreman who had never run for office before he unseated 20-year Democratic incumbent Frank Clark 1974. This was the worst possible year for a Republican, the so-called Watergate Year, in which Democrats won nearly two-thirds of the House, and only five Republicans unseated Democratic incumbents anywhere in the nation.

Myers, with his campaign run out of his basement by his wife and brother, was one of them.

Profiled on national television magazines and hailed in numerous publications outside Pennsylvania as a blue-collar hero, Myers was reelected by a landslide and then retired in 1978 at the age of 41. He had reapplied for his old job as a steel plant foreman and was happy that he was rehired and going home.

No one in Washington could understand how someone with a seemingly promising political career could voluntarily shuck it to go back to working shifts at the plant. But at home they did understand this dramatic decision of a true-to-life citizen politician. Gary Myers knew who he was. Like the lawmakers in the early days of the Republic, he had done what he saw as his duty for a few years and had then gone home to resume his real life.

Although reapportionment has made the district more GOP friendly since Gary Myers' day, no Republican after him has been elected to Congress from the 4th. But 1998 may be a different story. Increasingly, conservatives and GOPers see former Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Mike Turzai as "the second coming of Gary Myers."

While the 39-year-old Turzai may not have the folklorish background of hard-hat Myers, he is no stranger to hard work. Indeed, this grandson of immigrants and son of Southwest Pennsylvania worked his way through Notre Dame and Duke University Law School before returning home to prosecute criminals and then practice law with friend Mike Fisher (now Pennsylvania's attorney general).

Earlier this year, rolling up 54% of the primary vote over two opponents and carrying more than 50% of the vote in four of the five counties in the district, Turzai was launched into the fall contest against Democratic Rep. Ron Klink (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 30%).

Six years ago, Klink-well known as a weatherman and reporter for 14 years on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV-became one of the few members of Congress to win his job by defeating an incumbent from his own party. With Rep. Joe Kolter missing a key vote on unemployment benefits and having been taperecorded describing himself as a "political whore," Klink rolled up 45% of the primary vote over the embattled congressman and two state legislators. Since then, he has always had smooth sailing in his three general election campaigns-until this year.

"My opponent says he's for the taxpayer," notes Turzai, "but he voted for the largest tax increase in history in 1993. He's also voted against the genuine tax cuts that Rep. Steve Largent [R.-Okla.] proposed. He says he's pro-life, and, yes, he did vote for the ban on partial-birth abortion. But how pro-life can he call himself when he votes for the funding of abortions by international organizations, to permit abortions on military bases overseas, and for tax dollars for Planned Parenthood?"

Noting that Klink frequently speaks of being "for education," Turzai-the son and brother of public school teachers-retorts, "I guess that means being against vouchers and to keep funding the U.S. Department of Education, because that's what he's for. I will do my utmost to make vouchers and genuine school choice possible and to get rid of that Department of Education. If you believe in local control of education, then get that bureaucracy out of the way and get the funds for it in local hands."

On Bill Clinton, the conservative challenger says without hesitation: "If there's evidence of obstruction and perjury, I will vote to impeach him. Try to ask my opponent the same question. He's nowhere to be found on this one."

The Turzai headquarters bristles with volunteers, and the candidate and his pediatrician-wife Lidia, as they did in the primary, take their message of conservatism and opportunity door-to-door throughout the 4th District. "We're expecting our first child this year," beams Mike Turzai, "and we want to see that our child has the same opportunities we had growing up here. That's why I'm running."

(Mike Turzai for Congress, P0. Box 1811, Cranberry Township, Pa; 724-772-0007)