Dave Krupa – 5/2/06

This page was last updated on May 7 2006.

Good reasons to keep Veon; Dave Krupa; Beaver County Times; May 2, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of negative things about state Rep. Mike Veon lately, and I disagree with most. He has done many good things for his district.

“Mike, along with state Sen. Gerry LaValle, helped to secure a buyer for the idle Babcock & Wilcox steel plant. The N.S. Group came in, bought the plant and transformed it into Koppel Steel. Today, Koppel Steel provides a few hundred good-paying jobs for the local economy.”

[RWC] What exactly did Mr. Veon allegedly do?

“He is not responsible for any of the plant closings around here in the last 25 years, but he is responsible for trying to replace the lost jobs with new ones.”

[RWC] Did Mr. Krupa really write this? You gotta love this; according to Mr. Krupa, Mr. Veon can do no wrong. Regardless of all the anti-business policies Mr. Veon supports at the state level, he bears no responsibility for any failed businesses. If Mr. Veon dispenses corporate welfare to failing businesses, however, he is the savior.

I actually worked with a guy who operated like this. Because of the way he operated, his projects routinely encountered some kind of “crisis.” This guy then proceeded to “save the day.” It was incredible; people only remembered this guy resolved the crisis. They completely ignored the fact that the guy created the crisis in the first place.

“Veon and LaValle founded and oversee the Beaver Initiative for Growth. BIG’s main objective is to offer incentives to businesses and organizations willing to invest and create jobs in Beaver County. BIG was recently praised for its efforts by the presidents of three local colleges.”

[RWC] Three colleges get handouts of taxpayer dollars (corporate welfare) from BIG and Messrs. LaValle and Veon. The college presidents then write letters supporting BIG. Gee, what a shock.

Mr. Krupa failed to note both the Times and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review have run ongoing stories about BIG irregularities. In summary, you have two politicians directing tax dollars to an organization (BIG) that they control so they can hand out the corporate welfare.

“Veon and BIG are currently trying to purchase and redevelop the Moltrup Steel plant in Beaver Falls.”

[RWC] This paragraph is a tad misleading. First, according to Beaver County records, BIG already bought the property during December 2005. Second, according to BIG’s own press release, “redevelop” appears to mean tearing down the buildings and performing “brownfield” remediation to make the land suitable for private investment.

“Veon has always been there for his constituents. Now, it is time for us to be there for him.”

[RWC] How is spending constituent tax dollars being “there for his constituents?” Isn’t that like “borrowing” money from someone so you can buy them a gift?