Endorsements

The Intelligencer

Passing on Peterson could represent a missed opportunity.

PAUL CLYMER is an institution in Upper Bucks County. The Republican has represented the 145th District (East Rockhill, Haycock, Milford, Richland, Springfield and West Rockhill townships, and the boroughs of Perkasie, Quakertown, Richlandtown, Sellersville and Trumbauersville) for 28 years. To say he’s popular is an understatement.

But has he established himself in state government as you might expect from a legislative veteran of almost three decades? He has been a champion of the anti-gambling crusade, but that’s a fight he seems to have lost. Anything else?

Running against him for the Democrats is Tom Peterson, who has a strong background in the technology business and who teaches physics in the Philadelphia public schools. He is smart, well-spoken and promises to bring to state government the same efficiencies that he claims helped saved a number of major companies billions of dollars.

In this election, voters should ask themselves one question: Are they satisfied with the type of representation Paul Clymer has provided them for the past 28 years — more passive than active, more static than dynamic — or are they ready to choose an individual who promises to get some things done?

Clymer has been steady and uncontroversial in his low-key approach, and admittedly that’s enough for a lot of voters. Peterson figures to get noticed, to change the perception of the representative in the 145th.

Re-electing Clymer would not necessarily be a mistake. But passing on Peterson could represent a missed opportunity.