After I finished my term on the Oley Valley School Board in December 2009, I was approached by friends who asked me to consider running for the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives. I thought about it for a long time and knew I had much more to offer in service to my community and neighbors here in the 130th. �I have lived here, within the district since I was a young boy. Since grade school, I have never lived outside the Boyertown area�and the Oley Valley. My family and friends are here.�
As a self employed business man, I have watched the economy of Pennsylvania with great concern. The over regulation, rising taxes, state overspending and borrowing, rising unemployment, people�s growing dissatisfaction with government and the aggressive assault on freedom made by overreaching politicians locally and in Harrisburg and Washington DC. All of these issues and my feeling that I needed to take a stand to defend freedom here where I live, led me to my decision to run for the State Legislature. It was an undertaking I chose to do only after receiving the wise council of�my wife, family and close friends. I have entered the 130th race prayerfully and with the greatest respect for the residents who deserve better representation and service than they receive now.
Since the time I was nine years when my family moved to Boyertown from Landsdale, PA, all of my brothers and sisters went to school in the Boyertown School District.� I graduated with the Boyertown High Class of �78, and I still consider many of them to be my best and oldest friends. I speak to several of them every day. My wife Debby Weise Maloney and I were married in 1985. We have been truly blessed with three daughters and one son. We�ve also added�one son-in-law in 2009 and another this year 2010.
Athletics and fitness has always been important part of my life. In high school, I was a track middle distance runner, hurdler and sprinter. �I was one of the first junior high athletes in Berks county to run a sub-five minute mile. Three of my classmates and I ran a Masters 400 meter relay last year at the Venske Relays in Boyertown. �I am an avid hunter, outdoorsman and I am licensed to work with the PA Game Commission. My family enjoys camping, and the outdoors has always been very important to all of us. �I ride road bike now for exercise on the hills around my home near Hill Church.� From 1982 to 1988, I was competitive bodybuilder and won three major championships. Intense training taught me discipline over my body and the mental toughness to set and achieve goals.� I have been an active supporter of health and wellness programs as part of my PIAA track officiating and in volunteer work.
In 2004, I was part of the Victory Mile committee at Boyertown Senior High School to initiate the effort and raise money to construct the new synthetic athletic track. At Oley Valley High School as a school board member, �I was on the property committee that oversaw the construction of the new track and turf field in 2007.�
In 1985 I met a man who became a great friend and my business partner. I worked with Ron LaSpino in our carpentry remodeling business until 2001 when Ron lost his courageous battle to cancer. Living through Ron�s battle and others close to me who also fought with cancer, gave me a special insight to the disease. I have been active in raising money for cancer causes and supporting cancer survivors and victim families. I was the captain of our Relay team dedicated to the memory of Ron and his wife Sue (2 time cancer survivor) at the first ever, and extremely successful American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Boyertown 2008.
As an Oley Valley School Board member I served on several committees. I always worked hard to drive our budgets for zero tax increases. In 2009, in a bad economic year, we at Oley Valley had the first no tax increase budget since 1999. This set the tone for a second straight no tax increase again in 2010. I'm proud of my former colleagues on the Oley Valley school board for keeping the taxpayers in mind while providing excellent education for our students. In 2009, we also re-negotiated our teacher�s contract and received a generous give-back from the teacher union to maintain jobs and help us through a difficult financial year.
The school director experience at Oley Valley was wide and deep in all aspects of public school education here in Berks County and all of Pennsylvania. I have had the board experience of administering a school district with a 27 million dollar budget. I have the experience of watching over a employee base of 200 and 1,900 students in a sixty square mile area. I have dealt with all the public school issues; students, parents, tax-payers, personnel, administrators, facilities, property, transportation, curriculum, policy, safety, budget, and contract negotiations. Public schools drive an enormous tax burden to property owners. I have seen firsthand the pressures the state puts on local school districts, the rising cost of school employee medical insurance and the decreasing financial help we receive from the state. We need a dramatic new way to pay for public schools in PA. The way Pennsylvania pays for public school education is unfair to homeowners and I am committed to eliminating and replacing school property taxes. �You will never really own you home unless school property taxes are eliminated.
It is an honor to be elected to any office.� It is also a trust between the official and those he takes an oath to serve and represent. The 130th District consists of Amity, Colebrookdale, Douglass, Earl, Exeter (1st, 3rd, 6th , 7th , 8th and 9th precincts), Oley,� Pike, Rockland, Ruscombmanor, and Union Townships and the Boroughs of Birdsboro, Boyertown, and Fleetwood.
I am a patriotic Republican who like most of you, is concerned about the future of Pennsylvania and our nation: too much debt and deficit spending, property taxes and arrogant local eminent domain abuses that undermine the security of business and home ownership. I will always defend private property rights. Private sector job creation is the key to our economic future. I want to see more accountability in public education and maintain local school district authority. We have all watched as ever-increasing regulations and over-reaching governments crush our freedoms and drag down small businesses.� These are the key issues I am committed to work on.�
My life experience as a husband and father, self employed carpenter, Oley Valley School Board member, PIAA official, and involved citizen, has been good preparation for the state legislature. These experiences involve working constructively and ethically with others to fill a need or solve a common problem.
I call myself conservative by nature and I believe our US Constitution stands as the greatest written guide on Earth for a free people to govern themselves. I am like you, with the same pressures and demands we all face in life. This life has been a gift from God. My greatest blessings are my wife and children.��I pledge to listen to the people I represent. I will be accessible. I will attend school board and township meetings and go where I�m invited to meet with the citizens of the district. My responsibility is to listen to the people of the 130th and then vote in Harrisburg as best represents you and the needs of the district. It is not my agenda - it is your agenda to make government work for the people of south eastern Berks County.
These 2010 elections are critical. It seems that they become more so every election cycle. But the stakes keep getting higher and now is the time to become part of the process. I ask you for your help with my campaign. Please check our �Volunteer / Donate� page on this site. I also respectfully ask for your vote on November 2nd.� - David
