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WILKES-BARRE — Supporters of Bernie Sanders for president who live in Luzerne County now have a hub from which to operate, as the Vermont senator’s campaign continued its roll-out in Pennsylvania Wednesday with the grand opening of an office in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
With images of Sanders’ trademark bald head, tufts of hair and glasses painted on the walls (the artwork of local supporters), a couch covered with what appeared to be a bed sheet, and the lack of a finished floor or carpeting, the office at 1 S. Washington St., next door to The Cheesesteak Factory, was about as “grass roots” as it gets.
Still, Colin O’Neill, regional field director for the campaign in Northeastern Pennsylvania, said he was impressed with supporters here.
“This state is most impressive to me because it’s the best organized that I’ve seen when I’ve been on the ground. I’m not just saying that, it really was. There’s a weekly newsletter that goes out and is run by volunteers,” said O’Neill, who started working with the campaign in his home state of Maine.
“Normally I’m stressing out because I’ve got to find people to reach out to (and figure out) who’s going to help us build our machine. But on the ground in Pennsylvania, I was stressed out because the group on the ground had already set up 10 events, so I’m chasing events all over the place, and that’s a great problem to have. I’ve not ever participated in a campaign where people have been so active on their own accord,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill said he wants to “take the existing infrastructure that the organized volunteers have developed and we just want to push it in the right direction, which is going and knocking on doors and talking to … folks who are on the fence and making sure they know why they should vote for Bernie.”
O’Neill noted Sanders’ opposition to free trade deals that he said helped devastate jobs in his hometown as well as in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and said that was what prompted him to support Sanders. He asked others to share their stories.
Regina Costa, 52, of Plains Township, said she supports Sanders because he’s the only candidate who opposes hydraulic fracturing for environmental reasons.
Daniel Kopec, 20, of Kingston, said he likes Sanders because he’s the only candidate who views global climate change as “a major issue.”
One man who described himself as a 47-year-old disabled veteran from Plains Township described the Republican candidates and Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton as “war mongers” while Sanders is “actually trying to fight for disabled veterans, he’s fighting for the VA hospital, he’s not wanting to privatize it like the Republicans are trying to do.”
Others mentioned Sanders’ views on health care and campaign finance reform as reasons meriting his support.
To learn more about Sanders’ platform and how to support his campaign, visit www.berniesanders.com or call the Wilkes-Barre campaign office at 570-904-3731 or visit the office at 1 S. Washington St., open between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily.
