News Nearby: Robinson Man Takes on Casey in Senate Race

Joseph Vodvarka is an “everyday businessman” who has manufactured springs in his small machine shop in Robinson Township for the past 33 years.

Now the “old-time Democrat” is prepared to take on his party and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey with his shoestring campaign budget in the upcoming April 24 primary.

“I’m a nobody, and I’m running for the second-highest office in America,” Vodvarka said. “What I represent is fair trade. I’m a working man.”

Vodvarka, 68, has never held public office before, but he attempted to get on the Democratic primary ballot for U.S. Senate two years ago. However, one of his opponents challenged 700 of his petition signatures, and Vodvarka was booted from the ballot before the 2010 primary.

This year, Vodvarka and his wife, Pat, who is his campaign secretary, and their 29-year-old son, Jesse, his campaign manager, hit the streets again and made sure they had more than enough to withstand any challenges.

Vodvarka spent time at the Steel Plaza subway station in downtown Pittsburgh trying to get signatures and speaking with people about the country. He said the common complaint was job creation and dissatisfaction with the government.

“I want to bring this country back,” he said. “I want to bring the jobs back. I want to bring this country back to what it was like when I was a young man.”

Vodvarka is proud of his shoestring budget that he estimates has only spent about $5,000 to date (campaign finance disclosure figures for the first quarter of 2012 were not available as of April 5). He’s touring the state in a 1994 sedan with more than 100,000 miles with plans to drive to the Lehigh Valley and State College this week.

It will be a tough challenge against Casey, who is the senior senator from Pennsylvania after first winning the seat in 2006 by defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum for the six-year term.

Vodvarka wants to bring his business knowledge to office so he can fight unfair trade practices by other countries. He doesn’t think it’s fair that companies can outsource jobs and sell products back to America without substantial tariffs or penalties.

“If we keep this up, we’ll have only two options with jobs,” he said. “You either have the jobs that left or the jobs that are going to leave.”

For more information about Vodvarka, go to his website at www.joevodvarka.com.

Seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in the primary are David Christian of Upper Makefield Township, Marc Scaringi of Camp Hill Borough, Steven Welch of Charlestown Township, Tom Smith of Plumcreek Township and Sam Rohrer of Robeson. Smith, who is from Armstrong County, is the only other candidate from western Pennsylvania.