Susan Boser

A professor looking to unseat the incumbent in the new 15th Congressional District said she has watched government policies negatively affect social issues for 20 years, so she decided to do something about it.

Susan Boser, the Democratic candidate for the seat held since 2009 by Republican Glen “G.T.” Thompson in the former 5th District, said she has lived in small-town, rural Pennsylvania all her life.

Having worked in human services for 20 years, the last 16 as a social policy professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Boser said she has seen areas like the 15th District suffer. “It's become very clear to me that things are actually getting worse in the last decade in particular,” Boser said.

She said empty storefronts, young people leaving because they can't find jobs with living wages and other issues have not been helped by the votes of elected officials.

“I'm deeply concerned with the people in the region, so that is why I decided to run,” Boser said.

The 15th District reaches south from north-central Pennsylvania and includes eastern Butler County.

One of Boser's top concerns and an area in which she will try to affect change if elected is health care.

Boser said she has been disappointed by the Republican votes to attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the current rush to dismantle it piece by piece.

“I am horrified at the idea of Congress permitting insurance companies to refuse to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions,” Boser said.

She said the top 11 industrial countries in the world have single-payer programs and pay half the amount as the average American for health care.

Boser added that of those 11 countries, the U.S. has the worst health care outcomes.

“It absolutely can be done,” she said of enacting a single-payer system nationwide.

Another area Boser would like to impact is the economic development of the region. “Specifically, jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage,” she said. “Unemployment is low, but people are not making enough money to raise a family.”

She said providing high speed broadband in rural areas would be a priority of hers in the 15th District, as the once-reliable manufacturing jobs give way to the information industry.

She said call centers now located in India could be moved to the district if broadband was available.

“You can't do it in Emlenton or Sarver because those areas don't have access to high speed Internet,” Boser said.

Providing the service would also help entrepreneurs start their businesses in their own community.

“It's undermining the economy and leaves us a Third World nation because we can't participate in the new order of the economy,” Boser said.

Boser believes strongly in supporting small business owners through low-cost loans and thinning the red tape and regulations that now must be navigated to open a business.

“It's often cost prohibitive to leave a job that may not pay that well but has health care, especially for those who have a family,” she said.

She also disapproves of the decisions being made in Washington, D.C., and their affect on rural areas like the 15th District.

“I believe that the really big multinational corporations have invested a tremendous amount of money in campaigns, and I think a lot of the policies that have come through our Congress in recent years have been decided upon by those big donations,” Boser said.

She feels while voters may think there is no hope when it comes to changing the way government operates, her opinion is that one purpose of elected officials is to balance the interests of business, industry and the economy with those of the people they serve.

“Right now, big business is benefiting,” Boser said. “If elected, I will not be beholden to anybody but the voters of this district.”