Speeches and Speakers from County Republican Dinner

FLEMINGTON – The Clinton County Republican Party held their Annual Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday evening at the Red Eye Center in Flemington.

Elected officials and candidates for various state and local offices spoke to those in attendance. Excerpts from their speeches are below.

Two weeks ago I was blessed to receive the state committee endorsement for superior court, so I am excited for the journey ahead. I am currently President Judge in Chester County and I was elected to President Judge relatively recently. I was an Assistant District Attorney in Chester County for 12 years. I have prosecuted and sentenced every kind of case from DUI to murder. I have sat in dependency court, and civil court, and have vast experiences in all areas. I was acknowledged by the state for my knowledge in criminal court so much that they have asked me to educate and teach judges to be criminal court judges. I am also known for my work in treatment court and am a huge advocate of diverting non-violent offenders into treatment such as mental health treatment, veterans court, etc. I have a treatment court dog named Stormy, our courthouse dog. In 2014 when I was working with children I heard about a court in Florida that brought in a dog to help in interviews with children. I worked long and hard for this, and started to raise service dogs and I just happened to bring them into work with me. I have done the criminal work for 25 years and I have decided to run for Superior Court because I have personal experience of what happens when you have judges without conservative values on the Superior Court bench. I tried a case involving an assault on a young girl at West Chester University. Three men came from Philadelphia to a party at the college, did not leave, and assaulted her for many hours. I tried that case against three defense attorneys, won it, an appeal was taken to Superior Court and they overturned the jury verdict and the men were released from prison. I tell you this story so you can tell others why Superior Court judges are important. The District Attorney’s office then appealed it to the Supreme Court, the verdict reinstated, and the men returned to jail. They must have had 15 law clerks between the three of them and they did what they wanted to do instead of applying the correct law. Superior Court can affect the work that our police officers do. I appreciate everything you do and I can only be successful based on what you do. It is hard to get people to the polls these off-years, but I try to encourage you to get others to vote on election day.

Thank you for saving America! Your work helped put Donald J. Trump back in the White House. When I first ran for election in Clinton County it was a 2:1 Democrat county and it was overwhelming. And you are not sitting on your laurels, every month the ratio is continuing to grow. America is growing more to become stronger, wealthier, and greater. Thank you for providing me with another massive win. Under Trump 45, I didn’t need my neighbors’ rooster to wake me up, I had Donald J. Trump’s Tweets to wake me up, and now I just have his Executive Orders. It has been awesome what he is doing for the country, promises made and promises kept. Illegal border crossings are down over 90%, I think 96% down. Unleashing American energy as well, too, increasing supply for the demand that is out there. President Trump has adopted my favorite bumper sticker, “You can’t spend what you don’t have.” Certainly he has said that before. Soft diplomacy takes forever and does not deliver the results or promises often. President Trump is working with sledgehammer diplomacy getting it done each and every day. There are an increasing number of Democrats and Independents who are loving what Trump is doing every day. I am returning as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Last week, we passed Whole Milk for Healthy Kids, restoring whole milk in our schools. I am also looking at getting a badly-needed farm bill to President Trump’s desk. In difficult years it is agriculture that has held the economy together. I talk to a lot of farmers here at home and across the United States. What I heard from them is that they won’t be able to afford to plant the crops. What happens when farmers cannot farm? Food insecurity. We were able to give our farmers $21 billion in disaster economic assistance for the weather that destroyed farms, but we were also able to get $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers. There are some farmers that borrow more in a year to raise crops than some families borrow in a lifetime. We need a farm bill. Farmers want to be able to prosper and be successful. These judge elections in 2025 are absolutely critical. There are already talks about redistricting well before we even get to the next census in 2030. Vote for our outstanding Republican judge candidates. Matt Wolford from Erie is fighting government overreach and is an outstanding candidate for the Commonwealth Court. What you did in 2024 I want you to do in 2025.

Thompson then presented Kurt Smith with an authentic green hat with yellow lettering, “Make Agriculture Great Again.”

I have served as your county Treasurer for the past 14 years. I was born and raised in Clinton County and have worked in the Treasurer’s Office for the past 34 years. I am seeking re-election to provide stability in the Treasurer’s Office for you, the people of Clinton County. I am responsible for balancing 46 accounts, monthly reports, selling various types of licenses, and much more. I have always received good audits. I am the collector for the current year for 20 of 36 municipalities and delinquent real estate taxes. Last year I got 55 properties put back on the tax rolls due to the sale or properties. I am always looking for ways to serve the people of the county, including having a drop box and walk-up window installed during COVID, and by accepting credit and debit cards in the office. I am dedicated to do the services that I am elected to do. I am always available to you and work many nights and weekends. My name will appear in the ballot as Michelle “Mick” Kunes. I ask you, your friends and family, to support me, the incumbent with 34 years of experience.

I as well am a lifelong resident of Clinton County and a graduate of Lock Haven High School. I am a proud mother of two grown sons and three granddaughters. After briefly attending Williamsport Area Community College I knew that college was not for me. I started working as a part-time teller and developed my skills, moving up to a full-time teller at a bank in downtown Lock Haven. I enrolled in many training and development courses to increase my knowledge in skills and mentor staff. I worked hard to advance to new positions and became a Corporate Vice President in 2016. In banking and community volunteer work, one of my greatest accomplishments at the end of the day is knowing that I was able to better the financial life of my customers. As a new board member of a local non-profit organization, I reviewed their financial reports and saw their earnings were very low. That organization went from making less than $2,000 in interest in a year, to over $19,000 in interest in just one of their accounts. That organization that year moved over their million dollar mark in their funds and they were very proud. As Clinton County Treasurer, I will be in a position to review county accounts and will look forward to raising income in investments and cost savings. I will make sure reports are accurate and on time in order to make vital decisions. In my current position, we received 99% in bank audits in 2024. I am a dedicated and responsible individual. I will be there for the people of Clinton County and will seek out any additional training in order to stay up to date. I ask you for your support and vote on Tuesday, May 20 in the Primary.

It is an honor to stand in front of you. I am not running for any office. Tonight I have an opportunity to express my views as a U.S. citizen. I have been a resident of this county for the last 33 years. I came to New Jersey in 1984, did my training, and then came to beautiful Pennsylvania. I am blessed. This is my land of karma, where I raised my two boys. We are blessed that President Trump stayed alive after the shooting. It is not a small matter. God was watching us. Going back to India, people ask me what is going on with the USA? We are to be a lighthouse for the world. Why are we spending billions of dollars around the world, and not here in the U.S.? Some of my patients only live on $900, $1,000 a month and have to decide on buying food or medicine each month. Survival is expensive. We Americans did a great job of electing President Trump. We are not done yet. I see a lot of young faces here which makes me happy. I teach at colleges and see young people brainwashed against America, liberalized. We need to elect the right people, not only politicians but judges. We need to go house to house, door to door. This county was a totally liberal county, we need to turn it to a red wave. How can we get new, fresh brains ready to work? I came to this country legally, and pay my taxes. A friend of mine convinced his family and friends to vote for President Trump, over 500 people, in Baltimore. We have to go home and think about what we can do for our neighbors and friends. We need to tell our friends and families who have the wrong message that the time of America has come. We are the beacon of hope. I am hoping that my words will give you some idea of what everybody can do.

I feel humble because thanks to folks like you, my campaign received more votes than any state candidate in PA history. The keystone state sent President Trump back to the White House, Bob Casey back to Scranton, and two members of Congress into retirement, elected a Republican Attorney General, and re-elected two Republican conservative fiscal watchdogs to keep an eye on your taxpayer dollars. I am excited for the future. On election day in 2014 there were more than 1 million more Democrats, in 2024 there were less than 300,000 more Democrats. Soon enough PA will flip to a red state. Pennsylvania is turning red for one simple reason: people are sick and tired of the BS. Even though we had success in November we are just getting started. It is not all sunshine and rainbows, I am a little worried. When Trump was elected in 2016, the left’s attempt to bring down the man vandalized one of the nation’s most sacred institutions. Imagine what they are planning to do now that they know he means business. He is already bringing us results. Since taking office, President Trump has secured $1 trillion in foreign investments in the United States. ICE has arrested and is in the process of deporting thousands of illegal immigrants. In a 33 hour period, ICE arrested over 460 illegal immigrants with criminal histories of sexual assault, robbery, burglary, drugs and weapons offenses, resisting arrests, and domestic violence. President Trump has signed a series of executive orders to restore merit-based hiring and the elimination of DEI practices. He is working to increase government efficiency with DOGE and they have already saved taxpayers $55 billion all without gutting programs people rely on like Medicare and Medicaid. He told Vladimir Putin not to cross further into Ukraine, and Volodymyr Zelensky to stop shenanigans and seek peace. The fight is not over, it is just beginning. We need to keep the Democrats distracted and the best way to do that is to continue winning races. I know these races are not the most glamorous, but they are important. My office continues to return record amounts of unclaimed property, help families save for their children’s education and to help people have more financial freedom. I will continue to stand up for what is right in our government. It is important to keep our eye on the prize. We must continue to do the good work of elected solid Republicans for our communities, our children, and our children’s children. Keep America as the shining city on the hill, as President Reagan used to say.

You the people of the commonwealth have overcome some tremendous obstacles, a huge machine that was geared against the everyday people, and thank you for the people who went out to get people involved. Donald John Trump has been all about promises made, promises kept. Now is the time that these Democrats and Independents are having their eyes open is when we need to go door to door, talking to our neighbors, about what is happening in the country. Governor Shapiro is now down in York trying to show some sort of support because he has a huge issue on his hands right now. Wednesday we found out that hsi aircraft was down in DC, spent the night down there with a state plane, and had a fundraiser that raised $70,000 for him. Now today he is trying to deflect the media inquiries. I know we will uncover some stuff that came out of the Attorney General’s office. Chester County is within a difference of 4,700 and on their way to becoming a Republican majority again. Centre County has flipped to Republican again. Penn State Wrestling Champions were vocally supporting keeping men out of university girl’s sports. After a matter of weeks, we had a lot of university women coming over to the Republican side, registering to vote. We need a Pennsylvania DOGE and we will be working towards that. I am so grateful for the team in Clinton County, flipping the county for just the short period of time that I have been in the legislature.

Unfortunately, Attorney General Dave Sunday was not able to be present due to the happenings in York County Saturday afternoon. A moment of silence was held Saturday afternoon for the unfolding events and the lives lost.

State Representative Stephanie Borowicz was absent Saturday evening, spending time with her mother in Florida.