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By KENNETH P. VOGEL Times Leader Harrisburg Bureau
 Tuesday, January 22, 2002 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





HARRISBURG - From selling Chevys to breeding horses to building schools,
Don Sherwood has been successful in most of his endeavors. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But the 60-year-old Republican congressman from Tunkhannock acknowledged
his latest challenge figures to be a tough one. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If Sherwood wins a third term, as expected, in November, he will head back
to Washington facing: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Questions about his commitment to the Northeast &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lingering comparisons to his lionized predecessor &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A different job description than the one he had during his first four
years in Congress. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sherwood shrugs off criticisms that he pushed a redistricting plan that
many Northeast leaders say guaranteed his ongoing re-election at the expense
of the region's future. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He welcomes the challenges of representing new communities and living up to
the legacy of the politician he succeeded, U.S. Rep. Joseph McDade, R-Clarks
Summit. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``You always have to be working toward goals,'' Sherwood said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 After graduating from Wyoming Seminary and Dartmouth College and serving a
stint in the U.S. Army ordinance corps, Sherwood returned to Northeastern
Pennsylvania to open a Chevrolet dealership in Tunkhannock. Just 26, he was
the youngest Chevy dealer on the East Coast and the business blossomed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sherwood in 2000 had interests in Keystone Chrysler, Abington Chevrolet and
Horlacher &amp; Sherwood, a forestry equipment company, according to the most
recent financial interest statement on file with the clerk of the U.S. House
of Representatives. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He and his wife of 28 years, Carol, have three daughters, and, when they
were in Tunkhannock Area public schools, Sherwood won election to the School
Board. He served from 1975 to 1998, during which time the district built three
new schools. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In 1976, Sherwood bought some Belgian horses to participate in bicentennial
parades. This month his stable, now with 18 horses, claimed at least 20
first-place ribbons at the state Farm Show in Harrisburg. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Raising and grooming horses ``is a release for me - because you can't be
showing horses and politicking at the same time,'' Sherwood said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sherwood found himself in the eye of a political storm concerning the
redistricting plan that passed the state Legislature and was signed by the
governor earlier this year. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Barring the unlikely event of a successful court challenge, the plan will
remove Scranton and several surrounding municipalities from the 10th district
now held by Sherwood. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The 10th will continue to include most of Lackawanna County, part of
Lycoming County, and all of Wayne, Pike, Wyoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna and
Bradford counties. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The plan will add 255,000 new constituents from five new counties,
including 63,000 Luzerne County residents from Exeter down to Kingston through
the Back Mountain to the Columbia County border. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Since 1967, Sherwood has operated a successful car dealership - Sherwood
Chevrolet of Tunkhannock - roughly 15 miles from the Luzerne County border,
but he has never represented any portion of the county. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Though he asserted he has a good idea ``what is on people's minds in
Swoyersville, Forty Fort, Kingston and the Back Mountain,'' he would not name
any projects or issues specific to the area. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, who has represented those areas
since 1984, said he will brief Sherwood on priorities in those communities.
Kanjorski expressed confidence that Sherwood would get up to speed and move
along projects such as the Back Mountain Recreational Center in Lehman
Township and the separation of sewage and storm drainage lines that overflow
into the Susquehanna River during heavy rains in Kingston and Forty Fort. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kanjorski said he'll look to Sherwood for help in appraising and pushing
projects in Scranton. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In the past two weeks, Sherwood has held meetings to discuss priorities
with leaders from the Central Susquehanna Valley region, which is comprised
largely of four of his new counties - Snyder, Union, Northumberland and
Montour. He said he plans to do the same in Luzerne County soon. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Even if Sherwood dotes on his portions of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties,
state Sen. Robert Mellow, D-Peckville, asserts that the balance of power in
the 10th district has been shifted out of Northeastern Pennsylvania. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For more than a century, the 10th district has been anchored in Scranton
and a series of powerful congressmen from the metro area have treated the city
well. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Before retiring in 1998, McDade served for 36 years, bringing Scranton
scores of projects, including the $66 million Steamtown historic complex, as
well as defense contracts for area businesses. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Mellow, the Senate minority leader, pointed out that the four Central
Susquehanna Valley counties, combined with the part of adjoining Lycoming
County in the 10th district, would comprise the largest population center in
the new district, with 40 percent of its constituents residing there. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sherwood acknowledges that ``the way this district is configured, the
congressman could come from most any area because there's no dominant area.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mellow said he believes the net result will be less clout in Washington for
the area and blames Sherwood for putting his own political future and that of
his party in front of those of Northeast Pennsylvanians. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Considered the most vulnerable of 11 Republican Congress members from
Pennsylvania, Sherwood narrowly won two heated elections over Democrat Patrick
Casey of Scranton. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The son of popular former governor Bob Casey and brother of Bob Casey Jr.,
- the auditor general and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful - Patrick Casey
likely won't be able to mount a vigorous challenge of Sherwood because the
plan moved his home and heavily Democratic political power base of Scranton
out of the district. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But newly sworn-in Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, a Democrat, said he's
confident Sherwood, who attended Doherty's inauguration, will continue to
represent Scranton. ``So we'll have two congressmen,'' Doherty said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``If I were Don Sherwood, my priority right now would be Montour, Snyder,
Union and Northumberland counties, because that's where (his electoral)
competition is going to be from, not Northeast Pennsylvania,'' Mellow said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``It's unlikely that the congressman will come from someplace other than
Lackawanna or Luzerne or Wyoming County or the counties immediately
surrounding them,'' said state Sen. Charles Lemmond, R-Dallas. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A longtime Sherwood supporter, Lemmond said Sherwood ``will pay the
appropriate interest to all the counties'' - no matter how expansive the new
district. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``Don has a mean truck and he drives a lot,'' Lemmond said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kenneth P. Vogel, the Times Leader's Harrisburg reporter, may be reached at
(717) 238-4728 or kvogel@leader.net. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

10th District Tunkhannock Congressman Faces New Hurdles In Re-election Bid Sherwood Up To Challenge Of New Constituents