letter-to-editor-opinion.png

Letter to the Editor: ‘Assault on nature’ spoils an otherwise picture-perfect day in Forty Fort

web1_TTL060316STEM2.jpg

The guitar shovel and tin-can engine big hits at Butwin Elias Science and Technology awards

<p>HARRISBURG &#8212; The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania was forced Thursday to explain her campaign trail statements that she was the first in her big family to go to college &#8212; even though an older brother graduated from college years before her.</p><p>Katie McGinty&#8217;s brother John received degrees from La Salle University and Temple University before she started attending St. Joseph&#8217;s University in 1981, soon after she graduated from high school.</p><p>The claim is a key campaign talking point of McGinty&#8217;s as the Philadelphia native has played up her blue-collar roots in her challenge to Republican incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey in a race that could tilt control of the U.S. Senate.</p><p>McGinty has made rising student loan debt a central part of her campaign, and has cast herself as the candidate who would do more to make college more affordable.</p><p>The McGinty campaign said the difference is that John McGinty earned credits from a community college before getting a bachelor&#8217;s degree from La Salle.</p><p>In a statement released by his sister&#8217;s campaign, John McGinty said &#8220;the way that Katie and our family have always talked about our experience is she was the first of the 10 McGinty kids to attend and graduate from a four-year college, straight out of high school.&#8221;</p><p>Buzzfeed first reported Wednesday that McGinty&#8217;s brother graduated from La Salle in 1973. He also received a master&#8217;s degree from Temple in 1978.</p><p>In January, McGinty told The Associated Press she was &#8220;the ninth of 10 kids and the first in my family to go to college.&#8221; Her Facebook site repeated the claim on Feb. 25. Her campaign website said she was the first to go to a &#8220;four-year college.&#8221;</p><p>In a brief interview Thursday with The Philadelphia Inquirer, McGinty addressed questions about the Buzzfeed report.</p><p>&#8220;Our family story here is one that we&#8217;re proud of, and that is that as the ninth of 10 kids in our family I was the first who right out of high school was able to go to four-year college . it was a big moment in our family&#8217;s life,&#8221; McGinty said. &#8220;It just brings home to me that every kid needs to have a shot at affordable education and it&#8217;s an essential piece of who I am.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_McGinty_Katie-cmyk.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">McGinty </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_McGinty_Katie-cmyk.jpg</photo0><caption0>McGinty </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By MARC LEVY</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

McGinty forced to explain 1st-to-college claim