I was emailed this post. This post is excellent. Everyone I know who cares about this election is pulling for Irey!
Meet Diana Irey (by) E. L. Core
The Monongahela River winds through the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia through Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, where it joins the Allegheny River to form the Ohio. On its way, the Mon passes the City of Monongahela in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1769, the community of 5,000 maintains an active business district. Many historic buildings line Main Street, whose current residents take obvious pride in maintaining and presenting their homes. At the western end of town, a small park featuring a gazebo is the site of everything from weddings to the recent Flag Day ceremony. The “aquatorium” fronts the river mid-town, where the annual Fourth-of-July fireworks light up the steep wooded hills across the river, with folks watching the show from boats as well as from bleachers. At the eastern end of town, Whiskey Point is the site of one crucial event of the Whiskey Rebellion, Aug. 14, 1794, the first armed uprising against the federal government of the United States.
Park Avenue stretches along Pigeon Creek from Whiskey Point back towards hinterlands of dairy farms and scattered villages. Over the years, the residents of Park Avenue have seen young Stan Musial playing baseball with his friends and Joe Montana the boy practicing how to throw the football. General Carl Vuono, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, 1987-1991, grew up on Park Avenue, and so did Minnesota Vikings football great Fred Cox, inventor of the Nerf ball. These days, the headquarters of the Diana Irey for Congress campaign sits on Park Avenue in a small commercial plaza among homes overlooking youth soccer fields and a small rodeo round-up arena.
A Washington County commissioner, Ms. Irey is challenging Democrat Rep. John Murtha as the Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional district.
Ms. Irey, 43, was born in Ohio but mostly grew up in Wolf Summit, West Virginia. She graduated from Liberty High School, outside Clarksburg, and then enrolled in a one-year program at West Virginia Business College. Afterwards, she was employed by Consolidated Natural Gas until she married Bob Irey at 22 and moved to Monongahela, his hometown. They have three children: Victoria, 16; Frank, 15; and Alexandra, 12.
“The personal challenge right now,” Ms. Irey notes, “is trying not to be white-knuckled as I teach my daughter to drive.”
Waffles 
