Yesterday at the Hollidaysburg Area YMCA, Debbie Shuster King announced her candidacy for the office of Blair County Treasurer.
Surrounded by her father, former congressman E.G. “Bud” Shuster, her brother congressman Bill Shuster, husband and children, King said her experience would make her a solid candidate for Blair County Treasurer.
“I am announcing my candidacy for the office of Blair County Treasurer,” said King. “Our current treasurer Fred Foreman will be retiring at the end of his term in December of 2003. I’d like to commend Fred, for his hard work and dedication, and hope to build on his accomplishments.”
King graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in accounting in 1985 and earned her CPA certificate while working for the accounting firm of Peat Marwick Mitchell.
She also served as assistant controller at Centel Information Systems, a subsidiary of Centel Corporation and was named Employee of the Year by the president of CIS in 1989.
King served as a partner in the accounting firm of Sickler, Shuster and Associates with offices in Tyrone and Altoona. She also served as chief financial officer for Valley Air Services and most recently was president, general manager and controller of Shuster Chrysler in East Freedom.
“My family has long believed in public service,” said King. “My parents were not the first and hopefully my brother will not be the last. Growing up, it was instilled in us that public service was not only a noble calling, but each one of us has a responsibility to serve our community. I have been blessed with a loving family, many wonderful friends and a successful business career. I believe now, that it is my time to serve my community in a greater capacity.”
King spoke of her committment of Blair County and its future.
“In today’s world it’s more important than ever that we have dedicated and qualified elected officials. Our officials need to work as a team from the local and county level to the state and federal level. With my financial background, the best position on our team is that of Blair County Treasurer. Hopefully, you believe my background demonstrates my qualifications to be the next treasurer of Blair County. I am 100 percent committed and dedicated to being the treasurer of Blair County.”
Following the announcement, King announced that Wayne Hippo would be the chairman of her campaign committee and Harry Sickler would serve as the campaign treasurer.
In talking about his sister’s run for office, current Ninth District Congressman Bill Shuster talked of her dedication to the community.
“She is between my brother and I,” said Shuster of his sister. “I can say from first hand experience that not only is she the smartest one in the family, she is the toughest one in the family and that comes from growing up between two brothers.”
In his introduction, Altoona City Councilman Wayne Hippo, who is serving as King’s campaign manager talked of why he is involved in King’s campaign.
“My experience over the past five years in working in an elected office has taught me two very critical things when it comes public service,” said Hippo. “One of those is that it is so important to have qualified people hold these public offices. The second thing that is often overlooked is qualifications alone isn’t going to cut it. Just because you are a CPA doesn’t mean you are necesarilary going to be a good county treasurer. The other thing it is going to take is a lot of hard work. Because qualified people can get elected on those qualifications but not show up to do the job. In the years that I have known Debbie, she is an extremely hard worker and she will commit to this job on a full time basis. We have an opportunity to elect a qualified person to this position.”
King, her husband and two children reside in Hollidaysburg.
