The 9-12 Project of Central PA

"You Are NOT Alone!"

Collegian: Continental Congress 2009 Candidate Election

Locals hold elections, remember roots

By Brittany Stoner and Evan Trowbridge
Collegian Staff Writers

Original article here.

Members of the 9-12 Project of Central Pa. tried to resurrect the revolutionary attitude of American's founding fathers on Saturday by holding an election to choose representatives in a nationwide Continental Congress to be held in November.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., members of the grassroots organization manned the polls at Toftrees Golf Resort and Conference Center. The Continental Congress '09 is coordinated by the We the People Foundation, which aims to restrict the power of the federal government.

The congress will be the first held in recent history, with the intention of bringing the government back to operating within constitutional limits. A total of 153 delegates from all states and the District of Columbia will meet in Illinois from Nov. 9 to 22.

"They do not want to touch the Constitution," said Peter Trippett, president of the 9-12 Project of Central Pa., which organized the polling session. "They want to force the government back to following the rules set forth in the Constitution."

The turnout of 26 voters at the State College polling place came from as far away as Butler and Somerset counties to vote at one of the six locations in the state between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Trippett said he was not expecting a big turnout because voters had the option of mailing in their ballots.

Among them was gubernatorial candidate Jay Russell, who did a headstand to entertain volunteers. Centre County's 9-12 group -- which is based off of conservative television host Glenn Beck's idea of bringing Americans together regardless of party affiliation -- has more than 300 members registered online.

The ballots were counted at 4 p.m. and the top candidates were Floyd Houdeshell Jr., Hagan Smith, of Lewisburg, Pa., and Robert Pepe, of Pennsburg, Pa. Of the 11 candidates, Houdeshell lived the closest to State College.

Trippett linked the convention back to the colonist's struggles against the British government in early America.

"They would petition them and be ignored," Trippett said. "Then they would petition them again and be ignored."

He feels that his fellow Americans are being treated the same way today by their government.

"If you look at the Constitution, it was to protect the people from the government," 9-12 Project member Greg Fasolt said. "Now, it's an inverted morality."

Mark Brady, also a member of the 9-12 Project, was working at the Penn State football game but left at the end of the third quarter to come vote. He said he already knew who he wanted to vote for and decided to vote in person because there was a voting precinct in State College.

Legislators are invited to attend the convention to meet with the elected state delegates. Citizens also are able to attend or watch the conference via a live online feed.

The 9-12 Project of Central Pa. is not affiliated with the Continental Congress but offered to help set up a polling place after Houdeshell came to a meeting to advocate for the convention.

"We're really bound by our concern for the lack of respect to the Constitution and our people," group secretary Wendy Brown said.

Trippett said that it is because of this concern that he has become as politically active as he is today.

"If you told me a couple years ago that I would have been marching in Washington and running a Continental Congress voting session, I would have said you are crazy," Trippett said.

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