Sosa announces bid for Montco commissioner

A new name will be on the ballot in May, hoping to fill one of the three seats on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.

Ray Sosa, a Democrat and Wyncote resident, said he hopes to bring a varied background Ray Sosa and a new perspective to running the county’s government.

“I saw a couple of areas of need in Montgomery County that were not being addressed and that the two present incumbents just didn’t

seem to mention at all,” said Sosa.

Incumbents Val Arkoosh and Ken Lawrence will both appear on the Democrat side of the May primary ballot, and on the Republican side of the ballot will be incumbent Republican Joe Gale, his brother and running mate Sean Gale and Upper Pottsgrove Township Commissioner France Krazalkovich.

The primary election will be held on Tuesday, May 21, with the top two vote-getters in each party facing off in the General Election on Nov. 5.

Sosa said one his two main areas of focus would be on recidivism, the rate at which prisoners commit offenses again after they are released and end up back behind bars.

“There’s a lot of frustrated people. We only have one penitentiary, in Eagleville, and the recidivism rate is crazy. We keep putting people there for non-violent offenses, and it makes sure those people always have a blotch on their record. We need to resolve that,” Sosa said.

He said his second main priority is infrastructure, specifically finding ways that the county government can ensure all streets and sidewalks meet acceptability codes spelled out in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We don’t have a single zip code in Montgomery County that’s ADA-compliant. I have neighbors with wheelchairs and crutches, and we just had a baby about six months ago, and it’s impossible not to have to go through the street to have a continuous stroll,” Sosa said.

“They keep saying that infrastructure is a big priority right now, and it’s just not. I have neighbors who pay almost $20,000 a year in taxes, on average, and then you have cracked sidewalks, and it’s just a disaster,” he said.

Sosa said he would bring a varied background with both public and private sector experience to the county, having worked as a banker and insurance agent and currently as president of Round Hills Investments and Services. That firm was first founded in Florida, and helps link small business with the services they need to survive and thrive.

“The majority of the businesses are from the Latino demographic, and I structure the banking relationships, I structure the insurance relationships, I coordinate the training — if you’re a small business, I will help make you successful,” Sosa said.

In Florida, Sosa said, he worked as a representative of the government of Puerto Rico to that state, then in positions managing and overseeing juvenile prison systems and emergency management systems, posts he said taught lessons he hopes to apply here.

“Have you ever called 911 in the past year? I’ve been put on hold twice by 911 in Montgomery County, and then once they answer, it’s with an operator that dispatches you to somebody else,” he said.

“You can’t have that if somebody only has a couple of minutes to live.”

A move to Pennsylvania brought Sosa and his family closer to his wife’s family, who hail from Doylestown, and Sosa said his family background in agriculture would bring another angle he does not hear discussed often.

“I come from a family of farmers, and farmers here have been abandoned for a while. There isn’t a single structural subsidy for farmers,” he said.

“The county is so large, and the only thing they’re touting right now is the increase in the bond rating for Montgomery County. What we should be concentrating on is our public ADA compliance, and what we should be concentrating on is coming up with a formula that doesn’t punish homeowners and can still fund schools,” he said.

Other priorities? To improve the lives of all Pennsylvanians by implementing best practices that will create jobs, increase funding for education and look for ways to provide internet infrastructure to rural areas in the county, he said.

Once county officials announce the formal positions of each candidate on the primary ballot, Sosa said, he’ll start announcing and attending events across the county, to meet and greet residents from all backgrounds and demographics.

“Montgomery County is the second-richest county in Pennsylvania, and I’ll tell you why: they’re catering to the wealthy here,” he said.

“But there are a lot of needs here, and nobody was addressing them, so I figured, ‘I’ll raise my hand.”

For more information on Sosa and his policies and positions, visit RaySosaforMontCo.com or search for “Ray Sosa for Montgomery County Commissioner” on Facebook.