Las Vegas plumbers join Trump at Rose Garden tax cut event
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump added some Sin City flavor to a Rose Garden event Thursday to highlight the impact of his tax cut on small businesses and working families: a pair of Las Vegas plumbers.
As Trump delivered his remarks he was flanked by Richard Kerzetski, president of Universal Plumbing & Heating Co. in Las Vegas, and second-year apprentice John Achzet. It was Achzet’s first visit to the White House, and Kerzetski’s second, having taken a tour of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. years ago.
“Did you do any work in any of my buildings out in Las Vegas?” Trump asked the plumbers as he introduced them on a picture perfect afternoon.
“We have not yet, sir,” Kerzetski answered.
Kerzetski said the tax cuts paid for purchases of “much-needed trucks, tools and office equipment.” Then there were “bonuses of $500 and $1,000 to all our employees.” And his firm hired several new employees, he said.
For Achzet, the bonus could not have come at a better time. In January, his wife delivered their second child, a son, who spent a week in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“Me and my wife were worrying on how we are going to pay for these doctor bills,” he said. With the tax cut and bonus, “We were able to.”
Kerzetski told the Review-Journal afterward that he and Achzet were invited to the White House event after he posted on social media about the investments in the business that he attributed to the tax cut.
He said he had first met Trump at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas when the then-candidate dropped in during the Nevada caucus in 2016 and was impressed. Trump, he said, shook hands with everyone in the room and looked everyone in the eye.
Both Nevadans said they voted for Trump.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.
