Close encounter with my R state rep
Attended a couple of recent events with my newly minted R state rep (PA HD14). He won an open seat previously held by a long time R incumbent, who retired, in November. He's a young guy and shows a bit of ability to think for himself, but otherwise a run of the mill, christian type R. He supports school vouchers, doesn't believe humans contribute to climate change, taught at the local cyber charter school for a few years, kids attend the local christian school rather than the public school, balanced budget yada, yada.
At the first event (about 20 people and generally cordial) he got a lot of pretty specific questions. I was surprised to hear him say he supports consolidation of school administration at the county level and regionalization of police and fire departments, all of which I strongly support. One retired teacher asked about COLAs, which aren't automatic and have to be voted on and passed by the state legislature. He replied that COLAs aren't paid for, presumably he thinks it's just adds to the budget "defitcit", but also conviently ignored the automatic COLAs the state legislature voted for themselves after the great midnight pay raise fiasco. Another person brought up the charter/cyber schools and said they all need to be audited for both finances and performance vis-a-vis public schools. He said they were being audited probably based on a recently released Aud Gen report that showed the charter/cyber schools are flush with cash. One of his gripes about Shapiro's budget is the extra 486M for education (because of the state supreme court ruling that the way PA schools are funded is unconstitutional).
I asked if there was a plan to replace funding for food and education that is being cut and withheld by the Trump administration. He said that so far, there haven't been any cuts to the money the state is supposed to get, but implied it might come with less restrictions, probably as block grants. I asked if there was a legislative Plan B in case federal money did dry up and he said there isn't although I'm betting Gov Shapiro has one.
The second event (about 15 people) was much more informal. It got sidetracked by a long discussion about social media, it's toxicity and what could be done. It was a good conversation and I noticed my rep really listening to what a recent college grad had to say about her experience growing up with social media from its infancy to today. There was also a long conversation about the environment. My rep is all in on natural gas development because it's abundant. I asked specifically if he supported continuning to regulate for clean air and clean water and fwiw he said he did. I was again surprised that he said he had believed the hype about Shell's ethane cracker plant and the jobs it would create, but has since seen it hasn't materialized. He said he doesn't believe in tax credits to lure businesses, something I was honestly amazed to hear.
He did recently vote for 2 of 4 bills (1 was on not allowing insurers to deny policies based on pre-existing conditions) Dems proposed to incorporate some of the ACA provisions in state law. He was 1 of 20 Rs to vote for these bills and I think the only R in western PA to do so.
He won't ever get my vote, but maybe there is a glimmer of hope for him to not just be lockstep with the cult.
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