Biographical Information
County
Erie
Occupation
Second Lieutenant - Army National Guard
Education
B.A. - Political Science, B.S. Marketing, minor in Military Studies, almost done with MBA as well.
What do you see as the most pressing issues facing Pennsylvanians, and how would you address them?
Pennsylvania is falling behind in too many areas. We need to enact change if we want to correct our course. PA ranks 49th nationally in per-student support for higher education. We rank 47th in fiscal stability, 46th in infrastructure, and plenty of other statistics we could list, but it is more than important to note we have a decreasing population. People are leaving PA because they are not seeing a positive change. They don't see a future here that they want to continue in, raise a family in, and live the rest of their days in. We need to start listening to constituent wants and needs and adjust accordingly. What we are doing clearly is not working, so let's address that.
What changes would you support making to Pennsylvania’s voting laws to expand access, ensure security, and support local election officials and processes?
First of all, expanding access, the first thing we would need to do is declare election day a federal holiday. So many of our voters are strong working-class families that need to go to work to pay the bills. This would be the first step in ensuring they have the time/ availability to go out and vote.
Given I am running out of characters I will move on to a point that hits access and security in one. Often we hear opposition to mandated voter ID at polling stations. This is essential to improving security, but concerns are raised about access to ID's. Nowadays, most of us have one as we need it for just about everything. For those who don't, we should set up ID drives to help get id's for those who can't afford it, or don't have access.
What legislation would you support to comply with the Commonwealth Court's ruling that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unconstitutional and must be reformed?
Every student deserves to have a quality, safe education. I personally saw what it was like to go to a school where the funding was far below par. Over a third of the building we were in was condemned/ closed off due to the unsafe conditions including collapsing walkways, ceilings, asbestos, and much more. They would even have buckets in the middle of the hallways to catch water dripping from the ceiling. Anyways, while this was going on, we saw surrounding districts have far less issues, and massively higher funding per student ratios. One of the best ways to address this would be by calculating what the cost of education should be per student, and providing flat, equal funding accordingly based on current fiscal year enrollments.
What changes, if any, would you support making to Pennsylvania’s abortion laws?
Candidate has not yet responded.