ISSUES

  • As taxpayers, we are paying full-time premiums for part-time effort from many of our elected leaders. Pennsylvania is one of 10 full-time legislatures in the United States. We have the 3rd highest paid legislature in the nation, but despite their generous salaries, benefits, and pensions, approximately half of the 50-member Senate and a fourth of the 203-member House of Representatives maintain other business activities in addition to their legislative duties.* Private business interests bias elected officials’ decisions and distract them from the important work they have been elected (and richly compensated) to perform.

    Furthermore, Pennsylvania passed only 65 bills last year - it is one of the least productive legislatures in the nation. The contrast between the decadence and indolence in Harrisburg is offensive. They are treating their sacred duty like a side-hustle.

    This must stop.

    As your senator, I will work to restrict full-time elected officials from engaging in external business activities for the duration of their service. I also commit to not engage in private business activities while in office - you will have my undivided attention and fidelity. Help me create a Commonwealth where your public servant’s efforts are spent exclusively in service to you.

  • While Pennsylvania legislators have received an automatic cost of living adjustment since 1995, the minimum wage here in Pennsylvania has remained fixed at $7.25 since 2009, when the federal minimum wage was first implemented. We tie with 21 other states for having the lowest minimum wage in the nation.

    It is manifestly unfair for elected officials to give themselves an annual cost of living adjustment without doing the same for the poorest wage earners in the state. If we can’t afford to pay our poorest workers a living wage, then we can’t afford to pay more for leaders who already have it too good.

    I will propose legislation requiring any legislative cost of living adjustments to be applied to the minimum wage. This legislation isn’t going to solve wage stagnation on its own - it’s going to take a lot more than that to get them where they need to be. What this is about is reciprocity; let’s make it so elected officials can’t pad their salaries without first taking care of us.

  • Our country struggles with inequitable wages, and South Central Pennsylvania is no exception.

    Economists frequently measure inequality using the Gini coefficient, a scale from 0 to 1 where 0 means perfect equality and 1 means all wealth sits with one person. PA’s 34th districts trail the national average of 0.49, which is very high relative to other developed nations.

    Countries with low Gini coefficients share a common approach: they crack down on tax avoidance, ensure fair wages and safe working conditions, guarantee broad access to healthcare and social services, invest in anti‑poverty programs, and build governments that are diverse, transparent, and trusted.*

    These are exactly the areas where Pennsylvania must do better. If we want South Central PA to be a place where everyone - not just the wealthy - can build a secure life, we need to commit to the same principles that make more equitable societies possible.

  • While working at the 87th legislative district office in 2020, I spoke with numerous constituents and non-constituents alike who insisted there was widespread election fraud. Every one of those claims I heard was entirely unevidenced - I never spoke with anyone who said they witnessed fraud themselves, knew someone who had, or who provided proof of fraud.

    I don’t normally feel comfortable speaking in absolute terms, but I can say with near-total confidence that fears of widespread election fraud in Pennsylvania elections, both then and now, are unfounded. Don’t believe me - believe the staggering 43 court victories upholding the results of that election. So long as they retain demonstrable veracity, I commit to upholding the results of free and fair elections here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, regardless of their outcomes.

  • ICE may indeed have legally authorized duties within our government - kidnapping children, violently suppressing peaceful protesters, performing arrests and raiding homes without warrants, torturing detainees, and murdering civilians are not among them. I decry those illegal, cruel, and wicked activities and anyone who participates in them, and I encourage you to join me in peacefully doing likewise. In the immortal words of Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”