Questionnaire Responses

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Developing relationships with other legislators, governor’s office, administrators, etc. Democracy functions best when elected officials listen, try to find common ground, and problem solve in good faith. 

Studying the introduced bills to understand the implications. Over 700 bills were introduced into legislation during the 2024 session. Many included confusing language. I’ll read every bill and assess risk/benefit before I vote.

Communicating with constituents through a newsletter. I’ll let you know what’s being proposed and likely implications. I’ll solicit input and reactions. Whether you vote for me or not, I will represent you.

Three filters help identify the issues. 

• Does it impact quality of life locally? 
• Does it chip away at our freedom? 
• Will it impact the economic health of local businesses and working-class families?

District 1 issues:

Women’s healthcare – specifically OB/GYN. Our rural healthcare system is in jeopardy. We all need to feel safe.

Underfunded/under-supported public schools – Equip our young people for economic opportunities locally, after they leave high school.

Aging infrastructure stressed by growth, affordable housing; safe, navigable roads; and robust, sustainable sewer/water systems fall into that category.

We need collaborative problem solving across different perspectives to address these problems. 

In 100 words? 

Step 1: triage. Stabilize District 1, stop the legislative attacks. We have to stop the IFF from breaking everything. 

Legislators introduced 700+ bills … (that’s not less government)… giving themselves the power to line-item veto; adding administrative burdens to public libraries, schools, etc; generating and permitting more lawsuits; handing our portion of federal funds to other states; removing local control over housing, libraries, and schools, etc.

Our local responsibility for financial, legal, and administrative burden keeps growing, exacerbated by the state’s chokehold on promised funds and more laws preventing us from solving local issues.

 The state has shirked its constitutional responsibility to public education. HB521 adds $1.5B in funding for schools over the next 10 years. At the same time it includes a tax cut that combined with other tax cuts in the past few years removes $571M from the fund over the next 3 years. They are funding schools at the same rate that they are removing funding. They are playing us. Local communities pick up that slack.  In District 1, non-profit organizations fund schools. The burden is huge. Valuable programs are cut. Facilities are crumbling. Our students pay the price.

I am running to represent every citizen in District 1 – those who vote for me and those who don’t. I like having conversations with people who disagree because I always learn something. I will always demonstrate respect, listen, and seek to understand. 

I will reply to messages (email and phone) from constituents. I am happy to meet with individuals or groups as long as the environment is safe. 

Local businesses identify affordable housing as a top priority to attract employees and help our young people stay and raise families.

The state could stop creating obstacles – stop writing bills to prevent local problem solving … stop rejecting federal matching funds. Federal funds are our tax dollars. They’ll just go to other states. 

Positive state actions could be opportunity zones, land banking, housing preservation, infrastructure improvements, financial incentives, or implementing progressive rather than regressive taxes. Structure tax rebates to help working class and lower/middle income families. Housing trust fund? Local collaborative problem solving is needed. 

I support open primaries wholeheartedly. It takes the power away from the parties and puts it back into the hands of the people. It prevents the situation where people have to register as a different party just to have their vote count. We have around 50,000 people in District 1, which means we have 50,000 different perspectives. Why are we letting 7,771 votes decide who represents us? The open primaries allow us to vote for the most qualified person, regardless of party. It’s simply fairer for all voters. Neither party can manipulate the outcome. 

I oppose those efforts. We already have processes in place for parents or any citizen to object to a book and have it reviewed. Cost to taxpayers and loss of services. Extra government mandates on librarians are time-consuming and will diminish the joy of being a librarian as they shift focus from curating books to fearing an activist parent. The libraries are treasured community resources with amazing professionals, not our enemies. I hope librarians don’t flee.

Every person I have spoken with who wants these bills admits to not using our libraries. They’ve been activated by out-of-state messaging and fear.

A commitment to represent your constituents – not your own interests nor the bidding of special interest groups, nor even your party bosses. Right now, too many of our legislators are possessed by special interests. It may be easier to be told how to vote and handed prewritten bills. I know there is pressure from those special interests and fellow legislators. This is why a healthy balance of representation from both parties is important. Healthy debate delivers better problem-solving and will make it harder to just hand our state government over to the special interests. 

Yes, more than once. I cofounded a successful software company back in the early internet days. 9/11 happened and we were left with $750,000 in uncollectable receivables. I wanted to close our doors. I was thinking of my family. My husband made the case for our employees and their families. Convincing me that we could use a 401K and sell stock from a company we’d incubated. It created stress and financial setback, but it was the right thing to do. I’m proud of the choice. My family is bigger than my family. There were no social supports unlike during Covid.  

Who do you answer to in your decisions and communications as legislator?In my role as legislator, I answer to the people of District 1. People must participate and make their voices heard. That is how our government was intended. The framers insisted on separation of church and state to allow answering to the people. Pennsylvania’s pre-constitution answered to God first and used that as an excuse to persecute my early Quaker relatives. Though we didn’t agree on many things, John McCain was a role model. A man with a quiet faith who led through thoughtful, authentic leadership. 

I will represent you. I’ll tell the truth. I’ll listen and learn. I’m a capable business leader, who’ll bring diligence, problem solving, tenacity, honesty, collaboration, and humor to the office.

I’ve always had more courage than sense. I’ve stood toe to toe with the toughest negotiators in the world and come out ahead.  

Finally, I don’t want this job for the power. I don’t want this job to please the party. I want this job because I care about the people who live here. I want to preserve the quality of life and help usher in the future we want.