money Democrats Andre Horton, Julie Slomski want to unseat Republican Dan Laughlin from PA Senate
Erie County Councilman Andre Horton says he has more political experience than the other candidates running to represent Pennsylvania's 49th District senate seat.
Fellow Democrat Julie Slomski says her background working for Gov. Tom Wolf and with Erie's delegation to Harrisburg, as well as local officials, have prepared her for the job.
Horton and Slomski are running for the Democratic nomination in Tuesday's primary. Each wants the chance to unseat Republican incumbent Dan Laughlin, who is seeking a second, four-year term. He was first elected in 2016, when he defeated Democratic incumbent Sean Wiley.
Laughlin says he's worked hard to earn the trust of voters. Unopposed in the Republican primary, Laughlin has also asked his Democratic supporters to cast a write-in vote for him Tuesday.
The 49th District covers most of northern Erie County, including the city of Erie.
State senators are paid $90,300 in base pay as of 2020. They receive annual pay increases based on increases in the Consumer Price Index. They also are eligible for pensions, health benefits and per diems.
Andre Horton
Horton, of Erie, became the first black member of Erie County Council when he was elected in 2014 to represent the 2nd District, which includes all of the city of Erie's 1st Ward and portions of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th wards, as well as Lawrence Park Township. Horton was re-elected in 2017. He currently serves as chairman of the seven-member body.
Horton, 60, co-founded the Blue Coats nonviolence initiative in the Erie School District and is a board member of the Police Athletic League of Erie.
The U.S. Air Force veteran previously worked as a Pennsylvania State Police trooper.
In recent years, Horton has advocated for Community Benefit Agreements to be part of local and state tax incentive programs for businesses.
CBAs are legally binding pacts that require multimillion-dollar economic development projects that have a positive, tangible impact on the local community. They can require a developer to hire a certain percentage of people from the local community, including minorities, pay a prevailing wage and benefits, provide job training programs, among other things. In exchange, developers receive community support and tax incentives.
Horton has pushed to make CBAs part of the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Improvement program, which has funded several projects throughout Erie County, including the renovation of UPMC Park and the Warner Theatre.
Horton is also one of the main drivers of Erie County government's push for a community college, which will likely be decided when the state Board of Education holds a two-day hearing June 10-11.
Horton co-founded Empower Erie, a nonprofit agency that has worked with the county on developing the community college plan and marketing it, among other things.
He opted to run for state Senate because, “I didn't feel like Erie's voice was being heard. Erie always gets the short end of the stick. They still treat Erie like it's in the wilderness.”
Horton said that “all of the things I have been asking our state representatives to support” compelled him to run because, “Sometimes if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself.”
Julie Slomski
Slomski, 42, of Millcreek Township, has seven years of experience in state government. She spent two years working as chief of staff for state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, D-3rd Dist., and the past five years as the northwest regional director for Gov. Tom Wolf, a position she left in 2019.
Slomski has returned to work for Logistics Plus, a provider of transportation, warehousing and supply chain solutions. She spent eight years with the company before going to work for Bizzarro. Currently, Slomski is overseeing the company's COVID-19 Response Team, which is providing personal protective equipment to its client businesses.
Slomski is a graduate of Emerge PA, a training program for women Democrats running for office.
She said she decided to run because she wanted to play a larger role in state government for Erie.
"A couple of friends of mine have teased me and said, 'Julie, it's Thanksgiving dinner and you've been at the little kids' table for far too long. It's your chance to go to the big kids' table.' I want that voice. I want that Senate seat.“
Slomski touted her work with the Erie delegation to Harrisburg, including the three Democratic state representatives, Bizzarro, Patrick Harkins and Bob Merski, as well as Merski's predecessor, the late Flo Fabrizio. Harkins, Merski and Bizzarro have endorsed Slomski, she said.
Democrats hope to take control of the state Senate in 2020. They need to win four additional seats for a majority.
"I want to make sure I give Governor Wolf a Senate he can work with in his final two years,“ Slomski said, alluding to the term limits of the governor.
On the issues
Here's where the Democratic candidates stand on some of the issues facing state government and issues they say are central to their campaigns.
State budget, post-COVID-19: Horton said most communities across the state and the state itself have lost revenue from the pandemic shutdown and that Erie will need someone in Harrisburg willing to work with members of the other party and “someone who's willing to fight.”
He said the pandemic, which has disproportionately affected minorities and the poor, has “illuminated” the disparities he's spent his public life trying to address, including health care, poverty and education.
He said many of the students in the Erie School District don't have adequate internet access, an issue magnified when area districts closed their buildings and shifted to online learning.
“It's not just the city of Erie proper either, because North East, they have 16 percent of their population under the poverty guidelines,” he said. “(The pandemic) has illuminated that poor people have been and are continuing to be left behind.”
Slomski said she's especially concerned by the $5 billion shortfall in state government coffers the pandemic has created and that the state has to properly deploy the billions in federal stimulus funds to both contain COVID-19 and get Pennsylvanians back to work.
“We really need to use those federal dollars that we receive to help us recover from this pandemic the right way,” Slomski said. “Get people back to work, make sure we're testing as adequately as possible and all throughout the region. Make sure that the contact tracing is there, which we've done a great job with, and educate — educate on the severity of this beast, because people still aren't seeing it, and that bothers me.”
Minimum wage: Both Horton and Slomski say state lawmakers didn't go far enough when they raised the state's minimum wage. The minimum wage of $7.25 an hour will increase to $9.50 an hour by Jan. 1, 2022.
About 385,000 Pennsylvanians work in jobs that pay between $7.25 and $9.50 an hour. The last time Pennsylvania increased its minimum wage was 2009.
“I'll go to Harrisburg to try to immediately leapfrog that $9.50 an hour that they felt so generous about giving us,” Horton said. “What's $9.50 an hour? It isn't enough now. I'm not looking for a minimum wage, I'm looking for a damn livable wage. And it should be tied to the cost-of-living index.”
He supports increasing the minimum wage first to $12 an hour and then incremental increases to $15.
“I respect the 'fight for 15' and I get it,” Slomski said. “I mean, it may take a while to get there to the true $15 an hour, but I do support that because that is a true family-sustaining wage, but it's going to take some time and that's where we need to really focus on working with like-minded legislators.”
Community college: If elected, both Horton and Slomski would likely play a role in Harrisburg in the funding of a community college — if the county's application is approved.
The candidates differ on the issue. Slomski believes Erie County needs expanded community college education programs, but says the best way to achieve that is through a collaboration between county government and the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College.
Slomski said she fears that a standalone community college would fall on the backs of taxpayers. The county plans to finance the community college through casino gaming revenue and other sources for at least the first 10 years.
"My issue, honestly, is with the plan," she said. “I don't think it's sufficient. Erie County residents deserve better. They deserve a community college that doesn't fall on the backs of the taxpayers.”
Horton has called a community college one of the most important issues “of our time” as a community because it could help address the racial and socio-economic disparities in the community.
“I'm proud that I was able to convince my colleagues to have the political will to give us what we deserve, to vote to give our children a future,” he said.
Education: Both Democratic candidates have emphasized education in their campaign platforms.
Laughlin, the incumbent, played a key role in securing an additional $14 million a year for the Erie School District in 2017. Slomski, who was working for Wolf at that time, has also discussed being part of those efforts.
“Thankfully, we were able to save the Erie School District,” she said. “But there are still challenges. Many school districts aren't far behind, and that is scary.”
Slomski said schools are still feeling the effects of deep cuts to education during former Gov. Mike Corbett's administration. Wolf, her former boss, has the state on the “right track” but more work needs done, she said.
“We need to make sure that there is a fair funding formula so that districts at least get their true fair share,” she said.
Horton has said the state should not have allowed the Erie School District to fall into such dire financial shape in the first place.
“The incumbent will come and say 'we got $14 million for the Erie School District,'” Horton said at his campaign launch in January. “I will say we never should have needed the $14 million if you (Harrisburg) had treated the Erie School District fairly in the first place.”
Horton said the state needs to focus on pre-kindergarten education so young children don't start from behind. He also said the state needs to continue to invest in job training and apprenticeship programs that prepare students for the workforce once they graduate — programs, he said, like the county's Summer Jobs and More program, or Summer JAMs, which Horton helped establish. It has employed more than 800 young people in paying jobs with non-profit and for-profit businesses.
Poor, vulnerable populations, he said, “Need all the help they can get.”
Both Horton and Slomski believe the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, the state's 14 public universities including Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, needs to be overhauled to meet financial and enrollment challenges.
Tax reform: Both candidates also back a severance tax on oil and gas drilling. Wolf has repeatedly attempted to tax the natural gas industry to the tune of 6 percent, which would generate billions in revenue for the state each year.
That revenue would be put toward education and health care.
They also support property tax reform.
“We need reform,” Horton said. “I don't know if it's a sales tax. I don't know if we need a public-private commission to see what that looks like. Nonprofits should pay their fair share. Forty-five percent on my (County Council) district is tax-exempt.”
Slomski said the state needs to find middle ground on the issue.
“This is one thing that I consider a difficult conversation, because you hear about it a lot and it's a tough one,” she said. “Some people say eliminate property tax, but that's not realistic. We've got to come to a happy medium and that's one of these tough conversations that I'm willing to have.”
Entrance fees for state parks: Both Horton and Laughlin were quick to seize on a comment Slomski made during a recent debate. Asked if she would support an entrance fee to get into state parks, including Presque Isle State Park, Slomski said she would consider such a fee.
Horton's campaign called Slomski “out of touch” and Laughlin's campaign said Slomski's comment “was just another reason for Democrats to write-in Laughlin's name.”
“I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I imagine Erie's working families were appalled,” Laughlin said.
Slomski, though, said the comment was being blown out of proportion. She said it's not a part of her platform and she won't be running to Harrisburg to propose such a fee if elected.
“It was a yes-no question,” she said. "It gets back to what I've said: I'm willing to have those tough conversations. Presque Isle, it's this precious resource for the region as a whole and there should absolutely be discussion on the best way to preserve it for future generations.“
Dan Laughlin
Laughlin, of Millcreek Township, is a home builder by trade. Though he's long been involved in local GOP politics, he made his first run for office in 2016.
Laughlin, 58, said he prides himself on working with local and state leaders of all stripes and for turning down pension benefits and other perks of being a state senator, including mileage reimbursement for his trips between Erie and Harrisburg.
Laughlin points to two key pieces of legislation as reasons he deserves a second term: The first is his work on securing $14 million for the Erie School District in 2017. The second is a bill to permit Sunday hunting three times a year, which he said was important to constituents.
Laughlin also proposed changes to the inspection laws of child care facilities following the fatal blaze at an Erie daycare in 2019 that killed five children. The proposals were approved by the Senate recently.
He also says he believes he works harder at the job than most lawmakers.
“I feel a duty to our citizens to be a full-time senator,” Laughlin said. “I've worked probably a solid 50 hours a week in this job because I take it very seriously.”
Laughlin said he's “running a tight ship” and has limited the number of staff members. Those moves, he said, have saved taxpayers nearly $1 million compared to other lawmakers.
“I've gotten a fair amount accomplished, which, from what I see around this building at least, it's fairly rare for a freshman to be able to get much of anything done,” he said.
Contact Matthew Rink at mrink@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNrink.
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This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Horton, Slomski want chance to unseat Laughlin from PA Senate
