I have served the public as a prosecutor for 12 of my 16 years as a lawyer. After working for two years as an associate with the law firm of Snyder, Dimmich, and Guldin in Allentown, I worked for eleven years as an assistant district attorney here in Lehigh County. During that time, I handled every kind of case, and obtained convictions of defendants charged with offenses ranging from drunk driving, drug dealing, and forgery to rape, arson, robbery, and murder. I became intimately aware of the law enforcement needs and capacities of all the municipalities in Lehigh County, and continue to remain committed to making sure the residents of this district are safe in their homes, schools, and businesses.

After serving in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office for a year, I returned to private practice here in Wescosville with Lightner Law Offices last August. Since my return, I have renewed my involvement with a number of community organizations. In the past, I was the president of the Emmaus Kiwanis club, the Allentown YMCA, and served on the board of the Crime Victims’ Council. I have contributed as a teacher of future law enforcement officers at the Allentown Police Academy, Northampton County Community College, and DeSales University, and instructed other prosecutors at meetings of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. I have been an active member of Lehigh County Bar Association by serving on the Criminal Law and Legislative Liaison Committees, and taught Sunday school and sang in the choir of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church.

Although this is my first time running for office, I have been involved in the campaigns of a number of public officials, starting in 1990 with State Senator Charlie Dent, and continuing with the campaigns of State Representative Pat Browne, Congressman Pat Toomey, Attorney General Mike Fisher, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, Supreme Court Justice Michael Eaken, and Lehigh County Judge Robert L. Steinberg. My political experience extends back to 1980 when I worked at the Republican National Committee in the Local elections Division, served under Drew Lewis at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and worked on the 1986 gubernatorial campaign of then-Lieutenant Governor William S. Scranton. As a result of these political experiences, I have the background, the knowledge of details, and the dedication required to produce a winning campaign.

Since I announced my candidacy last March, I have stressed a pro-growth economic agenda as the key to solving the array of difficult issues facing Pennsylvania in the future. My first press conference in the spring revealed my plan to reform school district property taxes with an across-the-board tax cut of between 10 and 20%, based on assessed value of a property. This is a fair way with dealing with the need of so many families or retirees to obtain some tax relief, and does not pit any income group or age classification against others. To supplement this drop-off in revenue for school districts, I would call upon the state to increase its share of funding to individual districts by picking up more of the costs of unfunded mandates the Legislature imposes on districts, especially in the area of special education. This extra funding can be drawn from either the tobacco litigation settlement fund or by privatizing the state liquor stores.  Additionally, school districts would be provided with the enabling authority to impose an increase in an earned income tax, but only by way of voter referendum approval.

 By making this moderate tax cut applicable to both residential and commercial properties, Pennsylvania can use the decrease in property taxes as an incentive to draw businesses and families to our Commonwealth. The property tax cut is only one way of drawing people and companies to Pennsylvania. In addition, we need to continue our work at tort reform to make sure our state can compete against other high tech corridors in Connecticut, Virginia, and North Carolina. By pursuing further tort reform, we can work at overcoming the malpractice insurance crisis afflicting our state’s medical profession. Lastly, by improving medical benefits for senior citizens, we can make sure that those persons who have contributed the bulk of their working lives to benefit all of us are not caught between the spiraling costs of health care and rising property taxes on a fixed income.