Danese challenging Otten in Democratic primary
Two women are vying for the Democratic nomination in the June 2 primary race for the 155th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Facing off for the Democratic nod are incumbent state Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, D-155th, of Uwchlan, and newcomer Rose Danese, a medical technologist at Chester County Hospital.
Michael Thomas Taylor of Uwchlan is running unopposed in the Republican primary for the 155th Legislative District.
Danielle Friel Otten
In 2018, Otten, 42, bested three-term incumbent Republican Rep. Becky Corbin by nine percentage points to return the seat to the Democrats for the first time in 28 years, as previously reported by the Daily Local News.
“Our work has only just begun,” she told MediaNews Group. “I ran for office in 2018, because I learned about how the same corporate interests that were putting a dangerous pipeline through my community were making regular contributions to my state representative’s campaign.
“I wanted to give my community a voice that mattered and could not be bought. Those same interests are now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy my neighbors’ voice back, so they can roll over our communities like they own the place. I’m not about to let them.”
Moving forward in 2020, Otten said her goal is to keep bringing the issues that people face in their households, in their community and in their lives to the forefront of the response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“The challenges and struggles of balancing work, child care and caring for our senior family members for working families have been exacerbated and exposed,” she said. “The pressures are enormous and there are so many contributing factors, including the under-funding of things like senior care, support for people living with disabilities, child care and education that are now causing the dam to break. It’s like when you have a leak in your roof, but you refuse to spend the money to repair it, then expect it to hold up in a hurricane.”
Otten added, “COVID-19 has been our hurricane and we have a long road ahead. I have an important voice to share, lifting up the issues faced by everyday families who are working, raising kids and in many cases, caring for our aging family members too.”
The freshman lawmaker said she is working on legislation on the verge of introduction “to reign in corporate power in state government and hold corporations accountable to the communities where they do business.”
Otten ran a grassroots campaign inspired by her work building a crosscounty coalition for public safety, private property rights and environmental justice focused on the Mariner East pipeline expansion that cuts through the heart of Chester County.
“The fight to right the wrongs of Mariner East is not over,” Otten said.
Otten grew up in Philadelphia and she said the city was a “place where community was the center of our lives.” Her parents moved to rural Berks County when she was a teenager, just before she moved to Chester County to attend West Chester University.
Otten said Chester County has given her a sense of home again alongside her husband, John, and their children whom they are raising in the heart of Exton, Marchwood. She said seeing neighbors look out for each other resonates a true “a true sense of community.”
“That multigenerational community experience is so important for the well-being of our families and it’s a big part of what is missing in our society,” Otten said. “I am grateful to the gift of living in a community that embraces our collective interests and cares for each other.”
Rose Danese
Otten’s primary challenger is a newcomer who has never run for political office before. Danese, 56, is a life-long Democrat. She is also a musician and plays the guitar and bass.
“I have done my very best to run a positive campaign and put forth my own ideas and beliefs,” Danese said. “Throughout this campaign, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many people.
“My eyes have been opened to the divisions in our community and, if elected, I will work to heal them as best as I can. I will do my best to be accessible and responsive to everyone, and if I disagreed with someone, I would do so with respect and honesty. It would be an honor to represent the citizens of the 155th District and,” Danese said, “I humbly ask for your vote.”
She said, “I decided to run for state representative because there were a few important issues that I felt were not being addressed as urgently as I would like to see. The first is the opioid epidemic. It seems to me that most people in government do not have a deep enough understanding of addiction. If elected, I will always listen with an open mind to learn what people’s concerns and ideas are.”
She added, “In our neighborhood, holding pipeline operators accountable for their impact in the district and the state is at the top of my agenda, too. As part of that, taxing the natural gas industry and regulating them can move us towards a better future with renewables.”
If elected, Danese said she hopes to achieve the following goals in 2021:
• Ensure that there are solid regulations on natural gas drilling and that the pipeline operators maintain strict safety regulations to insure there are no dangerous situations that could result in personal injury of residents or workers.
• Join the work of current lawmakers towards legislation for legalization of recreational marijuana so it can be available to everyone over the age of 21 without the restrictions, and using tax dollars to spend on education and drug and alcohol treatment.
• Work towards legislation for equal rights and protection for the LGBTQ community from harassment, housing and job discrimination.
“Pennsylvania is behind on these issues, and we need to be at the forefront of ensuring that everyone has the same rights,” she said.
Of the community, Danese said, “My children grew up here. We’ve planted roots in the community. We love our neighbors and neighborhood. My husband and I play music in a band with some very talented friends. We love to play for charitable events and are looking forward to rescheduling our missed opportunity to raise money for the Kennett Flash in Kennett Ssquare and Yackstock, which is a great charity raising money every year for The Shriner’s Hospital for Children.”
“Throughout this campaign, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many people,” Danese said. “My eyes have been opened to the divisions in our community and, if elected, I will work to heal them as best as I can. I will do my best to be accessible and responsive to everyone, and if I disagreed with someone, I would do so with respect and honesty. It would be an honor to represent the citizens of the 155th District and I humbly ask for your vote.”
When asked how to flatten, or end, the death rate of senior citizens at assisted living facilities, both women shared ideas.
Otten said, “We have come a long way in a short time and congregate care communities now have better access to PPE, protocols that are working for identification and isolation of those who are positive. This is going to be a long game though, we have a lot of work to do to protect our seniors and the people who care for them.
Otten added, “Our senior living communities were in a vulnerable situation before COVID-19. Years of underfunding reimbursements from state government have been a huge burden to contend with for nursing homes. Workers make low wages, have few protections and do incredibly difficult work. Add to that existing challenge, workers are now getting sick and sometimes working more than one essential job to make ends meet. There was already an overwhelming shortage in the workforce and now it has become even worse. I believe fixing this starts with making sure that one job is enough to keep a roof over your head, so that workers do not have to work multiple jobs in order to care for their own families.”
Otten said COVID-19 exposure of seniors is the greatest threat to their safety.
Danese said key improvements are needed to support nurses and staff moving forward.
“I feel the best way to keep nursing home residents safe is to make sure they have adequate staffing,” Danese said. “There should always be enough nurses staffed for each floor so that they are not overwhelmed. There should always be enough nursing assistants on a floor as well. I believe nurses and nursing assistants should not be tasked with duties like trash and laundry and I feel there should be separate staffing for that covering all shifts and areas of the facility.”
The 155th House includes East Brandywine, East Pikeland, Upper Uwchlan, Uwchlan, West Brandywine and West Vincent townships and the boroughs of Phoenixville (Ward North only) and Spring City.