Arnott, Malagari vie for 53rd District Pa. House seat
This year’s race for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 53rd District is between Republican Miles Arnott and incumbent Democrat Steve Malagari.
The 53rd District includes Franconia, Hatfield Township, Hatfield Borough, Lansdale, Salford, Souderton and the Montgomery County part of Telford.
They were each sent a questionnaire for this article and asked to limit the responses to 200 words per question.
Following are the questions and their responses:
Q: Describe your background and qualifications as a candidate (including incumbency).
Arnott: I am a scientist and an educator with a Master of Science degree in Botany from Tulane University. For the past 20 years I served as Executive Director of Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve where I focused on land conservation and habitat preservation for wildlife. I am an avid outdoorsman who believes that we all have a stake in preserving and enjoying our shared natural heritage.
I currently serve on Telford Borough Council and I am Chair of the Public Safety Committee where I work closely with our Police and Fire departments to keep our community safe. I also serve on the Finance Committee where I am committed to passing responsible municipal budgets and keeping taxes low for the working-class families and seniors on fixed incomes who live in my community.
I am a devoted husband to my wife Sheila for 28 years, and father of three
children, Sophia, Lila, and Cason. We are members of St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Telford and I have served as a scout leader for my son Cason and coached both boys and girls Souderton Intramural Soccer for several seasons.
Malagari: Born and raised in Lansdale and a proud graduate of the North Penn School District, I have been lucky to call this district home my entire life. I served on Lansdale Borough Council for six years where I oversaw many business improvement grants and opportunities that helped beautify and provide economic growth to our Main Street businesses. I also served on the Montgomery County Transportation Authority, where I oversaw projects to fix and improve our local infrastructure. As your current State Representative my focus is on serving my constituents and bringing funding back to our community. In our first term my office has assisted over 22,000 cases and I have fought to bring home over 8 million in grant money back to our district.
I’m proud to stand with
a group of legislators who continue to fight for hardworking Pennsylvanians by creating bipartisan solutions. Together we are making progress – including bringing investment to our communities, creating jobs, improving access to health care, supporting a clean and protected environment, funding our schools, and strengthening our infrastructure. We need common sense policy and responsible leadership, and together we can lift up this district.
Q: Why are you running for this office and what do you hope to maintain or change?
Arnott: The 53rd legislative district — consisting of Lansdale, Hatfield, Telford, Souderton, Franconia, and Salford — is a great place to live work, play, and raise a family.
In our community we value freedom, an honest day’s work, fair play, helping your neighbor, volunteering, and living an “other centered” life. These things are organic – they come from the residents of the 53rd themselves, not from a government program or bureaucratic policy. I will
work minimize the overbearing footprint of big government in our daily lives, and instead champion liberty to create good jobs and empower the many volunteer and non-profit groups who do amazing work serving our community.
Malagari: In 2018 I ran to stand up for the working families of our district in Harrisburg. I am committed to making bipartisan progress on health care and have sponsored and voted on legislation to lower premiums, provide protection for pre-existing conditions and put a price cap on life sustaining drugs. I have brought back 8 million in grant funding to support our schools and fund community projects including repairing roadways and sinkholes and updating our sewer and stormwater infrastructure. We need the state to share more of our educational burden so we can equitably fund our schools while shifting the tax burden away from hard working families. I’ve also sponsored legislation to propose a property tax freeze to continue to make life more affordable for our seniors.
If elected I will continue to bring money back to invest in our community, promote economic growth and provide opportunities to ensure that Pennsylvanians are getting more of what they deserve: more security, more income, and more opportunities for success.
Q: What are the main differences between you and your opponent?
Arnott: My opponent
has consistently sided with party bosses during the pandemic and has repeatedly voted NO to safe and measured reopening legislation. He voted NO on allowing car dealerships, salons, barber shops and the real estate industry to reopen, and NO on allowing restaurants to have safe dine-in service. In many cases he told his constituents here at home that he would vote in their interest and then went to Harrisburg and voted to keep them closed. The resulting
economic damage here at home has been devastating as some businesses have closed forever and countless jobs have been lost.
Pennsylvania is now facing a multi-billion budget shortfall and the Governor has already indicated that he will propose a tax hike for Pennsylvania residents and businesses to make up the shortfall.
I will stand against the purposeful destruction of small businesses and oppose the subsequent tax