GOP candidates differ on property tax
paying for education. Paul Mango, a health care consultant, voiced support for a total ban.
But Pittsburgh attorney Laura Ellsworth said there was a place for such taxes, while Speaker of the House Mike Turzai noted that he pressed for a constitutional amendment allowing local districts to decide their own revenue.
“I’m a committed supporter of local control of education,” Mr. Turzai said after the debate. He said his position on such issues showed his ability to craft “reform with results, and not just platitudes.”
But when the moderator, WPXI-TV anchor David Johnson, asked the candidates if they would pledge not to raise taxes, all four demurred. Mr. Mango alluded to the possibility of tax rebates but did not forswear a hike.
Mr. Wagner, sounding a note similar to those of others on stage, promised to bring “changes and efficiencies … to the point that we do not have to raise taxes.”
Ms. Ellsworth attracted the only boos of the evening when she acknowledged being the lone candidate to not support President Donald Trump in 2016. She cited concerns about his “divisiveness,” though she praised his work on veterans and his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Ms. Ellsworth fared better with a question about the gerrymandering of political districts. She drew applause for suggesting “citizens of Pennsylvania will be better off with creation of a bipartisan group” to draw the lines for congressional districts. The current map, which is being challenged in state and federal court, was drawn by Republicans, and the three other candidates on stage defended it.
The candidates offered at least lukewarm support for the medical use of marijuana, but all four denounced the idea of legalizing its recreational use.
“Marijuana in fact is a drug that leads to other drug abuse,” said Mr. Turzai.
Mr. Mango, noting the state’s struggles with opioid addiction, said, “This is not the time or the place to have a discussion about recreational marijuana.”
With few issues to differentiate them, the candidates played up their biographies: Mr. Mango and Mr. Wagner talking up their private sector backgrounds in health care consulting and waste hauling, respectively. Mr. Turzai touted his efforts to defy Mr. Wolf in the state House.
Three of the candidates were on home turf: Only Mr. Wagner is from outside Allegheny County. The crowd seemed to have a slight tilt toward Mr. Wagner, who repeatedly denounced Mr. Wolf as a “liberal, progressive, socialist,” using the same three labels each time.
Ms. Ellsworth and Mr. Turzai, meanwhile, both said Pittsburgh’s economic turnaround could be replicated across the state. Mr. Turzai, in fact, took some credit for that. Referencing his cosponsorship of a bill that put the city under a state financial oversight program, he said, “Pittsburgh changed, but it was my bill that had the oversight.”