Corr, Weaver vie for Pa. 150th House District seat

Two political newcomers are competing for the state House seat currently held by Rep. Mike Vereb, who is not seeking re-election.

Republican Michael Corr and Democrat Linda Weaver are facing off for the two-year term in the 150th House District, which includes Collegeville, Lower Providence Township, Skippack, and parts of Upper Providence and West Norriton townships.

Weaver is an educator and founding member of the Bucks and Montgomery County Schools Health Care Consortium. She won the Democratic primary in April, garnering more than 74 percent of the vote against her opponent, Ste- ven Burda.

Corr is an attorney, certified public accountant and senior manager for Vanguard’s Education Savings Group. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

“I’m running because I have four decades of experience in public service, and I want to use that experience to help the people of the 150th,” Weaver said. “Also as a taxpayer, I’m tired of the gridlock that we see in Harrisburg and I think we need to make significant improvements on the services that we provide to taxpayers.

“I know every politician says they want to address property taxes and lower property taxes, but between my opponent and myself, I’m the only one who has actually done anything to address property taxes. In 2012 I helped to start a consor- tium that in four years’ time has saved taxpayers over $30 million. That’s documented ... And it’s been independently verified. The way we did that is by working collaboratively with stakeholders, both labor and management. We had to come to consensus and agreement, and we made some tough decisions. And the result of those decisions would be that we had huge savings for taxpayers. Those are the types of things we need to be doing in Harrisburg that we currently are not doing.

“I’m very displeased with what’s going on in Harrisburg. I think it needs to change on so many levels.”

Weaver cited her work as chairwoman of a retirement welfare fund and her leadership role in a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign as additional examples of experience that prepared her for the Legislature.

Corr said he is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility. He started his campaign shortly after Vereb announced his decision not to run again, in part, he said, because of a proposed $3 billion state tax hike during the commonwealth’s budget impasse, which called for an increase in the personal income tax as well as higher taxes on various goods and services, and a proposed $2 billion increase in spending.

“I didn’t think those were the right priorities for us,” Corr said. “I think we’re taxed plenty in the commonwealth and think we ought to be focusing our energy on greater fiscal responsibility, like holding the line on taxes and evaluating the spending in Harrisburg to make sure we’re focusing on the right things for the benefit of the citizens. And also, trying to tackle other tax issues like the property taxes that are such a great hindrance to people in the district.”

Corr pointed toward his background as a certified public accountant and his management experience as a partner at a law firm as assets that would make him an effective presence in the Statehouse.

“I have spent my life working in the private sector. I have worked with both large and small businesses and I’ve seen how high taxes are so burdensome to individuals and businesses and really weigh down the economy,” said Corr, drawing a distinction between himself and Weaver, who he said has “never held a job in the private sector in her capacity for special interest organizations.”

Weaver said that aside from her tangible record of tax reduction, the other thing that separates her from Corr is the positive nature of her campaign.

She cited a mailing recently sent to constituents that claimed she supported the largest tax increase in state history and advocated billions in additional federal spending as an example of inaccurate mudslinging by Corr’s supporters, including the Commonwealth Foundation, a group that promotes limited government.