Special election coinciding with May 15 primary makes 48th District unique
When state Rep. Brandon Neuman was elected to the Washington County bench last year, he had to resign his seat in the state Legislature before he took an oath as a Common Pleas Court judge.
Neuman’s resignation triggered a special election so someone could vote in Harrisburg on behalf of the constituents of the 48th District for the remainder of the term, which expires, basically, as this year draws to a close.
Earlier this year, political parties chose candidates for a special election that will take place in conjunction with the May 15 primary: Clark Mitchell Jr., Democrat; Tim O’Neal, Republican; and Demo Agoris, Libertarian.
All those registered to vote in the 39 precincts within eight communities are eligible to vote in the special election, regardless of political affiliation, third-party or independent status.
The communities that comprise the 48th District are: Chartiers, North and South Strabane and North Franklin townships plus Canonsburg, Houston, Washington and East Washington.
Those who aren’t Republicans or Democrats will get a different type of card to insert in the touch-screen voting machines that will display only the special election, not nominees for U.S. Senate, Congress, governor, lieutenant governor, state senator or statewide party committee.
On the Republican side, O’Neal is the sole candidate seeking the seat in the special election and the nomination for the two-year term that begins in January 2019.
But on the Democratic ballot, Mitchell has an opponent for the two-year term nomination in Joseph Zupancic, a former Canon-McMillan School Board member who made a bid to run in the special election but finished in third place in a three-person race behind Mitchell and former Washington mayor Brenda Davis when party officials chose a candidate.
The candidates were emailed a question, “What do you see as the single most pressing issue in your district and what is your legislative solution?” They were given a 150-word limit.
Here are their emailed responses:
Democrats
Clark Mitchell Jr.
Our unemployment rate is almost a full percentage point above the national average.
Born and raised here in Washington, I know what our natural gas jobs mean to this community and will vote against the job crushing severance tax. While fighting for the protection of those gas jobs, we must also give those same companies incentives for them to hire local labor instead of filling gas pads with license plates from Iowa.
And we must fight for our jobs before our community enters the workforce – in the classroom. I will fight for fully funded pre-apprenticeship programs where the jobs start at $35,000 per year and significantly increase after completion of the apprenticeship. In addition to this, we must ensure local dollars are kept here and funding our schools to the fullest extent with a heightened importance on science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs in the classroom.
Joe Zupancic
New employers coming into the district need to utilize the local workforce to fill their labor needs and to stop importing out-of-state workers to perform jobs that can be filled by our people. To that end, the state needs to increase its support of vocational and technical education through the public school system in order to produce the workers needed for this expansion of our local economy. The state should increase public investment in our public schools to produce this well-trained, well-educated local workforce.
The high-quality, high-performing public schools of the 48th District (Canon-McMillan, Chartiers-Houston, Trinity and Washington) provide the necessary structure, along with the Western Area Career and Technical Center, to deliver this public investment in our local economy.
Libertarian
Demo Agoris
Ever-increasing health care costs, which are many times the inflation rate, remain a major issue for residents of the 48th District, no matter what kind of coverage they have or how the care is paid for. Increasing malpractice insurance costs, which have had an even greater inflation rate when compared with other legal costs, are eventually passed on to consumers. Small doctor practices have been forced to close or merge and hospitals have had to charge more for their services because of the increasing cost of malpractice insurance. One possible solution would be a cap on the attorney’s share of settlements, especially on high-dollar cases. In major cases, some firms recruit plaintiffs to push the dollar value higher, resulting in multi-million dollar payments to lawyers for a single suit. The Legislature should act on health care tort reform with more transparency and policing from all legal entities and medical providers.
Republican
Tim O’Neal
Having knocked on thousands of doors, it’s apparent the opioid epidemic is the number one issue in our community. This isn’t a political issue, it is a very real crisis that has taken our children and friends away from us, and is tearing our families apart. We have taken the right step of recognizing the seriousness of this issue, now we must act upon it.
As your state representative, I will work to provide resources our law enforcement needs to cut the supply of these awful drugs and hold responsible those spreading it throughout our community. I’ll listen to treatment specialists and ensure we have the proper tools to provide the help addicts need to recover. I’ll also work with doctors and pharmacists to cut down on the over-prescription of opioid pain medications. Finally, we must invest in early education to teach our children the dangers of these horrific drugs.
Democrats
Name: Clark Mitchell Jr.
Age: 32
Residence: South Strabane Township
Education: Duquesne University; Western Michigan University Cooley School of Law
Occupation: Attorney
Name: Joe Zupancic
Age: 49
Residence: North Strabane Township
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Harvard University; J.D. University of Pittsburgh Law School
Occupation: Attorney
Libertarian
Name: Demo Agoris
Age: 77
Residence: Houston
Education: Bachelor of Science, Penn State University
Occupation: Houston Borough councilman, retired confectioner
Republican
Name: Tim O’Neal
Age: 37
Residence: South Strabane Township
Education: Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Master of Business Administration degree, University of Pittsburgh
Occupation: Human resources director, Mascaro Corp., Pittsburgh