Nichols best candidate for Dems in 15th District
If you like your politics with a dash of intrigue and large servings of backstage drama, you could do worse than the fight for the Democratic nomination in the 15th Legislative District.
In one corner, there is Dennis Nichols, a former Beaver County commissioner and Brighton Township supervisor. Nichols had been a Republican and was defeated for re-election last year by a candidate he said was handpicked by state Rep. Jim Christiana, the Republican incumbent in the 15th District. After exiting the Beaver County Board of Commissioners, Nichols changed his party affiliation to the Democrats and launched his bid to topple Christiana. The only thing that could prevent Nichols having a one-on-one showdown with Christiana in November is his Democratic opponent in Tuesday’s primary, Michael Rossi, who Nichols claims was inserted into the contest by Christiana, a charge Rossi vehemently denies.
Admittedly, these machinations have taken place outside of our coverage area, so we would be hard-pressed to weigh in on them with any kind of authority. However, having taken the measure of both candidates, we believe Democratic voters in the 15th District would be best served by giving their support to Nichols.
A retired engineer, Nichols is able to discuss the issues he would face as a state lawmaker fluently. A “strong supporter of public education” and a onetime school board member, he is skeptical about the way charter schools are funded in Pennsylvania and would try to fix that if he goes to Harrisburg. He also is an advocate of reducing the size of the Legislature and the bloat that comes with it, and wants to see the commonwealth adopt a hybrid mix of public and private liquor and wine sales. Nichols also believes a severance tax on natural gas drilling should be considered, though he does not want to see the impact fees that benefit local communities go away.
The 15th District includes parts of Beaver and Washington counties, including Claysville, Green Hills and West Middletown boroughs, and Buffalo, Amwell, Blaine, Cross Creek, Donegal, East Finley, Hanover, Hopewell, Independence, Jefferson, Morris, South Franklin and West Finley townships.