October 2018 meet-up: An evening with the Democrats

Left-right: Marty Qually (candidate for 91st state legislative district), Matt Nelson (candidate for 193rd legislative district), and Brent Ottaway, candidate for Congress.

On October 3rd, DFA hosted three local Democratic candidates:

• Brent Ottaway, candidate for the 10thcongressional district seat

• Marty Qually, candidate for the 91ststate legislative district

• Matt Nelson, candidate for the 193rdstate legislative district 

 DFA Government Accountability Task Force chair Bill Gilmartin moderated the panel. The candidates all made strong presentations and then answered a few questions from Bill and from the audience. 

Each of the candidates addressed DFA’s theme, “What’s At Stake?”

Brent Ottaway

• Locally, the district seat has been held forever by Bud Shuster or his son, who received tons of lobbyist money and often ran unopposed or with token opposition. My wife and I thought it was important to provide an opposition candidate, even though the newly configured district is the “reddest” district in the state. The Shusters and their hand-picked successor, Mr. Joyce, have been and will be consistent Trump votes. In his last campaign, Rep. Shuster listed as one of his proudest accomplishments the number of times he voted to repeal Obamacare.

• It’s also important to send people to Washington who understand the need to compromise and work with people who you don’t agree with 100% of the time. In my service on school boards, nonprofits, and college faculties, I’ve shown an ability to “argue nice,” to disagree with people politely and work together. I understand the need to compromise and work across the aisle.

Matt Nelson

• The situation in Washington, and changes in the Supreme Court mean, more and more, that “Harrisburg is our last line of defense.” More and more of the important decisions will be made in Harrisburg.

• We can’t let the national parties determine what happens in Harrisburg. We can’t afford to send someone who will just follow party lines. We need someone who will focus on issues where they can find common ground.

• The status quo means continuing proposals to tax retirement income and remove local control of schools.

Marty Qually

• You have to be able to work with people. Your job as a representative is to represent people, not Democrats, not progressives, not seniors, but people. One problem with the system is that too many people never talk outside their group.

• Serving on a county commission that is two Republicans and one Democrat, I learned early that you need to work across the aisle if you want to get anything done … If we can’t have a discussion, the person with the most money will win.

• You can’t get elected and then define the problem and say “I can’t do anything about it.” Both the seat I’m running for and the seat Matt is running for are always considered back benchers because of ineffective members. We need effective representation in Harrisburg. 

This section summarizes some of the key points made by each candidate.

Brent Ottaway

• Adams County is vital to my campaign. The new district is the reddest district in Pennsylvania and Adams is a potential source of strength for me.

• “We must return voting to the voters.” Political funding, gerrymandering, and voter ID requirements all distort our political system.

• Healthcare is a basic human right. It’s the issue I hear about most often. Ultimately, I believe we will wind up with a single payer system, but I believe it will happen in steps, not at once.

Matt Nelson

• Current system gives us declining school funding, ignored infrastructure, declining healthcare

• We need to make sure multi-state companies (Wal-Mart, Target) and companies that profit off our natural resources should pay their fair share.

• Saying “eliminate the property tax” is too simplistic. We need to understand where school funding will come from and who benefits if the system is implemented.

• Improving schools is a high priority. Although all local systems in Adams County are “above average,” this still means that 40% are rated “not proficient.”

• Election system. We need open primaries. There should be an independent commission to address legislative district boundaries.

Marty Qually

• Outreach is critical. “If I have to convince YOU to vote, we’re done.” We have to talk to “the other 60%,” and when we do, we find that they actually agree on most of the issues. We get caught up with cable TV news and the national debates but there is more common ground than we think.

• There is no limit on the amount of money in Pennsylvania politics. There is a reason Marcellus Shale doesn’t often come up; they spread money all over Harrisburg and know who to call on.

• The compromise on the pension program didn’t solve the problem, but was probably the only achievable compromise. Under the new plan, new employees go on a “defined contribution” plan, which over time will be less expensive. Current employees have the option to go on this plan or stay with the current plan. It’s a small step forward but funding state employee pensions is still a major problem.

• Election system. We need open primaries. Voter ID laws can’t be mandatory; too many people don’t have access. We should consider means to make voting easier, like allowing a person who works in a different part of the county to vote near where they work.

• Health care. Recall that the site where the Ag Center now stands is where the County Almshouse once stood. That was where you “went to die.” Our current system is in danger. There’s a national movement to impose a work requirement on Medicaid that would deny benefits to many people. My opponent supported this bill and it would now be law if the governor hadn’t vetoed it. State health care system should not be implemented statewide (perhaps by county or district). The system that would work in Adams County (perhaps centered on Wellspan) wouldn’t necessarily work in another part of the state.

Scheduled debates

Nelson: 

• 10/25, Cross Keys village

Qually:           

• 10/11, 6:30, Gettysburg Rec Park, Steiner Building (sponsored by Gettysburg Rising)

• 10/24, 7:00, Fairfield Fire Co.

Ottoway:        

• 10/12, Bedford Chamber of Commerce breakfast

• 10/22, 6:00, Cross Keys

• 10/30, Carlisle area (format TBD)

Candidates Qually and Ottoway noted that the presence of “friendly faces” at a debate is vitally important. Being able to look at a few “smiling faces” makes an enormous difference.