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WILKES-BARRE — In a rematch from two years ago, Democrat Eddie Day Pashinski easily outpolled Libertarian Betsy Summers in the 121st Legislative District race, sending him to Harrisburg for a sixth term in the state House of Representatives.
Unofficial results Tuesday listed Pashinski with 14,321 votes to 4,008 for Summers. The numbers exceeded the 2014 official results when there was no presidential election. At the time, Pashinski collected 6,927 votes to 3,298 for Summers.
Pashinski, 70, of Wilkes-Barre, celebrated with his supporters on election night at Rodano’s in the city’s downtown. He said he was honored to represent the district and pledged to work for constituents “humbly and with dignity.”
“My door is always open to all the people in my 121st District,” Pashinski said.
He said he looked forward to returning to the state Legislature and working with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who will begin the third year of his four-year term in January. Pashinski has said his early support of Wolf earned him some courtesies not found with former Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican.
Summers, 59, did not rule out another try for elected office.
“At least I got a chance to speak,” she said.
Summers admitted it was difficult to campaign and work full-time in her sales position.
“It does prove you have to walk the streets and knock on doors, which I didn’t have time to do,” she said.
The candidates differed on how they would address key issues facing lawmakers in Harrisburg.
Pashinski favors a severance tax on natural gas extracted from wells drilled in the state. He estimated it would raise between $250 million and $1 billion a year. The money could be used to correct the imbalance of funds the state distributes to school districts, he said.
He explained his opposition to House Bill 76, saying the Independent Fiscal Office and the state Department of Revenue issued reports that stated the legislation aimed at eliminating school property taxes doesn’t work.
To get a handle on the state pension crisis, Pashinski proposed hiking the personal income tax rate to 3.17 percent from 3.07 percent, raising $400 million to pay down the retirement fund debt, and issuing a bond to deal with the billions of dollars in unfunded liability.
Summers was critical of the state’s reliance on “sin taxes” on alcohol, tobacco and gambling. She called for the state government to find ways to tighten its belt to cut expenses. She supported legislation to eliminate school property taxes and a proposal to audit the state Legislature to determine if there is money stashed away that could be applied to the pension.
