The Republican primary for the 13th state Senate District is starting to resemble a playground scrap among four separate factions.
What stood out to me in this week’s Sunday News roundup on is former state Sen. Noah Wenger’s endorsement of Paul Thibault. Yeah, former state Rep. John Barley on Saturday made a public appearance, too, in support of Thibault, and I can’t say I’m too shocked given how they were in elected office together way back when, but Wenger’s appearance came as a surprise.
Wenger’s support is derived from farmland preservation, no surprise there. From the Sunday News:
Wenger, who retired from the 36th Senate seat in 2006, pointed out that the county was tops in the nation in the number of farms preserved while Thibault was a county commissioner.
It’s more difficult to get ag-friendly legislation passed these days, he said, because fewer lawmakers have agriculture backgrounds. “So it’s kind of important that we elect people that have an understanding and an appreciation and a respect for what is Pennsylvania’s No. 1 industry.”
Wenger, of course, is revered in the local GOP, and his backing of Mike Brubaker during the 36th state Senate race in 2006, a campaign to determine who would succeed Wenger, was a major part of Brubaker’s eventual victory.
Thibault’s biggest liability in this race is trying to explain why he voted for a 28 percent tax increase while serving as Lancaster County commissioner and why county budget totals grew, too.
Across the ballot from Thibault is Lloyd Smucker, whose TV ads are basic “get-to-know-me” commercials. Smucker has an important week ahead of him because the campaign finance report deadline is Friday. Smucker told the Sunday News many weeks ago he raised $185,000, but he did not release who donated what to his campaign. As questions were raised by the likes of Jim Clymer, a local attorney and head of the national Constitution Party, about who’s backing Smucker, the West Lampeter Township supervisor said he would release the donors only when the law mandates he does. I asked Smucker for a followup article in March about why he wouldn’t voluntarily release the donor list? There’s no law against that. Previous candidates in other races have done so. Smucker’s response was to repeat the original message: no donor list until April 11.
There could be nothing there. There could be something there. Won’t know until Friday unless Smucker changes his mind.
Onto Steve McDonald, the county recorder of deeds who was the first Republican to announce his candidacy. There’s an article by P.J. Reilly coming out in tomorrow’s Intelligencer Journal about the race, and in it McDonald tries to explain how he’s kept costs down in his department, hoping the message resonates with fiscal conservative voters in the 13th District. He’s beating the drum against pork-barrel spending at the state. This district, though, particularly in Lancaster city, has received economic development moneys out of the state government’s bank account, from the hotel/convention center to the Pennsylvania Academy of Music and so on. If the 13th isn’t receiving some slice of the pie, how will that affect the future senator’s approval ratings among the constituents? I imagine that topic will spark a spirited debate, as well it should. I’ve seen fewer topics instigate discourse the way pork-barrel spending can.
Then there’s Bill Neff, who’s trying to stay out of the verbal battles among the other three. Anybody who’s entered the city from Fruitville Pike has no doubt seen the Neff For Senate delivery truck parked daily by the Neptune Diner.
The candidates (sans Neff) will appear at 7:30 a.m. April 16 in Southern Market Center, 100 S. Queen St., Lancaster city, for a debate sponsored by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
