FIRST READ

IT’S NO SECRET – there’s a lot of drama in Pennsylvania politics. With all the he-said-shesaid and talk about who likes who – it almost feels like high school.

Whether it’s candidates slinging attack ads at each other or Harrisburg lawmakers going back and forth in the Capitol, there are plenty of juicy rumors swirling around.

With that in mind, we thought it was a good time to hand out superlatives for this year’s class at Harrisburg High.

Do you agree with these choices or does it look like just another popularity contest? Tell us what you think on Twitter @CityandStatePA. ■

SESSION SUPERLATIVES

We’re turning the state Capitol into Harrisburg High to see who would get honored in City & State’s yearbook.

By Harrison Cann

CUTEST/ MOST UNLIKELY COUPLE

State Reps.

Greg Rothman & Stephen Kinsey They’re not a couple you’d normally see in a yearbook, but state Reps. Greg Rothman and Stephen Kinsey deserve kudos for their unlikely legislative relationship. Rothman, a Republican from Cumberland County, and Kinsey, a Democrat from Philadelphia County, are a great example of lawmakers reaching across the aisle. The two have worked together on multiple issues, including the creation of a bipartisan caucus for this legislative session, which looks to provide a channel for civil discussion among lawmakers.

BEST

BEARD State Rep. Mike Puskaric

Even after talking with multiple sources, it was difficult to determine a winner here. But the honor of Best Beard goes to state Rep. Mike Puskaric, who joined the big beard club recently. The Republican from Allegheny County came to Harrisburg in 2019 with a short shave but now more closely resembles a mountain man with glasses. He may not have been the choice going into this year, but his bid grew on us.

HONORABLE MENTION State Rep. Jordan Harris

LIFE OF THE

PARTY State Rep. Tom Mehaffie

If you need “party supplies,” state Rep. Tom Mehaffie is your guy. Mehaffie, a Republican from Lower Swatara Township in Dauphin County, is the owner of Breski Beverage Distributor, which provides libations to the thirsty throngs of the Harrisburg area. A past president of the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania, Mehaffie’s the go-to for to-go beverages in the capital region.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

State Reps. Ed Neilson & Tom Sankey

BEST SOCIAL MEDIA

State Rep.

Mike Schlossberg Quite literally, everyone and their mother is on social media these days, making this a tough one – but state Rep. Mike Schlossberg’s Twitter game is on point. He’s known to crack a joke or throw in a terrible pun, but recently, the Democrat from Lehigh County started posting selfies with dogs and other pets while out on the campaign trail collecting signatures.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Sen. John Kane & Rep. Gary Day

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE

State Rep. Frank Burns

Who says bipartisanship is dead? Burns, a Democrat serving a largely conservative Cambria County constituency, has worked with and voted alongside the Republican majority in Harrisburg on many occasions. A self-described “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment Democrat,” Burns recently introduced two bills – one expediting public records requests for elected officials, and another using surplus funds to reduce property taxes – that have gained bipartisan sponsors.

MOST LIKELY TO STILL GET ID’ED

State Rep.

Kathleen “KC” Tomlinson

They say politics ain’t a young person’s game. Tell that to state Rep. KC Tomlinson, identified by colleagues as the most likely to be carded. KC is relatively new to Harrisburg, but she’s the daughter of longtime state Sen. Robert “Tommy” Tomlinson, so she’s got name recognition. A Bucks County Republican, she was elected in 2020.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

State Reps. Abby Major & Joe Kerwin

MOST LIKELY TO BE IN THE SMOKING SECTION

State Rep.

Russ Diamond

If you’ve ever been to the Capitol complex in Harrisburg, you’ve likely seen some of our public servants enjoying a cig outside. With former State Rep. Andrew Pyle no longer in office, you’re most likely to find Diamond and others outside the Ryan Office Building with smokes in hand.

A Q & A with Republican lieutenant governor candidate Clarice Schillinger

This former legislative aide wants to focus on her education agenda if she wins.

By Justin Sweitzer

AS A FORMER legislative aide to state Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican, Clarice Schillinger got a firsthand look at how the legislative process works in Pennsylvania. She went on to form two political action committees dedicated to getting students back in the classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic – and she hopes to continue fighting for educational reforms by becoming the state’s next lieutenant governor.

City & State spoke with Schillinger about how she intends to build off of her advocacy work if elected, and how she hopes to use the unique office to champion school choice, reduce crime and stimulate the economy.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Over the past few years, you formed the Keeping Kids in School PAC and the Back To School PA PAC. What prompted you to form these two political action committees?

Let me just give you a little bit of history about me, and then you’ll really understand why I am such an advocate for education. I actually was a teen mom. I was pregnant at 18 and I had Lexi at 19. I was a single mom for about six years and then I met my husband, who is now holding down the fort. When I left my career as a legislative aide and came home with our two children … I was sitting at the kitchen table with them for 18 months while schools were shut down and I couldn’t stop thinking, “I’m blessed and fortunate enough to have now been able to come home with my children, but what are the single parents doing? What are the houses that need both incomes to make ends meet doing?” It really troubled me … So that is what drove me to start both of those PACs.

Why did you decide to run for lieutenant governor and not just continue working to elect candidates to office through those PACs?

The role of lieutenant governor for the past few years has been used to advocate for legalizing marijuana, hanging flags illegally outside of our Capitol – that role should be used to get things moving, to get things out of gridlock. So it really should be more of a boots-on-theground kind of job where you go to the communities, you bring it back to the governor, you bring it back to the legislature, you push things forward. So where my frustration

Schillinger is executive director of Back to School PA, a PAC focused on fighting school closures.

”It’s important to families to be able to choose what is best for them and their child and how their child learns.”

CLARICE FOR PA – Clarice Schillinger

came from was, we have something so glaring that needs to be changed, and we still cannot change it … These are the things where I said we have to have a voice of advocacy in Harrisburg, but more importantly, we have to have a voice of advocacy in the executive branch.

Your campaign website says you will fight for a worldclass education for Pennsylvania students. Are there specific policy changes that you think are needed at the state level to ensure students get the best education possible?

Yes. I truly believe in school choice, and the reason why is, I believe in creating competition and competition makes us all better. School choice is so critically important to me. It’s important to students. It’s important to families to be able to choose what is best for them and their child and how their child learns.

Some schools and state and local governments are making efforts to ban books and prohibit certain topics from being taught. Should the government – whether it be school boards or state officials – be limiting what students are taught?

I don’t agree with banning books … What the core issue here is, is the lack of transparency. So that is where I do believe that the government does need to step in. We saw Gov. Wolf veto the curriculum transparency bill. For me and for parents, that should just be a given. It should be transparent. Then, if we create school choice, if the parent does not like what a certain school is teaching, they have the ability to move their child wherever they see their child succeeding more. So, it’s not about banning books. It’s not about banning certain curriculums. It’s more about transparency and communication. You see a lot of the parents upset – why you see them upset is because, at first, we had unlimited amount of time to speak. It’s five minutes – now it’s three minutes – two minutes, and it’s once a month that they get this opportunity to speak (at school board meetings) after sending repeated emails with no response, after meetings with no response. That’s where you’re starting to see this extreme frustration.

The lieutenant governor’s office is somewhat limited in terms of its duties and powers. How do you envision using this office to achieve your policy goals?

Everyone knows our current lieutenant governor advocates for legalizing drugs and I know that there is no doubt in my mind that I can use that role to advocate for education, economy and safe communities. I have made a very conscious effort to make a relationship with each and every gubernatorial candidate that’s running. That was very important to me so that whoever does get through the primary – I will be an asset to any one of them, but also already have a relationship with them. I have made a promise throughout the commonwealth that you’re not going to hear that the governor and lieutenant governor don’t get along. This is about being the right hand of the governor – assisting and getting things done and after what we’ve been through the past two or three years – really getting us back on track. ■