Cris Dush, Kerith Strano Taylor Visit Brockway High School

BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – Brockway Area Junior-Senior High School hosted another mini-debate between two people running for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Representative Cris Dush got the chance to talk to students about why he ran for office and his goals for his upcoming term. Challenger Kerith Strano Taylor got the chance to explain why she should have that term instead. The two met before at Brockway in April.

Representative Cris Dush speaks to Brockway students.

The mini-debate was connected to Constitution Day. Brockway history teachers Rachel Chamberlain and Erin Schiafone helped set up the meeting. Prior to the candidates speaking, Brockway students Cecilia Manno and Shaughny Richardson talked about the Constitution and important amendments. Then students Justice Williams and Elijah Shifter introduced the candidates, allowing both to have a five-minute introduction.

As the debate was being held in a school, discussion of school funding was prominent topic.

“The reason I ran is, after all my years in state and federal work, I saw misappropriation of funds, waste, and fraud,” Dush said. Dush is running for his third term, and has term-limited himself, saying this is his last time running for this office. He said that this fraud and waste makes it difficult for money to get from the state to the schools and average Pennsylvanian.

Kerith Strano-Taylor speaks to Brockway students.

Strano-Taylor specifically cited the state not meeting its education-funding obligations as well as corporate tax cuts for the funding issues in schools.

“If we don’t spend money to educate you,” she said to the students, “we can’t keep you here in the state.”
Dush touted his experience with the Common Sense Caucus. He talked about finding hidden ledgers that uncover where secret money is going. He said that over 30 legislators are not seeking reelection because his work is making them uncomfortable.

“There’s plenty of money,” he said. “But it’s not going to the right places.”

Strano-Taylor and Dush disagreed on how impact fees for the gas industry are helping the communities. Dush said Strano-Taylor was cherry-picking numbers at the county level while local municipalities are seeing lots of revenue and help from the gas industry. A stark contrast came when both candidates urged students to vote and get involved. While Strano-Taylor said it was important to do, Dush explained that it was extra important to vote because Pennsylvania is controlled by voters in cities like Philadelphia, which has higher turnout. Strano-Taylor pointed out that Republicans controlling the legislature runs counter to that claim.

However, both candidates agreed on the importance of having the students attend meetings like this. Both candidates told students turning 18 that the deadline to register to vote before November’s election was October 9.

“Pay attention to politics and register to vote,” Strano-Taylor said. “And if they’re not old enough, kids can knock on doors, whatever side their politics are! We have to be engaged, because if we leave it to the status quo, most of these kids aren’t satisfied with that. They have the ability to change it.”

“The rural part of Pennsylvania, we turn out 25,000 people in each legislative district to vote,” Dush said. “Each legislative district has 63,000 constituents. Even if’s down in the cities, they each have 63,000. Bucks County, Chester County, turn out to the tune of 34-36,000 every presidential year. We upped our turnout to 25,000, and we beat Philadelphia in the presidential election. We do not have to be defeated by Philadelphia. We’re relevant when we show up.”

Brockway’s Elijah Shifter, Cecilia Manno, Shaughny Richardson, and Justice Williams prepare for the mini-debate.


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