Voters of Pennsylvania’s 173rd legislative district will have a decision to make on Nov. 4 about who should succeed Rep. Mike McGeehan and represent them in the General Assembly.
Members of the East Torresdale Civic Association learned on Oct. 13 that the two men vying for the soon-to-be open seat share common views on several high-profile issues. Democrat Mike Driscoll and Republican Mike Tomlinson each addressed the ETCA before responding to audience questions during the civic group’s monthly meeting.
Tomlinson was first to have the floor. He touted his hard work on the campaign, during which he has knocked on the door of every home in the district, he said. Noting the city’s financially desperate public school system, he endorses school spending reform.
Tomlinson said he recently visited the MaST Community Charter School, which he described as “like a 22nd-century school” because of its advanced technological resources and instruction.
“That’s being done with twenty to thirty percent less funding” than public schools get, Tomlinson said.
Meanwhile, city residents have seen three property tax increases and a hike in the cigarette tax in recent years to help bail out the public school system.
Although independent, MaST operates on public money in accordance with Pennsylvania’s charter schools laws. Citing information from school officials, Tomlinson said that a large percentage of MaST students live below the poverty level, yet as a group, they outperform their public school counterparts.
Tomlinson said he wants to see annual financial audits of the School District of Philadelphia to see where it’s spending money. In fact, the city charter requires annual audits, although they haven’t been done in years, he said.
Driscoll said one of his priorities should he take office in January would be to “make sure our money is being spent smartly on education.” He favors more state-level spending on the city schools. He said that he has experience for the job as a deputy secretary in the administration of former Gov. Bob Casey.
He is a longtime board member on numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Delaware River City Corporation, which is chaired by retired Congressman Bob Borski and has begun construction on a bicycle and jogging trail to connect Torresdale’s Pleasant Hill Park with Pennypack on the Delaware Park.
Driscoll also said that he would work in Harrisburg to bring new jobs and development to the Northeast like the recently announced Dietz & Watson expansion on Tacony Street in Wissinoming. The cold cuts manufacturer expects to bring 158 jobs to a new $50 million, 200,000-square-foot facility.
Driscoll thanked Tomlinson for running a “gentlemen’s campaign” focusing on qualifications and issues rather than mud-slinging.
When asked about their positions on gun control, both candidates agreed that civilians’ right to bear arms should be protected, but common-sense measures could be enacted. Driscoll recommended longer waiting periods on gun purchases, while Tomlinson said that gun purchases should be restricted to fewer than one gun per month, which he described as “too much.”
Tomlinson said if he had voted on the city’s marijuana decriminalization bill, he would have voted in favor of it, while Driscoll said he would have been a “no” vote, although he understands the need to reduce the burden of nonviolent cases on the city’s court system. ••
