2023 Calendar Photo contest rules and entry form

Oct. 4—Voters in the 124th Legislative District will have a choice when they head to the polls.

Health care consultant Tina Burns and businessman Jamie Barton are competing to represent the House district in Harrisburg. The district includes parts of western and north-central Berks and eastern Schuylkill counties.

The post has long been held by Jerry Knowles, who announced this year that he would not be seeking reelection.

State representatives serve a two-year term and receive an annual salary of $95,432.

We asked the candidates to respond to four questions:

Democrat Tina Burns

Residence: Schuylkill County.

Age: 57.

Background: Burns is a health care consultant who helps smaller providers operate independent of large health systems. She served in the U.S. Coast Guard before earning a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology from Florida International University.

Website: burns4pa.com

Why should voters elect you and not your opponent?

For over 50 years the 124th seat has had just four male Republican representatives who have done very little for 'we the people,' but whom have done a great deal for multibillion-dollar industries, including giving away over $3.8 billion annually to the fossil fuel industry while also refusing to apply a severance tax on natural gas companies for drilling and taking our commonwealth resources.

Had Republicans put 'we the people' first and agreed to tax the gas companies for taking taxpayer resources, the taxes collected from those multibillion-dollar companies, as proposed by Wolf over seven years ago, would have been used to give homeowners annual rebate checks to cover the cost of their property taxes. The seven years of rebate checks that they denied us of would have equaled well over $6,000 in almost all homeowners' pockets. But instead, our Republican representatives gave our $6,000 to their multibillion-dollar friends.

My opponent literally works for the multibillion-dollar fossil fuel industry as a vice president. I work as a paycheck-to-paycheck, single parent, health care consultant for a small business that helps other small businesses survive. Who do you think will fight harder for 'we the people?'

Assuming your victory, choose a single issue you would prioritize in the coming term — name it and describe what you want to accomplish.

I have several issues that I would like to provide support and solutions for, all of which include helping our struggling communities by first tackling the issue of affordability.

The affordability issue starts with a property tax resolution that does not harm our public schools and is noted in my previous response. Additionally, zoning and corporate tax loopholes need to be closed. Blighted housing and the mounds of red tape that prevent accountability of current property owners and hinder the seizure and selling of homes prior to them becoming unsalvageable needs to be tackled through legislation.

Once loopholes and property tax resolution is progressing, other affordability related items can be worked on, such as assistance and programs inviting and helping to promote small business opportunities in our areas.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade now leaves the decision about how to regulate abortions up to individual states. Describe the abortion legislation that you would like to see enacted in Pennsylvania?

Abortion and all other services related to Planned Parenthood are health care topics. It is a private matter between a patient and the patients' provider. The only regulation a state should have regarding Planned Parenthood services, including abortion, should be to preserve and protect the privacy and rights of every individual to make their own responsible health care decisions.

Targeting a woman's choice to make her own medical health care decisions through regulations based on personal or religious beliefs is unequivocally discrimination and has no place in our democracy. If we allow the targeted and blatant discrimination against a woman's freedoms, what prevents the targeting and discrimination of others based on their individual differences?

Pennsylvania, like the rest of the nation, is suffering through a period of severe inflation. What specific steps do you believe need to be taken to address this issue?

Inflation is inevitable and painful because it takes perseverance for it to level out.

The best overall solution is to implement price controls like antigouging laws; increase U.S. production; provide and invest in child care solutions so workers are available for increased production; slow down nonessential spending by increasing interest rates; increase the minimum wage to a living wage so that those helping to increase production can afford to live on one job; tax the top 10% by closing tax loopholes; use antitrust laws to curb corporate profiteering; and drive down costs by increasing availability and using price controls.

Republican Jamie Barton

Residence: East Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County.

Age: 57.

Background: Barton is vice president of an energy company that provides residential and business clients with fuels, HVAC services and electricity. He was instrumental in the acquisition of eight businesses and manages a team of 45 employees. He also serves on the executive board of directors of the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce, is a member of Northeast Pennsylvania Manufacture and Employers Association and serves as an adjunct professor at Penn State Schuylkill.

Website: jamiebarton4leadership.com

Why should voters elect you and not your opponent?

I believe that I have the experience and values to represent this district. As a businessman with one of our area's top companies for decades, I know what it takes to create good paying jobs. I also understand what the energy industry does not just for our region or our state, but the world as a whole.

I also know that I grew up in a middle-class family and I realize that at no point in our country's history has the middle class been squeezed harder thanks to the policies coming out of Washington. I'll make sure that the disastrous tax, spend and inflate policies stay in Washington and don't come to state government.

I also share the conservative values of our region. I believe in hard work, discipline and compassion. I have lived my life in service to others and I believe this is a natural progression.

Assuming your victory, choose a single issue you would prioritize in the coming term — name it and describe what you want to accomplish.

Protecting middle-class families. I believe that our families are being squeezed by inflation and by the overspending coming out of Washington, D.C. I would go to Harrisburg and look for ways to alleviate the burdens on the family — from lowering the gas tax to decreasing fees and taxes on our working families. Instead of making government the solution I would work to make the private sector the solution.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade now leaves the decision about how to regulate abortions up to individual states. Describe the abortion legislation that you would like to see enacted in Pennsylvania?

I am pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. I believe that we have an obligation to respect all human life, and I would not support abortion in regards to a viable fetus.

Pennsylvania, like the rest of the nation, is suffering through a period of severe inflation. What specific steps do you believe need to be taken to address this issue?

We need to stop spending and flooding the market with cheap money. Instead, we need fiscal discipline, and we must push for an American first policy that prioritizes the needs of our residents and citizens. I would fight to lower costs for working families — lower personal taxes, lower business taxes, a suspension of the gas tax, etc. Anything that puts more money in the pockets of hard-working Pennsylvanians.