Dem incumbent Harkins, Libertarian Thomas square off for 1st District state House seat

In the 1st Legislative District, incumbent Democrat Pat Harkins is seeking a ninth two-year term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

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Libertarian candidate Michael G. Thomas, though, wants voters to make a different choice in the Nov. 8 general election by sending him to the state Legislature.

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Harkins, 58, was first elected in 2006 to the state House, which has 203 members. He faced no challenger within his own party in the May 17 municipal primary.

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Thomas, 42, is a Mercyhurst University graduate who is employed as a security officer at Presque Isle Downs & Casino and has worked as an intelligence analyst. He collected enough signatures from registered voters in the 1st District to secure a place on the November ballot.

The 1st District covers wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 in the city of Erie, as well as Lawrence Park Township.

Top campaign issue

Harkins said his campaign priority is "workers safety and (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) protections as well as community safety," noting that he has been the Fraternal Order of Police liaison in the state House for the last four years.

"I have fought hard to acquire funding for all public safety from police, firefighters and first responders," Harkins said. "I continue to introduce legislation dealing with OSHA protection for public sector employees who currently don’t have that protection."

Harkins added that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as the House's minority labor chairman and in that role, dealt with thousands of unemployment claims.

"I also pushed for worker bonuses and safer working conditions for the frontline workers who were in place to make sure that people could meet their basic needs," Harkins said. "I’ll continue to fight for the working man and women in the Commonwealth."

Thomas mentioned a different issue as his top priority.

"Our Department of Health has created a phenomenal system which allows for the manufacture and distribution of safe, reliable off-patent cannabis medications to Pennsylvanians who need them," Thomas said. "We should expand this system to include off-patent medication for which the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) suppresses competition," such as insulin, EpiPens, and Daraprim.

"We should examine where FDA abuses leave too few corporations with too much pricing power for off-patent medications, and license Pennsylvania manufacturers to produce them for sale in our dispensary system," Thomas said.

"Our small Pennsylvania-based cannabis producers are getting clobbered by the vertically integrated multi-state operators, and clamoring for equitable relief. That equitable relief should take the form of licensing preference to manufacture these more loosely scheduled pharmaceuticals. This would diversify their product line and increase their revenues without harming the MSOs."

Thomas said that with economic development mechanisms such as the Flagship Opportunity Zone, "Erie is positioned especially well to attract OZ investment so that our operators can minimize startup costs while providing living-wage jobs in the areas where they are most needed."

Abortion rights

Abortion rights have "become a political football that continues to be tossed back and forth and we forget the importance of the issue and the many facets it contains," Harkins said. "Ultimately I believe this is an issue that should be between a woman and her physician.

"In my opinion what the Supreme Court did in dismissing Roe v. Wade is to tell women you have no right to personal privacy anymore and that is fundamentally flawed," Harkins said.

Thomas said he does not trust government officials "to responsibly exercise the power necessary to ban abortion. I would not vote to ban abortion. I would not vote to expand abortion. I would not vote for taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.

"And I don’t think our Commonwealth should make significant changes to its abortion laws until we’ve studied the unanticipated harms" caused by abortion law changes in other states, Thomas said.

"I believe that every abortion is a tragedy, an act not to be encouraged or treated cavalierly," Thomas said.

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Elections

Harkins said he would push for early canvassing, "giving the county boards of elections the ability to open and count ballots they have received first thing on election morning so they can get the accurate vote totals out to the public quickly and more reliably. "That would go a long way with stopping accusations of election tampering.

"I have confidence in the election process and the dedicated people who work to ensure that we have a flawless election system."

Thomas said that while some elections have been questioned and even legally challenged by both parties over the last two decades, He and other Libertarians "accept results with grace and dignity, in spite of the self-serving advantages the major parties write into law. I doubt the next contest will be any different."

He said that if elected, he would work to make ballot access "more equitable" for minor party and independent candidates.

"Right now Pennsylvania election law puts ballot access barriers in place for smaller political parties," he said.

Recreational marijuana

Both candidates said they do not oppose legalization of recreational marijuana.

"I am in favor of legalization of marijuana for adults but I believe that first we must put in place some measures to protect people," Harkins said. "First there is no de minimus rating compared to what we use for alcohol consumption and determining who is over the legal threshold for DUI and determining levels of intoxication and impairment. I would push to tax this and use the proceeds to fund transportation in the Commonwealth."

Thomas suggested recreational marijuana use "should be treated in a manner roughly equivalent to recreational alcohol."

Recreational marijuana:Pennsylvania Legislature takes first steps toward legalization

Candidate bios

• Pat Harkins

• Party: Democrat (incumbent)

• Age: 58

• Occupation: State Representative, 1st District

• Education: Attended Mercyhurst University, Penn State-Behrend

• Family: Married with three adult children

• More information: No campaign website/social media page

• Michael G. Thomas

• Party: Libertarian

• Age: 42

• Occupation: Security officer, Presque Isle Downs & Casino

• Education: Bachelor's degree in intelligence studies and master's degree in organizational leadership, both from Mercyhurst University

• Family: Married

• More information: facebook.com/MGT4PA; mgt4pa.com; twitter.com/MGT4PA

Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Voters to choose between Harkins, Thomas for 1st District House race