Garrity discusses governor campaign, gas tax, and data centers
If elected, Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity said she'd look to be a more active partner in budget negotiations and use resources like the Rainy Day Fund to offset a temporary suspension of the gas tax.
Garrity discusses governor campaign, gas tax, and data centers
If elected, Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity said she'd look to be a more active partner in budget negotiations and use resources like the Rainy Day Fund to offset a temporary suspension of the gas tax.
Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity says she would take a more active role in budget negotiations, reduce state agency spending and give local governments greater control over data center development if elected governor.
Garrity criticizes Shapiro over late budgets
Garrity, a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel, is seeking to defeat Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and give Republicans their first Pennsylvania gubernatorial victory in more than a decade.
“We have so many blessings in this commonwealth,” Garrity said in an interview with WGAL. “We have the best, hardest-working people.”
As Election Day approaches, Garrity said she is hearing from Pennsylvanians who want a change after three terms of Democratic leadership. She criticized Shapiro over four late budgets enacted while working with a divided Legislature.
“What a real leader does is get all the stakeholders around the table and work it out,” Garrity said. “You roll up your sleeves, and you get to work.”
Plans for agency spending and state reserves
Garrity said she would become more directly involved in budget negotiations, particularly as Pennsylvania faces rising health care and social service costs. She said state agencies could find savings of 3% to 5% and argued that the state could do more to identify fraud and improper payments.
“I would really examine where these payments are going,” Garrity said. “You can look to see where you have duplicative payments at the same address — simple things like that.”
She pointed to payment errors in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as an example.
Garrity also criticized Shapiro’s proposals to use state reserves, including the Rainy Day Fund, to support Pennsylvania’s growing annual budget. However, she said she would consider using reserves to temporarily suspend the state taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
“I do think an appropriate use of the Rainy Day Fund could be to suspend the gas tax and the diesel tax for a specific period of time,” Garrity said.
Asked how that would differ from using reserves to close a budget gap, Garrity said a temporary tax suspension would provide direct relief to residents.
“Prices are high, and families are hurting,” she said. “If you want to suspend that for two or three months, it’s totally different from plugging a budget hole.”
Skill games position and campaign contribution
Garrity also addressed the debate over skill games, which have been ruled illegal slot machines. She said a proposed 52% tax backed by Shapiro was too high and argued that the governor should have called a special legislative session before the court ruling took effect.
“This is going to cost Pennsylvanians thousands of jobs, and they were paying taxes,” Garrity said. “To me, this is such a missed opportunity to come up with some sort of win-win. I would have had some sort of flat-dollar fee per machine.”
Campaign finance records filed after the interview showed Garrity’s campaign received $600,000 from the Pennsylvania Amusement and Music Machine Association, which represents skill game operators and businesses that offer the machines.
Garrity’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the contribution. The donation comes as Garrity faces a significant fundraising disadvantage in the race
Garrity calls for local control of data centers
On another major campaign issue, Garrity called for an undefined “pause” in data center development to give local communities more influence over where the facilities are built.
“I want the control to remain at the local level,” she said. “Why would we ever build these on farmland? We have hundreds and hundreds of brownfield sites, blighted areas and industrial sites with infrastructure around them. There’s no reason to build these next to residential areas or precious farmland.”
An extended version of WGAL’s interview with Garrity will air next week on News 8 at 7: The Thread, including her views on government transparency and other issues facing Pennsylvania voters.