Candidates square off to fill Senate seat in 37th District
Heather Arnet and Guy Reschenthaler
Heather Arnet
Guy Reschenthaler
Two prospective newcomers to state office are running Nov. 3 to complete the term of Sen. Matt Smith, D-37th District, who is resigned to head the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.
Heather Arnet of Mt. Lebanon is the Democratic candidate, and Guy Reschenthaler of Jefferson Hills, the Republican.
Reschenthaler has held public office as district judge, a position to which he was elected in 2013. He resigned following his nomination by fellow Republicans to run for the Senate.
Arnet was elected to the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Directors in 2007 and served for two years.
As chief executive officer of the Women and Girls Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, for the past 12 years, Arnet cited her experience working at the local, county and state levels toward policy and legislation that benefit women’s causes. She also has given testimony at state budget hearings.
“We provide data to help the legislators make informed decisions when choosing where to appropriate funds,” she said.
Reschenthaler has served as a U.S. Naval officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. During his deployment to Iraq, he prosecuted cases in Central Criminal Court in Baghdad.
Working with Iraqis involved a significant amount of compromise, he said.
“I want to bring that philosophy – judicial, common-sense style – to Harrisburg,” Reschenthaler explained. “We have to find middle ground.”
Arnet took a similar stance: “If we could start where we agree, or what our common goals are, we could certainly have something that we could build upon,” she said.
She is a proponent of ensuring that the state provides strong support for education and Pennsylvania’s students.
“I think it’s immoral for us not to put them first and figure out how to reinvest in our kids,” Arnet said.
Reschenthaler also cited the need for financial support for schools. He differed from his opponent, though, on an issue that could be a potential source of new revenue: placing a severance tax on energy companies that extract non-renewable natural resources in Pennsylvania, which is the largest state lacking such a tax.
“When you look at the oil and gas companies, they’re already taxed heavily,” he said, explaining that Pennsylvania needs to offer incentives for operators to do business in the state. “We do have the resources here, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be drilled for here, now.”
Arnet questioned why Pennsylvania should not take advantage of the money that an extraction tax would generate.
“It’s only fair for us to try to compete in a way that other states do,” she said. “Certainly, we need the revenue so that we have the funds to invest in our kids, which is our workforce of tomorrow.”
A perennial question facing the state Legislature is whether to privatize the sale of alcohol. Arnet said that doing away with the current system is easier said than done, as a Republican governor, Senate and House of Representatives were unable to come to agreement on proceeding.
“That is a sustainable revenue source to our state,” she said. “We need to be responsible and find a new revenue source that would replace this.”
She also expressed concern about the future for those who are employed by the state in liquor sales, wondering if the private sector “would provide living wages and benefits.”
Reschenthaler opposes the current system.
“I just don’t think the government should be in the business of selling liquor,” he said. As for the system’s employees, “The private businesses will probably want to hire someone with experience, and those are the people who are working there now.”
Included in the 37th District are Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon, Peters Township, South Fayette and Upper St. Clair.