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Alan Benyak
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Bud Cook
JIM Mcnu*tT
What does it take to be elected to a state representative’s job that pays a base salary of $88,339 a year?
Something in the neighborhood of six figures, according to campaign expense reports filed by the candidates in the 49th Legislative District.
Bud Cook’s “4 We the People” committee reported expenditures of $54,384 between mid-May and Oct. 24 and in-kind contributions of $48,945 for a total of $103,780, including $41,000 from the Pennsylvania House Republican Campaign Committee.
“That sounds about right,” he said Thursday in a phone conversation reviewing the figures filed with the Washington County Elections office.
Cook, 60, a Republican from West Pike Run Township, has loaned his campaign $1,750 and personally incurred $3,964 worth of expenses. His committee reported unpaid debts of $5,714. Cook said contributions from state Sen. Scott Wagner of York County, who made a bundle in the waste collection business, will be enumerated in his next round of campaign finance reports.
The “Friends of Alan Benyak” committee reported a total of $116,106 in expenditures and in-kind contributions for the reporting period, $9,250 from himself and no campaign debts from the same reporting period. Then came the filing of election-eve contributions showing the Charleroi attorney’s campaign receiving $53,000 from the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1; $5,000 from the Pennsylvania State Education Association political action committee Oct. 31; and $9,500 from various other union political action committees during the last week of October. These are labeled as “late” because contributions or pledges of $500 or more made after the reporting deadline must be documented within 24 hours of receipt.
The topic of finances extends further than campaign reports with each candidate, to that of personal finance, which is dogging each.
A House Republican Campaign Committee website shows a series of liens filed against Benyak over a 10-year period totaling more than $115,000. Other court filings are marked “closed.”
“I don’t owe anything to the IRS,” Benyak, 52, said last week.
Meanwhile, Democratic researchers did similar checks on Cook, finding $13,918 in default judgments against Cook in Washington County and approximately $79,200 in state and federal tax liens filed between 2005 and 2009 in Allegheny County against CBM & Associates of Pittsburgh, of which Cook was vice president.
“Not that I made an issue of any of this or created a website,” Benyak wrote in an email. “I can’t sue their party. It’s not slander, it’s not libel, it’s not defamation. It’s been an incredibly ugly race. I’m not saying it’s been easy for him, either,” he said of his opponent.
The GOP candidate said the debts were the result of shutting down his publishing business. He said his choices were to “either pay 10 employees or pay my taxes over time,” and that he liquidated all of his savings.
Cook, 60, said he has satisfied a $603 judgment filed by California Area School District, while he is in negotiation with PNC and Portfolio Recovery Associates over credit card debt repayments. He now operates an e-marketing coaching business out of his home, training people in how to use websites and email. “I created three new businesses out of that closure,” he said.
Laws related to taxation must originate in the House of Representatives, so how would the candidates handle that responsibility? A year ago, Pennsylvania was in the throes of a budget stalemate that left many counties and nonprofit agencies scrambling well into 2016. Asked how, if elected, they could keep such a scenario from playing out again, Benyak said, “I would support and sponsor ‘no budget, no pay’ legislation. The House, Senate, governor’s office, cabinet and staff shouldn’t be paid.”
Cook said he supports zero-based budgeting: “Justify everything that’s going on, line by line, year to year.”
Benyak prefers to see sales tax substituted for part of the property tax burden. He called the 49th District, “one of the poorest, if not the poorest in the commonwealth. Farms are being sold off piece by piece, chunk by chunk, to pay off property taxes. We will never completely do away with your property tax,” but Benyak envisions making the shift over three years to reduce property taxes by 80 to 92 percent.
Some have said increased sales taxes unduly affect poorer people.
“Either a person can afford to buy the product or they can’t,” Benyak replied.
Cook, in an interview last week with the Observer-Reporter editorial board, said he also supports a swap from property tax to sales tax. He said his campaign had knocked on 20,000 doors during the last weekend of October, and described seeing a pattern in properties in Donora as “blight, blight, blight, immaculate house,” with the attractive home owned by the family of a retired steelworker whose potential selling price for the home is deflated by its surroundings.
He mentioned a 78-year-old widow who grappled with a drainage problem at her home. A new concrete slab kept the water at bay, but once the improvements were completed, she experienced a tripling of her property assessment. “We’re exploring different options,” Cook said.
Regarding blight, Benyak said he supports legislation that would require people who purchase properties to repair them within a specific time period or face criminal penalties.
Another issue facing Pennsylvania is how to fund the State Employees’ Retirement System and the Public School Employees’ Retirement System.
Benyak disagrees with the label “pension crisis,” calling it “a political term.”
“Perhaps the state should issue a special revenue bond like a tax-free municipal bond,” said Benyak. “I think we want to try to get it all raised if we could, but I don’t know if there would be a market for the entire amount.”
“Whether you call it a crisis or not, the state is in a situation where we’ve borrowed all we can borrow,” Cook said. “It’s the elephant in the room. Going forward, I don’t like to use the term 401(k). The concept is OK, but with the last downturn, a lot of people ended up with a 201(k)” due to the stock market crash in September 2008 and the months that followed.
The person elected to the 49th Legislative District seat will succeed state Rep. Pete Daley, who is retiring after 34 years in the House.
The 49th District includes large parts of the Mon Valley to Ellsworth in Washington County, and Jefferson, Washington and Franklin townships, plus Newell, Fayette City and Belle Vernon in Fayette County.
This also is an open seat in Westmoreland County’s 58th Legislative District because state Rep. Ted Harhai is stepping aide after being elected to nine two-year terms. Democrat Mary Popovich, 62, West Newton mayor and teacher in the health sciences department of California University of Pennsylvania, is facing Justin M. Walsh, 44, of Rostraver Township, a Republican who has practiced law for more than 18 years.
The district includes Monessen, Jeannette, Adamsburg, Arona, Madison, Mt. Pleasant, North Belle Vernon, Penn, Smithton, Sutersville and West Newton; Rostraver, Sewickley and South Huntingdon townships; and parts of East Huntingdon and Hempfield townships.
Voters in various parts of the Observer-Reporter circulation area will find some of these legislative races on Tuesday’s ballot:
Salary: $85,339
The district includes Peters Township in Washington County, plus parts of southern and western Allegheny County. Candidates are Democrat Edward Eichenlaub, 60, of Bethel Park and Republican Guy Reschenthaler, 33, of Jefferson Hills, the incumbent. Both live in Allegheny County.
Candidates are Democrat Michael Rossi, 57, of Center Township and Republican Jim Christiana, 33, incumbent, of Beaver. Both live in Beaver County. The district includes western Washington County and part of Beaver County.
Candidates are Democrat Peter Thaddeus Kobylinski, 34, of South Park Township and Republican Rick Saccone, 58, of Elizabeth Township, incumbent. Both live in Allegheny County. The district includes Mon Valley communities in Allegheny County and part of northern Washington County.
Candidates are Democrat Andrew J. Zahalsky, 45, and Republican John Maher, 58, incumbent. Both live in Upper St. Clair, Allegheny County. The district includes Peters Township, Upper St. Clair and part of Bethel Park.
Candidates are Democrat Joe Szpara, 62, of Collier Township, Allegheny County, and Republican Jason Ortitay, 32, of Cecil Township, incumbent. The district includes part of northern Washington County and southwestern Allegheny County.
The lone candidate on the ballot is Democrat Brandon Neuman, 35, of North Strabane Township, incumbent. The district includes the Canonsburg and Washington areas.
Candidates are Democrat Pam Snyder, 60, of Morgan Township, incumbent, and Republican Betsy Rohanna McClure, 57, of Franklin Township. Both live in Greene County. The district includes all of Greene County and parts of Washington and Fayette counties.
