{"id":392,"date":"2010-10-11T11:36:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-11T15:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unionvilletimes.com\/?p=392"},"modified":"2010-10-11T11:40:44","modified_gmt":"2010-10-11T15:40:44","slug":"three-vying-for-160th-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=392","title":{"rendered":"Three vying for 160th House seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Incumbent Steve Barrar faces challenge from Democrat Nick DiGregory and independent Dave Cleary in Nov. election<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nBy Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/span><\/em><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>Unlike two years ago, voters in the 160th District will have a choice when it comes to voting for a state representative. While seven-term incumbent Steve Barrar (R-Upper Chichester) ran unopposed in 2008, he faces not one, but two opponents in the 2010 election: Democrat Nick DiGregory and independent Dave Cleary.<\/p>\n

The three have diverse points of view \u2014 Barrar is a fairly conservative Republican, Cleary describes himself as moderate, although fiscally conservative, while DiGregory doesn\u2019t fit easily into any one category.<\/p>\n

Both Cleary and DiGregory acknowledge that beating Barrar at the polls in any year is a tough sell \u2014 and with what appears to be a prevailing Republican wind, it\u2019s a rugged, uphill battle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Democrat Nick DiGregory<\/p><\/div>\n

DiGregory said he thought it was important for people to look closely at Barrar\u2019s record \u2014 he first won election in 1996 \u2014 before deciding to send him back to Harrisburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this really what you expect from your legislator?\u201d he asks. DiGregory brings up the 2001 pension vote, the 2005 midnight pay raise vote, running through a list of Barrar\u2019s votes during his seven terms that some have criticized. \u201cHe came in and pledged \u2018no new taxes\u2019 and then voted for them in 2001 in (then Gov. Thomas) Ridge\u2019s budget \u2014 but when it\u2019s a Democratic budget, like this year, he votes no.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, Barrar did support Gov. Ed Rendell\u2019s 2004 budget.<\/p>\n

Cleary, meanwhile suggests that both parties are part of the problem, not the solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are excited (about having an independent option),\u201d Cleary said. \u201cThey want someone a little more accessible, someone who is more responsive to their needs and interests. And they\u2019re not happy with all of this two-party rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Republican State Rep. Steve Barrar<\/p><\/div>\n

Barrar hears all the reform talk and points out he\u2019s fighting for it the trenches right now. His vote \u2014 one of just six \u2014 in the state house against the school teacher pension reform bill is a prime example.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t go nearly far enough,\u201d he said. \u201cAll it does is kick the problem down the road. So, I voted against it.\u201d He said that bill as passed didn\u2019t address the issue of defined benefit pensions, but he said he is hopeful that the version that comes back from the state senate is a better fix for the problem.<\/p>\n

Cleary agrees that major structural changes are needed in the state pension fund \u2014 and that defined benefits probably should only be for those likely to be injured or disabled in the line of duty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a math problem,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, it needs to be solved, instead just being pushed down the road. Unfortunately, it tends to obscure all of the other issues we\u2019re facing in education right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Independent Dave Cleary<\/p><\/div>\n

Cleary said that he thinks changes are needed in the entire state pension fund \u2014 and that only employees likely to be injured or disabled in the line of duty, like police and fire personnel, should get guaranteed benefit pensions. Most other public workers \u2014 including he notes, members of the state legislature, which Barrar says he agrees with \u2014 should get something more like 401K matches, as is typical in the private sector. He doesn\u2019t buy the argument that the retirements for existing teachers can\u2019t be changed, either, noting that that retirement packages changed regularly for military officers and enlisted personnel during his time in the Navy.<\/p>\n

DiGregory counters that the best way cut costs in the legislator is not to restrict pensions, but cut the number of legislators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should redistrict and cut down the size of the legislature,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to make cuts, symbolically, it should start with the legislature. We also ought to get these guys off their \u201cCadillac\u201d health care plans and make them have the same coverage as state workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s similar disagreement over the issue of school funding. Barrar suggests that as currently constituted, the state funding formula is unfair \u2014 and cites Unionville-Chadds Ford School District as a prime example.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make it more fair,\u201d Barrar said. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair that Unionville gets virtually nothing and Philadelphia gets 75% of its school funding from the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleary, while he grants there are issues with the state funding system, says he thinks local school districts have to use better judgement \u2014 especially when it comes to starting large building programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school districts have to be a little more frugal,\u201d he said. One problem has been that too many districts have been too quick to build new buildings, accruing large debt service that raises both taxes and spending \u2014 he said, noting the controversial Unionville High School expansion project. He does support the concept of the state paying when it puts new educational mandates on local districts, though.<\/p>\n

DiGregory notes that he thinks revenue could be raised by closing loopholes that allow some of the biggest companies in the state to pay little or no taxes, while small business\u00a0 and homeowners get left carrying the burden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of loopholes that ought to be cut out,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not in any way opposed to free enterprise, but if you\u2019re going to make money off the resources and people of the commonwealth, then you should have to pay your fair share like the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrar, a Navy veteran, is the father of two adult daughters and loves to brag about his two-year-old grandson. Married for 31 years, he is an avid bicyclist \u2014 and can often be seen riding around the district. When he\u2019s not on the job \u2014 he takes pride in having missed only two session days in 14 years \u2014 he also enjoys sailing on his boat in the Chesapeake.<\/p>\n

DiGregory, who lives in Aston, Delaware County with his three teenage children, is a former high school history teacher, who holds two masters degrees. He currently works for a company that specializes in professional development for social studies educators.<\/p>\n

Cleary, a native of North Dakota, comes from a family with a long record of public service. His father server in World War II and in Korea, where he served as a MASH doctor, while his mother served three terms in the North Dakota House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

After graduating the Naval Academy, Cleary underwent flight training to become a flight officer, including carrier training. He spent 13 years in the Navy, including a tour patrolling the \u201cNo-Fly\u201d zone in Northern Iraq. Currently employed as an aircraft systems engineer and project manager, he is active in youth sports in his spare time. Cleary, and his wife, Patricia Tuggle, who serves as an officer in an Army Reserve medical unit, have four children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Incumbent Steve Barrar faces challenge from Democrat Nick DiGregory and independent Dave Cleary in Nov. election By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com Unlike two years ago, voters in the 160th District will have a choice when it comes to voting for a state representative. While seven-term incumbent Steve Barrar (R-Upper Chichester) ran unopposed in 2008, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[65,15,39,29,67,66,68,69,47,10,43,30,70],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-barrar","tag-birmingham","tag-chadds-ford","tag-chester-county","tag-cleary","tag-digregory","tag-elections","tag-legislature","tag-news-2","tag-pocopson","tag-schools-2","tag-state-representative","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}