Daley, Cook talk medical marijuana, pension reform
While incumbent state Rep. Pete Daley, D-California, and Republican challenger Bud Cook are are on the opposite side of many issues, the men vying to represent the 49th district agree that legalizing medical marijuana could benefit those they serve.
Nineteen states have legalized medical marijuana for medicinal purposes. The state Senate has passed a medical marijuana bill, which is now being considered before the House.
Daley said the Senate version of the bill cuts out a lot, so he doubtful the House’s version of the bill will pass. However, Daley said, he supports legalizing marijuana for medical — but not recreational — use. Daley said family members and friends have suffered through cancer, so he believes legalization would help people.
“Its time has arrived in Pennsylvania,” he said. “I think we need to get with the rest of the world. Recreational — no way. I’m not for that.”
Cook, of West Pike Run Township, echoed Daley’s position.
“I would be for limited medical marijuana, not recreational marijuana,” he said. “I think states are jumping too fast at recreational marijuana.”
The men sat down recently with the Herald-Standard’s editorial board to offer their views on several different issues. The 49th district includes all of Brownsville Township and parts of Menallen, Redstone and Washington townships in Fayette County, and parts of Washington County, including California, Coal Center and West Brownsville. The job pays $84,000 yearly.
Campaign finance reform
Common Cause and other groups have called for campaign finance reform, which would include limits on the size of contributions and the amount of money that candidates can spend on legislative and statewide races.
Cook said he supports reform, noting his campaign is funded through friends and family.
“President Eisenhower talked about the military-industrial complex. What we have now is a political-industrial complex. I was involved in politics in the 1990s. I retired and came back out a year ago. I’m actually astounded how industrialized politics has become. A person running as an independent in Pennsylvania has very little chance. Politics was never meant to be a profession,” he said.
Daley said he has been a longtime supporter of campaign finance reform. He recalled how money from outside the state flowed against him during his campaign against Republican Richard Massafra in 2012. He said hundreds of thousands of dollars were donated by outside interests to local races involving local issues.
Property taxes
The state Senate is considering eliminating property taxes by raising the sales and income taxes.
The thought behind the plan is that it would pool the money raised by these taxes to give each school district across the state the same amount of subsidies.
More affluent districts would receive the same funding as less prosperous districts.
“I’m all for it,” Daley said. “The Senate bill formula should be fair to every school district. The kids in Uniontown, Brownsville, California should have the same footing as the kids in Peters Township, Upper Saint Clair, Mount Lebanon — the districts that have everything while we are depending on elderly population footing the bill in counties like Fayette, Washington and Greene.”
Cook said he supports eliminating the property tax especially after talking with some senior citizens who struggle financially.
However, Cook said, if this law were enacted, he has a problem sending the money to Harrisburg and trusting folks there to distribute the money equitably.
“I think there is a much better way to fund schools,” he said.
Pension funding
According to some experts, the state’s public pension plans are underfunded by $40 million.
Cook said this is a major problem facing the state that needs to be addressed.
“You can’t continue to kick that can down the road,” he said.
Daley said a pension reform road map was approved by the governor and legislature in 2010.
In years past, Daley said, he has supported reforms that would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars if they had been approved.
Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed putting all new hires in 401K plans with sizable increases in employee contributions.
“I don’t think 401Ks are the answer,” Daley said. “I don’t want to send anything to Wall Street, let someone on Wall Street take my pension, your pension or anyone else’s pension and invest it. I’ve never seen anything good come out of Wall Street… I think we can fix this problem. I think if we had that Marcellus shale extraction tax, we could start bolstering the system.”
State stores
Changes have been proposed that would do away with state control of alcohol distribution, including eliminating state stores.
Daley said the state stores generate about $140 million dollars a year, so he doesn’t want to get rid of them, but reform them so they will be more accessible and modern.
He said the selling the stores would cost more than 4,000 good paying jobs.
“I think we can fix it,” he said. “We can expand it. We can improve it.”
Cook said the state should get out of the liquor store business. He favors a private enterprise approach governed by tight restrictions and controls so that stores wouldn’t pop up on every street corner, but free enough to allow someone to purchase alcohol on Sunday.
Cook said his business works closely with the convenience store industry, so he knows the alcohol sales can be properly managed as they are in other states. And, instead of considering the jobs lost, Cook said, maybe people should consider the jobs that would be created if the stores were privatized.
“I don’t believe the state has any business doing something that free enterprise can do better,” he said.