Gibbons wants to keep focus on jobs, taxes
State Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10, has served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly since 2007, after he was elected in 2006 as the 25-year-old law student who unseated 20-year Democratic incumbent Frank LaGrotta in that year’s primary election.
Since then, Gibbons said, he’s worked hard to make jobs and taxes the focus of his time in Harrisburg. And those issues — job growth and property taxes in particular — continue to spring to mind when he is asked to think about the issues most important to his constituents.
“I think we want to see economic growth continue throughout the district,” said Gibbons, who represents portions of Butler, Lawrence and Beaver counties. “Certainly, I have focused on that in a couple areas, particularly in downtown development places like Slippery Rock and Ellwood City and other Main Street communities.”
Gibbons called creating jobs the most important issue in his district, which is anticipating a years-long Shell project to construct and operate an ethalyne cracker plant in Beaver County.
Gibbons said it’s up to elected officials to help prepare the area’s workforce and infrastructure to take advantage of what is expected to be a demand for thousands of temporary and permanent workers.
“We’re looking at a great opportunity here in Beaver County and all of southwestern Pennsylvania, and we’re working to take advantage of that,” he said. “The biggest thing is going to be making sure we have the brownfield sites ready for development, and a workforce ready to take advantage of the jobs.”
Gibbons said that means investing in community colleges, trade schools and apprenticeship programs, like a recently-constructed steamfitters academy in Butler County, to “make sure we have employees ready to do this.”
Another hot topic for Gibbons is property taxes — something he said has been an issue in the 10th district for years. Gibbons wants to reform Pennsylvania’s school funding system to reduce or eliminate districts’ reliance on property taxes.
“School funding is finally back to where it was five or six years ago, and we need to continue to make investments at the state level ... to help eliminate those property taxes for our working families and senior citizens,” Gibbons said.
A third issue that goes hand-in-hand with property taxes is school funding and reforms, Gibbons said. He wants to look at reducing costs — “particularly administrative overhead” — as districts continue to deal with shrinking student populations and declining tax bases.
Gibbons said he also wants the state to invest more in its System of Higher Education, as schools like Slippery Rock University dealt with this week’s faculty strike and contentious contract negotiations with the faculty union leadership.
Gibbons said he hopes voters recognize bipartisanship as one of the hallmarks of his tenure in office.
“I’m not a career politician. I’m someone who got into this to do public service,” Gibbons said. “What I do each and every day is go out and serve the people the best way I can. I think I’ve showed a willingness to work across the aisle and get things accomplished.”
Gibbons is facing Lawrence County businessman and farmer Aaron Bernstine, who cruised to an easy primary victory in April with 5,142 votes in a crowded Republican primary.
