New Beaver man seeks D-10 seat
NEW BEAVER — A businessman and farmer from Lawrence County is seeking the Republican nomination for the 10th District state House seat.
The district includes Slippery Rock township and borough in Butler County as well as parts of Beaver and Lawrence counties.
Aaron Bernstine of New Beaver said he is motivated to run by an out-of-touch political class and a political process that is controlled by special interest groups.
In a news release, Bernstine said he had a five-point plan to highlight the 10th District’s “hard-work and high-principles” and push back against career politicians he says are responsible for the state’s fiscal impasse.
“The unprecedented budget gridlock and continuing ethics scandals in Harrisburg are an insult to ... places like the 10th District,” Bernstine said in the release. “I am running because the special interests and bureaucrats in state government need to hear our voices, not an echo of their own.”
Bernstine said he will not alter his message for a particular voting block or demographic.
“Our focus is on doing the right thing. If that message resonates that’s great. If it doesn’t, that’s OK as well, but I think these are the pieces that make the political class out of touch with the rest of the community,” Bernstine said.
Bernstine said that if elected, he would focus on job creation, education reform, and reining in state spending, which he said has improperly subsidized legislators’ activities and lifestyles. If elected, he pledges to decline a taxpayer-leased vehicle, to opt out of the state’s pension system and to reject the unvouchered $157 per diem offered to legislators.
“There are these taxpayer funded cars, per diems and pensions ... they do all this at the expense of people who go to work every day and try to put some money aside to do things for their families,” he said.
Bernstine works for Automatic Data Processing in Pittsburgh. In addition, he owns several small businesses and a farm with livestock. He lives on a 107-acre farm with his wife, Ilia, and their son Dierks.
He earned a degree in business management from Penn State University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
The 10th District is represented by state Rep. Jaret Gibbons, a Democrat.
The primary is April 26.
