Harrisburg – Voters on
Tuesday elected five new members to the Senate Republican Caucus for the
2009-10 Legislative Session beginning in January.
“All of our incoming members
have a proven track record of working to improve their communities, and I am
looking forward to working with each of them to improve the quality of life
for all Pennsylvanians,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said.
“These individuals all
reflect the values of their communities, and I am confident that they will
be effective partners in our efforts to control government spending, promote
economic growth and make government more accountable and accessible to the
citizens of Pennsylvania,” said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi.
Rich Alloway of Franklin
County was elected to fill the seat of retiring Senator Terry Punt in the
33rd Senatorial District. Alloway served as a magisterial district judge
since 2004 and is the former owner of a small business in Chambersburg. He
also served as an aide to Senator Punt for five years, gaining valuable
experience in providing constituent services
Voters elected Lloyd Smucker
of Lancaster County to replace retiring Senator Gib Armstrong in
Pennsylvania’s 13th Senatorial District. Smucker is a successful business
operator who helped build a small, family-owned business into an operation
that now employs 145 local residents. He also served as a West Lampeter
Township Supervisor, where he managed one of Lancaster County’s
fastest-growing municipalities without raising property taxes.
On Election Day, Elder Vogel
Jr. became the first Republican elected to serve in the 47th Senatorial
District in the past 36 years and only the second Republican to hold the
seat since the Great Depression. Vogel is a fourth-generation dairy farmer
in New Sewickley Township and was elected New Sewickley Township Supervisor
in 1997. He serves as President of the Beaver-Lawrence Farm Bureau and a
director of the Pennsylvania Beef Council and the Penn State Cooperative
Extension.
Westmoreland County
Commissioner Kim Ward was elected to fill the seat of retiring Senator Bob
Regola in the 39th Senatorial District. Ward was elected County Commissioner
after serving as a Hempfield Township Supervisor from 2002 until 2007. She
helped to balance six consecutive township budgets while never voting to
increase property taxes. She is the first woman elected to the 39th District
seat and only the second Republican to hold it since 1936.
Loyalsock Township’s Gene
Yaw will join the Caucus in January, filling the seat of retiring Senator
Roger Madigan in the 23rd Senatorial District. Yaw has served as solicitor
to the Lycoming County Prothonotary for 16 years and was named Pennsylvania
County Solicitor for the Year in 2004. He was a former law clerk for the
late President Judge Charles F. Greevy and served 17 years on the Board of
Directors for Susquehanna Legal Services.
In addition, voters in the
29th Senatorial District supported the candidacy of Senator James J.
Rhoades, who passed away last month. A special election will be scheduled to
fill the vacancy.
Voters elected a 29-20
Senate GOP majority for 2009-10, pending the outcome of the special election
in the 29th District. Pennsylvania voters have elected a Republican Senate
majority in every General Election since 1980.
