Republican Charity Grimm Krupa and Democrat Richard Ringer, the candidates for Pennsylvania's 51st State House District, weigh in on top issues for the 2022 election.
About the WESA Candidate Survey: WESA sent surveys to all candidates running in competitive races for federal and state offices in our listening area, including Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. Our candidate survey was based upon input we solicited from voters.
We have fixed basic capitalization and punctuation issues, but have not otherwise edited candidates' answers.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision, some state lawmakers believe Pennsylvania should ban abortion after six weeks, with no exceptions. Would you support such a proposal — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance and identify other changes, if any, you would like to make to the state’s abortion laws.
Grimm Krupa: I am personally pro-life and believe we need to make abortion as rare as possible. As a legislator, I would continue to support exceptions in the rare, but tragic, instances of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.
Ringer: No. Exemptions are common in law. Every state, for example, requires a child to be vaccinated before going to child care or school. A parent, though, is permitted to opt out of the requirement because of medical, religious or personal reasons. The right of a woman to abort a fetus which was the result of an act she did not willingly participate, rape or incest for example, or the female because of her young age may not be physically able to give birth are reasonable exemptions, even after six weeks when the pregnancy may not be known.
Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been set at the federal rate of $7.25 an hour since 2009. Do you favor state action to change the minimum wage? Yes/no?
- Please explain our stance and, if you support a change, identify the minimum wage rate you believe is appropriate.
Grimm Krupa: I believe that some adjustment to the minimum wage is appropriate as the buying power of a dollar has changed significantly since 2009, but do not support liberals’ efforts to guarantee a $15/hour minimum wage as that would have disastrous impact on small businesses and drive inflation even higher.
Ringer: Yes. Jobs in Fayette County and elsewhere in the state don’t pay well. The average income of a Fayette County resident is $21,319 a year. The U.S. average is $28,555 a year. Entry-level job pay among occupations with a sizable 2021workforce is also a problem. The annual wage in 2021for workers in food preparation and serving businesses was $18,556; for personal care and services, $19,7754; for sale related, $20,477; and health care support, $22,665. Meanwhile, the overall poverty rate in the county topped 16.25%, the latest census found, and was a staggering 45.37% for Blacks.
Do you support no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance and identify any other changes you believe should be made to state voting laws.
Grimm Krupa: The PA Supreme Court recently ruled that mail-in balloting will remain. With that in mind, I believe there are areas where either the statute can be improved or the guidance provided by the courts/Department of State can be better clarified. Our goal must be an election system that is consistent across the Commonwealth and protects the franchise of legitimate voters to help ensure the public’s trust and prevent any amount of fraud.
Ringer: Yes. Voting in a right. We should make it easy, not difficult, to vote. Those who oppose no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania simply want an excuse for losing an election.
Do you support Pennsylvania’s involvement in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which sets pricing for carbon emissions — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance, and describe any changes you wish to see to state energy or climate policy.
Grimm Krupa: I do not, for several reasons. First, it will put PA at a competitive disadvantage that costs our citizens jobs and causes skyrocketing utility costs for consumers. Second, this issue cannot be addressed by PA alone — neighboring states and nations must all be on the same track. Third, government should not be picking winners and losers but rather the natural market.
Ringer: Yes. First, the pricing format is not an illegal tax. The state can use the money it collects to fund clean energy and energy efficiency programs. With home and business heating costs expected to rise as winter approaches, people would gripe about having more efficient heating mechanisms and paying less. Pennsylvania, with a long history of coal mining (coal is a major source of CO2 gas), ranks fourth in the U.S. for carbon emissions. Why not invest in natural gas (which produces far less harmful emissions) as the state has more natural gas than any state except Texas.
Inflation is a concern for Pennsylvanians, and some legislators have called for either reducing or suspending the 58-cent-a-gallon gas tax. Would you support such a measure? Yes/no?
- If yes, how would you replace the revenue to pay for State Police and road spending — and are there other inflation-fighting policies you would pursue?
Grimm Krupa: I would support suspending the gas tax or, in the very least, rolling back the increase passed into law several years ago. PA taxes its citizens enough to find cost savings in other areas to ensure we can fund our police and fix our roads. The bigger issue though is the out-of-control spending being driven by the Biden Administration that is the root cause of inflation. As State Rep, I will control spending in PA, but Washington needs to stop adding trillions in spending and debt.
Ringer: No. Pennsylvania’s roads need constant repair and new roads are needed to expand access and reduce traffic congestions. The gas tax and motor license fees generate about $4.5 billion but only $2.7 billion goes to roads and bridges. Even with the high tax, PennDOT estimates that road and bridge repair is underfunded by $8.1 billion to $8.5 billion. Poor roads and traffic congestion increase the transportation of goods, which then results in higher prices for those goods. The consumer is hurt. The gas tax also funds the State Police and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Reducing the tax would result in poorer police enforcement and higher turnpike fees, which already exorbitant.
In the face of rising homicide and other crime rates, would you support requiring universal background checks for gun purchases? Yes/no?
- Please explain your stance, and describe other approaches to fighting crime that you would support.
Grimm Krupa: No. Law-abiding gun owners follow gun laws; criminals do not and another new law or regulation won’t change that. What we need is what the liberals do not want: serious punishments for gun crimes that deter criminals from using them.
Ringer: Yes. And they are widely favored. Research suggests that universal background checks, when combined with licensing strategies such as permit-to-purchase, are effective at reducing firearm crimes. A Pew Research poll of 5,109 U.S. adults conducted in April 2021 finds 87% of gun owners and 88% of non-gun owners think “people with mental illnesses” should not be able to buy guns, while 72% of gun owners and 87% of non-gun owners think gun show sales and private gun sales should be subject to background checks. The same poll finds 70% of Republicans and 92% of Democrats favor “subjecting private gun sales and gun show sales to background checks.”
School funding in Pennsylvania is heavily supported by property taxes. Would you support efforts to change that system — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance and describe the changes you would support to how public education is funded.
Grimm Krupa: I do support the elimination of the school property tax and replacing those funds with a tax structure that are more reflective of a citizen’s individual — and ever changing — circumstances. Just as importantly, we must also work at reducing costs on school districts so they need less from taxpayers; this can be achieved through elimination of unfunded mandates and other commonsense reforms.
Ringer: Yes. School districts with moderate- and low-income properties do not have as much money for student education as districts in wealthier communities. Senior citizens, many on fixed incomes, also are burdened. As such, there are disparities in the quality of education district-by-district. On top of that, chartered schools siphon off school funds from districts.
