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The two are vying to be the representative of the 75th district.
Gabler said he decided to run for representative after being a legislative research analyst in the House of Representatives. He said he is unhappy with how the government is working.
"They need to start respecting the taxpayers' money better than they have been," Gabler said.
Millions of dollars have been used to build stadiums and convention centers and to give the legislators a raise, yet there isn't enough money to pay for roads and bridges., he said.
Surra, of Kersey, first elected in 1991 said he decided to run for representative when a movement began to haul trash from the east coast into landfills in the region and couldn't get help from the his representative.
He is now the majority caucus administrator. There have not been any midnight sessions since he took the position, he said. Legislators now have 24 hours to review an amendment to a bill, he said.
Asked what the candidates would cut to prevent the state from having a $2.5 billion shortfall by 2010 due to the economic crisis, Surra said Pennsylvania must have a balanced budget each year. The state is usually conservative and has a surplus, however, when the economy took a nose dive it left the state with a $168 million deficit. The state has $750 million in its "rainy day" fund and it is pouring, he said. Gov. Ed Rendell has asked that each line item be reviewed and 4.3 to 4.5 percent in the budget be cut to avoid major cuts. Pennsylvania is 48th in the number of employees per capita, he said. He said he has voted to raise taxes when it's been needed.
Gabler said the state "saw the train coming and decided to stand on the track anyway." Although the state usually is $200 to $300 million in the black, it spent it this year, he said. The legislators should have been more responsible when they passed the budget. A tax increase is not the way to go, he said. In the 1990s, there was a special tax placed on computer services at a time when it was new and upcoming. The state chased those services out of the state, Gabler said. Welfare reform should also take place.
Surra said less people are on welfare than there have been in decades, but more people are in nursing homes and that is the reason the welfare numbers are where they are.
The legislature could not predict a 40 percent drop in the stock market, no one believed that would happen, Surra said.
Electricity is set to be deregulated in 2010 and consumers could face a 60 percent increase, the candidates were asked what could be done about it.
The legislature needs to eliminate the red tape when an electric company determines it needs to increase its supplies, Gabler said. It also needs to encourage the development of natural resources such as gas. It's also important to make sure consumers aren't hit with a large increase all at once, he said.
Deregulation passed in 1996 when there was a Republican governor and a Republican senate, Surra said. Surra said he voted against it. The thought was that deregulation would fix everything and lower rates, he said. He questioned why they would have been regulated in the first place if that was the case. There is a need to produce more and decrease demand, he said. It cost billions to build new power plants.
The plan to toll Interstate 80 was rejected by the federal government and now the state must come up with a new plan to fix its roads and bridges and both candidates discussed their thoughts on the issue.
Pennsylvania has 6,000 structurally deficient bridges, Surra said. They need fixed and Surra said he voted for the plan to toll I-80. It would have placed a limited number of tolls on the interstate that would mostly be paid by commercial and truck traffic from out-of-state, he said. No one likes other ideas for raising the money, such as placing a 30 cent tax on gas or charging a property tax on vehicles, he said.
"Tolling I-80 would have been a nightmare," Gabler said. Although 75 percent of the traffic on it may be from out-of-state, 100 percent of the people would have been affected by it since the cost would have been passed on to consumers, whether it was for a cartoon of eggs or a gallon of milk, Gabler said.
The state is already playing defense trying to keep jobs from leaving because it has some of the highest taxes in the country, Gabler said. The money needs to be spent more responsibly.
Gabler questioned how it could be there is no money for roads and bridges, but it's okay to increase the salary for legislators, the pension and spend money to build convention centers and stadiums. The legislature needs to move the police budget into the general fund away from the highway fund. The tolling is not a dead issue. A legislator has already said the request can be submitted again next year after the election, Gabler said.
Even if the police budget is moved to the general fund, money still has to be found to pay for that, Surra said.
One way to devastate the economy is by placing weight limits on bridges because there is no money to fix them, Surra said.
Asked their thoughts on health care and increasing insurance costs, Gabler said there should be more choices for healthcare in Pennsylvania. Neighboring states offer 10 to 12 choices. Reducing frivolous malpractice cases would also help by reducing the cost of insurance.
This is an issue that should be addressed at the federal level, but it's not, so Surra said he voted in favor of higher cigarette taxes to help provide healthcare.
Malpractice suits are already down 40 percent in Pennsylvania due to reform, Surra said. The problem with healthcare isn't for those with a lot of money or those with no money, but those in the middle.
Manufacturing has provided a livelihood for Pennsylvania, but now manufactures and businesses are closing or moving. The candidates were asked what they could do to bring jobs to the region.
There hasn't been enough discussion about companies moving out of state, they're not just moving overseas, Gabler said. Pennsylvania is not doing a good job of being competitive. It needs to support policies that look forward, tolling I-80 and high taxes for businesses will not do it, he said.
Businesses continue to stay in New Jersey and Ohio even though the interstate there is tolled, Surra said.
Elk County has a higher per capita manufacturing sector than any of the other 67 counties. Surra said he helped to get C/G Electrodes to open after Carbide Graphite closed and now it is investing $152 million to expand. He said he also assisted RESCAR (in DuBois) after the fire. Pennsylvania also offers thousands of acres of tax free land through Keystone Opportunity Zones, as well.
