Joe Scarnati: President Pro Tempore, Pennsylvania Senate.

AuthorScarnati, Joe
PositionTHE FINAL WORD - Interview

A native and champion of rural Pennsylvania, Joe Scarnati is serving his fifth term in the state Senate. After graduating from Penn State DuBois, Scarnati became a third-generation business owner and served on the Brockway Borough Council and the Jefferson County Development Council. He has been president pro tempore since 2006, including the three years he served out the term of Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll, who died in 2008.

What are the characteristics of a good leader? You need courage, you need wisdom and you need the ability to know when you don't know what to do. You have to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you. I feel like that's the success I've had in this position. My coworkers--and I always refrain from saying staff because they're not staff, they're my coworkers--care deeply about getting things done right. They challenge me, and I appreciate that.

What are your legislative priorities? Clearly, our top legislative priorities sometimes get moved by current events, and nothing has struck every legislator more than the issue of school safety. We are taking a much closer look not only at the funding levels, but also at what types of school safety projects we can use that money for. In addition, my fight for rural areas getting their share of whatever the program is, whether it's highway dollars or education dollars, has probably been my highest mission since I've been here.

How has being a small-business owner shaped your perspective as a legislator? I grew up in a family that had been in the restaurant business for 70 years. I was a third-generation owner for 20 years. Just in the last three years my wife and I bought a candy company that was founded back in the '50s. I've spent a lifetime signing the front of a paycheck, not just the back. And when you sign the front, you're responsible for the workers' compensation policy for your employees. You're responsible for the unemployment compensation, payroll and benefit package. You're dealing with bureaucracy. From that perspective, when somebody is introducing a bill or has an idea, I put my hand up as that businessman. I like to tell everybody that I've got skin in the game.

How do you feel about efforts in Pennsylvania and elsewhere to reduce the size of the legislature or make it part time? My biggest fear with not having a full-time legislature is that you cede a lot of operations to the executive branch. I'm a real defender of the separation of powers...

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