Frank Scagliotta: Commitment, Integrity & Responsibility

Teacher for 35 years. Head football coach at Bangor High. Member of Pa. Coaches Hall of Fame. NCAA basketball referee. Former Bangor Council member. Master's Degree.

That's Frank Scagliotta in a nutshell. I met him at his Bangor home yesterday to discuss his candidacy for the Democratic nomination to the 137th state house seat. State Rep. Rich Grucela is retiring at the end of this year.

When I arrived at Frank's home, he and Bangor's former varsity baseball coach were watching TV. Was it the Phillies? IronPigs? ESPN? Nah, they were watching Bonanza.

Q) Two state legislative leaders have been convicted of using their office for political or personal gain while others are under indictment. Will we ever change the way business gets done in Harrisburg?

A) Well, I think not only on a state legislative level, but nationally, too, politicians have developed a corrupt look to the people. If you're asking me, how can we change that, I think we have to get more people who are ethical, who have the integrity to do the job out there. I think as voters, the rank and file people, when we see incidents such as this, it's our job to remove those people.

Q) Does this have something to do with your decision to run?

Partly. Not solely that, Bernie, but partly. I've always felt as a football coach ... I preach to my players about commitment, integrity, the right way to play the game. That's a lesson that goes beyond football. I try to teach them that about life.

And this is a big part of what's going on out there. We're not seeing the commitment, the integrity and the responsibility that we thought these people would have when we voted them in office. Like it or not, it has to come back on us as voters.

Q) According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Pennsylvania has the largest full-time and second most expensive legislative branch in the nation. Is it time to cut back?

A) If we're spending money for something good, and results of what we're spending the money for are positive, then I don't think that money is going the wrong way. But we do have a very large budget of spending money out there right now for legislators, and obviously, they're not doing the job.

How do we go about cutting the expense of big government? Where you have to start on this is with the budget itself. They don't do this anymore. When they take the state budget, Bern, they don't start at zero and say, this is what we need for this year. They look at what they did last year, and then add to it. So what's happening is it's ballooning larger, larger and larger, and thus we get what you're talking about, bigger and bigger government.

At home, if I can make the analogy to home, when I see that I'm struggling financially, I need to sit down and look, item by item, to see where I'm spending my money and is it worthwhile.

Q) How can you prevent a devastating budget impasse like the one we suffered last year?

A) Well, the first thing is getting people to work together so you don't get to that point of a budget impasse. Teamwork. Using my coaching background ...

Q) You were a Republican until not long before you decided to run?

A) Well, originally, I was a Democrat. I switched to the Republican party to help some of my friends who were running on the Republican ticket. My family, my mom, my dad, everyone was registered Democrat. My wife's side of the family was very strong in he Republican party, so we switched. But I felt that now that I'm running for an office such as this, I should go back to my grass roots, to where it all started for me, and that is with the Democratic party.

Q) So do you feel you can work with Republicans?

A) Absolutely. I think that's part of the problem - locally, statewide and nationally. We can't get Republicans to work with Democrats, Democrats to work with Republicans. I thought we were supposed to be working for the people. I realize the political system is intact and we're not going to wipe that out, but we're here to represent the people. That's our job. And what we want to do is the best job we can for the people, whether we are Republican or Democrat. In all honesty, when I voted in elections, when I was registered as a Republican last year, I voted for some Democrats. I've always tried to vote for who I think is the best person for the job. The partisan politics doesn't fly anymore, and people are sick and tired of it.

Q) The biggest concern people have is taxes, especially property taxes. Despite the promise that gambling revenue would reduce or eliminate property taxes, they go up nearly every year. How will you help people, especially seniors on fixed incomes?

A) No question that's a concern I have, too. In District 137, we do have a lot of senor citizens. They're on fixed incomes, and with property taxes going up, we need to do something to help them, even if it's some kind of plan where, when they reach a certain age, their taxes are reduced a certain percentage. But there has to be some plan to help these people.

The simple fix would be if we could attract more industry to come to our area in District 137 so that we could have a bigger corporate tax base, less property tax base. We need to do a better job in trying to get businesses to come here. I realize some people are going to complain about corporate taxes, saying that they don't pay their fair share now, but you have to do something to entice them to come. I don't think we're doing that very well.

We need to get more industry in this area. I'm going to take Bangor Area School District, and ask, what industry is there? We had Majestic, which was one of our largest employers. They moved out. What do we have? We've got to market that. Our school superintendent, John Reinhart, worked very actively on a committee to try to attract business. We need to do that. The money to run our schools, our County, the local municipalities, it's gotta' come from somewhere. Right now it's coming from property taxes.

Q) There are those who will look at you and say, not another teacher! How do you respond to these people?

A) When I hear people say another teacher, I think a teaching background is an advantage to this in that I've been working with people. Obviously, I've been working mostly with young people, preparing them to become citizens. I've been teaching American Government and Consumer Economics for a number of yeas, which has kept me in touch with the community. Being a teacher, I've been constantly involved in supporting our community in one way or another. Being a teacher and a coach, and I'd like to add that part, it gives me another distinct advantage. I've been in the arena, I've been competing, I've had the pressures and stress of involvement that way, learning how to handle adversity and come back to work towards victory.

When people say anther teacher, I'm more than just a teacher. I'm a coach. I'm a referee. Ask how many of you can go in front of 50,000 people and make a decision when 25,000 of them want to hang you. You learn to do what's right.

I'm more than just a teacher. I'm a coach, a referee, a parent ... there's a millon roles I have to play that I think are advantageous.

Q) I have to say it's very motivational talking to a coach. I feel like I should go out and run a few laps right now.

A) [laughing] Well, if you have any eligibility left, maybe we can use you.

Q) Is there anything else you'd like LVRamblings readers to know about what's going on at the state house?

A) What I'd like them to know, Bernie, is that I'm a man who, once I make a commitment, I am with that commitment 24 hours a day. If the people of District 137 vote me in to this office, they can rest assured that I will do everything possible to support them, to listen to them, and do what's right for District 137 in Harrisburg.

Scagliotta's Democratic opponent is Charles Dertinger. There are also two Republicans running for this seat, Don Alabanese and Joe Emrick.

I'll be talking to Albanese today. Dertinger and Emrick have both declined an interview request.