State Sen. David Argall said Wednesday that Pennsylvania has been financially prudent in the last two years in how it has spent money.
"We were $4 billion in the hole," Argall, R-29, said during the debate sponsored by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce at the Pottsville Club. "I got a very clear message ... cut spending. It would have been the worst possible time to raise taxes."
However, Tim Seip, a former Democratic state representative who is challenging Argall in November's election, told the audience of about 60 people that Republicans have taken the wrong approach to running the state in the last two years.
"These budgets have been disastrous," Seip said. "We're trying to limit opportunities. We need to stop laying people off."
Argall and Seip presented contrasting visions of what the state should do and the courses they would take if elected to a four-year term to represent the 29th District, which includes all of Schuylkill and parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton counties.
Voters elected Argall, Rush Township, to the seat in 2009 in a special election to replace the late state Sen. James J. Rhoades, who was posthumously re-elected in 2008 less than a month after he died in an automobile accident in Monroe County. Argall had been a state representative for the 124th District since first being elected in 1984.
Seip, a social worker from Washington Township, served two terms in the 125th District before losing his bid for re-election in 2010 to state Rep. Mike Tobash.
The two candidates each criticized the other's approach to government, with transportation being an example of the problems Seip said the state has encountered in the last two years by not budgeting enough money to meet its needs.
"You have a higher likelihood of traveling over a structurally deficient bridge in Pennsylvania than you do of passing a McDonald's," he said. "The Legislature really has failed us."
However, Argall reminded the audience that Seip supported putting tolls on Interstate 80, which the federal government barred, and that he would have given large amounts of money to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which operates bus and rail systems in the Philadelphia area.
"I don't believe that the solution to fixing roads and bridges in Schuylkill County is to give money to SEPTA," he said.
Seip also criticized the Legislature's decision not to impose a tax on producers of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, saying that would have produced $750 million for state coffers.
Argall said that the industry can thrive because there is no tax on such producers and that an overall economic resurgence, which he said would be helped by the election of Mitt Romney as president, will aid the state more than any tax.
"The best solution is to get the economy back on its feet," he said. "We don't believe that more taxes and more spending are the answer."
They also disagreed on the voter identification law, which has been the source of controversy and legal action.
"I don't think it's a big deal," Argall said, noting that a photo identification is needed to do just about anything. "I think it has very strong support.
Seip disagreed, saying it was a bad way for the state to spend $10 million and there was no real voter fraud problem in Pennsylvania.
While they agreed that property taxes are a problem in Pennsylvania, they disagreed on the solution.
Argall said his bill, which would entirely eliminate property taxes, has strong support and, in conjunction with other tax changes, is economically sensible.
"In the six counties I represent, there is very strong support" for his proposal, he said.
Seip maintained that legislation he had proposed would remove property taxes from people's primary homes and is economically feasible. He said Argall's proposal would produce a shortfall of more than $1 billion.
"My approach is the more sensible approach and the more doable approach," he said.
Seip concluded by saying he is the best choice for everyone in the district.
"I have a history of helping other people," he said. "I am the true people's champion."
Argall said he has done much for the county and wants to continue to do so while also championing economic growth.
"We've got to control the regulations. We've got to control the taxes," he said. "The only way that we can control taxes is to control spending."