York County’s newest senator Scott Wagner will be energetic ‘outsider’
By Christina Kauffman, The York Dispatch, Pa. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"Lobbyists," Wagner said Friday, five days before he took the oath of office Wednesday. "I'm not taking their calls right now. I haven't even been sworn in yet."
From the passenger seat of his truck, he read a beguiling email aloud, sounding fascinated and amused before putting down his phone on the word "liquor."
Typically, he would be driving, but an assistant intervened on his multi-tasking and insisted he hire a driver, at least until he takes office and the post-election chaos slows. He's owned this big Chevy truck for less than a week, but has already affixed the NRA decal.
It'll be a state-funding-free vehicle, as Wagner has pledged he won't take the per diem, mileage or even the pension he could claim as a member of the state
"There's no one like me, really," he said Friday. "I can't be bought or influenced. I'm not going to compromise my integrity. No backroom deals."
But now the lobbyists will call in earnest, as Wagner was sworn in Wednesday during a ceremony on the
The "millionaire trashman" of the pre-election mailers became Sen.
"We beat the
'Outsider' in
"I was labeled a tea party guy, and the perception is that I'm going to
Wagner grew up on a
He dropped out of college and started a ski shop in
"He doesn't sleep," said Penn Waste marketing director
But Wagner's direct, change-embracing nature could be challenged in the
"I'm not a meeting person," he said. "Ten people sitting in a room talking and nothing gets done."
At Penn Waste, he manages by walking around the office and addressing issues as they arise. He eats lunch at the office because it costs him too much time to leave. Work is like his full-time hobby, he said. He will not drop just anything to go play golf.
"I'm intense," he said, back in the truck on Friday. "I have a plan. A lot of people don't have goals and plans."
He unfolded the large three-page spreadsheet he uses as a calendar and held it before him.
"I'm like the pilot of a fighter jet, with 50 gauges in front of me ... and our lines of credit are the fuel."
His plan: The most expensive campaign ever run in
The party resisted Wagner more eagerly than any Democrat over the last couple of decades, though Wagner's agenda appears to be standard conservative business politics.
He's not a religious person, and social issues aren't most important to him, he said. While pro-life, he thinks the state's Abortion Control Act is doing its job and he has no desire to change the law, he said.
He doesn't care if gays want to get married, but he doesn't want churches told they have to do anything that goes against their beliefs, he said.
Business reforms are the meat of his policy plan, including reducing regulation and reforming workers' compensation to prevent fraud so business owners can save money on complaints, he said.
For example, a single lawsuit cost him
While the plan could hit a snag with workers' rights advocates, Wagner said he would like the state to create a database for would-be employers to search an applicant's name for previous injuries.
Wagner said he realizes most of his agenda would make his own businesses more profitable, and that's his intention; he said he's one of thousands of business owners who would benefit and, as a result, employees and constituents would also benefit.
"If I don't have an expense I shouldn't have, I can make more profit, pay more taxes, invest more in wages and benefits, and maybe buy more equipment," he said. "That's a win-win."
-- Reach
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