Snyder sweeps to victory in 50th District
WAYNESBURG – Democratic Greene County Commissioner Pam Snyder easily defeated her Republican opponent in Tuesday’s election for state representative in the 50th Legislative District.
Snyder, serving her third term as commissioner, was elected to the post over Republican Mark Fischer, a Waynesburg businessman and borough councilman.
Snyder, of Jefferson, will assume the position previously held for 36 years by Bill DeWeese, who was convicted in February of using his staff and state resources on his election campaigns and is now serving a prison sentence.
“I’m overwhelmed,” said Snyder, reached late Tuesday. “I’m very happy that the people in Greene County and Fayette and Washington counties came out to support me.
“I’m deeply gratified, and I will work hard to live up to the faith that everybody has placed in me and make sure this district is well represented,” Snyder added.
Fischer said he was disappointed people didn’t buy into his message. “I believe I gave the voters a choice, one of ethical consideration without ties to big money and special interests, which has led to the problems this area has faced for years.”
Fischer said he did, however, enjoy campaigning, which gave him a “renewed appreciation” of the people of the district. He said he also had good people behind him. “I had the best, most dedicated people you can imagine. They heard the message, they believed the message and supported it.”
The district includes all of Greene County and parts of Washington and Fayette counties.
According to unofficial election results from all 72 precincts, Snyder won by 4,833 votes, receiving 12,552 votes to Fischer’s 7,719 votes.
In Greene County’s 44 precincts, Snyder received 7,774 votes to Fischer’s 5,785 votes.
In Fayette County, which has 16 precincts, Snyder received 3,125 votes and Fischer 1,232 votes. In Washington County, with all 10 precincts reporting, Snyder received 1,653 votes and Fischer received 702 votes.
Snyder previously worked as a senior aide and deputy district director for the late congressman Frank R. Mascara.
She now serves as the first vice president of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, and was named by that association as Pennsylvania’s 2012 Outstanding County Commissioner of the Year.
Fischer works locally as a business manager for Booz Allen Hamilton of Washington, D.C., which does consulting work for the government and various industries. He also runs an antique store in Waynesburg.
Previously, he worked as a deputy fire chief, fire marshal and emergency manager for Cocoa Beach, Fla., and was the assistant program operations director for the Virtual Medical Campus/Homeland Security Programs for West Virginia University.
Both candidates had agreed on some key issues, such as term limits for legislators and property tax reform, but they differed on how they view the role of government.
Fischer, espousing a tea party stance, said he supports reducing the size, scope and impact of government on people’s life.
Snyder said government should protect the health, safety and welfare of the people. If, she said, people want safe roads and bridges, clean water and economic development, government must play a part. It need not be big government, she added, but it shouldn’t be minimized to the point of ineffectiveness.
Fischer won his party’s nomination in the spring primary against George Toothman of Waynesburg. In that same election, DeWeese ran unopposed.
DeWeese, however, was later removed from the ballot by Commonwealth Court because of his felony conviction. In August, Democratic committee members in the 50th Legislative District met and selected Snyder to be the party’s candidate for the seat.
Since April 24, the day DeWeese was sentenced and he resigned from the House, as well as the day of the primary in which he received the nomination, the district has not had a representative in the state House.