Gotham City: Challenger Smilek Asks “Is Piccola Misguided?”

Gotham City:
Telling Tales of Our Capital Region's Politics

by Frank Pizzoli

Challenger Smilek Asks “Is Piccola Misguided?”

Roll over Beethoven. Senator Jeff Piccola has a challenger.

“I don’t want him to think he’s there for life,” says D. Ann Smilek, three-time challenger to Piccola’s state senate seat. Piccola originally won the seat in a special election when the much revered and now deceased John Shumaker left office because of poor health.

A lifelong Democrat, Smilek worked 40 years for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 31 years for Budd Dwyer and Catherine Baker-Knoll. Knoll ran for governor in 1994 with current-Senate hopeful Tom Foley as her declared lieutenant governor in that year’s Primary Election. Foley eventually ran with Mark Singel in that year’s General Election. He is now ranked first in the northern and central regions of the state in his primary campaign as a Senate candidate, hoping to run against Sen. Rick Santorum.

In short, Smilek’s been around.

“Arrogant is a word I hear lots of people use to describe Piccola,” Smilek says. “Patrician in attitude” is what one source told MODE. Smilek dared me to name a single piece of legislation Piccola introduced. I couldn’t. So, I called his office and then checked his web site.

In the first year of a two-year legislative session, Piccola introduced 11 pieces of legislation. “What’s he done for Dauphin County?” asks Smilek. Fair question.

Two pieces of his legislation were directly related to the area he serves. The remaining legislation applied to broader situations with a statewide element and impact. (By the way, that’s not bad.)

For his own legislative district, Piccola amended Senate Bill 800, known as the Watershed Protection and Environmental Stewardship Act, to guarantee that funding set aside for landfill closures in Dauphin County will be used for that purpose and that purpose only. He also made sure that the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts received $110,000 for their 1999-2000 fiscal year.

His legislation allowed the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC), a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation, to acquire City of Harrisburg land owned by the state for about 50 years for the purpose of rehabilitation and new industry operations.

So, back to Smilek. “What’s your beef with Piccola?”

“He is perceived as out-of-touch with regular people. Not strong on constituent services. Yes, he has sponsored a dozen or so pieces of legislation, but most of it has to do with general policy issues. Little of it has to do with Dauphin County,” Smilek says. If elected, she wants to be more attentive to the needs of her home senatorial district.

Smilek is currently serving a term as East Hanover Township Auditor, a municipality with a $2 million annual budget. She also serves on the Environmental Advisory Council of East Hanover Township as well as the president of the Paxton Democratic Women’s Club. Smilek is a member of the executive board of the State Employee Retirement Association, Chapter 13.