https://jimwertz.org/
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What is one life experience you have that voters should know about?
As a high school student, I had the incredible opportunity to learn television production in our school’s TV studio. It was a part of my early education that allowed me to help pay my way through college by working for a local television station and later served as the foundation of my professional career in journalism and in teaching. During those early high school years, I helped produce a show called “Bridging the Generation Gap,” a program that is still produced by high school students in Berks County. In this show, a panel of high school students and a panel of senior citizens discuss current events, seeking multi-generational common ground. I produced and often participated on the student panel because the conversations were always lively and engaging. But as an adult – and now as a candidate – I reflect on the many ways in which those conversations on “Bridging the Generation Gap” helped to prepare me to meet the policy and political challenges we face in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the Baby Boomers in front of my generation and the Millennials and Gen Zers behind us.
What sets you apart from other candidates?
Breadth of political and policy experience in addition to the personal experiences that lead me to understand that I alone can't accomplish policy goals. The challenges faced by working families are nuanced and not easily addressed. When knocking doors and talking to voters at events, I never tell them what “I promise” to do for them, and I have never personally owned the successful initiatives to which I have played a part, because I understand that this seat means just one vote gets added to the policy initiatives I feel most strongly about.
How do you plan to work across ideological lines to achieve shared goals?
One thing that my time knocking doors for my campaign and other candidates constantly reminds me is that regardless of ideological lines, most people share the same concerns and the same hopes for positive outcomes. They’re looking for leaders that don't forget where they come from. We only need to negotiate the means by which we achieve them. Acknowledgement of our common-ness and our shared goals is a great first step in creating positive change for the entire Commonwealth.
What would be your top three policy priorities in office?
Constitutional amendment to codify abortion rights into the state constitution
Meeting our constitutional requirement for education funding in Pennsylvania, more specifically, closing the adequacy gap and taking property taxes out of the school funding equation
Finally passing OSHA-level safety protections for public sector workers
The Committee of Seventy has partnered with the Carter Center to promote the Candidate Principles for Trusted Elections (www.principledcandidates.org) to improve the voting process, encourage honest leadership, and promote civic engagement. Do you support the Candidate Principles?
Yes.
