A state Senate forum between incumbent Sen. Marty Flynn and challenger Sharon Soltis Sparano produced only mild conflict Wednesday and a lot of agreement on many issues.
Flynn, 51, a Democrat, and Soltis Sparano, 66, a Republican, agreed on legalizing marijuana and taxing sales, favoring a gasoline tax holiday, regulating and taxing skill games, limiting campaign contribution and restricting students’ cell phone use in school.
When Soltis Sparano said she thinks charter schools “should have a place in education” but “should be held to the same standards as public schools,” Flynn began his answer to the question with a quip.
“Wow, you sound like a Democrat,” he said.
Soltis Sparano later acknowledged she was a Democratic for most of her life, and a Republican only the last few years.
The forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Wilkes-Barre Area, took place in a lecture hall in Wilkes University's Stark Learning Center.
The two Lackawanna County residents — Flynn lives in Dunmore, Soltis Sparano in LaPlume Twp. — want to represent the 22nd Senate District. The district covers 21 cities, boroughs and township in Lackawanna County, including Scranton; and 15 municipalities in Luzerne County, including Wilkes-Barre and Pittston.
Democrats enjoy an approximately 18-percentage-point voter registration advantage in the district, but Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris only narrowly won the 22nd in 2024.
Data centers
Flynn and Soltis Sparano sparred the most during questions related to data centers.
Flynn acknowledged he once co-sponsored a bill that championed data centers, but withdrew his support once he learned the details.
“I think local control should never be given up,” he said. “And I don't think that we should give rebates to big data center. They should bring their own energy and pay their own way, and they should not be in neighborhoods.”
Soltis Sparano said the rise of data centers spurred her to run for senator.
“These are monstrosities that have moved into our area and invaded our area, and I can tell you for sure that there is legislation there (to stop them),” she said.
She argued court rulings already give the state the power to stop data centers, but Flynn and others aren’t trying.
“It is intentionally not being stopped, and that's why I'm running against Marty Flynn,” she said. “And the people have in Pennsylvania the environmental amendment. That environmental (amendment) is a constitutional right in the state of Pennsylvania. It's one of the third strongest protections of our environment, and they are not using it. Our legislators are not using it. I will use that.”
Legalizing marijuana
Soltis Sparano, who cited her decades-long career as a pharmacist, said she wants legalization tightly restricted.
“Of course, I believe in taxing them because this is big money,” she said. “The public pays a lot of money to purchase medical marijuana, and it's a big million-billion-dollar enterprise, and the taxation should be significant.”
Flynn said people can already buy marijuana “on any street corner in the United States and buy marijuana legally or illegally.”
“The issue is safety and taking it out of the drug cartels' hands and regulating and making sure that people who are adults who are adults can legally purchase marijuana, safe marijuana, that there's no fentanyl in or anything else in,” he said. “That it offers a safe market and it will help our economy in Pennsylvania and be a revenue generator.”
Regulating skill games
Soltis Sparano said she believes legalization and taxation makes sense.
“And I do not have an exact rate that it should be taxed at, but it should be a significant rate because what's been happening continuously is taxes are not being put on the big businesses that are making big money, and yet the people, we the people, are paying all of our tax share,” she said.
Flynn said the skill games machines have operated “in a black market for as long as any of us can remember.” He criticized Republican control of the Senate for preventing regulation that a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this year required.
“We're talking about a billion dollars a year in revenue that's lost, where the state isn't getting any piece of that pie,” he said. “Our social clubs, our VFWs, these are the places that I think are being hurt the worst right now by not coming up with a solution and a tax rate and plan. And that I'm willing to work across the aisle with both parties to to get this done in the Senate.”
Cell phones in schools
Flynn said he agrees with a ban as long as phones are stored in a safe place and available in an emergency.
“But having a phone and being on the phone all the time, I think all of that does is disrupt class, day in and day out, and it becomes harder for teachers to to keep control in their class,” Flynn said.
Soltis Sparano said she believers in “strict limitation or abandoning during school hours in class with use of the cell phones.”
“However, I don't believe that the students should have them removed from them, like right in the beginning of the day, and then maybe given back at the end,” she said. “And the reason why I don't believe that is because we've seen when there's been school shootings or intruder or worry, it was the students' cell phones that was able to convey so much important information.”
Mail-in balloting
Flynn said he was initially opposed no-restriction mail-in balloting because the bill that allowed it eliminated straight-party voting.
“But the way it's rolled out, I actually I have no problem with mail-in. No excuse ballot, same-day voting too,” he said. “I think we should be not disenfranchising people from voting. We should be make it easier for people to vote. We should have same-day registration. We should get more people to vote.”
Soltis Sparano said she prefers in-person voting.
“However, I understand the situation with mail-in voting,” she said. “My only concern with that would be tighter controls. I do not think we have enough controls on that situation. If you think about in-person voting, it's very well controlled, you know, and it's accountable, and you have clear documentation. On the people with mail-in ballot ballots. I think that leaves a little bit too much of an opening, and then some people don't like it when anyone uses their right to challenge or inspect it or review it. So I think there's a little bit more work we have to do on these mail-in ballots.”
The election is Nov. 3.
