138th House Race: Hahn, Altieri Debate Issues on PBS39 Tonight

State Rep. Marcia Hahn and her challenger in the 138th State House District, Leslie Altieri, clashed on jobs and state funding for education in a brief candidates forum that will air tonight on PBS39.

Asked about jobs and the economy, Republican Hahn said that the best thing the state can do is keep taxes low and allow the private sector to do its job.

Democrat Altieri said there are 600 bridges in Northampton and Lehigh counties that are in need of repair or replacement. She would push to fund some of those projects as a means of getting people back to work.

Altieri decried state budget cuts to education funding and said she would look to increase state contributions to school districts that are way below what is mandated in the state Constitution.

Hahn said she believes school boards need to make “tough choice” and need to stop doing things like buying out the contracts of superintendents to get rid of them. “I think we have to live within our means.”

The 15-minute discussion, which was taped Oct. 11, will air at 8:30 tonight as the second half of an episode of Tempo InDepth, the local PBS station’s regular television news magazine. The first half of the program is a candidates forum with state Rep. Steve Samuelson, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Kenneth Barreto from the 135th District.

Hahn of Bath is seeking her second full term as a legislator. She had previously worked as an aide to former state Rep. Craig Dally and was first elected as his replacement in May 2010 after Dally became a Northampton County judge.
For Altieri, 32, Bethlehem Township, this is her first campaign as a candidate.

The 138th House District includes Lower Nazareth Township, Bushkill Township, Hanover Township, Northampton County, and part of Bethlehem Township.