Joe Scarnati

Infobox State Senator


imagesize = 150px
name = Joe Scarnati
width =
height =
caption =
birth_date =Birth date and age|1962|1|2|mf=y
birth_place =Brockway, Pennsylvania
residence =Brockway, Pennsylvania
state = Pennsylvania
state_senate = Pennsylvania
district = 25th
term_start = 2000
term_end = present
predecessor = William Slocum
successor = Incumbent
party = Republican
religion = Roman Catholic
occupation =
constituency =
majority =
spouse = unmarried
children = Lisa, Kelly, Michael
website = http://www.senatorscarnati.com/
footnotes

Joseph B. Scarnati is an American politician from the U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Republican Party and currently serves as President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania State Senate. Scarnati is in his second term as Senator from the 25th District.

Personal

Scarnati is from the Brockway, Pennsylvania area of Jefferson County and graduated from Penn State DuBois with a B.A. in Business Administration in 1982.

Political career

Prior to his senate election, Scarnati served on both the Brockway Borough Council (1986-1994) and the Jefferson County Development Council.

In 2000, State Sen. William Slocum was convicted of illegal dumping and resigned his seat. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20000510slocum6.asp Don Hopey, "Senator gets jail time for dumping sewage", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/10/2000] ] Scarnati ran for the seat as an independent against Slocum, who was attempting a comeback in the special election to replace him. Scarnati prevailed in a three-way race and switched to the Republican party after his election. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/pa/main.htm GOP concedes to Gore; Santorum keeps seat, Associated Press, reprinted in USA Today. 11/8/2000] ]

Scarnati ran with no Democratic opposition in his first re-election attempt, taking 89.5% of the vote over a candidate from the Constitution Party.

For two years Scarnati served as Chairman of the Labor and Industry Committee, Majority Deputy Whip, and in February 2006 was appointed Chairman of the Senate Majority Policy Committee.

In May 2006, Robert Jubelirer and David Brightbill, the Republicans' two top leaders were defeated in the primary election, victims of the legislative pay raise fallout. Scarnati narrowly won the race to replace Jubelirer against veteran lawmakers Stewart Greenleaf and Jeffrey Piccola. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06333/741984-85.stm Tom Barnes, "GOP taps Scarnati as state senate president pro tem", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/29/06] ]

ee also

*Drew Crompton

References

External links

* [http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senate_bio.cfm?id=283 Official Senate Profile]
* [http://www.senatorscarnati.com/ Senate Website]
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=55673 Project Vote Smart Profile]