Melissa Ann Hart is an American lawyer and politician. She was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007,representing western Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district. She was the first Republican woman to represent Pennsylvania at the federal level. Prior to her service in Congress,Hart served in the Pennsylvania Senate,where she chaired the finance committee. She was the first Republican woman elected to serve a full term in the Pennsylvania Senate in 1990 when she was 28 years old. In her first run for office,Hart defeated an incumbent in a senate district that included parts of Allegheny,Westmoreland and Armstrong counties. In the 2006 midterm elections,Hart lost her bid for re-election to Democrat Jason Altmire. She challenged Altmire again in the 2008 election,but was defeated again.
H. William DeWeese is an American politician who is a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party,DeWeese served as the 135th Speaker of the Pennsylvania House from 1993 to 1994. After five years of investigation by Republican State Attorney General Tom Corbett,he was indicted in December 2009 on six charges of conflict of interest,theft and criminal conspiracy on accusations that two members of his staff used state resources to campaign for political office. The trial began January 23,2010. He was re-elected in 2010 despite the charges,but was convicted of five of the six felony charges on February 6,2012.
Barbara Hafer is an American politician and convicted felon from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She served as a member of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners from 1984 to 1989,as the Auditor General of Pennsylvania from 1989 to 1997 and as the Treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2005.
Austin John Murphy is a former American politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1977 to 1995.
Jeffrey E. Piccola is an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 15th District from 1995 to 2012 including as Republican Whip from 2001 to 2006. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 104th District from 1977 to 1995.
Chelsa L. Wagner is an American politician currently serving as a Judge in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. She previously served as the Allegheny County Controller. She resigned her position at the beginning of 2022,prior to being sworn in as judge. She also served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 22nd District which,at the time,included the South Side and part of the North Side of the city of Pittsburgh,and parts of the suburbs of Baldwin,Whitehall and Castle Shannon. She resigned from the House in late 2011 after being elected controller,which she served almost 3 terms,until she was elected Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge in Nov 2021,and assumed the position on Jan 3,2022.
Joan Orie Melvin is a former justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In 2013,Melvin was convicted of several criminal counts related to her use of legislative and judicial staff to perform campaign work. She is a member of the Republican Party.
In 2007,Pennsylvania Attorney General Republican Tom Corbett began investigating $3.8 million in public bonuses which were paid to state legislative staffers in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to work on party politics and campaigns. While the bonuses themselves are not illegal,state law forbids state employees from performing campaign work while on the job and forbids payment for campaign work out of taxpayer funds.
Pennsylvania State Senate District 40 includes parts of Lackawanna County and Wayne County and all of Monroe County. It is currently represented by Republican Rosemary Brown.
Wayne D. Fontana is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate,representing the 42nd District since 2005.
Sean Michael Ramaley was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 16th District from 2004 to 2008.
Elections for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were held on November 5,2002,with all districts being contested. State Representatives are elected for two-year terms,with the entire House of Representatives up for a vote every two years. The term of office for those elected in 2002 ran from January 7,2003 until November 30,2004. Necessary primary elections were held on May 21,2002.
Michael R. Veon is a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,representing the 14th District from 1985 through 2006.
Randy Vulakovich is an American politician who served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 38th district from January 6,2015 to January 1,2019. He previously served in the 40th legislative district. He was elected in a special election on August 7,2012. Vulakovich was reelected to a full term in 2014 in the newly-established 38th district. In May 2018,he lost re-nomination to that seat in the Republican primary to Ross commissioner Jeremy Shaffer.
Jennifer Lee Daugherty was an American woman who was torture-murdered in Greensburg,Pennsylvania as an act of revenge in February 2010. Daugherty,who was mentally disabled,was tortured and murdered before being wrapped in Christmas decorations,put inside a garbage can,and dumped in the parking lot of Greensburg-Salem Middle School.
The 1992 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 3,1992. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter narrowly won re-election to a third term,garnering just fifty-one percent of the vote in what was described by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a "massive turnout for Bill Clinton."
The Pennsylvania Attorney General election of 2016 took place on November 8,2016,to elect a new Pennsylvania Attorney General. Democratic incumbent Kathleen Kane originally indicated her intention to seek re-election,but dropped out after she was criminally charged with violating grand jury secrecy laws stemming from alleged leaks of grand jury investigation details to embarrass a political enemy. Democratic nominee and Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro defeated Republican state senator John Rafferty Jr. by a margin of 2.78%.
Pennsylvania held statewide elections on November 3,2015,to fill judicial positions,fill a vacancy in the Pennsylvania State Senate,allow judicial retention votes,and fill numerous county,local and municipal offices. The necessary primary elections were held on May 19,2015.
Eliza Kennedy Smith,also known as Mrs. R. Templeton Smith,was a 20th-century American suffragist,civic activist,and government reformer in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. Upon her death in 1964,The Pittsburgh Press described her as "a relentless,tenacious watchdog of the City's purse strings" who "probably attended more budget sessions over the years than anyone else in Pittsburgh either in or out of government".
