The Republican City Committee recently held its annual Great American Family BBQ at Cannstatter’s.
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Republican candidate for governor, was in attendance. Garrity talked about her background as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, deployed three times during the Gulf and Iraq wars.
While working for Global Tungsten & Powders, she successfully lobbied for a provision in the congressional National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit the Department of Defense from buying the metal tungsten from countries such as China, North Korea and Iran. She called the measure, “Don’t Buy It from the Bad Guys.”
As treasurer, she has focused on returning unclaimed property to people and military decorations to veterans or their families.
If elected governor, she said she would work to limit spending and improve the state’s standing in the areas of education, the economy and infrastructure.
Garrity noted that Gov. Josh Shapiro has not opted in to the Educational Choice for Children Act, also known as the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, which was included in the Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law last year by President Trump. ECCA scholarships are funded with private donations, not federal money, and donors receive a 100 percent federal tax credit of up to $1,700 annually. Public school students could also use scholarships for tutoring, after-school programs, special needs services and education technology. For donors to take advantage of the ECCA, a state governor needs to opt in by Jan. 1, 2027.
“Parents, not bureaucrats, should decide the best way to educate kids,” Garrity said.
Others in attendance included party chairman Vince Fenerty; state Rep. Martina White; state Sen. Joe Picozzi, city elections commissioner Seth Bluestein; former Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley; former state House Speaker John Perzel; state legislative candidates Bill Griffin, Robyn Bird, Tiffany Vann and Todd Johnson; and congressional candidate Nick Manganaro.
The election is Nov. 3. ••
