Rick Krajewski - State Representative for the 188th

LONGFORM QUESTIONS

What do you value most about the district you are running to represent and why do you want to represent it in Harrisburg as State Representative/State Senator?

West Philadelphia is a community with a rich history. MOVE, the Black Panthers, and Paul Robeson all called West Philadelphia home. American Bandstand was televised here. It's where working class black families were able to own a home and lay down roots. It's become a place where many different kinds of people -- immigrants, students and other young people, renters, new parents, LBGTQ people, Jewish people -- have found an adopted home alongside residents who've been here for generations. I count myself as one of those people, having come here when I was 18, and one day I hope to raise a family here. This diversity, combined with its rich history of community care and struggle, is what gives West Philly its strength.

I wish to represent the 188th because the forces of unaccountable development, economic divestment, and mass incarceration are tearing my home apart. It is unacceptable that in a major city of the richest country in the world, we have dying public schools that are unsafe for children to be in. It is unacceptable that developers can buy out whole blocks in our neighborhood and install apartment units that skyrocket rent amounts and property taxes. It is unacceptable that our answer to systemic poverty is racialized criminalization and police violence. We have to fight back and say that everyone deserves to thrive, regardless of income, race, gender, or religion. My organizing has demonstrated that I know how to build coalitions across these lines, and I will work towards a vision for the 188th that is bold and beautiful.

Do you regard basic needs of Pennsylvanians, including food, housing, health care, and education, as human rights or as commodities most efficiently distributed by economic markets? How would this look in a truly just world? How would you begin to fight for that world in your first 100 days in office?

Housing, food, healthcare, and education are human rights. In Pennsylvania today, these are privileges afforded to the wealthy and well connected, but the future must look different if we are going to build a Pennsylvania that works for all of us, not just the one percent. I believe in a transformative vision that includes medicare for all, fully funded public schools, a homes guarantee, and a Green New Deal for Pennsylvania. We envision a Pennsylvania where West Philadelphians don’t have to choose between groceries and going to the doctor, and that going to doctor doesn’t leave us in financial ruin. We are fighting for a future of high quality public housing, universal rent control, rights for tenants and homeowners, and rejecting developer influence on our political process. We are demanding fully funded public schools, an overhaul to our justice system, and a full transition to renewable energy. We know that it is going to take a mass movement of thousands of people rising up to fight together to achieve the transformational change we need to thrive in our communities, protect our homes, and provide a livable future for our children. In the first 100 days we will progress our agenda in coalition, alongside the movements, organizations, and people that elected us, and with other representatives that share our vision.

In recent years, Pennsylvania has had enormous trouble passing a budget. What are your budgetary priorities, what revenue sources would you seek, and how would you move these measures through the Republican-dominated legislature?

My budget priorities would be to fully fund our public schools with a fair formula for Philadelphia, to invest in public services like transportation, sanitation, and housing, invest in community development and mental health resources instead of prisons and incarceration, and to begin the massive project of enacting a Green New Deal in Pennsylvania. One revenue source we would seek is to pass a wealth tax requiring the richest among us to pay their fair share. We would also require any fossil fuel industries operating in Pennsylvania to pay a heavy extraction tax for the harm they are doing to our soil, our air, and our planet. We would move these measures through a republican legislature by building powerful coalitions with other house members, along with their constituencies and organizational supporters to apply massive pressure on Republican politicians. We would also continue building the movement to elect progressives to the state house and work to kick out the republicans who are betraying our state and our future.

Philadelphia remains the most impoverished major city and about 75% of our residents lack bachelor's degrees. What policies would you implement to ensure that decent, high-paying jobs created here are accessible to the majority of our population, not just the relatively well-educated and already well off?

Philadelphia is home to some of the greatest institutions in the country, yet they are not accessible to the majority of our people. It begins with ensuring our children’s public schools are fully funded, and our public colleges and universities must be affordable for the people that live here, which is why I support making all public colleges and universities in Pennsylvania tuition free. I also support expanding access to trades schools and technical training.

We also see the cost of living rising exponentially in many of our neighborhoods while the minimum wage is still at $7.25/hr. If the cost of living is going to rise, we must require wages that reflect those costs. I support raising the minimum wage immediately to at least $15/hr, and linking the minimum wage with cost of living so it goes up regularly every year. I will also advocate to repeal the pre-emption law that does not allow Philadelphia to set its own minimum wage along with other crucial issues we do not currently control.

What policies would you introduce and/or sponsor to expand and strengthen the labor movement in Pennsylvania? How would you fortify existing unions in the event of a state or nationwide right-to-work law? How would you expand worker representation and power in sectors with low union density?

The labor movement and unions are the backbone of our society. Unions have always been on the forefront of fighting for economic and social justice in Philadelphia and across the country. I firmly believe that any workplace should be able to form a union without retribution. I will fight alongside unions as I already have from contract fights with custodial workers to decent healthcare for airport workers. Philadelphia is a union town and it will stay a union town. We will build a wider coalition by bringing community groups and labor together and use our collective power to fight for working families in West Philadelphia. As State Representative I will sponsor legislation strengthening labor laws to make it easier for non-unionized workers to organize and form unions. I will join the picket lines when non-union workers go on strike and I will be there the next morning to make sure those workers do not lose their jobs for simply advocating for decency and fair treatment at the workplace. I will also fight alongside our brothers and sisters to resist any state-wide or nationwide right-to-work laws. If we should see right-to-work laws coming to fruition in our state I will support unions by any means of resistance and follow their leadership to make sure workers rights are protected in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia’s immigrant communities are threatened by increased ICE deportation efforts, police brutality and misconduct, and discriminatory treatment by our criminal justice system. What will you do to ensure that Pennsylvania residents are safe from ICE?

ICE is a fascist agency that must be abolished. We have seen over and over again ICE agents act with cruelty and impunity towards our immigrant neighbors. It is abundantly clear that ICE will not be held accountable, and it will be up to us to force ICE out of our communities and eventually out of existence. I will use all the resources available to my office to advocate for immigrants being pursued by ICE. I will build a coalition of state legislators to pressure the governor to shut down Berks Detention Center, one of the largest child detention centers in the country. I will personally use my office as a sanctuary space where Philadelphians and others can find safety and protection from ICE. We will abolish ICE and bring humanity to our border and to our community.

What is your opinion on privatized infrastructure and/or public–private partnerships for development or maintenance of public infrastructure, such as roads and water works?

I believe first in foremost in maintaining and expanding public goods. In our time, we see more and more public goods being privatized taking jobs and resources out of our community. Public goods are a human right that must be motivated not by profit, but by providing for our communities. Roads, waterworks, the air we breathe, are all basic human necessities that we all have a right to enjoy. I do not support privatizing our basic infrastructure, alternatively I support expanding our public goods and making them safer and more accessible. This means expanding public transportation, fixing our water lines, and creating free and fast internet for all. Through initiatives like a Green New Deal we can reclaim our public goods including our natural resources such as wind, water, and solar energy. Not only will we rebuild our city and state from our roads to fixing lead pipes and crumbling buildings, but we create thousands and thousands of good union jobs in the process.

Pennsylvania faces a rental housing crisis. According to the 2017 American Community Survey, 22.3% of Pennsylvania homeowners are cost-burdened and 44.8% of Pennsylvania renters are cost-burdened. Given the housing crisis in Pennsylvania in general, and in Philadelphia in particular, what meaningful measures will you take and push for so that all residents have access to safe, affordable housing?

Home is one of the most deeply sacred spaces we have as people. Home is where we are able to feel safe, where we can relax, where we eat and sleep in peace, and where we meet and invite loved ones. We all deserve those basic rights, the right to feel safe, to warmth, and to rest. To this end, we are calling for a homes guarantee in Pennsylvania. A homes guarantee, like the Green New Deal is not one specific policy but a set of priorities to achieve a future where we all can live in safe, decent, affordable homes. As part of our homes guarantee we will build thousands of public and social housing units. These homes will not be on the housing market and will be publicly owned by municipalities or public land trusts. We will propose universal rent control and fight for a state-wide tenant bill of rights and right to counsel. We will also demand for private development requiring at least 20% of units be set aside for affordable housing. We know that we must protect tenants and homeowners who are being priced out of their neighborhoods through rising property taxes. Homeowners must be able to stay in their homes as pillars of wisdom and cornerstones of our community. Any future that works for all of us means that homeowners and renters must come together and advocate and support our right to a home.

Given the reality of the climate crisis, do you support a Green New Deal (GND) for Pennsylvania? If so, please outline how you will craft this, what would be included, and how adaptation measures for communities most impacted will be centered.

Our campaign boldly and proudly supports a Green New Deal for Pennsylvania. The Green New Deal must be big and transformative to meet the current climate emergency. Our Green New Deal includes a multi-faceted approach to taking on the crisis and transforming our infrastructure and creating good jobs in the process. We will expand access to public transit by increasing frequency of service, lowering the price to $1 per ride, and investing in a transition to electric vehicles for all public transit by 2030. We will propose a clean energy plan that transitions Pennsylvania to 100% clean renewable energy from primarily wind and solar by 2035. We will demand we clean up every toxic site in Philadelphia left by fossil fuels and increase funding for community green space to return toxic industrial spaces to community controlled public lands. We will call for a complete ban on fracking in Pennsylvania and keeping fossil fuels in the ground. We support a just transition for workers by investing funds in training for renewable energy industries and ensuring those jobs are good union jobs. We also support the creation of a pension fund for workers who are transitioning out of the fossil fuel industry and will not pursue training. We support urban agriculture and expanding community gardens and farms which can be centers of community resilience where Philadelphians care for each other and the natural world.

What measures can be taken by the Pennsylvania legislature to put an end to overpolicing, militarization of police, police brutality, and lack of police accountability, especially in black and brown communities that are unfairly and disproportionately targeted? How would you support these measures?

Our current justice system criminalizes poverty, profiles black and brown communities, and creates a feedback system that never lets go of people with a criminal record. In the past couple years we have seen in Philadelphia what could become possible if we elect new leadership to transform our justice system, but there is much more to be done. We must continue to win big in the areas of sentencing, diversion programs, and holistics approaches to violence in our communities. As a state representative, I will fight for the liberation of all of our people, and ensure that no one is treated as a second-class citizen. I will work to limit pre-trial holding to only the most serious offenses, stand against the implementation of racially-biased risk assessment algorithms, and eliminate the use of cash bail. We must drastically reduce the number of people entering the justice system by expanding access to diversion programs. I will push for probation and parole changes that cap sentencing for felonies and misdemeanors, and eliminate technical violations on the basis of inability to pay fines and fees. I will fight for sentencing changes that revises the Pennsylvania Sentencing Code, abolishing mandatory minimums, the death penalty, life without parole, and Act 33, which allows juveniles to be tried as adults. I will address gun violence through a combination of gun control legislation and community-based solutions that respect survivors and neighborhoods. And finally I support a total moratorium on new state prisons.

YES OR NO QUESTIONS

1. Will you support legislation to provide universal child and elder care for Pennsylvanians? Yes

2. Will you support legislation for single-payer health care that covers all individuals, regardless of documentation status? Yes

3. The average student loan debt in Pennsylvania is $33,935, one of the highest in the country. Will you support legislation to make the PASSHE system and Commonwealth colleges tuition and fee free and provide cost of living stipends to students who are residents of Pennsylvania? Yes

4. Do you support a moratorium on all new charter schools? Yes

5. Do you support the use of public school vouchers to pay for private school tuition? No

6. Should all state educational revenue streams be funneled through the Fair Funding Formula for our public schools? Yes

7. Do you support the Keystone Opportunity Zone program? No

8. Do you support tax breaks to lure or retain businesses? No

9. Do you support the use of eminent domain by corporations and businesses? No

10. Do you support a ban on fracking in Pennsylvania? Yes

11. Will you support legislation to mandate that pensions increase each year to match with the average increase in cost of living expenses? Yes

12. Will you commit to introducing/sponsoring legislation to expand Medicaid to fully fund medically assisted treatment, mental health, and community-based programs to support people struggling with addictions and their families in Philadelphia? Yes

13. Do you support the permanent loss of a distribution license as the penalty for overproduction and overprescription of opioids? Yes

14. Will you support legislation to ensure that medically assisted treatment is readily available to people who are incarcerated? Yes

15. Will you commit to supporting safe-consumption sites in Pennsylvania? Yes

16. From the moment a landlord files a claim in landlord-tenant court, a tenant is saddled with an eviction record that makes it nearly impossible to obtain safe and decent housing. This is true regardless of the outcome of an eviction claim. Will you support legislation to:

a. Expunge all eviction records that do not result in a judgment against the tenant? Yes

b. Seal all open eviction cases upon satisfaction of the judgment? Yes

c. Expunge all eviction records five (5) years from the day of filing? Yes

17. Will you support legislation to create a state-wide tenant bill of rights, including but not limited to a right to legal counsel, full funding for tenant legal aid, and just cause eviction laws? Yes

18. Will you support legislation to enact rent control in Pennsylvania, limiting yearly increases in rent to 3% (including in the case of vacancies). Yes

19. Do you commit to enshrining in law employment and discrimination protections for the LGBTQIA+ and immigrant communities? Yes

20. Will you support an end to the death penalty in all cases? Yes

21. Will you support an end to all felony disenfranchisement in Pennsylvania, in accordance with the laws in Maine and Vermont? Yes

22. Will you support the decriminalization of sex work, for both sex workers and patrons? Yes

23. Will you commit to protecting reproductive rights, by supporting an end to the Hyde Amendment? Yes