Lebanon County Republican Committee holds Candidates Night in Palmyra

The Lebanon County Republican Committee held Candidates Night in Palmyra on Monday, April 28, for the public to meet its endorsed candidates for Palmyra Area school board, Palmyra Borough Council, Palmyra mayor, and countywide seats.

Candidates who were not endorsed by the LCRC were welcome to attend as members of the public but were not invited to speak.

The event, held at the Rothermel-Finkenbinder Funeral Home, came after a borough council meeting devolved into an argument over the endorsement process.

Read More: Palmyra Borough heatedly discusses Republican primary endorsements

Mayor Tom Miller, who was appointed to fill Fred Carpenter’s seat following his retirement at the start of 2025 and was not endorsed, asked about the LCRC endorsement process at the April council meeting. Other council members said they did not know the committee would be doing endorsements, so they did not think to reach out.

LCRC chairman Bill Bova subsequently submitted an opinion piece to LebTown with his response to these discussions happening in Palmyra and at several other government meetings throughout the county.

Read More: [Letter] GOP chair calls out political discussions at government meetings

Countywide candidates at Candidates Night included Pier Hess Graf for district attorney, Jeffrie Marley Jr. for sheriff, and Brian Craig for register of wills and clerk of orphans’ court. All three candidates are incumbents. Craig and Marley are running unopposed; Hess Graf is running against Michael J. Light II for the Republican nod. No Democrats filed for the races.

For the Palmyra school board, Seth Steinmetz, Shane Arrigoni, Corey Andrew, and Cynthia Spondello attended as the endorsed candidates. They are running against Joshua Brinser, Benjamin Weaber, and Christine Fisher in the Republican primary. None of the candidates in this election are incumbents. Weaber and Fisher have also cross-filed as the only two candidates who will appear on the Democratic ballot. Four school board seats are open this election cycle.

Anthony Catalani and Marcus Riddell are the two borough council members running for reelection, with Denver Wilson and Tony Pearson joining the ticket, all with the committee’s endorsement. They are running against non-LCRC-endorsed candidates Jane Quairoli and Jim Tesche, both incumbents. For the mayoral race, LCRC endorsed Kevin Yiengst, who is taking on incumbent Tom Miller in the Republican primary. No Democrats filed to run for either Palmyra council or mayor. Four borough council seats are up for grabs this year.

Endorsed candidates participating in the event had an opportunity to share why they’re running and some of their policy positions. Spending was a common theme throughout the evening, with school board candidates expressing concern with the district’s upcoming renovation and building projects.

Read More: Palmyra Area School District will move offices to new S. Forge Road property

School board candidate Corey Andrew said he has three kids in the district, so he’s invested in its future.

“I will say the Palmyra school system has been fantastic in many ways — my kids play sports, I’m a youth coach in wrestling and baseball, and we have had a fantastic experience in Palmyra,” he said. “But what I see the school undertaking in the next decade is catastrophic, and I don’t think enough people understand what the big picture looks like.”

Candidates mentioned the upcoming contract negotiation, where staff members will likely ask for raises. They said cutting spending wherever possible could help with balancing these financial obligations without passing costs onto the taxpayers.

The paper handouts available for guests said all four district candidates stood for increasing student achievement, promoting parental involvement and transparency, and holding the line on taxes.

Similarly, LCRC-endorsed borough council candidates talked about the budget. At the end of 2024, Palmyra Borough Council approved a budget with a millage rate increase from 4.11 mills to 5.30 mills — a 22.5% increase. Catalani and Riddell voted against the motion.

The budget process started with the borough in a deficit of over $800,000. With several cuts, they brought it down to about $600,000 in deficit, and the increased millage rate closed the rest of the gap.

Council candidate Wilson told the crowd he would advocate for “rigorous budget reviews” if elected.

“We must rein in the wasteful spending,” he said. “We have all seen blueprints of government projects that go over budget and programs that fail to deliver results. It is time for us to demand accountability.”

The five-man mayor and council member panel endorsed by the LCRC said their platform is built on fiscal conservatism and transparency.

Jill Regets sat through all of the speeches, writing follow-up questions on a piece of paper. She said her vote is still undecided, and she attended the gathering to hear directly from the candidates what their plans would be if they assume office.

She said with the focus on transparency, she was hoping for a question-and-answer session with the crowd.

Visitors, who had their voter registration checked on their way in, could follow up with individual candidates after they all had their opportunity to talk, but there was not a panel-style Q&A.

“I thought it was going to be more of an open forum, so I was actually very disappointed,” Regets said. “They were talking about transparency, and I thought that it’d be a lot more transparent to actually allow people to ask their questions and kind of have a more open discussion, especially because I feel like it’s important to hear how candidates interact and maybe what their differences of opinion are.”

Regets said she especially had questions for school board candidates. She said she’s a regular at the meetings, and some of the numbers they were providing were not aligning with what she had heard previously.

She said she wants fiscal responsibility from the district, but didn’t feel like she heard much about a specific plan from any of the candidates.

The Primary Election is on May 20.

Read More: Here’s the list of candidates in Lebanon County’s 2025 municipal primary

Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to correct the spelling of Jill Regets last name. We sincerely regret the error.