Independent makes move

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A Lycoming County man has decided to make a run in the November election as an Independent for the 23rd state Senate seat.

Michael A. Dincher, 50, of Bastress Township cited the need to rein in big government as among his chief reasons for seeking the seat held by state Sen. Roger A. Madigan, R-Towanda, who is retiring at the end of the year.

"I look at my grandchildren and I don't see them having the opportunities I had," he said. "The climate in Harrisburg is borrow and spend and leave the debt to the grandkids."

He called state politics, at least as they are run in Harrisburg, as "of the party, by the party and for the party."

Dincher said too much of the state budget is spent on education. While some programs should be funded, too many should not be, he said.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency is a good example of a program in need of restructuring, he said.

"We have to look at agriculture, too," he said.

Dincher criticized government payouts to landowners for agreeing not to farm parcels.

"It causes farmers who want to farm to compete with the government," he said.

He called for a reduction in property taxes but said he was unsure just how to replace the revenues that would be lost.

"The problem is, it's going to be a tax shift, but how do you shift that?" he said.

The tax structure for businesses in the state, he said, has to be changed. "The labor force here is good. It's the taxes that drive people out."

Dincher, who has never held public office, said his many years in the work world more than qualify him to be a lawmaker.

He said there were times during the 1980s when he had to endure layoffs and working part-time to try to make ends meet.

"I spent a lot of time without health care. I can relate to that," he said.

Dincher said he was happy to see the federal government say 'no' to Interstate 80 tolls.

He is an assistant professor of forestry at Pennsylvania College of Technology and formerly was employed by Darling Valve as a laborer, machinist and welder.

A graduate of Jersey Shore High School, he received an associate's degree in forestry from Williamsport Area Community College, a bachelor's degree in biology at Lock Haven University and a master's degree in biology at Bloomsburg University.

He is working toward a doctorate in work force development at Penn State University.

Dincher is married and the father of four children. He has six grandchildren.