Voters in the 134th Legislative District may be a bit confused this year.

After Douglas Reichley resigned to take his seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, voters went to the polls April 24 to vote in a special election, and to vote in the 2012 primary.

Faced with a slate of choices, Republican voters nominated Ryan Mackenzie for a two-year term while Patrick Slattery was unopposed on the Democratic side.

At the same time, Mackenzie defeated Slattery in the special election to fill Reichley's seat by roughly 60 percent to 40 percent.

A rematch loomed in November until Slattery withdrew from the race.

As a result, on July 31, the Lehigh County Democratic Committee tapped John Reynard to face Mackenzie on Nov. 6.

Mackenzie is the former policy director at the state Department of Labor and Industry.

The South Whitehall Township resident graduated from New York University with a dual degree in finance and international business and has an Master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Mackenzie told The Press he is running for office "to help get Pennsylvania back on track economically, to ensure our tax dollars are spent wisely where we want them – like on education and job creation, and to promote on-going fiscal discipline in state government.

"I want to be a strong voice for the concerns of our families and seniors – concerns I understand from having grown up in our community and by volunteering my time with non-profits focused on education and seniors."

Mackenzie said he was elected in April to serve out the remainder of Doug Reichley's unexpired term and has been carrying on his strong tradition of constituent service ever since he took office.

"I have already been successful in writing and passing my own legislation that streamlines an inefficient government program and helps job creators."

He said his experience as policy director at the state's Department of Labor and Industry showed his ability to protect taxpayers by helping author laws that save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

"In addition, I was able to cut the budget for my entire office and I refused the taxpayer-paid car that was offered to me," Mackenzie added. "Finally, having grown up in our community, I understand the local issues and concerns of our residents and am willing to fight for them in Harrisburg."

As for the biggest issues facing the state, Mackenzie cited job creation and economic growth as the top priority "because a robust economy has a positive effect on so many other areas."

He also said the state must continue to invest in education, which he says "is also critically important to our community so that all students have an opportunity to succeed."

Mackenzie added "We must control spending and eliminate waste to ensure that the tax dollars of Pennsylvania's citizens are spent efficiently and wisely."

John Reynard, of Emmaus, has almost 20 years of private sector experience working in both for-profit and not-for-profit education and as an investment and estate advisor.

"I am running for state legislature because the current administration in Harrisburg is making deals which while they may look like they solve problems in the short-term, will actually make our problems worse over the long-haul," Reynard told The Press.

He cited the proposed sale of the state liquor stores as an example.

"Given how much money the state budget takes as profit from the stores each year currently, I don't believe [a projected $2 billion sale] is nearly enough to cover the present value of collecting those revenues in perpetuity.

Reynard also labeled as "short-sighted," the failure to collect a severance tax on natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale deposits.

"Every state around us, Democratic or Republican, is collecting a severance tax but we aren't," he added.

Reynard said most extraction companies do not pay the state's high corporation tax and noted "adding a severance tax to the rather-low [limited liability partnership tax] rate would not make us uncompetitive and would help reduce taxes on Pennsylvania residents or could replace some of the education budget cuts."

He was asked why he is qualified to serve.

"I have studied and taught classes in economics and economic development is one of the key issues Pennsylvania faces today," he said. "Along with my 20 years of work in the private sector I believe my economic knowledge will bring a fresh and needed perspective to our state legislature allowing Pennsylvania to develop better processes to control government inefficiency and cost without cutting value-adding services for our citizens.

"Making sure that Pennsylvania gets the best deals possible as we make deals like Marcellus Shale extraction, the liquor store sale, and possible lease deals on state parks," is a priority for Reynard, who said "Gov. Corbett seems most intent on privatizing for the sake of privatizing without getting the best deal for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania on their state-owned assets."

He also wants to fix what he refers to as "the underfunded state pension system."

"We are prohibited by state constitution from cutting benefits to many current workers and retirees," Reynard said. "To fix the state pension system's underfunding by dropping all of the cost on new employees will lead to the state losing many highly valuable employees and having difficulty recruiting new high-quality employees.

"The pension problem was caused by the state not making its required payments when times were good and now we're going to refashion the system when times are bad.

Reynard would offer 401(k) plans as a voluntary option to state workers.

"If we take creative measures here rather than partisan measures de-signed simply to break unions we can solve the deficit in the pension fund with less acrimony and better results for the state and its workers," Reynard said. Finally, he noted "Pennsylvania needs to keep our best and brightest students here in Pennsylvania."

"Small business development drives much of job growth and it is the sector where emerging industries come from," Reynard said. "If we provide the right types of incentives we can become a center for entrepreneurship and job growth."

The 134th District, in Lehigh County, includes the Boroughs of Alburtis, Emmaus, Macungie; Townships of Lower Macungie, Salisbury Ward 5, South Whitehall (district 3, 4, 5), Upper Macungie (district 4), Upper Milford (Eastern District) and parts of Berks County.