Commissioner from Chester County touts her experience, education for executive slot.

BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – Republican Chester County Commissioner Carol Aichele said being an economist makes her the best candidate to be the state’s next lieutenant governor.

She holds a degree in economics from Cornell University and she said she would bring that expertise to Harrisburg. She is supporting state Attorney General Tom Corbett in his gubernatorial run.

She has served six years as a county commissioner and before that six years as a county controller and six years as a school director.

“I have always strived to prove to myself that government can provide a quality product at a reasonable price,” she said. She said the growth of government spending should always be below the rate of inflation.

Aichele, the only woman in the lieutenant governor’s race on the Republican side, said it’s time for “a new approach” to governing in Harrisburg.

“It’s time to write a new chapter in Pennsylvania’s history and fix what is broken in our state,” she said. “If I have the honor of serving as lieutenant governor, I’ll work hard with the newly elected governor to do just that,” she added.

Aichele is serving in her second term on the Chester County Board of Commissioners. As commissioner, Aichele said she led the effort to help the county achieve a Triple A bond rating from Moody’s Investors Services, one of the few counties to achieve this status, resulting in millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers each year.

She says she implemented budgets that kept Chester County’s tax rate among the lowest in Southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, Aichele says she helped taxpayers save millions by eliminating pay raises for elected officials and reorganizing the county government’s workforce.

In addition to serving two terms as commissioner, Aichele was the first woman elected controller in Chester County and has served as the chairwoman of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. A former math and science teacher, she also served six years as a member of the Tredyffrin-Easttown Board of School Directors, with two years as its president. She has also served in numerous leadership positions on various boards and community organizations for over 25 years.

Aichele and her husband, Steve, have three grown children and three grandchildren.