Bompiani: Ward doesn't change my race

Nov. 4 won't be the first time state Senate candidates Tony Bompiani and Kim Ward go head to head.

The Democrat Bompiani served on the Hempfield Area School District school board while the Republican Ward was a Hempfield Township supervisor.

"I know Kim Ward very very well professionally," Bompiani told PolitickerPA.com. "She's very tough ... very hard-nosed.

"It's going to be a nice ride," he said.

Ward has not officially been picked to replace state Sen. Bob Regola (R-Westmoreland County), but she is the heavy favorite to be selected by the Westmoreland County Republican Committee after announcing her candidacy this week. The committee convenes Saturday to make the selection.

The race was thrown into turmoil Monday when Regola, who only weeks earlier had been acquitted of charges stemming from the death of his 14-year-old neighbor, stepped down from his campaign. Although the senator said he did not want to put his family through a difficult campaign, Capitolwire.com has reported that Senate leadership forced him to step down because of abysmal polling numbers.

Regola was considered one of his party's rising stars after defeating longtime Democratic incumbent Allen Kukovich in 2004 by 5 percentage points, about 5,500 votes.

Bompiani said the Republican turmoil hasn't changed his candidacy.

"For myself, it hasn't changed anything," he said. "My focus is and always has been on the people."

He's not running simply to advance his political career, he said.

"The goal is not to just reach a position," Bompiani, a chiropractor, said. "I don't go into my office to work on my patient until I find another one."