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Know Your
Legislator State Senator Mary
Jo White Republican 21st Senatorial District |
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Senator Mary Jo
White is a graduate of Quincy University, Quincy, Illinois, and the University
of Pittsburgh School of Law.
In 1996, Senator
White was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate to serve the 21st Senatorial
District, which consists of Clarion, Forest and Venango Counties, and parts of
Butler, Erie and Warren Counties. She was reelected in 2000.
Senator White’s
committee assignments include: Appropriations, Consumer Protection and
Professional Licensure, Public Health and Welfare, Communication and
Technology, and Judiciary. She is also the Chairman of the Environmental
Resources and Energy Committee.
In addition, she
serves as a Vice Chair of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, and serves on the
Wild Resource
Conservation Fund,
the Joint Conservation Committee, the Environmental Quality Board, the PA
Commission
on Sentencing and
the PA Public Television Network Commission.
For the 2001-2002
Legislative Session, Senator White was elected Caucus Administrator for the
Republican
Majority, becoming
the first woman ever elected to a Senate Republican leadership position.
From 1974 to 1976,
Senator White was the public defender for the County of Venango. She practiced
law as
an associate with
the law firm of Dale and Woodard before joining the legal department of Quaker
State
Corporation. For 19
years, she served as an attorney and in other capacities with Quaker State
Corporation, most recently as Vice President for Environment/Government
Affairs.
Active in her
community, Senator White is past Chairman of the Barrow Civic Theatre
Foundation and has served on the Boards of the Venango County Association for
the Blind and the Venango Community Foundation.
She is concerned
about rural health care, and has served as a member of the Rural Health Council
and as the Chair of the Nursing Advisory Committee of Clarion University. She
is a member of the Board of
Trustees of
Westminster College and of the Military Academy Selection Committee for the
Fifth Congressional
District.
Senator White
resides in Franklin with her husband of 37 years, Judge H. William White. They
have three children, H. William, III, David and Allison.