By DAN KRISTIE, Staff Writer

WEST CHESTER — Stephanie Phillips, a county employee and University of Pennsylvania teaching assistant, announced on Friday that she will seek the Republican nomination to run for the 156th District state House seat.

Phillips, of West Chester, said that she is running because she wants to make Pennsylvania a friendlier place for businesses and wants to increase the communication between state and local government.

"Businesses are going to stimulate economic growth," Phillips said. "But things have changed so dramatically over the last 18 months that I'm not sure the state government knows what businesses need. If elected, I would communicate with businesses to find out what they need at this point."

Phillips characterized herself as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate.

She said she supports a low income tax and lower businesses taxes. And she said she opposes making the state government any bigger than it is.

She said she believes Pennsylvania's current abortion laws are sufficiently restrictive. And she said she sup

ports legislation that would allow for civil unions between members of the same sex. But, she said, she does not support defining such unions as marriage.

She added that that while she is not opposed to gun ownership, she does not believe the average citizen needs to own assault rifles.

"There needs to be some oversight of firearms," Phillips said. "We'll put it this way: I'm not an NRA member."

She also said stream preservation and restoration is the environmental issue about which she cares most. She said that citizens need to be better educated about the dangers that face the 156th district's waterways.

Two weeks ago, State Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith, D-156th of West Chester, announced she would not run for re-election. The two-term legislator said she is leaving the state House because it is nearly impossible to get anything done there.

Phillips is the second Republican to publicly announce her interest in the 156th District seat. The first was Dan Truitt, a business owner from East Goshen. Truitt has not publicized a campaign announcement. But he has a campaign website, which appeared on Friday to still be a work in progress.

According to a Chester County Republican Committee spokesman, seven Republicans have thus far expressed interest in the 156th district seat. But the spokesman declined to give the names of the other five.

Chester County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Michele Vaughn said that three Democrats have expressed interest in the seat. But she said that the party is not yet ready to release the candidates' names.

Phillips, who has never before run for office, works as Special Projects Coordinator at the Chester County Recorder of Deeds office. And she is a teaching assistant at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government.

Phillips is not married, has no children, and lives with a basset hound in a house which is across the street from the apartment in which her mother lives.

Phillips was born and raised in West Chester, went to elementary school at St. Agnes, and graduated from Bishop Shanahan High School. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and urban planning from West Chester University and a master's degree in governmental administration from the Fels Institute.

She said she supports measures that would give parents more choice in where to send their children to school.

She said she would be in favor of legislation that strengthens charter schools and provides vouchers for parents who wish to send their children to private schools.

The county Republican and Democratic committees plan to endorse their candidates for the 156th District seat early next year.

To contact staff writer Dan Kristie, send an e-mail to dkristie@dailylocal.com.