People don't change all of a sudden, state Rep. Scott Boyd said Saturday.

They "drift by degrees."

That, he said, is what's been happening to the Republican Party in Harrisburg.

The 43rd District lawmaker, announcing that he's seeking another term in the state House, told about 60 supporters at a breakfast at the Millersville Fire Co. that legislative Republicans have lost their moorings.

He pledged to be a stronger voice for restoring the party's core values.

"Hopefully, if you send me back to the House, I'll be continuing that message," he said.

Boyd, who had been considering a run for the 13th state Senate district in 2008, said he has refocused on winning his fourth term in the House, even if Sen. Gib E. Armstrong, R-13th District, were to decide to retire.

"I've really turned my attention to trying to move a very positive agenda in the House," he said, "and I'm focusing 100 percent of my effort there."

Grading the GOP
The breakfast made Boyd the third local Republican to declare his intentions in the new election cycle. Rep. Bryan Cutler has already announced his second run in the 100th District, and county Recorder of Deeds Steve McDonald kicked off his campaign for the 13th Senate district in September.

Boyd used the breakfast to launch a video, "Rediscovering Our Values," that he's been working on since summer.

He also has a Web site, www.republicanvaluessurvey.com, which includes the video and a survey asking voters to "grade" legislative Republicans' actions.

The problem in Harrisburg, he says on the video, is not that legislative leaders "are evil people, it's not that they don't care. ... The reality is they've just been there too long."

On the video, Boyd talks about the budget battles of 2003 and 2007, the slots bill of 2004 and the pay raise of 2005, arguing that GOP leadership — until this year, Republicans had a majority in both houses of the Legislature — helped Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell to raise taxes, legalize gambling and increase their salaries.

In business, Boyd says, managers identify problems and then find ways to solve the problems: "In Harrisburg, we identify a problem, we talk about the problem — and then we go to dinner."

After the screening, Boyd told supporters that producing the video "really helped me to begin to understand" the need for Republicans to redefine their values, which he suggested are limited government, pro-growth economics, respect for taxpayers, personal responsibility and public service rather than self-service.

To further those ends, Boyd said, he has introduced a bill that would require, if a budget hasn't been passed by June 23, that the House vote on last year's budget, indexed for inflation, and then send it to the Senate. "The state can consider no other business until that budget is done."

He also is supporting a consumer-driven model for health care and a debt control act that would require "truth in lending" disclosures of payback costs when voters are asked to approve state borrowings, along with a pension reform bill to change all state workers' pensions from "defined benefit" to "defined contribution."

Another initiative, he said, would make all legislators' grants to local agencies — once called "walking-around money," or WAMS — available for public inspection on the Internet.

"We've drifted from what our core principles are," he said.

"... I'm going to start being a louder voice for those principles."

Campaign kickoff
Boyd, who lives in Lampeter, was first elected to the 43rd, which stretches from Akron to Millersville, in 2002.

His exploration of a run for the 13th District earlier this year drew fire from Bob Guzzardi, a Montgomery County attorney, and from 5thEstate.com publisher Ron Harper Jr., who are McDonald supporters. Guzzardi had attacked Boyd for spending $61,000 in 2005 on public service TV ads.

A protester dressed in a pink pig costume stood outside the Millersville firehall Saturday morning with a sign that read, "Pay it back Boyd."

Boyd said last month that he won't run against Armstrong if the incumbent decides to seek another term.

There have been no indications that any other Republicans are thinking about challenging Boyd in the 43rd.

Boyd's consultant, former lawmaker Jeff Coleman of Churchill Strategies, attended the pancake-and-sausage breakfast, which doubled as a fundraiser for the Millersville firefighers.

The event was intended to identify "what our campaign will be about," Boyd said: principles.

"You don't have to worry about me drifting from these principles."

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Helen Colwell Adams is a Sunday News staff writer. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962.