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By MITCH MORRISON; Times Leader Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 1996 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE — The mystery is over.
The name has a face: Stephen Anthony Urban, a resident of Wilkes-Barre’s
Willow Street.
Until Wednesday, none of the area’s GOP politicos had heard of the man who
is challenging U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Democrat, in the November election
for the 11th congressional district. The term runs two years and pays $133,644
annually.
“By election time, people will know who I am,” Urban, a Republican, said
Wednesday afternoon.
Although he grew up in the city’s Rolling Mill Hill section and graduated
from Meyers High School, Urban has spent more than half his 43 years across
the country and overseas, having served in the U.S. Army.
He retired last month as a lieutenant colonel stationed in the Pentagon.
“This is the second half of my life,” Urban said Wednesday in an interview at
The Times Leader. “I want to do something for my district.”
Right now, Urban is relearning the area. He spent the past two weeks in
lower Luzerne County meeting with flood victims, and in Mountaintop. The
district encompasses six counties and 565,000 people.
Asked about campaign strategy, Urban is tight-lipped about his plans to
oust the six-term Democratic congressman from Nanticoke. Urban politely
declines to answer questions about national policy matters, including health
care, education and Social Security. His positions, he says, will be revealed
later.
The one issue he did discuss is term limits. “We need them,” he said,
adding he favors six to 10 years in Congress.
“We need a change. Government only works well when we have a change in
leadership and bring in new ideas,” he said, declining to list his “new
ideas.”
For now, Urban is satisfied just to have met the 1,000-signature
requirement to place him on the ballot. Over the next few months, he said, he
plans to canvass the district, establish a campaign team, build grassroots
support and develop a financial base.
“This is full-time for me. From February through November, this is my job,
to campaign for office. Mr. Kanjorski is going to spend most of his time in
Washington, D.C.”
Urban said he is the product of a working-class family. Born in Hanover
Township, his family moved to the Rolling Mill Hill section when he was 2.
His father, Joseph, was a factory worker who spent part of his career at
Planters Peanuts. His mother, Theresa, was a seamstress for various dress
factories.
“My mother is 65 and my father is 73,” he said. “So Social Security and
Medicare are close to home.”
Urban is divorced and the father of two adult children. He earned a
bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from King’s College and two master’s
degrees: public administration in justice administration at Golden Gate
University in San Francisco and national security and strategic studies at the
U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
Stephen Urban