John Hanger (born 1957) is the former Pennsylvania Secretary of Planning and Policy, serving on the executive staff of Pennsylvania Governor

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 guber ...

. Hanger has served as Secretary of the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...

, a position he held between September 2008 and January 2011 under then-Governor

Ed Rendell Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philade ...

. He is also a former Commissioner of the

Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) is the public utility commission in Pennsylvania. It is composed of five commissioners, appointed by the Governor with the consent of the state Senate. The PUC oversees public utility and services opera ...

and Of Counsel at law firm

Eckert Seamans Eckert may refer to: People * Allan W. Eckert (1931–2011), American historical novelist * Andrea Eckert (born 1958), Austrian actress * Charles R. Eckert (1868–1959), U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania * Ernst R. G. Eckert (1904–2004), Ge ...

. He was a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014, before withdrawing from the primary. He is one of two Pennsylvanians who have served both as a Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and as Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. (Clifford Jones served as the Chair of the Public Utility Commission and Secretary of the Department of Environmental Resources, the predecessor of DEP.)

Biography

Hanger was born in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, to British parents who then moved to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and then to the United States when he was ten years old. In 1979, he graduated with a B.A. from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and in 1984, he graduated with a J.D. from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and olde ...

. He took a job at Neighborhood Legal Services where he advocated for people who could not pay their utility bills which eventually led to him taking a position under state representative Joseph Rhodes Jr. and former member of the

. In 1993, he was named as Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission by Governor

Bob Casey Sr. Robert Patrick Casey Sr. (January 9, 1932 – May 30, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician from Pennsylvania who served as the 42nd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the ...

In June 1998, Pennsylvania Governor

Tom Ridge Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003, and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. ...

replaced him as Commissioner of the PUC with

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

mayor, Aaron Wilson Jr., a Republican. Hanger contributed to writing and passing legislation such as Pennsylvania's 1996 Electricity Generation Competition and Customer Choice Act, the 2004 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, the 2005 Growing Greener 2 legislation, the 2007 Net Metering statute, the 2008 Act 129 initiating major electricity conservation programs, the 2008 Act 70 requiring DEP to write a climate change action plan, the 2008 Alternative Fuels Act, the 2010 Recycling Fee extension, and others. Hanger was the founding President of

Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) is a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2021, the organization has five offices across Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Mt. ...

or PennFuture from 1998 to 2008, a public interest organization with the objective of improving the environment and economy. Hanger has never held an elected office. He was considered a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate election in 2004 against

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

2014 gubernatorial election

After saying that he was "seriously looking" at a possible campaign for

Governor of Pennsylvania A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent

Tom Corbett Thomas Wingett Corbett Jr. (born June 17, 1949) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 46th governor of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1995 ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, he officially announced his candidacy for the office in November 2012. However, he ended his campaign in March 2014, citing unfavorable polling and the surge of fellow candidate

. His campaign supported the immediate legalization of

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictions ...

by allowing doctors to prescribe

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

for treatment of appropriate conditions and illnesses as is done in 20 other states. He supported removing criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana as soon as possible, and proposed to later legalize, regulate, and tax recreational marijuana in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. John Hanger endorsed

in the 2014 Democratic Primary for Governor.

References

External links

Governor's Executive Staff , John Hanger - Director of Planning and Policy

Facts of the Day, John Hanger's personal blog

Gubernatorial campaign site

John Hanger Resigns Post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanger, John Living people State cabinet secretaries of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Democrats 1957 births University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni