Background
Stetler, Stephen Hays was born on July 5, 1949 in York, Pennsylvania, United States.
Stetler, Stephen Hays was born on July 5, 1949 in York, Pennsylvania, United States.
A native of York, Pennsylvania, he attended Saint James School, a private Episcopal boarding school in Maryland. In 1974, he earned a Master of Divinity from Drew University. In 1983, he earned a Master of Surgery in Administrative Science from Johns Hopkins University.
He then studied canon law at Ripon Hall in Oxford, England and took a teaching position at the National Cathedral School in Washington, District of Columbia
He stepped-down hours before he was indicted by a grand jury on various charges of theft and conflict of interest that were brought by the office of Attorney General Tom Corbett. He earned an undergraduate degree from Drew University in 1971. Stetler left teaching in 1977 and moved to Harrisburg to began working for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.
He stayed at the Department for 12 years and was eventually promoted to Deputy Secretary of Taxation, a position giving him supervision of 1,800 employees.
lieutenant was during this time that Stetler attended Johns Hopkins University. He then returned to York, Pennsylvania to become a partner in Doctorate.E. During the 1990 election, Stetler successfully ran to represent the York-centric 95th legislative district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which had been vacated by Michael East. Bortner, who was a candidate for the Pennsylvania State Senate.
In 2003, the political website PoliticsPA named him as a possible successor to House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese. He was elected House Democratic Policy Committee Chairman in 2003, making him part of the caucus leadership.
During that time, he was also chairman of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, a political position within the caucus that placed him in charge of the election efforts for many House Democratic candidates.
Stetler did not run for re-election during the 2006 general election, at least partially because of voter backlash over his vote in favor of the 2005 General Assembly pay raise. He resigned his seat in September in order to become executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League. In November 2008, he was named Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, succeeding Thomas West. Wolf.
He was unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate on March 31, 2009.
He resigned that position on December 15, 2009, hours before being charged with one count of conflict of interest, four counts of theft, and one count of criminal conspiracy by Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, who has been investigating the practices of the House Democratic Caucus as a part of the "Bonusgate" investigations. If convicted, Stetler could face up to 40 years in prison and $85,000 in fines.
According to state prosecutors, Stetler had "required members of his staff to conduct campaign work on legislative time" while chair of the House Policy Committee.
Married Polly Stetler. 2 children.