State Rep. Dante Santoni Jr. is running for a 9th term in the state House, according to The Reading Eagle. No surprise there. Santoni, a Democrat, has been feeding off the public trough most of his adult life.
Santoni told reporter Mary Young that he's the right man to help get these things done because he has 15 years of experience in the House and inside knowledge of his district.
"I still remember where I came from," Santoni told the newspaper. "I've gotten to know the concerns of my constituents very well over the years. I listen to them and bring their concerns to Harrisburg. I will continue to fight for them."
What has Santoni been fighting for in Harrisburg? He has promised to deliver property tax relief in each of his first 15 years in Harrisburg, but has failed to deliver on his promise for 15 consecutive years. How many chances do you give somebody to fail?
His major accomplishments in Harrisburg? He voted himself a pay raise in July 2005 and took the money as unvouchered expenses, a practice the state Supreme Court ruled was illegal. He also voted to increase his taxpayer-paid pension by 50 percent. He has accepted annual pay raises (known as COLAs), bringing his annual salary to $76,163.
Santoni has held the 126th House District seat since 1993. He came close to losing his seat in 2006 when the majority of Democrats in the district voted against Santoni in the May primary, but the rest of the vote was split among two challengers, giving Santoni another term.
Santoni is consistently ranked among the worst lawmakers in Pennsylvania.
Two nonpartisan government watchdog groups released reports in 2007 ranking all 253 members of the Pennsylvania Legislature on a variety of issues. The PACleanSweep study reviewed voting records to determine which legislators served their constituents well or hurt their citizens by raising taxes or approving salary increases and other perks for themselves.
A study by DemocracyRisingPA evaluated how often legislators voted with party leaders, showing a lack of independence and the willingness to be influenced by career politicians once they get to Harrisburg. Santoni was ranked near the bottom.
Santoni was among the 20 lowest-ranked legislators on the PaCleanSweep survey of all 203 House members.
WGAL-TV 8 uncovered that Santoni was among the biggest abusers of taxpayer dollars to promote himself on television among all members of the Legislature prior to the 2006 election.
I live in Santoni's district and know firsthand what a lousy job he's done for the 126th District. Here's some more lowlights about Santoni from previous posts:
Santoni among worst legislators in Pennsylvania
Memo to Santoni: Thanks for nothing
PAY IT BACK campaign kicks off
The people who brought you Act 1
Punish politicians for property tax relief hoax
Dante Santoni soaks up taxpayer dollars
Take my legislators, please
Rep. Dante Santoni is a phony
Still undecided about your legislator? Take this test
Berks County is scraping the bottom of the Legislative barrel
The Charmed Life of a Pennsylvania Legislator
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