Activist urges defeat of Rep. Gingrich

Ken Schaefer, a respected citizen activist and reformer from Central Pennsylvania, is urging voters in the 101st state House District to reject incumbent Rep. Mauree Gingrich, a Republican seeking re-election.

Schaefer, writing in the Lebanon Daily News, says "Gingrich has not been a force for reform in the House of Representatives. She sides with leadership on a host of issues and has been described as a pawn of the former Republican Speaker of the House, John Perzel."

Schaefer also faults Gingrich for not supporting property tax elimination.

"In almost six years in office, Gingrich has not made a single proposal to reduce the ever-escalating costs of K-12 public education, not a single proposal to provide a more equitable funding mechanism for disparate school districts and not a single proposal to eliminate the regressive, archaic, unfair and ever-increasing school property tax," Schaefer writes. "In short, Gingrich has done nothing to help solve the problems she acknowledges exist. She would not even co-sponsor Republican Rep. Sam Rohrer's school property-tax elimination bill or try and work with Rohrer and other reform-minded members of a bipartisan coalition supporting the elimination of school property taxes. She sided with the leadership of Perzel, not with reform."

And if you needed another reason not to re-elect Gingrich, Schaefer points out "that her son is employed by the Republican House caucus. This is nepotism and a clear conflict of interest."

Gingrich is facing two challengers in the April 22 Primary Election: Russ Diamond and Bruce Kreider.

Schaefer heads up Vote For Integrity, a bi-partisan political action committee dedicated to helping bring integrity to Pennsylvania's state government.

Read the full column at the Daily News Web site.