DiGirolamo Fails Leadership Test: Incumbent sides with radical wing of party, ignores tax relief

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/7/2006
Bensalem, PA
Contact 215-208-5264
electmartin@yahoo.com

Harris Martin, candidate for State Representative in Pennsylvania’s 18th Legislative District, called Representative Gene DiGirolamo’s decision to leave Harrisburg without providing property tax relief “a complete and total lack of leadership.”

Following a 40-9 vote in the Senate on May 2nd, House Republicans were expected to introduce Special Session House Bill 39—a bill they agreed to support in an earlier conference committee designed to reach a compromise on property tax reform. However, House Republicans suddenly and abruptly turned their backs on the agreement and left Harrisburg on May 3rd without providing a new proposal for tax relief.

“This may not have been a perfect piece of legislation, but Gene DiGirolamo has had 12 years in office to come up with something better,” said Martin. “It’s an outrage that he and his fellow career politicians broke their deal with Governor Rendell and left town without providing tax relief. I agree that this proposal didn’t go quite far enough. But I would have supported it as a first step towards lowering property taxes, and in the ensuing weeks I would have worked day and night to add further tax relief,” he continued.

The proposal Gene DiGirolamo turned his back on would have added 500,000 seniors to the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program, eliminated property taxes for up to 155,000 seniors and lowered the tax burden for every homeowner in the state.

“It shows a complete and total lack of leadership,” continued Martin.

“500,000 seniors would have seen immediate property tax relief. Over 100,000 of them would have had their property taxes eliminated. And every homeowner in the state would have seen their tax bills go down. It’s an outrage that Gene DiGirolamo turned his back on these people. It’s yet another reason why it’s time to go in a new direction. Career politicians like Gene DiGirolamo are failing us,” he said.

Governor Rendell challenged DiGirolamo and his fellow politicians to return to Harrisburg and work towards property tax reform. However, DiGirolamo left Harrisburg with no plans to take up property tax relief in the near future.

“Part of being a leader is taking personal responsibility. We should all hold Gene DiGirolamo responsible for failing to deliver. Lead or get out of the way,” said Martin.

“Voters deserve property tax relief. If Gene DiGirolamo isn’t willing to work with Ed Rendell to achieve that tax relief, it’s time for voters to hire someone who is,” he concluded.