10/25/16
An Open Letter to Senator Rob Teplitz
Dear Senator Teplitz,
Today on the WITF debate you made some wild and inaccurate charges against me. I wanted to set the record straight on each one of them. I actually bolded the facts because you seem to be missing them over and over again, and I thought this might help you.
You accused me of wanting to cut education – that’s not true. I support more money for education and have said it throughout our campaign. But I do not believe money is our problem, as we spend more than $14,000 per student and are in the top 10 states in spending. We do need more accountability and focus on outcomes.
You accused me of working with a lobbying firm to run my campaign – that’s not true. I use a campaign-consulting firm to run my campaign just like you, Senator Teplitz. Under no circumstances will anyone who has worked on my campaign ever lobby my office. If they were campaign consultants they won’t lobby me – period.
You accused me of wanting to raise the sales tax –that’s not true. I do not want to raise taxes of any kind. However I do support significant tax reform that would completely eliminate property taxes. I am not sure how I can be clearer on this point, since I have said it repeatedly.
You accused me of doing whatever I can to make abortion illegal in all cases – that’s not true. I am proudly pro-life and I believe in life, from conception to natural death. However, I do have exceptions for the difficult situations women face in the case of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is threatened.
You accused me of receiving payment for my services as building committee chairman for the new Bishop McDevitt High School—that’s not true. This was a volunteer role and I was not paid one cent nor did my company provide any construction services whatsoever.
You accused me of running to fight for myself – that’s just not true. As a matter of fact, I have been running to represent the most underrepresented interest in the capitol – the taxpayers.
You also spent a lot of time not being truthful about your record.
You said that you opposed Governor Wolf’s tax plan – except you didn’t. Never once did you criticize the Governor’s plan and you actually voted for Wolf’s budget that required a massive tax increase.
You said that you support property tax relief – except you don’t. You were the deciding vote against property tax elimination. Instead, you talked about little tweaks with the system that would get taxpayers pennies instead of dollars. You stood with special interests to block the elimination of property taxes we need.
You said that you supported investment in transportation for our area – but that’s not true. You actually voted against the transportation bill that is delivering those dollars.
You said that you voted for a House version of pension reform – but you didn’t say what that plan does. The plan exempted elected officials like yourself from having to go into the new pension system and offered more generous benefits to other employees.
Unfortunately, you seem either incapable or unwilling to tell the truth about what I stand for or what you have done. I hope this letter helps clarify things for you, and that you will stop repeating your lies about me in future debates and campaign ads.
Sincerely,
John DiSanto