PA Primary: Diamond on track to score major grassroots upset

Unlike their Democratic brethren who are facing a difficult choice among two equally liberal, indistinguishable presidential candidates, Republican voters in the Keystone State’s 101^st legislative district have a much easier choice on their hands.

Incumbent Republican Mauree Gingrich, first elected in 2002, is seeking a fourth term in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Gingrich faces a tough primary challenge from reform advocate and small businessman Russ Diamond .

Nestled within the heart of midstate Pennsylvania, the 101^st district sits in the confines of Lebanon County and is composed of the city of Lebanon, the boroughs of Cleona and Palmyra and the townships of Annville, South Annville, North Cornwall, North Londonderry, and South Londonderry. Whether you have heard of these towns is irrelevant right now. You will hear plenty about them when Russ Diamond is their legislator.

Pennsylvania voters living both within and outside of the 101^st district deserve to have Russ Diamond serving them in the state House of Representatives. He is running to eliminate Pennsylvania’s high property tax, reduce the state legislature from a monstrous full time branch to a part time entity, and open up Pennsylvania’s electoral system to third party and independent candidates—a reform that is long overdue.

Having once worked in the halls of Harrisburg and fought the endless bureaucracy in state government, not only do I hope Russ Diamond wins big on Tuesday, I hope that his win sparks a movement within the Republican Party of Pennsylvania to become the true reform party that it ought to be.

In March 2007 I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel to discuss Pennsylvania legislative reform with Russ Diamond and Barry Kauffman of Common Cause PA at the Pennsylvania Political Science Association’s 2007 conference at Kutztown University.

After working with him there, hearing his thoughts and ideas, and recalling the numerous conversations we had since 2006, I can tell you that he is talented, thoughtful, and intelligent. He thinks things through. He doesn’t rush to hasty judgments. He knows that government is not the solution to all of our problems and clearly understands that we cannot change the backward way of doing things in Harrisburg until we drain the swamp of abuse and corruption that helped lead to the now infamous 2005 legislative pay raise that hiked legislators’ base pay from 16% to 34% of what it was (varying by member and rank), sparking an activist wildfire among taxpayers.

One of the leaders of that wildfire movement was Russ Diamond, who founded an organization called PA Clean Sweep targeting the greedy legislators who sought to increase their pay in the dead of night while Pennsylvanians were fast asleep. Thanks to the hard work of people like Russ, Eric Epstein , Tim Potts , Chris Lilik , and thousands of grassroots volunteers, Pennsylvania saw the ousting of power house legislators Senator President Pro Tempore Bob Jubelirer, Senate Majority Leader Chip Brightbill, and House Democratic Whip Mike Veon.

The case for reform is obvious. For example, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported on March 15, 2007 that Pennsylvania House Republicans spent $4.4 million during the two year legislative session on taxpayer-funded campaign ads commonly called “public service announcements” reminding voters who they are and how they can help get their cats down from the trees and process their license plate renewals. House Democrats spent $1.6 million, making them anything but innocent of squandering public funds. It’s time for Russ Diamond to go to Harrisburg to ask the tough questions and protect our tax dollars.

According to some preliminary research I did prior to the March 2007 panel, Pennsylvania’s 50 state Senators alone operate over 110 district offices—aside from their digs at the state capitol—all financed by the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. I would have to enlist NASA to help calculate the astronomical cost to the taxpayers. It’s time for Russ Diamond to go to Harrisburg to ask why the elites are wasting the people’s hard-earned money on wasteful activities like this which help serve as store-front reelection machines.

Pennsylvania legislators have been entitled to vehicle leases that are funded by the taxpayers. Same with their cellular phones. The Tribune Review reported on March 8, 2007 that two legislators even charged the taxpayers for their inauguration receptions after being sworn into office to protect our rights and tax dollars! Why can’t legislators pay for their own vehicles and their own cell phone bills? It’s time for Russ Diamond to go to Harrisburg to find out why we can’t get it right.

As noted above, Pennsylvania is also woefully behind when it comes to allowing independent and third party candidates to have ballot access. Russ Diamond knows this firsthand. In the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Democrat Ed Rendell and Republican Lynn Swann had to only meet a 2,000 signature threshold to get their names on the November ballot. Russ Diamond, attempting to run as an independent, was forced by law to attempt to garner 67,000 signatures—a feat much too excessive for a citizen-candidate not backed by a large party apparatus. Russ has pledged to help reduce the horrible burden placed on third party candidates by the major parties and give Pennsylvania voters more choices rather than bad or worse.

In this district that is a mix of rural and suburban Pennsylvania, Diamond has already knocked on 58% of the doors of supervoters who will likely be turning out next Tuesday. In his own words, he is “scratching and clawing” his way to victory. This citizen candidate could use your help. If you are reading this and live close by, why not volunteer to spend a few hours working the polls on April 22^nd ? All you have to do is click here to sign up. If you can’t do that, Russ probably could use your help knocking on the rest of his targeted doors this weekend. Even $25 could get him through the final days of the campaign and across the finish line.

It’s time for Russ Diamond to get to work to eliminate property taxes, make the legislative behemoth a part time fixture, and put an end to the state’s abuse of third party candidates. What can you do to help him fix this fine mess and restore common sense to state government?

Nathan Shrader can be reached at nathanrshrader@yahoo.com . He is a former aide to the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania and is a Republican Committeeperson in Westmoreland County.

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