The campaign of Aizaz Gill, Republican candidate in the 172nd Legislative District, criticized opponent Sean Dougherty’s participation in a taxpayer-supported news conference on Oct. 10.
Publicized after the fact on the official government websites and social media pages of state Sens. Jimmy Dillon and Vincent Hughes, the news conference was held to announce the securing of taxpayer-funded grant money for Philadelphia. Dillon and Hughes were joined by other elected officials as well as representatives of the Philadelphia Police Department and stood behind a podium emblazoned with the official seal of the Pennsylvania Senate.
“Once again we see the corrupt Philly Democrat machine closing ranks around one of its own to help them hold power,” said Jason Ercole, a spokesman for the Gill campaign. “This was obviously an event arranged and held at taxpayer expense – and trumpeted after the fact with taxpayer-paid resources. There was no reason to have Sean Dougherty included.”
Dougherty can be seen in the backdrop of the news conference on videos and photographs posted to the official websites of both Dillon and Hughes.
“Taxpayer money should never be used to help a candidate or campaign. It’s illegal, it’s wrong, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from the Democrat political machine,” Ercole said. “The people of the Northeast deserve an independent leader to fight crime, combat inflation and improve education. Sean Dougherty will never be that person because he is already controlled by the same insiders and corrupt system that has caused these problems in the first place.” ••
