HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released the following statement regarding the allegations that Dan Onorato supporters and Democrat operatives circulated petitions for John Krupa, a candidate claiming to be the Tea Party nominee for Governor.

“It’s obvious that Dan Onorato is willing to resort to dishonest tactics in a desperate attempt to improve his chances to win elections this fall,” Gleason said. “The allegations made against the Onorato campaign and the Democratic Party, as they pertain to their involvement with John Krupa’s nominating papers, are extremely troubling.

“Dan Onorato and the Democratic Party need to answer some questions immediately with regard to his involvement with John Krupa’s campaign.  How involved was Dan Onorato in this attempt to hijack the Tea Party, a desperate attempt to help his faltering campaign? Who came up with the idea of deploying Onorato loyalists to gather petitions on behalf of John Krupa, and who was making the key decisions during that process?

“The fact of the matter is that Democrats’ understand that Pennsylvanians don’t want another four years of the type of tax-and-spend policies that Dan Onorato and Ed Rendell support, but instead of reevaluating their positions on the issues, they’re content to use backroom political tricks in a weak attempt to confuse the voters and further their failed big government agenda.”

Today, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ran a story entitled, “Onorato allies and Tea Party candidacy,” which detailed efforts by Democratic operatives, many with close ties to Onorato, who helped circulate John Krupa’s nominating papers.  Perhaps political pundit Terry Madonna summed it up best when he said, “It’s low-ball politics.  This does show the degree to which Democrats are deeply concerned about how badly off they are in this election cycle.”
Click here to read a fact sheet detailing some of the connections between Dan Onorato’s Democratic operatives and supporters to the Krupa nominating papers.

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