HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released the following statement regarding news that Dan Onorato’s fake “Tea Party” candidate John Krupa has agreed to remove his name from the ballot after his nominating papers were proven to be littered with fraud and other errors.

“This is a good day for Pennsylvania,” Gleason said.  “Democracy prevailed when Dan Onorato’s fake Tea Party gubernatorial candidate, John Krupa, withdrew from the ballot. Dan Onorato was trying to deceive the electorate by pushing a fake Tea Party candidate in an attempt to steal votes from Tom Corbett this fall.  This is the latest example of just how desperate his campaign is and was an egregious abuse of our electoral process.  The public should be outraged at Dan Onorato for perpetrating this farce.

“Many of the individuals who were involved throughout the entire Krupa nomination process had extensive Democratic and Onorato ties.  They also brought in well-known Democratic leaders in the process, like Harrisburg City Council Member and Specter for Senate Campaign staffer, Brad Koplinski.

“Dan Onorato and the Democratic Party need to come clean with their involvement with John Krupa’s puppet candidacy – a stunt designed to deceive the electorate.  Any attempt to hide their involvement in this farce just doesn’t pass the smell test!  If this is the way that Dan Onorato campaigns, one can only imagine how non-transparent and corrupt he would be in office.

“I want to thank Diana Reimer and the other members of the true Tea Party who stood up and defeated this paper candidacy.”

# # #