Trivedi Prevails At Debate

After Gerlach Dismisses and Deceives, It’s Clear Why He Continues to Turn Down More Debates… And Turn Away The Press

ELVERSON, Pa. – This afternoon, Manan Trivedi showed exactly why he is going to win this election. In a debate in Chester County, in front of a rowdy room full of over 150 people, while Congressman Jim Gerlach continued to employ the same old Washington tricks of avoiding questions and cameras, Manan Trivedi stood on his principles and drove home his message that it is time to get rid of Congressman Gerlach, who has been in Washington so long he’s lost touch with what the people care about back here in the district. Between making up definitions of amnesty, ignoring the facts on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%, and completely avoiding answering questions about his support of the disastrous Wall Street bailouts by acting like he had never supported them, a flustered Congressman Gerlach put his Washington ways on full display this afternoon. “Congressman Gerlach is beginning to realize that, after so many years in Washington, he has completely lost touch with the people he is supposed to be representing,” Trivedi said. “That’s why he had to fight so hard to lie or distract or avoid questions about why he continues to support those tax breaks that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas, the failed tax cuts to the millionaires and billionaires under Bush tax cuts which have been proven to not create jobs, and bailing out his Wall Street buddies.”

Gerlach’s poor performance today explains why he refused to allow any videotaping or audio recording of the debate. Only two minutes before the debate started, he refused the request of members of the press to create recordings of the event.

“It is shameful that a congressman would want to hide from his constituents, though with a record of hurting his own district like Congressman Gerlach has, it’s no surprise,” Trivedi said. “But I know that the people of the 6th District deserve more than buried truth and hide-and-seek. No one is ever going to start trusting their elected officials again unless we send new leaders to Congress who will start practicing the transparency and openness that a democratically-elected government requires.”

After only accepting two debates, and none in Berks County, if Gerlach were to refuse taping at both debates, he would be preventing all but the very smallest handful of his constituents able to attend these two debates from comparing the candidates side-by-side. Gerlach is refusing the voters the opportunity to make an informed decision this election cycle, which is a disservice to the people of the 6th District and our democracy as a whole.

The second and currently only other scheduled debate between the two candidates in this hotly-contested race will take place this Tuesday, October 12th beginning at 7:30 PM. It is being held at the Main Line Reform Temple in Wynnewood, PA.

Manan Trivedi is the Democratic nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District. He is a primary care physician, a former Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy, and an Iraq War veteran from Berks County.

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