Three men are seeking the Auditor General seat currently occupied by Jack Wagner, who cannot seek re-election due to term limits: State Representatives Eugene DePasquale (D-York) and John Maher (R-Alleghney) and Republican Frank Pinto.
DePasquale and Maher are also running unopposed in re-election bids for their current House seats. According to a Patriot News report, both say that their constituents demanded that they seek both offices simultaneously.
While the role of the PA Auditor General is to “protect how tax dollars are spent and ensure that the government operates efficiently and effectively” according to the Department’s website, Pinto has said that DePasquale and Maher’s refusal to commit to a single race is undermining that concept.
“The auditor general is supposed to be the watchdog over the taxpayer’s dollars,” he said. “These guys have already wasted taxpayers’ money. Its a reflection of the culture of arrogance that exists in some places of the Legislature and its got to stop.”
“They are playing it safe and it’s nuts, absolutely nuts. It’s just egregious running for two offiices while you are being paid full time and collecting per diems and everything else.”
If DePasquale or Maher were elected Auditor General, the winner would be obligated to vacate his House seat, giving way to a special election that would in turn be funded by taxpayer dollars.
However, both have insisted that voters aren’t concerned with the fact that they are seeking election to multiple posts simultaneously.
“I think the people of Pennsylvania are more concerned about finding the candidate who is going to be a tough fiscal watchdog,” DePasquale said.
Representatives Maher and DePasquale have also said that their campaigns have registered few complaints from constituents regarding their decisions to run for both Auditor General and re-election to their seats in the PA General Assembly.
DePasquale has been endorsed by two Pennsylvania Congressmen (Jason Altmire and Mark Critz) over 70 members of the state legislature, the Laborers’ District Council of Western PA and 22 Democratic Party county chairs. Maher has been endorsed by the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee, Governor Tom Corbett, Humane PA and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while Pinto has been endorsed by PA Senator Mike Folmer, a small list of GOP Conservative leaders.
Correction: an earlier version of this story indicated that Chester County Treasurer and former AG candidate Ann Duke endorsed Pinto. She has endorsed John Maher for the position.
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13 Responses
Taylor It is apparent that you cannot handle the truth! It obvious who the best candidate is, John Maher. Both major papers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia endorsed John!
CPA for PA!
@Tim, It’s a sad reflection to see how low career politians like John Maher will stoop to try to get some votes from people like yourself who aren’t educated in the issues. Thank you for your time and your debate. It sounds like we will never agree on this issue.
Bottom line, Frank PINTO is the man for the job.
Taylor
If you would like to do some research on Frank, why don’t you looks at his record on paying his property taxes? I pay mine on time, can we trust somebody with his past history, I think not.
You proved my point, Frank supported Ed Rendell and his democratic friends!
CPA for PA John Maher is my choice!
VOTE FOR FRANK PINTO!
@Tim – Tim, I didn’t disagree with him being a lobbyist – he was the PRES/CEO of a state wide community banking organization hence he is required to register – he had lobbyists that worked for him however. Also, you need to get your facts straight. The banking association is a BI-PARTISIAN group that furthers the cause of community banking in PA. The board is the one who makes all the decisions as to who to contribute to. Pinto as the CEO doesn’t have his own PAC so you have no idea what you are talking about but thanks for allowing me the opportunity to correct your misinformation. Maher is a career politician who has obviously promised you something in order for you to spread his lies. It’s really sad when people don’t do the research themselves and just make assumptions. Case in point!
Frank Pinto’s PAC gave money to Rendell and every democrat who has run for auditor general since the 1990’s. Pinto has given multiple times to the democrat who is running for auditor general this year. To give money to all the democrats and none of the republicans who have run for auditor general — seems pretty odd that Pinto suddenly want to run in the republican primary. Just sounds like Pinto is not troubled by principles to give to all those democrats and call himself a republican.
Taylor, check the facts Frank Pinto is still a registered Lobbiest
John Maher, CPA for PA gets my support!
The idea that a majority of Maher’s and DePasquale’s constituents wanted them to run for two offices at the same time is laughable. When 87% of voters statewide say they want public officials to resign from one office in order to run for another, it is statistically impossible for a majority in any legislative district to want something different. It’s part of the cultural problem that public officials say, and may even believe, that a small group of partisans and campaign contributors accurately reflect the entire constituency.
Maher is one of the most arrogant career politicians I have ever met. He thinks he is doing everyone a favor by running. I guess, in fact, he is doing me a favor, making it a really easy decision at election time – PINTO gets my vote!
Also, Dan, get your facts straight – Pinto was a professor and he ran a banking association for the last 26 years. Obviously, you don’t receive a ‘state pension’ in either of those two jobs so I have no clue what you are talking about. Stop embarrassing yourself with your misinformation! Was the state committee feeding you those lines?
If you want reform Pinto is your guy. Besides poke a sharp stick in Corbetts eye. Dump all Republican Party endorsed candidates. Pick the others for real change.
CPA John Mahrer made one of the most disastrous decisions for taxpayers in the history of our state with the pension-jacking of 2001. Our property taxes have gone through the ROOF so union teachers could have a golden parachute. Not to mention Mahrer’s pension went up 50%!! Maher was also engaged in what the Associated Press referred to as a mugging of the taxpayers, by voting himself a secret pay raise in the middle of the night with no public debate. Auditor General? No way.
Maher endorsed by the Republican Party and Corbett… guess I know who I *won’t* be voting for
Pinto is a Harrisburg lobbyist who lies about his past. He says he’s “never been a public official” when he was one for 29 years! He claims to have been a “professor” at Penn and Villanova. Ha!! Pinto has already cashed out 100% of his own state pension and now wants to double dip. Pinto’s a scofflaw who had delinquent property taxes 9 of the past 10 years. Some watchdog.
Maher voted for the pension grab that left PSERS and SERS underfunded and the midnight pay raise. What makes you think he cares about spending your money to pay for a special election ?
Frank Pinto will bring the office into its own , Number 1 choice for auditor general, number 1 position on the ballot