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Paul Ryan’s PA Tie: Jim Gerlach

Rep. Paul Ryan (left) and Rep. Jim Gerlach are on committee together, and are also spotted working out in the House gym.

The weekend announcement by Mitt Romney adding Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to his ticket has all the focus on the Midwest – those are the states the GOP presidential nominee seems to be going after, and those are the states that will get most of the attention in the coming weeks.

But Ryan has a tie to the Keystone State in his close friend Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Chester), whose friendship has gone back since they began serving together, said Gerlach senior adviser Vince Galko.

“They’ve had a long friendship.”

He said the pair are quite close, as both serve together on the House Ways and Means Committee – and are often seen at the House gym together working out.

“They’re fitness guys,” Galko said.

Gerlach also supported Ryan’s controversial budget proposal.

But the friendship goes both ways. Ryan has helped Gerlach as well, including through a fundraiser held for the Chester Congressman July 9 in Valley Forge.

Galko said the luncheon was attended by more than 200 people, and raised well over $100,000.

While the friendship doesn’t mean that PA will get more play before the general election, it does mean the Romney-Ryan ticket may have a vocal campaign surrogate on their side in eastern PA, influencing votes and trying to put a dent in the Commonwealth’s current status as “leans Dem.”

7 Responses

  1. I work hard for what I have and I don’t understand how Barack Obama gets off eliminating the work requirement for welfare. It’s an election year ploy that the Obama-loving media is failing to report on (surprise!) and another example of this class-warfare kool-aid that Montco PA Dem’s been drinking. We need more folks like Jim Gerlach in congress to protect us hard-working, middle-class Americans.

  2. Well, as long as you’re not a woman, a minority, a senior citizen or middle class…yeah, I guess so. He scores pretty highly with the millionaire white guys.

  3. Seeing Gerlach represents one of the wealthiest districts in the country, I am not sure how this matters. The Republican Party’s problem in areas like PA-6 is social issues and Gerlach walks a good line for the district.

  4. Well, yeah, I guess we do have a billionaire shortage on the Dem side – we don’t promise them they won’t have to pay taxes, so they don’t like us so much.

    I just think it’s hilarious that your VP candidate goes around huffing and puffing about how we have to tighten our belts and scrap Medicare, then goes out boozing with his billionaire pals on $350 bottles of wine. (And when he’s caught, he writes one of the bottles off to his expense account, so that taxpayers pay for it… What a hypocrite!)

  5. Woe is you, and all the other democrat party members. How sad that you don’t have any millionaires or billionaires to support your candidates or your causes. Give me a break. When you can’t win with your ideas, engage the class warfare rhetoric. You just don’t get it.

    Good for Gerlach, too. As long as you keep using the same, tired playbook, Congressman Gerlach will deservedly continue to get reelected without a real challenge. And, with a little luck, he’ll have an even stronger majority in Congress and a new partner in the administration.

    Keep up the good work, Jim.

  6. Glad to see that Gerlach will be running on the Ryan budget – always good to know that your Congressman in favor of killing Medicare.

    And interesting timing on the Gerlach fundraiser – that was just three days after Ryan was sharing $350 bottles of wine with billionaire hedge fund managers in Washington. Wonder how much the wine was at the Gerlach party?

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