Aug 31, 2018 3 min read

Recently, yet another member of the Republican State Committee took up the task of doing the dirty campaign work on behalf of my opponent by misconstruing my words and record.

Instead of telling you what the 51st Legislative District incumbent ever had to say about the state-mandated 250-percent hike in the price of death certificates, she turned my social media opposition to that backdoor tax increase into a launching pad for a series of baseless attacks.

You can expect to see more of this as things heat up in the stretch run toward November’s general election.

Here’s what you need to know: When I was your state representative, I never voted for a budget that raised your taxes. In fact — and there’s ample online news stories to prove it — I was among those Democrats that governor tried to punish for not going along with a plan to hike taxes.

After that skirmish, I was also the one who announced a $1.5 million state grant, obtained with the governor’s help, to assist job creation at Argon-Boeing in the Fairchance Business Park.

That’s three times the $500,000 announced this year for expansion of a similar business park near Mt. Macrina, for which some credited the entire local legislative delegation.

I’m not pointing this out to brag, but I do think voters need to look at a candidate’s track record of delivering for the people he or she represents.

Instead of hearing about the current officeholder’s accomplishments, you’re likely going to hear more negative stuff about Tim Mahoney in coming weeks. Maybe they’ll once again try to tie me to Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton — or someone else who olds absolutely no sway over my independent decision-making.

I fully expect my opponent’s big-bucks backers in Harrisburg to again fund a negative campaign about per-diems and feeding at the public trough, as though their guy works for free, bicycles to and from Harrisburg, and sleeps in a pup tent pitched on the Capitol lawn, all in the name of being frugal with your tax dollars.

The reality is, I’ve never run for public office so I can finally make my mortgage payments, nor have I flaunted the trappings of the office so I can live high on the hog. I’m not a guy who runs out tries to be somebody I’m not.

So, when a member of the Republicans State Committee says, “We want people who work for us, not themselves,” I want to thank her for that endorsement of candidacy.

Timothy Mahoney of South Union Township is the Democratic nominee for the 51st Legislative District in Fayette and Somerset counties.