Letters: Santarsiero fighting for his constituents against N.J. First Act

With joblessness at a record high and the housing market near an all-time low, it is unfathomable that anyone would want to force many longtime residents of the Newtown/Yardley area to make a difficult choice between uprooting their families and losing their jobs. New Jersey’s proposed New Jersey First Act is a selfish and pandering bill that would force Pennsylvanians who work in New Jersey’s public sector to live in the Garden State and, considering Bucks’ close proximity to New Jersey, this bill would be particularly devastating to deep-rooted local families.

Only one candidate for state representative in the Newtown-Yardley area has led on this issue: Steve Santarsiero. Rep. Santarsiero has fought New Jersey over the issue from the moment it was first proposed. Most importantly, Rep. Santarsiero has succeeded in getting the N.J. legislature to agree to exempt current employees from the new law.

In contrast, Rep. Santarsiero’s opponent Rob Ciervo has done nothing on the issue. In fact, he even criticized Rep. Santarsiero for standing up for his constituents, claiming that he should be focused on what’s happening in Pennsylvania only.

Thankfully, we have a state representative who understands that we live in a wide world and that sometimes our elected officials need to fight for us outside of our community. Steve Santarsiero has my vote on Nov. 2.

Greg Papazian, Yardley