Businessman and community leader Larry Padora, a Republican, announced Monday he is running for state representative of the 124th Legislative District, which has been represented by fellow Republican Jerry Knowles since 2009.
In a press release issued Monday, Padora said he is a businessman and community leader promising to be a citizen-legislator who will fight to reform Harrisburg and lead the charge for smaller and more efficient government.
"The taxpayers are fed up with career politicians who talk a lot but don't do anything other than collect perks and a huge pension," Padora said. "I will take my energy and proven track record in the community to Harrisburg to be the champion of common-sense conservatism the taxpayers are hungry for."
Padora, 38, and his family own and operate the Italian Bakery in Tamaqua, which produces more than 100,000 loaves of bread a year for area grocers and caterers. He is the president of the New Ringgold Borough Council, which Padora said has maintained one of the lowest tax millage rate of any municipality in Schuylkill County under his leadership.
Padora is also chairman of the Schuylkill County Tax Collection Committee, which oversees the collection of the county's Earned Income Tax. He said he was integral in negotiating an EIT rate of 1.35 percent, the smallest in the state, which provided tax relief to every municipality in Schuylkill County.
In the release, Padora said his priorities, if elected state representative, are fighting for the elimination of all property taxes and replacing them with a fairer system instead of continuing with small, Band-aid fixes that leave most taxpayers in jeopardy of losing their homes or businesses; cutting wasteful spending to adequately fund vital services while easing the tax burden; comprehensively reforming the state pension system to be more like private sector retirement benefits; attracting good-paying jobs to the district through reforming the business tax structure, and ending Harrisburg's infamous system of pay raises, per diems and lavish benefits for lawmakers.
Padora said he is going to lead by example by refusing to take the state pension and limiting himself to four terms in office.
"I believe that elected officials should be public servants who put the people's best interests first, instead of career politicians who put their own personal gain first," Padora said. "The taxpayers deserve a representative who is there to do more than just increase his wealth. From day one, I intend to be the prime sponsor of legislation to help our area, instead of sitting back and just waiting for someone else to fix the problems."
Padora said he is confident that honesty, principles and a proven record will trump the heavy-handed politics of the past.