CAP Ramps Up for 2011-12

As Gov.-elect Corbett and the new General Assembly settle into the Capitol, Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP) is poised to build upon its tremendous start last year. CAP announced today the opening of an office in Lemoyne within the Capitol beltway, a revamped web site (www.EmpowerPA.org), and an advertising campaign that will begin next week on TV and radio.

In its infancy in 2010, CAP took Harrisburg by storm. In the Primary Election, the group was pivotal in 23-year-old Justin Simmons’ stunning defeat of State Rep. Karen Beyer, one of only five Republicans who voted for Rendell’s last tax-hiking budget and the only one endorsed by the AFL-CIO. CAP was credited with killing the trial lawyers’ pet legislation that would have allowed a plaintiff’s lawyer in an auto accident case to directly ask a jury for an unlimited sum of money for "pain and suffering."

In the General Election, nine of twelve CAP-endorsed candidates—including Simmons, who the political establishment wrote off as "too conservative" to carry his district—were victorious. CAP now has among its ranks two Senators—John Eichelberger and Mike "Citizen Mike" Folmer—and eight House members, six of whom have foresworn the lucrative state pension that ensnares would-be public servants into the Iron Triangle, which the organization has made its mission to dismantle.

The group has raised $500,000 since the summer.

In the coming legislative session, CAP will be mobilizing public support for elements of Corbett’s agenda consistent with the group’s free-market and reform principles, including: school choice for children; eliminating all unnecessary spending, streamlining government, and holding the line on taxes; curbing lawsuit abuse; and selling the state liquor stores. If Corbett isn’t aggressive enough in pushing for economic freedom, personal responsibility, and ending the culture of self-service in Harrisburg, CAP will fill the void. The group will, for instance, be encouraging lawmakers to sign a "No WAMs" pledge.

Finally, CAP will be recruiting candidates for 2012 in districts with incumbents—Republican and Democrat—who are hopelessly entrenched in Harrisburg’s Iron Triangle that perpetuates a status quo of too big, too expensive, and too intrusive state government.

"Pennsylvania, with all its history, is the perfect setting where ordinary citizens have converted worry and words into civic action," CAP Chairman John Kennedy said. "And CAP is the vehicle to continue this very important journey."

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP) is a non-profit organization founded to raise the standard of living of all Pennsylvanians by restoring limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility. By empowering the Commonwealth’s employers and taxpayers to break state government’s "Iron Triangle" of career politicians, bureaucrats, and Big Government lobbyists, this restoration will occur and Pennsylvania will prosper.

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania
P.O. Box 6726
Harrisburg, PA 17112

P: (717) 497-0806
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