Dear Editor:

Well now that a new year has started a lot of us hope it will be getting better. Let's take a moment and go back to our local November general election.We had three candidates running for the124th legislation district, one Democrat, one independent, and one Republican. Weeks and days before any election we receive many mailings on the different candidates informing the voters of their education, accomplishments in life, where they stand on everyday issues and if an incumbent, their voting record. However, there was a mailer put out by the state Republican Party on behalf of Jerry Knowles about Dr. Dante Picciano trying to buy the state house seat because he spent his own money on his campaign and did not ask for donations from the voters.Each candidate's campaign spending becomes part of the public record and can be found in each candidate's financial report to the state, the amounts given, and who gave it. You can check out these reports for yourself at

www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us

http://www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us/ . A review of these financial reports shows that Dr. Dante Picciano spent $9,000 on his campaign and Jerry Knowles spent over $110,000.00 on his campaign.Let's face it, a question comes to mind who really was buying the state house seat with these figures? Whenuneducated, propaganda mailers like this are used you must wonder what really are we in for in the future. It is really sad when campaign money that other people give is spent on such false and misleading ads.Sincerely,John SchickramTamaqua