National Republican Liberty Caucus Endorses Diamond for Pa's Lieutenant Governor

Russ Diamond has earned the endorsement of the National Board of the Republican Liberty Caucus in the race for Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor. The RLC voted to endorse Diamond for his commitment to champion less government dependency and more individual liberty.

"The Republican Liberty Caucus is doing its best to assist the Tea Party movement by identifying those Republicans committed to downsizing government and restoring constitutional rule," said RLC Endorsements Director Dan Sheill.

"I'm honored to accept this particular endorsement," Diamond said. "All the efforts I've undertaken politically over the years - from fighting the pay raise to authoring legislation for a limited citizens' constitutional convention to seeking ways to permanently eliminate property taxes to standing up for the Tenth Amendment - revolve around protecting our rights and ensuring liberty."

Since November 2009, 26 newspapers, six of the state's leading columnists, the leaders of Pennsylvania's four major good government groups and the two most prominent political analysts in the Commonwealth have publicly endorsed the idea of holding a constitutional convention in response to arrests of legislators for using public resources for political purposes, indictments of state judges by federal prosecutors in an alleged kickback scheme that sent youths to detention centers without due process, and a seven-year string of budget fiascos in Harrisburg.

Diamond is the only statewide candidate in any race who has authored legislation for a limited citizens' constitutional convention, which is also supported by 72 percent of Pennsylvanians, according to a recent Franklin and Marshall College poll. He is the author of SB340 and HB1929, the only legitimate, workable plan currently before the General Assembly to enable such a convention. His plan would elect citizen delegates to debate reforms to the institutions of state government while protecting individual rights from unwarranted attack. The prime sponsors of the bills are Republicans who have generated bipartisan co-sponsorship as well.

Diamond's plan to eliminate property taxes once and for all in Pennsylvania is a fresh new approach that gives the legislature ample time to debate a revenue replacement plan to fund schools, counties, and municipalities, but provides a constitutional deadline for getting it done. He believes Pennsylvanians deserve to own their homes outright and should not live in fear of government taking their property simply because they've had a run of tough financial years.

Diamond's stand on defending Pennsylvanians from federal intrusion includes a plan to actively work with state agencies and local officials to analyze, identify, and fight federal mandates that run counter to the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He believes presenting citizens with the practical implications and the cost/benefit ratios of such mandates will give Pennsylvania firm ground on which to stand in taking steps to reduce the burdens inflicted on the Commonwealth's citizens by an overreaching, ever-growing federal behemoth.

Diamond is an entrepreneur in Lebanon County and was the founder and chairman of PACleanSweep, the statewide organization that sparked the repeal of the now-infamous legislative pay raise of 2005, led the charge in the first-ever non-retention of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, and raised 117 legislative candidates in 2006 that fueled a 24 percent turnover in the General Assembly that year, a twelve-fold increase over normal election years.

For more information: http://www.russdiamond.org