Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan Calls Out Paige Cognetti for Firing Teachers, Pushing to Disarm Police: 'Cognetti and Her Allies Are Full of Baloney'

Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) released a campaign ad slamming Scranton mayor and Pennsylvania Democrat congressional candidate Paige Cognetti over her record, stating that she “and her allies are full of baloney.” In a video advertisement, shared to X by Andew Solender — a Congress reporter with Axios, Bresnahan highlighted how he “voted to ban congressional stock trading,” while Cognetti has “worked for Goldman Sachs and Wall Street.” “Paige Cognetti and her allies are full of baloney, spending millions to paint me as something I am not,” Bresnahan said. “I voted to ban congressional stock trading, and I don’t trade my own stocks. Paige worked for Goldman Sachs and Wall Street.” Bresnahan’s video advertisement comes as Cognetti’s campaign has argued that the Republican Congressman had “made 600 trades” this year, the New York Times reported. “This year he’s already made 600 trades,” Cognetti said in a campaign video in September, according to the outlet. “Sold Chinese stocks the week of a tariff. Buys missile stocks before a war. Buys jet stocks before a big contract. Oversees crypto? Buys crypto stocks before a vote.” While Democrats are “running ads highlighting how Mr. Bresnahan profited from a data center development by trading stocks related to the industry,” Bresnahan’s campaign has explained that “Ms. Cognetti’s descriptions of his trades were ‘lies,'” according to the outlet: It may be the district where the issue rings the loudest. Democrats are running ads highlighting how Mr. Bresnahan profited from a data center development by trading stocks related to the industry, and recent polls show Ms. Cognetti with a narrow lead. But she is not alone in zeroing in on stock trading by members of Congress as a potent line of attack in this year’s midterm elections. Like many members of Congress who trade substantial amounts of stock, Mr. Bresnahan, the wealthy former chief executive of an electrical contracting company, has said he relies on a financial adviser to make his trades and never knows about the transactions before they happen or when they occur. Mr. Bresnahan’s campaign said that Ms. Cognetti’s descriptions of his trades were “lies” and that he has “taken legitimate steps to ban congressional stock trading.” In his campaign ad, Bresnahan also went after Cognetti’s record of raising taxes and slashing benefits, and added that she “wants to disarm the police.” “She raised taxes, cut benefits, fired teachers, and wants to disarm the police,” Bresnahan continued. “She’s lying, and she knows it. But, lying to Northeastern Pennsylvania is what Paige and her money machine do best.” Bresnahan’s comments about how Cognetti has raised taxes and “fired teachers” comes after Townhall reported in July that while serving on the Scranton School Board, Cognetti “voted for a city budget that cut 89 teachers and raised taxes on hardworking families while still resulting in a $4 million deficit.” The Republican congressman stated during a press conference in August with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that “Cognetti said that she didn’t disarm the police,” while explaining it “doesn’t erase what her administration actually did,” which was slashing “the guns and ammunition budget” by more than half, the Times Leader reported: According to Bresnahan, Cognetti said that she didn’t disarm the police. He said that doesn’t erase what her administration actually did — cut the guns and ammunition budget from $43,500 to $20,000 in 2021, a cut of more than 50%, after engaging with anti-police activist groups. He said City Council, not Cognetti, added a separate $23,629 “special operations ammunition” line item that year to patch the hole and that she did not sign the 2021 budget. Cognetti has faced criticism “from city council members and her own constituents,” who have stated that Cognetti is “not here” as she runs for Congress against Bresnahan, the Washington Free Beacon reported. “We got a mayor who’s not here,” Rik Little, a Scranton resident said. “The mayor should be here every week.” One councilmember, Sean McAndrew stated during a meeting in July regarding “a $1.9 million deal between Scranton and Fidelity D&D Bancorp” that “the only thing [he knows] about the mayor’s five-year outlook is she doesn’t plan to be here. She plans to be in Congress.”