Bensalem Council Dems Sue Mayor, Colleagues Over Letter

BENSALEM, PA — Democrats on Bensalem's township council are suing the mayor and other Republicans, claiming that an official township letter to residents treated them unfairly.

In the lawsuit, filed in the Bucks County Court of Common Please, council members Jesse Sloane and Ed Tokmajian said they were left off of a letter to homeowners receiving a popular township grant.

The Oct. 5 letter, introduced by the two as evidence, is from Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo and includes the names of Republican council members. It announces $300 from the 2019 Homeowner Assistance Grant Program and credits the three Republicans for supporting DiGirolamo's budget, which included money for it.

By contrast, a similar letter from 2018 included the names of all council members.

Sloane and Tokmajian argue in their lawsuit that the letter amounts to DiGirolamo using taxpayer money for political purposes. They call it "purposefully calculated to create the false impression that plaintiffs oppose the Homeowner Assistance Grant, which they do not."

In the lawsuit, Sloane and Tokmajian say they opposed the mayor's budget, which passed by a 3-2 vote, because of $15 million in capital improvements it included and that they both support the Homeowner Assistance Grant Program.

The lawsuit also names Republican council members Joseph Knowles, Edward Kisselback and Joseph Pilieri as defendants. Kisselback and Knowles currently are being challenged for re-election by Democrats Bryan F. Allen and Angela Cacchio in the Nov. 5 election.

The suit asks the court to make the Republicans repay the township for the cost of the letter, as well as pay an court costs associated with defending it.

In an article Friday in The Intelligencer, Kisselback called the lawsuit "ridiculous" and said the letter was "not political whatsoever."