RELEASE

State Rep. Tony Payton, Jr. is with Vern!

April 18, 2007
Contact Ryan McKeon: 214.238.0235

State Representative Tony Payton Jr. (D- 179), the youngest State Representative in Pennsylvania government, is supporting Vern Anastasio for Philadelphia City Council.

Payton will host a Young Professionals fundraising event for Anastasio on Wednesday, April 25th at Barrister’s Bar and Grille in Center City Philadelphia. Young professionals from throughout Philadelphia will be in attendance to support Vern’s campaign for honest reform.

“I am humbled and honored by the support of Representative Payton for my candidacy”, Anastasio said in a statement last evening before a Center City crowd. He continued, “It has been my mission on this campaign to combine old-fashioned door-knocking with bold new campaign concepts by using new technologies. That's the benefit of having a young Councilman. I plan to continue to use this approach when we get to City Council so we can better connect the people of the First District with the government that is supposed to serve them.”

In 2006, Payton ran against the entrenched Democratic Party machine and won the 179th district seat with a groundswell of grassroots support. Payton’s goal is to get more progressive Democrats elected in government.

Anastasio, a life-long progressive Democrat, has a bold legislative agenda to reform the zoning and development process, change the way city services are delivered and change the city’s laws regarding nepotism and moonlighting in City Council. Anastasio has released over twelve policy papers since January of this year that detail his commitment to bold, new ideas. He and his "A-Team" of supporters and volunteers have knocked on 7000 doors in the First Council District as they take their message of honest change to the city's neighborhoods.

Payton’s support is the latest in a long list of endorsements for Anastasio that include the National Organization for Women (NOW), Americans for Democratic Action and Philly For Change.

Anastasio is a former employee of the city’s Human Relations Commission, where he investigated over 200 reported hate crimes against Philadelphia’s Jewish and LGBT communities. Upon being sworm in to office, Anastasio pledges to embrace diversity in the work place and hire the first African American, Asian American and Latino American to work in the 1st Council District office in 12 years. Vern's wife, Leslie, is the former Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice PA and currently serves on the Pennsylvania Commission on Women.

Learn more about Vern Anastasio’s campaign for honest change at www.vernanastasio.com.

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