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MIDDLETOWN-
Matt Wright has sold his house and moved out of
Levittown after abruptly putting his house on the market September 4th. He
will resign his position as State Rep to run for District Justice. Wright
had to move quickly to establish one year of residency in Langhorne in
order to qualify for the new District Justice seat. He has purchased
a home on Longview Av for $359,000.00.
Wright is caught-up in a complicated power-grab in the
Langhorne-Middletown area. Newly-realigned Magisterial Districts have
created a new District Justice seat for the Langhorne-Hulmeville-Penndel
areas and Wright views this as his retirement position. His
resignation will officially end his and his late father Jim's forty-five year hold
on the seat representing Hulmeville, Lower Southampton, Langhorne Borough,
Langhorne Manor, Middletown and Penndel.
It is no secret that wife Donna has been
pressuring Wright to quit his State Rep position for years now. She
disliked his travel to Harrisburg. The new District Justice
realignment and an all-consuming fear by the
local constable have seemingly converged to create the retirement position
for Wright.
Due to the increased population from the Villages at Flowers Mill and
Shady Brook, a new magisterial district will be split-off from the court
currently housed in Penndel behind the Burger King on East Lincoln Hwy
(Bus. Rte 1). This court and presiding District Justice Joseph Falcone,
will be removed to Bensalem and all previous non-Bensalem precincts will
fall under the new jurisdiction. This creates a serious problem for
Middletown Constable Charles Benhayon, whose livelihood depends on who
sits in that DJ seat. Benhayon's six-figure income is derived from
billing these district courts for everything from serving subpoenas and
transporting criminals to doughnut runs, with no outside auditing or
oversight. Currently, Benhayon milks Falcone's court (07-01-07) and
brother-in-law John Kelly's (07-01-08) in Levittown. If the new DJ is not in Benhayon's
camp, it will seriously impact his income, possibly cutting it by half.
To protect his place at the public trough, Benhayon reportedly looked into
running his wife for DJ in the new district, but they would have had to
move in order to establish the required one year of residency prior to
running for office. Initially, sources say, they investigated buying in
the proposed Durham Meadows development, but the builder's completion date
is past the deadline of January 3, 2005. Unwilling to uproot his household and family
for a stunt that would likely had been laughed off of the ballot, Benhayon
decided to
troll around for a sucker. Enter Matt Wright - lackluster and ineffective
state rep.
Wright would also need to establish residency in the new district and,
unlike the Benhayons, is apparently happy to uproot his home and family to
run for justice of the new district court; hence the rushed sale of their
Levittown home. It is highly unusual for a person on the ballot for
re-election in thirty days to change residences,
(unless the new residence is a prison), but the motive here is clear.
Sources close to the situation report that Wright has been inquiring
around Harrisburg as to the benefits plan for District
Justice. He has purchased a home for
$359,000.00 at 908 Longview Ave. in Langhorne and has already moved-in.
He had to move-in by January
3rd.
Despite efforts by Wright’s friends to delay the redistricting, the
newly created District Justice office will be up for election in 2005.
This means that Matt Wright is deceiving the taxpayers by standing for
re-election; he expects you to believe he will serve his full term when in
fact he will resign his position to run for district justice, beginning in
January, 2005.
Like Jim Greenwood, Wright will
resign mid-term so the political bosses can pick his replacement, taking
the decision away from the voters.
You
can put an end to the deception by helping
Wright with his retirement plans this November 2nd.
Vote
John Krimmel
State Representative
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