Every day in classrooms across Pennsylvania, educators teach students how to navigate an increasingly complex information landscape. We train them to evaluate sources, distinguish independent journalism from political advocacy, recognize undisclosed conflicts of interest, and ask a fundamental question: Who is behind the information you are being asked to believe?
We teach these media literacy lessons because a healthy democracy relies on an informed public that can distinguish fact from manufactured spin. It is troubling, then, to watch our own union — the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) — lend its institutional credibility through its Political Action Committee for Education (PACE) to a candidate whose campaign strategy undermines those exact principles.
PSEA-PACE should immediately suspend and reconsider its endorsement of Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick following concerning reports regarding his campaign’s media practices.
According to reporting by POLITICO and other outlets, the Fitzpatrick campaign has featured articles published on the hyper-local news platform Patch as the foundation for attack advertisements against his Democratic challenger, Bob Harvie. To a casual voter, these ads appear to cite objective, independent local news coverage. In reality, the articles were written by Dave Sommers—a longtime political ally with a checkered past who has been on the Fitzpatrick campaign payroll, attended Fitzpatrick’s wedding, and publicly endorsed the congressman.
When journalists repeatedly asked the campaign to clarify this arrangement, they met a wall of silence.
This is not a partisan issue, nor is it an argument over whether PSEA should ever endorse a Republican. Organized labor appropriately and routinely reaches across the aisle to support allies, and cross-party coalition building can be a vital pragmatic tool. Furthermore, this is not an accusation that Congressman Fitzpatrick personally fabricated news stories. Rather, this is an argument about standards, ethics, and the intrinsic value of a union endorsement.
READ: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick Votes for Moms for Liberty-Backed Parents’ Rights Bill
When a campaign uses materials written by a paid political ally and presents them in advertising as if they were neutral, third-party local reporting, it deliberately blurs the line between independent journalism and paid political propaganda.
PSEA’s endorsement is not merely a transactional calculation about which candidate might vote favorably on a specific labor bill. To the members, students, and the public, an endorsement is a public declaration of values. It signals that a candidate’s conduct aligns with the basic standards expected of public servants.
If PSEA allows its name to be attached to candidates who rely on undisclosed conflicts of interest to influence voters, what message does that send to the educators who pay union dues—and to the students we teach every day?
The union’s credibility matters, and it should not be treated as unconditional. PSEA leadership should immediately take four clear steps:
- Suspend the endorsement of Brian Fitzpatrick pending a formal review of these campaign practices.
- Demand a direct explanation from Fitzpatrick and his campaign regarding their financial and personal relationship with Sommers, the provenance of those Patch articles, and the intent behind presenting them as independent news.
- Establish transparent criteria for members showing how endorsement decisions and ethical standards are evaluated.
- Rescind the endorsement if the campaign refuses to offer a credible, transparent accounting of these practices.
Educators should not be asked to lend their professional reputation to a candidate while serious questions remain unanswered about the credibility and transparency of his campaign’s message.
An endorsement from Pennsylvania’s educators must mean something. If PSEA truly believes that integrity, honesty, and transparency in public life matter, it must apply those standards consistently—even when doing so is politically uncomfortable. An endorsement is not a blank check; it must be earned, maintained, and aligned with the very principles we teach in our classrooms every day.
If you agree, please consider signing this petition: https://www.change.org/rescind-fitzpatrick-endorsement
