10/27/2026
MONROE COUNTY TREASURER IRA JOLLEY ENDORSEMENT FOR PAIGE COGNETTI FOR CONGRESS
I am proud to endorse Paige Cognetti for Congress because I believe she understands something that has been lost far too often in Washington: government is supposed to work for the people we represent.
I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Paige throughout this campaign, and what has impressed me most is the way she treats people. I’ve watched her genuinely listen to people throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania as they talk about the challenges they face. She doesn’t cut them off, shuffle them through, or give them a canned political response. She gives them her attention and treats them with respect and dignity.
As an elected official myself, I believe that matters. Public service should begin with listening to the people you represent.
Paige has demonstrated that philosophy as Mayor of Scranton, where she has made fiscal responsibility, public safety, accountability and restoring trust in government priorities of her administration. During her tenure, Scranton emerged from decades of financial distress, improved its credit rating and made significant investments in public safety and its neighborhoods.
But my support for Paige is also about the issues affecting families throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania right now.
I share her serious concerns about the massive data centers being proposed throughout our region. I support economic development, but it cannot mean giving enormous corporations preferential treatment while local taxpayers carry the burden. Companies that want to do business here should pay their fair share, protect our natural resources and power grid, and demonstrate that the communities hosting them will actually benefit.
I also share Paige’s concern about the Iran war and its impact on energy costs here at home. Pennsylvania is a trucking state, and when diesel prices soar, that cost doesn’t end at the pump. It gets passed along in the cost of transporting virtually everything we buy.
Families are already struggling with the cost of housing, food, utilities, healthcare and everyday necessities. We need someone in Washington who understands that these aren’t abstract economic statistics—they affect whether people can afford to live.
And there is another issue that matters deeply to me: members of Congress trading individual stocks while they hold positions of enormous influence over our economy.
Paige believes members of Congress should be prohibited from trading individual stocks, and I strongly agree. Her opponent, Congressman Rob Bresnahan, entered Congress promising to address this very issue, yet financial disclosures show that nearly 650 individual stock trades were made through his accounts during his first year in office. Some involved companies and industries directly affected by decisions being made in Washington. Congressman Bresnahan has maintained that these transactions were handled by an outside financial adviser and that he did not direct the trades.
For me, the issue is bigger than one individual or one political party. Members of Congress have access to information and influence that ordinary investors simply do not have. Public service should never create an opportunity—or even the appearance of an opportunity—for elected officials to financially benefit from the positions they hold. The standard should be simple: if you serve in Congress, you should not be trading individual stocks.
What ultimately stands out to me about Paige is that she approaches all of this from a very human perspective. She is a mayor and a public servant, but she is also a wife and mother raising her family here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. From what I have personally witnessed, she hasn’t lost sight of the people behind the policies.
She listens. She understands. And she remembers who government is supposed to serve.
That is why I am proud to endorse Paige Cognetti for the United States Congress.
Ira K. Jolley
Monroe County Treasurer
