John Petrizzo Announces Candidacy For 189Th House Seat

Photo by Jared Acosta

According to a press release,
Lifelong Monroe County resident and business owner John Petrizzo announced that he will seek the Republican nomination to the 189th Legislative District, which includes parts of Monroe and Pike counties.

Petrizzo is a third-generation owner of Petrizzo's Italian American Restaurant in operation since 1946 in Bushkill. He has served on Middle Smithfield Township's first Wastewater Committee, the Planning Commission, the committee to re-write the township billboard ordinance, and as Township Auditor. He is a life-long member of the Bushkill Volunteer Fire Department and has served on its board of trustees.

In addition to many other community endeavors, Petrizzo is co-founder of Busch-Stock, an annual fundraiser with proceeds going to the Monroe County Diabetes Society.

"Because of my long record of community activism, I am familiar with how local and that government works," Petrizzo said, "I believe the citizens of the 189th District deserve honest and progressive government through transparency."

Petrizzo said that as state representative, he will work to involve the citizenry in planning how to meet the needs of the people.

"Instead of ideas and projects being buried under bureaucratic and political baggage, it's time for more action and less talk from public officials," he said.

"I will explore all aspects of life in Monroe and Pike Pocono Region," he said, "I will consider all the factors when writing and considering legislation."

Petrizzo noted, for example, in 2000, Lehman Township held the dubious distinction of the longest commute to a sustainable wage job in the United States and that in the 2020 census, Middle Smithfield Township residents have the longest commute to a sustainable wage job in the state of Pennsylvania.

"I also believe we must address how the 73,000-acre Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area impacts the environmental, economic, and social aspects of life in the 189th District," he said. "My priority as a representative will be to consider how every factor affects every person in the district when the state makes a major and costly decision."