This post is paid advertising by Monica von Dobeneck.

Republicans in Lebanon County are pretending to be Democrats in order to send false and misleading information to Democratic voters in the Palmyra Area School District.

And one of the people funding these fake mailers is our own Republican State Representative, Frank Ryan.

The flyers target four candidates – Mark Bucher, Ryan Patrick, Jim Kreiser and David Laudermilch – who are registered as Republicans but who cross-filed in the primary election so both Republicans and Democrats could vote for them for Palmyra School Board. This is legal and common in many school board races, which are not supposed to be partisan. They lost the Republican primary while winning the Democratic primary in the spring.

They are also the candidates most likely to appeal to Democrats, along with registered Democrat Jeffrey Putt. They are reasonable, thoughtful individuals who care about Palmyra’s schools and children. They realize that masks and vaccines protect against a deadly virus. They want students to be able to attend school in person. They care about education, not ideology. Their campaign theme is “Palmyra First, Not Party First.”

The people who have been mobbing school board meetings with bullhorns and threats are supporting their opponents. Those out-of-control anti-maskers prompted the board to ban in-person meetings.

The fake mailers try to associate the reasonable “Palmyra First, Not Party First” candidates with Trump. They call them “Donald Trump’s Republican friends.” They say the four “don’t share our Democratic beliefs” and “they are trying to trick voters by running on the Democratic ticket.”

These are lies. It’s their opponents – those who are funding the mailers – who are far right Trump supporters.

Aside from Ryan, the others funding these misrepresentations through a PAC they misleadingly and confusingly call “Palmyra First” are also prominent local Republicans. They include Matt Brouillette of the Commonwealth Foundation, opposing school board candidate Mike Koval and Republican Register of Wills Dawn Blouch. This PAC also received $10,000 from a venture capitalist from Doylestown.

They call their PAC Palmyra First, but they are doing all they can to destroy our school district and create discord.