DERRY TWP. (Oct. 20) – In a packed municipal building Monday night, the major-party candidates for state Senate in the 15th district, Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, and Judy Hirsh, held a wide-ranging debate, criticizing each other for negative campaigning.

“I want to make sure that when I get into office, someone can’t send out mail that is so misleading and false,” Hirsh said, holding up a Piccola mailer that said, “Judy’s friends pull the strings.” Hirsh called the mailer “unconscionable.”

The advertisement connects Hirsh to the 12 Democrats implicated in the Bonusgate probe. It also criticizes them and other Democrats for stalling reform efforts and for supporting a 50 percent pension raise for legislators, a measure Piccola supported as well.

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