What's Going On?

If you've been paying attention to corners and sidewalks throughout Bucks County, you may have noticed small black and white signs littering your town. The timing for political signs is more than a little unusual, with more than three months to go before elections. It's a good indicator that Brian Fitzpatrick, our PA-01 Representative in Congress, is at least a little nervous about the elections in November. He faces off against Bob Harvie, the Chair of the Board of Bucks County Commissioners and an experienced politician. I wanted to take a look and see how much truth was in the claims. The short version is, enough to still be labeled dishonest. There are two main themes in the signage and I wanted to find out what claims are true, what’s false, and what’s the context being hidden from us through deliberate omission. I think that matters, especially in times like these.

The Reality of the Claims

Claim 1: “Bob Harvie increased our property taxes”

In regards to taxes, this claim is true, but it’s not the whole story (please, hold your astonished gasps). There was a 2.2-mil property tax increase under Bob Harvie, which was intended to close an operational budget deficit of more than $16 million dollars. How did this actually affect the average Bucks county taxpayers? An extra $1.38 a week, or roughly $6 dollars a month. Not the heaviest of financial burdens for taxpayers, especially as Trump's Iran war has cost the average American about $1000 dollars this year. Instead, I think this is an example of a responsible reaction to a deficit and uncertain years we seem to be facing. Here's the inconvenient thing about governing. Every budgetary decision is a trade off. The recent Republican strategy under President Trump is the worst case scenario when faced with decisions like these. Our tax dollars are spent on unneeded wars and monuments of ego while services in our communities are reduced. This isn’t what Bucks County needs, but Fitzpatrick has failed to hold his party accountable so I have to ask, why should we expect him to change course now?

At the end of the day, the signs claim is true while still being misleading without the context.

Claim 2: “Bob Harvie voted himself a pay raise”

In December 2022, the Bucks County Board of Commissioners voted 3 to 0 to approve a 1% annual salary increase spanning from January 2024 through January 2027. The unanimous vote was bi-partisan and applied to the commissioners as well as several other local county-level offices; its timing was also mandated by the rules. Democratic Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Republican Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo both voted in favor of the 1% adjustment alongside Harvie (Watch the video if you have doubts). It’s important to note that at a raise of 1%, the increase was actually lower than the cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase that same year. This matters, as essentially the increase was in fact mitigation of a pay-cut in the real-world. If you worked a job and your annual COLA didn’t keep up with, you’d be upset if that was defined as a pay raise. I know I would.

I’m going to call this a lie, wrapped in a truth. This seems to be a pattern for the clever, if dishonest Fitz PAC. I hope enough voters are able to see through it.

Who’s Paying for the Misinformation?

Signs (and disinformation apparently) aren’t free, campaigns spend tens of thousands of dollars producing both, but rarely has Bucks County seen something this dubious this early in a campaign season from Fitzpatrick’s supporters. The ironically named “Brian Fitzpatrick for all of us" PAC's financial disclosure tells an interesting story about who’s paying for the misleading and aggressive early-season tactics. FEC filings for the committee reveal an accelerated burn rate of over $2.8 million as of April 2026—an unprecedented figure for this stage of the campaign. Beyond funding signage and media, the committee is executing complex financial maneuvers, such as transferring at least $350,000 to the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania to solidify institutional infrastructure and support, while maintaining a robust fundraising apparatus reliant on high-net-worth individual contributions and powerful corporate PACs.

Interestingly, a substantial portion of the financial backing for the PAC supporting Fitzpatrick is drawn from out-of-state sources. It makes perfect sense, considering these external donors never have to look at the visual eyesores cluttering our local communities. A few half-truths, a smattering of PAC money and here we are.

Source: https://www.fec.gov/data/commi...

Rules for Thee and Not for Friends of Fitzpatrick?

I can't help but ask: is the Friends of Brian Fitzpatrick group disregarding municipal regulations at the same time his associates are launching attacks against Bob Harvie? It looks likely but township laws vary and often the posted documentation is out of date or confusing. What's always existed though, at least in Newtown, PA is a "gentleman's agreement" (yes, I get both the irony and the sexism in that statement) between both Democrat and Republican parties. They've always agreed to hold-off on signage until thirty days before the election, but anyone tracking Bucks county politics the last few years shouldn’t be surprised at this latest development. We’ve seen President Trump bend or break laws and ordinances at the federal and state level more than once, and despite Brian Fitzpatrick's constant efforts at distancing himself from his party leader’s behavior, Brian and his supporters have clearly been taking notes and have started pushing boundaries.

The misleading signs appeared in Newtown PA the July 10th weekend.

Within the Bucks County PA-01 district, individual municipalities enforce their own complex zoning codes regarding temporary and political signage. Newtown Township regulates signs through the Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance (JMZO), which is administered and enforced by the Township Codes Department. The attack signage located on South Eagle Road falls directly under their jurisdiction and political signs in Newtown are subject to the same stringent temporal and spatial restrictions under the JMZO as any other sign.

Why’s this important? Political signs fall under the category of temporary signage. These signs stretch the common-sense definition of temporary by anyone’s measure. Researching this article I was able to find a document alluding to a clear restriction of 30 days prior to an election, and not more than seven days after an election for the Newtown Township, but this document is labeled as “Preliminary Draft”.

Frustrated, I reached out to Newtown Township Supervisor Edward Merriman for advice and he pointed me to the Newtown Code Enforcement, Zoning & Planning Department. Ed was kind enough to forward my concerns on to them for clarification and enforcement of the rules. A few days later, the signs are gone from my neck of the woods, so I am going to assume someone agreed.

While Newtown is cleaning things up, many signs are still dotted throughout Bucks County . It's going to take each township acting on their own to make sure their rules are being followed. If you live in a township littered with these signs, contact your local Township administrative office and see if they can lend a hand in keeping our communities a little nicer till election season.

Corrections

1.  The original version of this article called Bob Harvie the former chair of the Bucks County Commissioners. This is incorrect, he is in-fact still in that position.