January 26, 2012The Honorable Patrick Joseph Toomey, Sr.502 Hart Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510Dear Senator Toomey:We are writing on behalf of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with theLehigh County Bar Association to urge your support of a U.S. District Court Judge for the EasternDistrict with an emphasis towards re-opening the closed offices in Easton.The federal government is spending $1.5 million annually to support court rooms in Allentown,Reading and the closed facility in Easton. Without the third full time judge, many people in the LehighValley must travel with their counsel to Philadelphia on a routine basis. Our attorney members havecontinued to express frustration over wasted travel time and logistic problems associated with suchtravel for counsel and clients, the tremendous financial costs some of which must be passed on to their clients, and the lengthy back up in the Philadelphia federal court system.We are all well aware of four Lehigh Valley candidates that have expressed interest in filling one of the four state wide vacancies and ask that you immediately consider that one of the vacancies be filled by reopening the Easton office and the appointment of a Lehigh Valley candidate for this important position.In closing, we do not advocate on behalf of individual candidates but we are confident that there is nomore important vacancy to fill within the entire Commonwealth than the current Easton location. And,it will clearly be the most cost effective location within the Commonwealth to establish a new federal judge. If you would like to discuss this issue further, please feel free to contact us.Respectfully,T. Anthony IannelliDan LaBertPresident and CEOExecutive Director Greater Lehigh ValleyChamber of CommerceLehigh County Bar Association(610) 739-1513 (610) 433-6204
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