WILLIAMSPORT, PA — Jerry Kairnes of Cogan Station announced on November 16 that he is considering running as an independent candidate in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District against incumbent U.S. Representative Tom Marino.

Kairnes said in a press release that he was the 2014 Lycoming County Chair for independent congressional candidate Nick Troiano of Pike County.

Kairnes asserts that “Marino is part of the problem in Washington because, since getting elected in 2010, his campaigns have received nearly half of their funding—more than $1.1 million—from special-interest political action committees (PACs).”

“A true representative of the people cannot also represent their PAC funders and their party bosses,” said Kairnes. “That is why I would only run independently of both parties and their special interest cronies.”

Kairnes said if he runs, he would campaign on a “common sense and common ground” platform of balancing the budget, creating new jobs and achieving energy independence. If elected, he said he would only accept a salary equivalent to the median wage of families in the 10th District, $48,233, and would return the balance of his $174,000 compensation to the U.S. Treasury.