By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Val DiGiorgio
HARRISBURG — Former Chester County GOP Chair and row office holder Val DiGiorgio abruptly resigned Tuesday as Chairman of the state Republican Party, just hours after a series of stories in The Philadelphia Inquirer detailed a series of sexually-charged and graphic texts he reportedly shared with a female candidate for Philadelphia City Council.
DiGiorgio, 51, a staple of Chester County politics for the last couple of decades, is married. The former City Council candidate is Irina Goldstein.
In his resignation letter, DiGiorgio claims The Inquirer report “contains gross mischaracterizations of mutual consensual communication between myself and a former primary candidate.
My resignation should in no way be confused as confirmation of these mischaracterizations. I intend to rigorously defend myself against these assertions and protect my family, my colleagues and the party from this private matter.”
The Inquirer report — which states its reporting staff has seen at least some of the texts exchanged between DiGiorgio and Goldstein, including one of an erect penis sent by DiGiorgio — makes it clear that both parties sent sexually charged texts, based on texts reportedly shown to the newspaper by Goldstein. DiGiorgio’s attorney, Joel Frank, issued statements suggesting that Goldstein had withheld some of the texts, including naked images of herself, she sent to DiGiorgio, calling her claims “defamatory.”
With DiGiorgio’s resignation, GOP Vice Chair Bernie Comfort takes over the party on an interim basis. In the wake of DiGiorgio’s resignation, she issued a statement Tuesday:
“I wish Val DiGiorgio well in his next endeavor. In accordance with party bylaws, I will announce the time and place when our state committee will elect a new Chair.
“In my term as Vice-Chair, I have helped manage the PA GOP staff, raise the funds, and advance the Republican message across the Commonwealth. Now, as Acting Chair, I’ll do all that and more.
“I will focus my energies on winning the two open Superior Court seats for our highly-qualified nominees, defending our Congressional delegation, preserving our majorities in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and—most importantly—wining the Keystone State for President Trump. Our state was crucial in the 2016 Trump victory and we will be crucial to the 2020 Trump re-election victory.
“As a single mom who lives in the suburbs and spent my adult life helping to elect Republican women, no one knows better than me how the President’s economic policies are helping to improve the lives of Pennsylvanians. I will not rest until we win Pennsylvania—and re-election—for the President.”
