Scranton, Pa., mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District, released a campaign ad on Tuesday accusing corporations of exploiting the "little guys" by price gouging groceries. Yet her husband's gourmet food store, which reviewers have described as "expensive" and "upscale," doesn't accept food stamps, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
"We're proud of this store and the life we built. But every day, we see the big corporations take advantage of the little guys," Cognetti says in the ad, before tossing a package of chicken. She then promises to "crack down on price gouging."
But her concerns about the "little guys" apparently don't extend to needy Americans. Caravia Fresh Foods, her husband's gourmet shop, doesn't accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, an employee told the Free Beacon. Cognetti, meanwhile, has warned that "[c]utting nutrition programs would harm our most vulnerable residents."
Caravia's shelves are lined with ritzy items, including farm-fresh and organic foods, at price points that are impractical for the working class. Even its frozen pizzas are top-notch, featuring "organic spinach and tomatoes." The store is also valued at more than $1 million and brings in between $100,000 and $1 million in annual revenue, according to Cognetti's financial disclosures.
While reviews on Google are largely positive, commenters note that Caravia carries "upscale grocery items."
"It's definitely on the upscale side, but it feels justified once you taste the food," one reviewer wrote in April. "It's not somewhere I could go every day, but honestly, if cost didn't matter, I probably would."
Another reviewer said the "only turn off is the political signs out front."
"I almost didn't stop there but I really needed pasatta [sic]," he wrote earlier this month. "Probably won't go back knowing their politics."
In her ad, Cognetti, who did not return a request for comment, also promised to "make the big guys pay their fair share." Yet her financial disclosures show Caravia is registered as an S corporation, a type of tax structure commonly used to reduce payroll tax burdens. Under that arrangement, the owner collects a portion of his income as a salary, which is subject to payroll taxes, and the rest as profit distributions, which are not.
Caravia's refusal to take food stamps is just the latest incident to raise questions about Cognetti's efforts to portray herself as a champion of blue-collar voters. Running to unseat Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R., Pa.) in a swing district, Cognetti is also worth between $533,000 and $2.3 million, not counting real estate assets, according to her financial disclosures.
"Our folk heroes are the workers," Cognetti, who worked in the Goldman Sachs investment management division from 2014 to 2016, said in her campaign launch video. "People here work hard, and we stand tall."
She also owns a second home at the base of Elk Mountain Ski Resort, an asset she has not publicly disclosed, the Free Beacon reported. It sits inside the Village of Four Seasons, a gated community 30 minutes north of Scranton that calls itself "a Page From a Fairy Tale"—thanks to its three swimming pools, 12-acre lake, and proximity to the Endless Mountains. Although Cognetti is only required to disclose the property if she uses it as an investment property, her failure to proactively report it undercuts her claims that she's running to "bring reform, transparency, and government accountability" to Northeastern Pennsylvania, "a place sadly known for public corruption."
Further undercutting those claims is the heat she's taken for her moves as Scranton mayor. She turned a stretch of the street she lives on into a one-way street without properly notifying the city council of the change, the Free Beacon reported. Residents said the new traffic pattern caused dangerous near-accidents, with one citing a neighbor whose "daughter was almost hit head on." A local trucking company said the change is costing it money since its vehicles can no longer use that street, and the road the company is now supposed to take is not big enough to accommodate the trucks.
"This is a residential neighborhood, but we've been grandfathered in since 1936," Emiliani Trucking co-owner Jack Emiliani told WBRE Wilkes-Barre. "And basically, now, we can't even pick our trailers up. We have to leave them up in Archbald, Pennsylvania. We can't bring them to our yard, I can't even bring them to my yard to work on them. … It comes right off of our profit for our trip."
Cognetti also faced criticism from residents and city council members over a $1.9 million deal she brokered to purchase the old Scranton headquarters of Fidelity Bank. All nine members of the bank's board, which includes Cognetti's uncle-in-law, have contributed to her campaign.
"We got a mayor who's not here," Scranton resident Rik Little said during a July 16 council meeting that included debate of the deal. "The mayor should be here every week."
