Our friend, Stan Cramer who is fighting eminent domain for private gain in Harrisburg sent the article we are about to promote along to us. And did anyone happen to catch the Casey/Santorum "debate"? Neither candidate for U.S. Senate mentioned ONE WORD about eminent domain. The national legislation is languishing in Washington DC in the Senate, and a current, sitting U.S. Senator and the man who would be senator took pot shots at each other while Tim Russert mediated, yet not one word about eminent domain. We don't know about you, but don't you think it is time they discussed eminent domain????

LOWER SWATARA TWP.
State sues over HIA attempt to seize land
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
BY REGGIE SHEFFIELD
Of The Patriot-News

The argument over whether Harrisburg International Airport can force a nearby parking business to sell its land has sparked another legal action in Dauphin County Court.

The state attorney general's office has filed a legal action to stop the airport's owner, the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, from using eminent domain to force the owner of Cramer Airport Parking to sell property it uses for parking.

The lawsuit, filed late last week, follows the dismissal this year of a similar suit in federal court.

Among other allegations, the second lawsuit claims that SARAA unlawfully used its eminent domain power and has attempted to "unlawfully obtain monopoly power over airport parking services in the immediate vicinity of HIA."

In a decision released in March, U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher C. Conner called SARAA's actions "decidedly governmental" and therefore immune to federal antitrust laws.

The second lawsuit was filed in county court because its outcome would affect the airport's effort in the same court to take the property through eminent domain.

The two cases could be joined at a later date.

James A. Donahue III, the head of the attorney general's antitrust section, said that what his office considers SARAA's improper use of eminent domain could give it an unfair business advantage over competitors and cost local drivers more.

"The small issue is that we believe that Harrisburg-area consumers will end up paying more for parking at the airport if the one competitor is eliminated," Donahue said.

"The broader issue is that this is an example of a municipal authority misusing its government powers to interfere with another business, and we don't think that's proper," he said.....Stanford Cramer, owner of Cramer Airport Parking, declined comment.

Cramer Airport Parking is a family business that has owned the property since 1967.