‘Data senator’ ad prompts Frank Farry to send a cease-and-desist letter to his Democratic challenger in Bucks County

Bucks County Republican State Sen. Frank Farry’s campaign this week demanded his Democratic challenger take down an advertisement attacking Farry for his position on data centers and air an apology instead, calling the commercial “defamatory” and “demonstrably false.”

Shohin H. Vance, an attorney representing Farry’s campaign, called for Democrat Eileen Hartnett Albillar to remove the ad and issue a 30-second retraction advertisement, according to an eight-page letter sent Wednesday and reviewed by The Inquirer.

Harnett Albillar’s ad calls Farry a “data senator” and says he is “the data center industry’s number one fan.” The ad also accuses the Republican lawmaker of voting for data center tax breaks in Harrisburg and notes that Farry’s law firm represents NorthPoint, a real estate company which redeveloped the Keystone Trade Center in Falls Township — the soon to be home of an Amazon data center.

“The Advertisement, which accuses my client of abusing his public office for his own pecuniary interest, is not only misleading — it is demonstrably false,” Vance wrote in the letter.

The dispute signifies how AI data centers have become a politically toxic issue as candidates from both parties distance themselves from supporting their development.

» READ MORE: 6 in 10 Pennsylvania voters oppose data center development, new poll finds

Farry’s 6th State Senate District is one of a handful of competitive seats being targeted by Pennsylvania Democrats in hopes of flipping the state Senate and delivering a Democratic trifecta in Harrisburg.

Hartnett Albillar’s campaign said Friday it has no plans to stop running the ad.

“His temper tantrum won’t silence this campaign or stop Eileen from fighting to make Bucks County more affordable,” campaign manager Leigh Stafford said in a statement.

The Farry campaign, in the letter, rejected the notion that Farry or any clients at his law firm — including NorthPoint — benefitted or profited from Farry’s vote in 2021 to support Act 25. The legislation allows computer data center equipment to be exempt from Pennsylvania’s sales and use tax if it’s being used or sold to a certified data center by a valid owner, operator, or tenant.

“The vote did not, and could not, benefit the client, and none of it put a dollar in Senator Farry’s pocket,” Vance wrote.

» READ MORE: Does Pennsylvania now have ‘the strictest guardrails in the nation’ for data centers?

Farry was serving in the state House at the time and did not raise a conflict of interest on the floor. When asked about this, he said in a statement: “I didn’t raise a conflict on the House floor in 2021 BECAUSE I DO NOT REPRESENT DATA CENTERS.”

The campaign emphasized in its letter that Farry’s law firm, Begley, Carlin & Mandio, has not represented a data center operator in at least 20 years.

“To be sure, the Keystone Trade Center is now also the site of a data center, and its developer, NorthPoint, is a client of Begley Carlin. But NorthPoint is not a data center, and the fact that it leases a portion of its 1,800-acre site to a data center operator does not make it one,” Vance wrote.Begley Carlin has represented NorthPoint since July 2020.

Farry has been with Begley Carlin since 2011, but he said in a statement that he has “not done much work at all” for the firm “as my time is filled with being a State Senator, our local volunteer fire chief, a dad to two young kids, and a husband who among other things recently supported my wife through a two year battle with breast cancer.”

Adam C. Bonin, an attorney representing Hartnett Albillar’s campaign, wrote in a response to Vance Friday that: “We will neither cease nor desist from engaging in this truthful, accurate speech.”

Bonin highlighted NorthPoint’s close proximity to the Bucks County data center project, including mentions of the company in Falls Township press releases and in news articles. Bonin also argued that the 2021 state House bill, which Farry supported “made this an attractive deal for NorthPoint and Amazon to make. Without them, perhaps Amazon would have stayed out of Bucks County altogether.”

“While Senator Farry might not like seeing the truth displayed in such an unflattering way, the advertisement’s statements are amply supported by Farry’s legislative record, his law firm’s own website, official Falls Township records and copious news reporting,” Bonin wrote.

This is not the first legal dustup to happen in a Bucks County race this election cycle. Last month, Democrat Bob Harvie, a county commissioner challenging GOP U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in the 1st Congressional District, filed a defamation lawsuit against a super PAC supporting the Republican. The suit argued that the PAC falsely claimed Harvie was under FBI investigation.

That followed two cease-and-desist letters: one to the PAC and another to the Fitzpatrick campaign.

Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.