12-Year-Old Wants Romney To Help Her Laid Off Brother

A great many , from residents to business owners to local political leaders, to hear Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speak.

But 12-year-old Gabriella Damiani had a few questions she wanted to ask the former Massachusetts governor, one of them being the most heart-felt: If elected president, how can he help her 21-year-old brother find a job after he has been laid off from his union position?

“People shouldn’t be laid off from their jobs,” said the sixth grade student who attends school at in Havertown.

Damiani did not even know Romney, currently leading the GOP race to the presidency, would be at in Broomall when she and her mother was going to until they saw his campaign signs.  

“She begged me to stop,” said her mother Vanessa Damiani.  

Her brother Anthony was one of 600 unionized steamfitters who were laid off a month ago, the young Damiani explained while standing outside of The Iron Shop with her mother. He is currently on a waiting list to be called in for work and he is seeking employment with another union, she explained.  

“I love my brother. He does a lot for me,” said the young Drexel Hill resident.  

But the B student had other questions for Romney, such as how he would help the area Catholic schools that have been .  

It has been proposed that and St. Denis would be and that the faculty of both schools would have to apply for positions at the new school.

“I like our principal, Sister (Gerald) Helene. She’s a kind principal,” the 12-year-old Damiani said, who hopes to be a criminal investigator when she grows up so she can help people. She is already a big fan of the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

After the rally, the Haverford-Havertown Patch caught up with Damiani, a fellow journalist who is a reporter for the St. Denis student newspaper The Pawprint. She said that while she did not have a chance to ask her questions to Romney, she got the next best thing.

“Yeah, I got to shake his hand too,” she said.