Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward Alerts Pennsylvanians of Proposed Department of Health Regulations

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward Alerts Pennsylvanians of Proposed Department of Health Regulations and Encourages Public Comment - Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) today alerted Pennsylvanians of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recently introduced Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) regulations to dramatically expand state authority by allowing the DOH — among other things — greater ability to enter homes, businesses, schools and doctors’ offices without a warrant. These regulations are being advanced unilaterally by the Shapiro administration, limiting the voice of both the people and the General Assembly unless Pennsylvanians make their voices heard.

Local Pennsylvania Official Accuses Gov. Shapiro of Major 'Measles Deaths' Deception

Local Pennsylvania Official Accuses Gov. Shapiro of Major 'Measles Deaths' Deception Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro exposed as a fraud, attempting to use Covid-like scare tactics ahead of the November election. Shapiro has failed Pennsylvania. He does not deserve a second term.

Blue States Embrace Green Energy Policies, Ratepayers See Red

Blue States Embrace Green Energy Policies, Ratepayers See Red: Skyrocketing electricity prices in Pennsylvania is a choice left-wing politicians like Josh Shapiro make. According to recently released data, the bluer your state politics are, the higher your electric bills are likely to be. And critics of green initiatives like net-zero emissions policies, popular among Democratic politicians, say it’s not a coincidence.

Josh Shapiro has failed as Pennsylvania governor

 

PA State Senator Pennycuick Calls on PUC to Reject Proposed PECO Utility Rate Increases

Senator Pennycuick Calls on PUC to Reject Proposed Utility Rate Increases - Senator Pennycuick: Today, Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-24) sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Utility Commission to oppose proposed rate increase by PECO.

Senator Ward Issues Statement on the Indiana Crash Involving an Illegal Alien CDL Holder

Ward Issues Statement on the Indiana Crash Involving an Illegal Alien CDL Holder - Senator Ward, J: Sen. Judy Ward (R-30) issued the following statement today regarding the recent fatal crash in Indiana involving an illegal alien CDL holder: "I am calling on PennDOT to immediately re-evaluate all non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses in light of the recent fatal crash in the state of Indiana involving a Pennsylvania-issued, non-domiciled CDL held by Bekzhan Bieshekeev of Kyrgyzstan."

Josh Shapiro: The Hologram Candidate

Josh Shapiro: The Hologram Candidate: What Pennsylvania and the nation are being shown is not a strong candidate buoyed by organic support, but a carefully engineered projection. 

President Trump Urges Pennsylvanians to Vote NO to Retain Left-Wing Judges

 

Guest column: Vote No on Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht

Sometimes, they say at least some of the quiet part out loud.

In a recent news story, the deputy director of the Judiciary Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice explained that donations to state Supreme Court justices typically come from “in-state business interests and trial lawyers — groups who look at the court as being important to their economic bottom lines.”

The director got part of it right.

The reality is that in 2015, trial lawyers and union special interests — not business interests — were the deep-pocketed spenders in Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court elections, doling out millions of dollars to elect state Supreme Court Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht to the bench. These special interests gave big because they expected these justices to help their economic bottom lines.

That’s exactly what’s happened.

Take government unions, for example. In 2018, Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht ruled that former Gov. Tom Wolf could forcibly unionize 20,000 home care workers, which could lead to millions of additional dollars per year flowing into union coffers.

Think about it for a minute. Oftentimes, home care workers are family members caring for ailing loved ones. But SEIU and AFSCME — two major government unions with huge lobbying and political pocketbooks — saw a chance to forcibly expand their base of union members, not to mention their bank accounts of union dues.

Wolf, a top recipient of union donations, was all too eager to oblige and issued an executive order forcing unionization on these home care workers.

The Commonwealth Court invalidated Wolf’s order, but Supreme Court Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht—each of whom received campaign contributions from both SEIU and AFSCME during the 2015 election season, per campaign finance reports—came to the unions’ rescue.

They ruled in favor of the unions at the expense of thousands of Pennsylvania home care workers, overturning the lower Commonwealth Court.

As the non-profit public interest law firm that argued against Wolf’s order explained, the court’s ruling “unionizes parents against their disabled children, sons and daughters against their elderly parents, and … friends against friends.”

The only winners in this case were the unions that fought to increase their bottom lines by electing Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht.

Unions aren’t the only special interest that contributed big in anticipation of big returns. Trial lawyers also gave millions of dollars to these three justices in 2015.

And in 2022, the Supreme Court handed trial lawyers a huge gift.

That year, the court said that trial lawyers could file cases in plaintiff-friendly Philadelphia, even if the alleged offense happened elsewhere. This so-called “venue shopping” delivered a financial windfall for trial lawyers even as it hurt healthcare access for everyday Pennsylvanians.

We’ve all seen news of hospitals in Pennsylvania closing their doors. We also all know that health care access remains not simply a priority but, in some areas, a crisis. Amid all this, the court’s allowance of venue shopping has made Pennsylvania one of the hardest states in which to run a hospital.

These rulings don’t even begin to touch on these justices’ terrible rulings on mail-in ballots that ignored the law at Democrats’ request or the justices’ 2018 court-imposed gerrymandering of congressional districts.

Those arguing Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht should be retained for another 10 years on the court pretend to be impartial actors who care only about fairness and independence. Their record of pushing justices to ignore or rewrite the law proves they are anything but.

Our justices should do one thing: Interpret the law as written. Not rewrite it to achieve a particular outcome.

That’s why on November 4, I urge Pennsylvanians to vote no on retaining Justice Christine Donohue, no on retaining Justice Kevin Dougherty, and no on retaining Justice David Wecht.

It’s time to term-limit these justices and give voters the chance to elect new, impartial justices to our state Supreme Court.

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Matthew J. Brouillette is president and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)(6) membership organization dedicated to improving the economic environment and educational opportunities in Pennsylvania.

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania is urging voters to vote

The Nov. 4 Retention Election in Pennsylvania is not a partisan issue. The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania is urging voters to vote ❌NO to retention for Justices Wecht, Donohue, and Dougherty. The three left-leaning justices ignored the state Constitution and supported Gov. Tom Wolf's harsh COVID-19 restrictions.

The Most Important Decision for Pennsylvania Voters This November ...

 

Governor Shapiro: Do Your Job. Stop Hurting Pennsylvanians.

Lowman Henry: Pa. voters can hold the judiciary accountable

 Former Governor Tom Corbett and former U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cindrich recently appeared at a forum where they maintained that criticism of the judiciary, including threats of impeachment, constitutes a “constitutional crisis.”

Unspecified violence against the judiciary was the impetus for their remarks. To be clear, violence is never acceptable. Neither are threats of violence, such as those perpetrated against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Cavanaugh, acceptable.

Corbett and Cindrich are to be lauded for their stand against violence, but their linkage of violent acts to policy disagreements with court rulings is an effort to perpetuate the aura of superiority with which the judiciary has historically cloaked itself.

Far from being in a constitutional crisis, the American public is finally seeing the judiciary for what it is: as subject to political bias as are the legislative and executive branches of government. As this becomes more readily apparent, judicial apologists are scrambling to protect their image of somehow being above the fray.

We have seen a surge in judicial activism at both the federal and state levels. The number of federal judges injecting themselves into the policy actions of the Trump Administration has spiked far above those which constrained previous administrations.

Those who disagree with the Trump Administration judge shop for a venue that will be sympathetic to their cause. Media reports dutifully detail which president appointed the judge. More often than not, that presages the ruling that will be handed down from the bench.

Gov. Corbett maintains that impeaching judges because politicians disagree with their rulings is wrong. However, federal judges are appointed for life. When they stray into overt judicial activism, we the people have no other recourse.

Here in Pennsylvania, judges and justices serve 10-year terms. In theory, this is intended to enable them to issue rulings based on the Constitution and statutory law. That, however, is not always the case. Judges and justices then benefit from another procedure, which is not accorded to the other two branches of government, by standing for a yes or no retention vote rather than for re-election.

Clearly, our supposedly co-equal branches of government are not co-equal.

If a governor or state legislator takes actions of which the voters disagree, we get the opportunity every two or four years to vote them out of office. Not so when it comes to judges and justices. We often must wait years to express our will at the ballot box — and then face a yes or no retention system that has only ever seen one justice denied a new ten-year term.

Case in point is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. During the COVID-19 pandemic then then-Gov. Tom Wolf took actions that clearly exceeded his constitutional powers. At every opportunity, the high court ruled in his favor. Their actions were so egregious that voters overwhelmingly approved amendments to the state constitution to ensure our freedoms would not be so violated in the future.

But voters had no immediate recourse against the justices who had infringed upon our rights. Those justices then further trampled the state constitution by stealing from the state legislature the process of drawing congressional district lines, hiring a Left-wing college professor from California to do the job, and then instituting the district lines by judicial fiat.

Again, voters had no immediate recourse.

But next month, three of those justices must stand for retention. The retention elections are getting more attention than usual because of the wayward behavior of the justices. But voters are still not allowed to choose between them and other candidates.

If any of the justices are denied retention, their seats on the court will temporarily be filled by gubernatorial appointment with confirmation by the state Senate. Voters won’t get the opportunity to hear from and vote for candidates until the 2027 elections.

Contrary to the assertions of Corbett and Cindrich, criticism of and debate over the rulings of judges and justices is not only not a problem, it is a long-overdue spotlight being placed on a branch of government that has thus far wielded unchecked autocratic power over us.

And the inability to hold judges and justices accountable is an actual threat to democracy.

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Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal and American Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.

Third year in a row PA fails to adopt budget on time under Shapiro

Shapiro whiffs on Pa. budget for third year in a row

Pa. budget impasse reaches 36 days, with sides still at odds on several key issues

Gebhard, Mastriano Introduce Constitutional Amendment to Eliminate School Property Taxes - Senator Mastriano

Gebhard, Mastriano Introduce Constitutional Amendment to Eliminate School Property Taxes - Senator Mastriano: Continuing to fight for Pennsylvania homeowners who are struggling to keep their homes due to increasing school property taxes, Sen. Chris Gebhard (R-48) and Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-33) have introduced a constitutional amendment to eliminate the burdensome tax.

Andrew J. Lewis: Political hit job on cyber charter schools

Andrew J. Lewis: Political hit job on cyber charter schools "The simple truth is that the governor and his allies are trying to kill schools that teacher unions leaders don’t like — which is to say, anything but traditional public schools. Yet traditional public schools are failing most students, with 69% of 8th graders not proficient in math or reading. Cyber charters — which are usually non-unionized public schools — give families a chance to escape failing schools. No wonder about 60,000 students and counting have enrolled in them."

Lowman S. Henry: Gov. Josh Shapiro is leading from behind

 By Lowman S. Henry

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is proficient at glitzy news conferences, meticulously staged, and replete with memorable sound bites such as his earthy line about getting stuff done. What he isn’t good at is providing the leadership necessary to get stuff done.

Fresh off the least productive legislative session in recent memory, the governor is noted more for breaking a deal with Senate Republicans that triggered a lengthy budget stand-off than for anything he has accomplished.

Two recent developments have again revealed his fecklessness in leading when the situation cries out for a strong executive presence: the proposed Nippon/U.S. Steel deal, and the high cost of electrical energy. The latter, of course, is driving the current inflationary cycle as energy is needed at every link in the supply chain.

The proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel is on life support due to the questionable tactics of labor union leaders and political pandering. Union officials along with powerful political figures such as soon-to-be former President Joe Biden have been working to scuttle the deal on the specious claim that it is a national security risk.

Notably, the same week Joe Biden deep-sixed the deal his administration was selling billions of dollars in armaments to Japan — a nation which is our most significant ally in checking the growing threat of Chinese aggression.

Meanwhile, actual steelworkers along with local mayors and with the critical support of state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), have been fighting to get the deal approved.

Approval of the deal would bring billions of dollars of investment into U.S. Steel’s southwestern Pennsylvania manufacturing facilities and cement the company’s headquarters presence in what will hopefully continue to be the Steel City.

Given the divide, Shapiro has opted to remain firmly on the fence, issuing mealy-mouthed statements that amount to nothing. This is a case where strong leadership to bring the sides together forging an agreement that would keep U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh is sorely needed. But, despite the urging of Senator Ward the governor has failed to provide that leadership.

Shapiro — who supports the radical green policies that have stifled energy production — has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to deflect the blame for higher electricity prices to the operations of the PJM power grid of which Pennsylvania is the largest consumer.

Notably, Shapiro continues to fight in court to keep Pennsylvania in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or RGGI which is a multi-state compact theoretically designed to reduce carbon emissions. The real impact of the alliance, however, is to prompt the closure of coal-fired power plants and suppress the development of power sources other than undependable and expensive so-called renewable energy.

RGGI would effectively place a carbon tax on electricity generated using fossil fuels resulting in a substantial further increase in consumer electric bills. Legislative leaders have gone to court arguing correctly that only lawmakers can impose taxes. They won the first round, but Shapiro has appealed and that ruling remains pending.

In the meantime, power plants are closing and given the uncertainty surrounding RGGI new investment has slowed to a trickle. Add in the skyrocketing demand for electrical energy, especially from data-driven enterprises along with government-fostered use of electric vehicles and you have the textbook environment for price inflation: too much demand chasing too little supply.

PJM is tasked with ensuring enough energy flows into the grid to supply demand. However, with Shapiro-supported policies constricting generation by fossil fuel and the development of “renewables” being both slow and undependable PJM is now having to pay more to power producers.

According to The Center Square: “The grid operator’s most recent auction to secure enough power to meet demand in the coming year illustrated the point starkly: the cost to run the grid will climb 800% as of June 1, meaning utility bills will skyrocket by roughly 30%.”

To emphasize the point: Your electric bill will go up by roughly 30%.

Shapiro is attempting to place the blame for the coming energy debacle on PJM and its procurement processes. The truth, however, is that Shapiro’s strict adherence to radical green climate change hysteria has resulted in policies and a market environment that will inevitably lead to higher prices and electric shortages.

So, as Pennsylvania jobs migrate to Ohio or southern states, and as your electric bill skyrockets while you sit in the dark during rolling blackouts look to Harrisburg and the lack of leadership emanating from the Governor’s Mansion as the cause.

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Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly American Radio Journal and Lincoln Radio Journal. His email address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.

Illegal vote-counting continues in Pennsylvania, and even the Democrat governor calls out the cheating

Illegal vote-counting continues in Pennsylvania, and even the Democrat governor calls out the cheating: Democrats have said they never challenge elections and elections are clean and pure, but these lies have been on clear display in Pennsylvania for days. County election counters even bragged that they were ignoring the law. After days of cheating ...

Bill Outlines Troubling Situation in Pennsylvania Vote Recount