February 28, 2021
Tom Wolf has weaponized everything for political gain.
He weaponized COVID-19 to advance his uber-liberal agenda. He weaponized the Department of Health to ruin the lives and livelihood of nearly every Pennsylvanian. He weaponized the Department of Agriculture to shut down your favorite bars and restaurants. And he weaponized the Department of State to create the fiasco known as the 2020 presidential election.
Now, Tom Wolf and his gang of political lackeys have sunk to the deepest depths to weaponize three constitutional amendments slated for the May 18 primary election ballot.
The three constitutional amendments which will appear on the May 18 ballot are all are pretty straightforward. Two seek to restore checks and balances when it comes to disaster emergencies in Pennsylvania. The third seeks to enshrine a prohibition on discrimination in the supreme law of the Commonwealth.
Wolf and his pals wrote those ballot questions in a completely slanted manner. At best, the tortured wording and fearmongering will confuse voters, and at worst it will entice them to vote against the amendments. This is truly appalling and represents the lowest of lows for his failed administration. These questions should be worded in the plainest language possible so they are easy to understand.
Let's go through these one by one. I'll tell you what each question actually means and show you the actual proposed language changes directly from Senate Bill 2. Then I'll show you how Team Wolf butchered the wording for the ballot, and since they saw fit to put a shameful political spin on the ballot questions, I'll give you my super-simplified version as well.
First is an amendment to allow the General Assembly to terminate a disaster emergency with a concurrent resolution, without having to submit that resolution to the governor for approval. You may recall that we did exactly that last year with my HR836, but the PA Supreme Court ruled that Article III Section 9 of the constitution requires the governor to approve such a resolution, and if he doesn't, the General Assembly would need a 2/3 majority to override his disapproval.
It's a ridiculous concept to be sure, that you'd need to get the governor's permission to disagree with him. But that's where we're at right now. That can change if you approve this amendment on May 18th to allow a resolution such as HR836 to be the final word.
Next is an amendment to modify the duration of any disaster emergency. Currently, a governor can unilaterally declare a disaster emergency and unilaterally renew it after 90 days. He's renewed the COVID-related disaster emergency four times already. But we are also still under his opioid crisis disaster emergency, which he has now renewed 14 separate times.
If you vote to approve this amendment, any declared disaster emergency will require approval by the General Assembly within 21 days, or said emergency will be terminated and the governor cannot declare another on the same subject. This will force future governors to justify the need to exercise emergency authority for anything longer than 21 days.
The third constitutional amendment will prohibit the denial or abridgement of rights based on race or ethnicity in Pennsylvania. Wolf didn't butcher this one too badly, but it isn't aimed at curtailing his dictatorial powers during a disaster emergency. Funny how that works, huh?
This non-discrimination premise is already included in statutory law, and adding it to the state constitution will simply enshrine it more permanently in Pennsylvania.
All three of these amendments are fairly straightforward propositions, and every Pennsylvanian should show up on May 18 to vote YES to approve them. Even though this is a primary election, independent and third-party voters can cast a vote on these ballot questions as well.
Throughout the last year I have always hoped things wouldn't get worse, but Tom Wolf and his political lackeys always found a way to make it so. On May 18th, you'll finally get a chance to let him know what you think by amending the state constitution to limit his disaster emergency powers. It won't cure all the problems we have right now in Pennsylvania, but it sure would be a good place to start.
Have you had enough of Wolf's blunders and mandates yet? If so, join me on May 18th and approve these three amendments by voting Yes! Yes! Yes!
I'm proud of the stand I've taken and the work I've put in to stand up for what's right in Harrisburg. I won't be silenced. I won't stand down. I will continue to be Tom Wolf's worst nightmare and to fight for our values. Your liberty and your rights to live, work, gather, worship, and remain a free individual are too important to give up now. We are in the fight of our lifetimes.
I would be honored and grateful if you would stand with me by making a contribution to my political committee so I can continue to fight for you and your family.
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