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Welp, it’s the GOP vs. The People, again

Here in Pennsylvania, we have the annual GOP Stomp On The Little People Event happening again.

Mimicking the failed and useless PA GOP, which is pretty much a reflection of the failed and useless Ronna McDaniel and her ridiculous RNC, yesterday in Dauphin County and elsewhere across our Commonwealth was the county candidate endorsement meeting, where county committee people meet to endorse registered Republicans running for office.

Even before the ballot petition process has started.

Even before we know which candidates are going to be on the ballot and available to the voters.

Even before all the candidates have had an opportunity to present themselves for consideration to elected committee people and political activists.

In other words, this endorsement process is a charade designed to keep ironfisted authoritarian control over the choices available to voters.

If the GOP is wondering why so many people, so many voters, so many political activists are jaded and fed up with the Republican Party and elected Republicans, they might consider how the GOP treats said people, said voters, said activists, much less the Republican candidates, all of whom are Republicans because they believe in freedom.

One of the best ways the GOP shows its disdain and elitist mistrust of the great unwashed Republican Party masses is this endorsement process. Its endorsement process is 100% inside baseball, ultra insular, ultra inward looking. The party endorsement process is designed to keep the GOPe (Republican Establishment) in control of everything, including the usual milquetoast do-nothing stand-for-nothing empty suits who populate the Republican Establishment and its constellation of interest groups.

The Democrat Party is much better at this dance than the GOPe. The Democrats have made a science of both maintaining control of their base and also simultaneously giving a long leash to their base while feeding them plenty of red meat. It is a remarkable and terrifying feature of the Democrat Party that they are now so similar to how the German Nazi Party operated. They are way way ahead of the GOP, and it is no compliment to say that the GOP is unlike the Democrat Party.

The artless GOPe is both hamfisted and snobby, and so it finds itself with an ever shrinking sphere of influence. Its voters are in ever increasing revolt against their own political party.

Take for example the PAGOP’s fake “unanimous” endorsement of globalist RINO and tourist candidate for US Senate, Dave McCormick, whose leftist wife Dina Powell is up to her eyeballs in shoveling illegal immigrants into America.

Dave McCormick and his elitist leftist wife bear no resemblance to the Republican voter base. These two are everything that is wrong with the Republican Party establishment, with the GOPe, with American politics in general. Dave McCormick may have grown up as a tree farmer in central PA, but he long ago threw away those good values not just when he moved to Connecticut, but when he ran a New York City hedge fund and made his millions. Hedge funds operate by betting against and working against what is good for America, good for Americans, good for American workers and good for American companies. This makes Dave McCormick no good for America.

McCormick has an opponent. Her name is Brandi Tomasetti, and she lives in Lancaster County. Brandi is a study in contrast with Dave McCormick: She believes in America and wants to put America first, she is concerned about election integrity, she is concerned about the lawless flood of millions of illegal immigrants into our nation.

I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with her the other day, and I offered her as much help as I can provide in her effort to get on the ballot so she can challenge McCormick.

Brandi told me that she has been overwhelmed with an outpouring of offers of help, from Republican voters fed up with the GOPe and with the Dave McCormicks and the PAGOPs and the Dauphin GOPs and the games, the elitist attitudes, the constant resulting GOP establishment failure. I hope everyone who reads this essay contacts Brandi and helps her out.

First things first: In the next few weeks Brandi Tomasetti must get enough signatures to get on the ballot. She needs registered Republican voters to circulate ballot petitions for her. Hope you can help.

Why the GOP met to endorse Dave McCormick before ever considering Brandi Tomasetti, or any other potential candidates for that matter, is not a mystery. Rather, it is a sordid and pathetic story of insider elitist people lusting for power and control, and lusting for dirty money from democratic representational politics, and this crap is absolutely killing America. And they don’t care.

Put America first and help Brandi Tomasetti get on the ballot and beat the damned GOPe.

Tuesday election results: Voting machines are hacked

So many people are trying to understand what happened on this Election Day Tuesday, how Republicans got trounced across Pennsylvania and in many places across the country, as well.

I can’t speak for other states, where plenty of people are scratching their heads, but I feel quite comfortable speaking about central Pennsylvania. I looked at election results in central Pennsylvania, in Dauphin County, Cumberland County, Schuylkill County, and several others in Northcentral PA and Western PA, and there is a stark statistical signal emitting from Tuesday’s election results: Pennsylvania’s voting machines are not secure, they are being manipulated to achieve results that one side wants.

A couple examples stand out. Several Cumberland County school boards went 100% Democrat in areas where the voter registration cannot possibly support that outcome. In Dauphin County, long time and much liked moderate elected official Chad Saylor lost his county commissioner race by forty-some votes to a complete no-name. This kind of close race is a lot harder to identify as vote machine hacking, and that is why these kinds of outcomes are kept so close by whomever is doing the manipulation. But it is still not a believable outcome in a county that has consistently re-elected George Hartwick and Mike Pries for a very long time.

In the case of the Cumberland County school boards, I believe the outcome is so desperately needed for important political purposes that the manipulators go for broke. Having outposts of woke anti-America public schools in the heart of a conservative Republican County is strategically important, because the public tide has been strongly turning against this kind of outcome. Besides, these school board races are off of most people’s radar screens. It is a crime they can easily get away with.

And as we have just seen in our own PA election this week, verified reports of broken and malfunctioning vote machines (including flipping votes from R to D in front of people’s eyes) get a tiny amount of air time and then are buried and forgotten. Despite these reports being a huge red flag indication of a major systemic problem across the entire vote machine enterprise.

Voting machines are not secure. We saw that starkly in the 2020 election, in the 2022 election, and now we are seeing it absolutely blatantly displayed in the 2023 election. The incentive for hackers and manipulators to illegally use the voting machines is powerful, because most American LEADERS (not the voters, who know vote fraud when they see it and they complain about it) are in denial. So the push-back in the halls of power is minimal. Establishment Republicans like my own state senator John DiSanto are either too timid or simply disinterested in the subject, because there is no direct political gain for them. And so the crime continues.

The biggest impediment to having secure elections in Pennsylvania is the Republican Party itself. This is a group of absolutely useless individuals who by their actions must be heavily compromised. They put up zero resistance to the last second 2020 election law shenanigans (for example, the Republican-dominated House and the Republican-dominated Senate could have impeached and removed the PA Supreme Court members who blatantly disregarded both Pennsylvania law and the Pennsylvania constitution to achieve political outcomes that allowed their fellow Democrats to wildly cheat in the 2020 election), and they won’t even deal with the reports of voting machine problems this week.

Either the PAGOP has nothing to gain from fixing vote machine fraud, or nothing to lose by allowing it to continue. And the fact that the severely failed and purposefully deposed former PA senate “leader” Jake Corman has now set up a political consulting firm in Harrisburg, with no push back from PAGOP leadership, bodes poorly. These people all want business as usual, which definitely does not involve rocking the boat or fixing vote fraud.

A note about voting machines and others: Machines are so deeply mistrusted across the entire world population, especially in the West, that Hollywood movies depicting Machines vs. Humanity in all-out wars of extermination have been wildly popular for many decades. Artificial intelligence is widely believed to be the inevitable downfall of humanity, as stated by those who are most involved in developing it. In the popular and prescient 1965 sci-fi book Dune, computers of all kinds were outlawed because they became self aware and tried to kill off the humans. In Dune, in lieu of machines, a race of humans were cultivated, the Mentats, to perform computer-speed calculations for the benefit of humans, but without the inherent instability and high risk of computer machines.

Hacked and manipulated vote machines are now so blatantly misused to achieve criminal outcomes that we should do something about it. We must fix it, if voting is going to mean anything at all. And of course, with hacked elections and your vote meaning nothing, your representative government isn’t, and your vote isn’t, and your citizenship isn’t. What is the outcome is a single-party totalitarian country, and that very much is happening in front of our eyes.

The fix to this open problem is easy: Paper ballots, voter identification, and hand count if necessary. But that requires at least half of the political leadership to actually care about this subject, and if they won’t, then the electorate must vote in new leaders who do care about it. Or, you voters can go ahead and give up representative government.

 

GOP Resolution in support of J6 political prisoners

I drafted the resolution below last summer, and submitted it twice. I suggest that every county Republican Committee pass a similar resolution standing in solidarity with the January 6th political prisoners illegally held in Washington, DC, and elsewhere. An article published today about badly tortured political prisoner Ryan Samsel demonstrates how dire the situation is.

If politically active Republicans cannot publicly stand up for and in solidarity with fellow Republican political prisoners who are being held without trial for over two years, then what does being a Republican mean?

Dauphin County GOP Committee Resolution

DRAFT 7/7/22

DRAFT #2 Resubmitted 8/8/22

Whereas, the US Department of Justice has become an unabashedly politically partisan weapon in the hands of the Biden Administration, and

Whereas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has become an unabashedly politically partisan weapon in the hands of the Biden Administration, and

Whereas, many DOJ and FBI public employees are using their government positions to further their own personal political views by illegally targeting and officially oppressing their political opponents, and

Whereas, a great deal of illegal politically-motivated injustice against innocent American citizens has resulted and continues to result from the aggressive politicization of the DOJ and FBI, such as Ryan Samsel, and

Whereas, on August 8, 2022, the lawless DOJ and the rogue FBI have illegally attacked and invaded the home and person of President Donald J. Trump in Florida, and

Whereas, the Dauphin County Republican Committee stands for the rule of law, the equal application of the law, and the upholding of the US Constitution, therefore

Be it resolved that the Dauphin County Republican Committee hereby formally stands with and calls for the immediate release of the innocent-until-proven-guilty American citizen January 6th political prisoners now being held in jail, some without formal charges, some with only misdemeanor charges, some with improbable and non-violent felony charges, all without bail, all without trial, all without a speedy trial, all without a speedy trial in front of a jury of their peers, and often in inhumane conditions that violate the US Constitution and basic international human rights, and

Be it resolved that the Dauphin County Republican Committee calls on the Governor of Florida to use the Florida State Police to block lawless federal agents from operating there.

Respectfully submitted by Josh First,

Committeeman for Harrisburg City 14th Ward

Election Day now and a year later

A year ago today I was working a poll in Paxtang, I think. Handing out Trump for President literature (Trump won, everyone knows it), and some US Congressman Scott Perry lit, kibbitzing with other poll workers, chatting up voters and asking for their vote. One thing that really hammered home to me the difference between the Trump supporters and the regular county GOP committee members is the energy level we brought.

I was high energy and on my feet for hours, walking up to voters and asking for their vote, explaining the differences in the candidates. The GOP committeeman was lounging in a folding chair most of the time, occasionally standing, handing out literature for PA rep. Sue Helm if voters walked by close enough to take it from his hand.

When I engaged in discussion with the Democrat Party poll watcher, a woman attorney from northern Maryland, it became clear that she was an unapologetic communist. After she flew into a rage over some “Proud Boys” Latinos who showed up in their Trump socks, Trump pants, Trump hats, Trump shirts, and Trump underwear, I asked her why she was a communist. And at that point the Dauphin County GOP committeeman sprang into action, consoling the Democrat Party poll watcher with giggling assurances that I was a lone kook, my own special kind of far-right lunatic, and not at all representative of the Republican Party.

Yes, the GOP committeeman had more in common with the communist poll watcher than with me, the President Donald Trump advocate and poll watcher. Think about that. I still haven’t shaken it. For a long time I wanted to write a letter to this Dauphin County Republican Party committeeman, and among other things ask him if I was wrong in asking her (the lady poll watcher) why she was a communist. Turns out I was correct, that the Democrat Party is now an open and unapologetic communist movement. Do GOP hacks ever admit they were wrong?

Today is Election Day once again, and we have more of a local race to look at now. Our spring primary election yielded an unusual outcome in Harrisburg, a black woman winning the Democrat Party nomination for mayor of Harrisburg City. Usually the white liberals have it all locked up by mesmerizing and lying to their modern-day slaves to vote for the white liberal candidate. But after decades of white liberal mayors failing to do a single thing to improve the lives of black people in Harrisburg City, black voters here decided to try something different. They voted for a black candidate.

Talk about a step on the road to recovery! Congratulations to my fellow Harrisburg citizens for shaking off their white liberal slave masters!

Eric Papenfuse is the sitting white liberal mayor who was ousted in the spring primary by Wanda Williams, a forever member of the Harrisburg City Council. Eric Papenfuse touted his long list of policy and financial failures and concluded with a communist pledge of a guaranteed minimum income for certain city residents. Yep, the white liberal promised yet more government dependency for a community that is drowning and dying in white liberal dependency. If you ever wondered why urban decay is filled with drug addiction, consider where that addiction started: White liberal crack aka public dependency programs that made black people dependent on white liberal handouts.

Wanda’s election signs proclaim her a “lifelong Democrat,” which is hardly anything to brag about. I mean, look at where the Democrat Party has gotten urban black people across America – generations of failed churches, failed schools, failed families, but by God, they reliably vote for continued Democrat Party failure like good slaves!

Despite Papenfuse’s desperate write-in effort, Wanda is likely to win today. I hope that she grows into the Mayor job with an epiphany that causes her to shrug off the built-in failures of the political past she has lived and worked in.

Dear Wanda, please forgo political parties. Forgo political payback or pay-off of any sort. Please help our city citizens climb out of the poverty and failure that white liberals like Eric Papenfuse deliberately put them in. There are a million creative solutions to the mess here in Harrisburg City, and none of them are loyal to any political party or derivative thereof, such as teacher’s unions.

What have we got to lose by trying something new? We already know all of the current players bring nothing but failure and misery. Break free; break the bonds of injustice, Wanda!

A year from now, at the 2022 Election Day, I hope to write a different retrospective than “Yep, the new mayor immediately embraced all of the failed policies handed to her by the outgoing administration and made them her very own.”

And goodbye Eric Papenfuse. I won’t miss you and your cozy cronyism one bit. You did absolutely nothing but hurt Harrisburg even more than it was hurting when you took office eight years ago. Your mayoral Skid Row proved once again that graduating from Yale (and any other Ivy League school) is a damning millstone hung around the necks of the puffed up unfortunates who brag up these worse-then-useless diplomas. You couldn’t think yourself out of a wet paper bag if an entire city depended upon you for it.

Keith Oellig, another American keeping America moving forward

Every day of his life, Keith Oellig was one of the few Americans who, rain or shine, kept America moving forward. He grew the crops and raised the beef that Americans across America take for granted every day that they simply buy and eat these products.

Raised on a central Pennsylvania farm with chores and work, work, work before play, Keith’s friendship was as strong as his nonstop work ethic. He was a dear and devoted friend to many fortunate people, including me, and he died unexpectedly last week from a life-long heart condition he managed as best he could until it caught him by surprise one last time. He was just 56 years old.

This essay is my way of memorializing this amazing human being, and saying goodbye.

Keith was a representation of everything the farming life is supposed to be – down to earth, honest, truthful, hard working, generous, natural, patriotic, devoted to community and fellow man. He served on many boards, including the Dauphin County Farm Bureau, the Central Dauphin East School Board, the Dauphin County Planning Commission, and others I can’t recall off the top of my head.

His heart was golden, always ready to do a kindness for someone, and the more distant the stranger the better. Almost every year he grew great patches of sweet corn and donated much of it to his church food pantry, and to any others in need. But they would have to pick it themselves. Straight out of the Bible, which is what inspired him, drove him, filled him.  (Those friends who merely enjoyed sweet corn got the phone call that it was ripe about three days after everyone else in true need had had a shot at it)

Keith was politically active, but he had mixed feelings and thoughts about politics, because so much of it is divorced from the sacred walk of life whose values he cherished.

Every election he and I would run around his farms putting up signs, especially really big ones along the road frontages and both sides of I-81 by Penn National Race Track/ Hollywood [!?] Casino.  And as hard as he worked putting them in, Keith would also grouse about career politicians, even about the person whose sign he was putting in. He even did it to me when I ran for state senate. Like out of a comedy movie: “Sure, I’ll help ya, and I’ll bet you’re going to be just as corrupt as everyone else. Now hurry up because we have a lot more signs to put in the ground.”

Here he is with one of two big banners we put up last October at his main farm, one on either side of I-81.  Every.Single.Vehicle.Driving on I-81 honked at us. We used a loader with bale spikes and twine, and it was hard but fun work. 
This is how many of us will remember Keith, with his innocent, gentle smile and loving eyes.

Keith and I worked as a team to fell dozens of dead and dying ash trees, and some oaks and poplars (see background), in an area where he wanted to expand the cattle pasture. I ran the chainsaw while he pushed with the front end loader. It was dicey and scary work, as his smashed windshield shows. A week later, a huge limb carved a gigantic V in that cab, but Keith just kept on, peering around either side of the destroyed metal and glass to see where he was going.

I am sure going to miss you, buddy

Democrat Party: Burn Down America and See if Donald Trump is Still Standing

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf just issued another edict: Nothing really opens in Pennsylvania until June 4th. Because he says so.

No science supports his action. All the Wuhan covid19 data now pouring in from around the country, and Pennsylvania, demonstrates the virus is an urban problem, a nursing home problem, an old age and bad existing health problem, an I-95 corridor problem that stretches from Richmond, Virginia, to Boston, Massachusetts.

Covid19 is most especially a New York and New Jersey problem, where the overwhelming proportion of deaths and hospitalizations have occurred. Thanks in great part to the decisions of Governor Cuomo and NYC Mayor de Blasio, both of whom encouraged sick people to move about freely, to ride the NYC subway, and for nursing homes to take in sick people known to be infected with covid19.

While Wuhan Flu is here because China wanted it to be here, if any one or two people in America are responsible for its spread and damage it is Cuomo and de Blasio.

Across America Democrat governors like Tom Wolf are throwing down the gauntlet, issuing fatwas, edicts, executive orders all extending the stay-the-f*k-at-home demand that has shut down businesses and bankrupted tens of millions of Americans. Putting people in jail merely for opening their barber shops and hair salons. None of these edicts are constitutional. None of these decisions emanate from the powers granted to elected officials. None of these are about health, they are about power. These are simply power grabs by elected officials looking to give themselves more power and to damage America.

This is economic warfare against the citizens of America. You and me.

Why would anyone want to damage America’s economy, you ask?

Because it is the only thing the Democrat Party has left to try to damage President Trump. They have tried everything else: False accusations, the Russia collusion hoax, the Ukraine hoax, fake impeachment hoax, hookergate, etc and at every turn, Trump has beaten them. Now all the Democrat Party has left is a scorched earth policy, burning down and blowing up America, and the Chinese covid19 virus is the last card in their hand for doing it.

Covid19 has given the Democrat Party their ability to try to blow up America and everything around President Trump, and then see if he is still standing. Never mind the collateral damage, like you, your job, your family, your business, your children. You and I are simply cannon fodder in the Democrat Party’s attempt to wrest control away from the one person who has the strength to stand up against them, against their media arm, and the GOPe (Republican establishment, AKA spineless jellyfish).

But Josh, the Risks!

Josh: Horsesh!t.

The epidemiological data shows us now exactly what the covid19 risks are and are not. Generally speaking, the risk from this virus is extremely low. America can function just fine going forward, and at-risk people will need to change their habits a bit, and there is no justification for this stay-the-f*k-at-home crap any longer.

But since November 10, 2016, the goal has been to get Donald Trump, no matter what.

And so now we are watching one aggressive political party blow up America in their pursuit of getting Donald Trump, while the opposing party is full of milquetoast, soft spoken, reasonable sounding, carefully coiffed, preened, gentlemen who would like nothing more than to have an early round of golf before going out to dinner and then to cocktail parties, where they can get their next insider information for their next big investment. That is why they got into politics in the first place.

Welcome to America 2020, where most of the politicians are utterly worthless. People, we ourselves are going to have to solve this ourselves, without the politicians. We cannot let them bankrupt us and destroy our families.

Stand up, stand tall, and tell Governor Tom Wolf to Stay The F*k At Home if he has a problem with you leading your life as you choose. Go get your hair cut.

UPDATE: After this was written, Dauphin and Lebanon counties joined Beaver and Greene counties in defying Governor Wolf. Thank God we have strong leaders here like commissioners Jeff Haste and Mike Pries.

Tuesday: Vote NO on Marsy’s Law, and YES for these fine candidates

The proposed constitutional amendment called “Marsy’s Law” is already being held up by an injunction, due to its bizarre process and wording. A Pennsylvania judge declared that none of the votes shall be tallied for this weirdly-conceived and falsely marketed change.

Why? Because the way Marsy’s Law is written, it will prevent people falsely accused from applying basic constitutional rights to their false “victims.”

That is, the falsely accused will not be able to cross examine their false accuser! And yes, believe it or not, plenty of angry people make false accusations against innocent people. Might be in a child custody case, a divorce, etc, the kind of hot legal contest that can sometimes induce the participants to grasp at any potential advantage. So in this mix, Marsy’s Law is not a good thing. In fact, it would allow criminal behavior to be hidden and the falsely accused could never directly cross-examine their accusers, a fundamental due process right guaranteed by the US Constitution as well as most state constitutions.

NOW, in terms of candidates who have impressed me, let me start with Dauphin County commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries, and George Hartwick. Two are Republicans, and one is a Democrat, but it does not really matter, because they all work so well together. They have kept Dauphin County taxes set for FOURTEEN years. That achievement takes a lot of careful and responsible financial management and husbanding. Don’t fix what ain’t broken, vote for these three.

Over in Cumberland County my old friend Mike Fedor is running for county commissioner. Fedor is a Democrat who, when I knew him in a political way, was the old “Blue Dog” Democrat of Pennsylvania fame. Having spoken to him recently, I think Fedor is running a fine line between being a good Democrat and a good American. It is not so easy to do these days, as the Democrat Party base has gone socialist bonkers, pulling the party hard to the left. If Fedor gets elected, my opinion is he will serve the Cumberland County citizenry well and honestly, and if I lived there he would get one of my three votes. The other two going to Republicans.

In Perry County, the chances of a Democrat upset are about as slim as snowballs in Hell, so there is not much to say except that the county has both a long-standing Republican establishment and also a healthy citizen-led kick-in-the-ass reminder culture that brings most career politicians hard around to reality. I have a couple friends running for office in Perry County, and so Brian Allen, I hope you set a record for how many votes you garner tomorrow. Businessman Brian will be an excellent county commissioner.

In terms of state-wide court, it is Peck and King who deserve your vote, and yes, I still wish Rebecca Warren were the candidate tomorrow.

No matter what political party you identify with, what you think about politics, value, or do for a living — VOTE. Voting is the core of our Republic, and America cannot survive if its citizens do not vote.

Patriot News Editorial on Mindlin’s Toss from Ballot

“Infrequently” best describes how often an editorial by the local newspaper, The Patriot News, would appeal to me on logic, principle, or understanding of the facts. However, independent candidate Nevin Mindlin’s political assassination by both Democrats and Republicans is so notoriously egregious that the Patriot News stated the case pretty well, so here it is:

Commonwealth Court sides with mystery challengers to Mindlin’s candidacy: Editorial
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Patriot-News Editorial Board By Patriot-News Editorial Board
on October 07, 2013 at 10:59 AM, updated October 07, 2013 at 12:09 PM

Nevin Mindlin, the one-time independent candidate for Harrisburg mayor, is a candidate no more. He has been knocked off the November ballot by court rulings based on the mindlessly literal application of a nonsensical state law. With little time for an appeal to the state Supreme Court, he has decided against waging a write-in campaign.

Nevin Mindlin went to Commonwealth Court in September, seeking to get back on November’s mayoral ballot. Friday, the court turned him down.

Though Mindlin was an independent candidate, not affiliated with any party or organization, state law requires him to name a committee that would replace him should he leave the race. That requirement makes sense for a political party, but it makes no sense for an independent candidate. By definition, an independent candidate is independent of organizational structures that would be entitled to claim an independent’s slot on the ballot.

Knowing all that, Mindlin did not name that committee. The Dauphin County elections office accepted his petition, without any warning that his petition had any fatal defect.

None of that mattered to the lower court that knocked him off the ballot earlier this summer. And it didn’t matter to Commonwealth Court, which last Friday upheld the dubious ruling.

Commonwealth Court used a legal technicality to dodge the heart of Mindlin’s case. He said that the state law in question violates a right enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — freedom of association. In this case, the law forces Mindlin to associate with a “committee” empowered to choose some undetermined future candidate who could replace him, when the whole point of his candidacy is that he is independent of backroom-type arrangements like that.

Mindlin’s case is an example of the sleazy, insider political game-playing that fuels public disillusionment with elected officials and government.

The court’s hostility to Mindlin’s arguments also contradicts a well-established principle set by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in election cases. Courts in the commonwealth, when applying the election code, are supposed to construe the requirements liberally, “so as not to deprive an individual of his right to run for office, or voters of their right to elect a candidate of their choice.”

Again, the Commonwealth Court used a technicality to completely ignore those claims under the state Constitution.

Mindlin’s campaign is the latest casualty of ballot bounty hunters, ordinary citizens who mysteriously come forward, armed with expensive lawyers, to press a legal challenge to a candidate’s filing papers.

Hired guns parse signatures for the slimmest possible rationale to disqualify them: using a first initial instead of full name, women whose maiden name and married name are different, imperfect handwriting, stray marks in the signature block.

Even if the candidate survives the challenge, (as third-party Allegheny County council candidate Jim Barr did earlier this summer), he or she has to expend precious time and money fighting in court.

These often-shadowy court challenges to candidates’ paperwork have a corrosive effect on public confidence in the integrity of the election system.

In a comment on PennLive, one reader said Mindlin “must have stepped on the wrong toes.” Another announced, “I won’t be voting for anybody; the best candidate just got bounced.”

Many have wondered who paid the legal bills for challenging Mindlin. But without any public disclosure requirements, the mystery money can remain secret.

All in all, Mindlin’s case is an example of the sleazy, insider political game-playing that fuels public disillusionment with elected officials and government.

Pennsylvania’s legislature could rewrite election law to strike the nonsensical provision that kept Mindlin off the ballot. The legislature could require those filing challenges against candidates to identify how they are paying for all that expensive legal work. The Legislature could lower the unreasonably high barriers now imposed on third parties seeking to get on the state’s ballot.

But as with so many dysfunctional aspects of Pennsylvania’s laws affecting politicians, those who get to make the rules are content with the status quo. After all, they got there by playing by the rules as they are – why would legislators want to change them?

From their selfish perspective, it makes political sense. But from the perspective of the citizen whom elected officials are supposed to serve, allowing ballot bounty hunters so much room to squelch candidates is nonsense.
(from http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/10/mindlin_off_ballot_commonwealth_court_bad_ruling.html#comments)

When minutes count, justice is only days away

Harrisburg City candidate for mayor, Nevin Mindlin, has waited since yesterday morning for a judicial holding. He’s waiting to find out if the integrity of Pennsylvania’s electoral law is best represented by redundant, arcane, unnecessary, petty requirements, or if those artificial things matter more than letting otherwise qualified candidates run for office.

Every hour that Mindlin waits, his campaign weakens a little. Every hour he waits is filled with doubt, supporters increasingly worn down by anxiety. It’s all a calculated wait, if you ask me. Sadly, Dauphin County is occasionally home to a highly politicized judiciary.

Sitting in the court room yesterday, I heard nothing to convince me that our citizens are served by a slavish adherence to confusing election laws. Over the past several years other judges around Pennsylvania have struck down or bypassed certain election law requirements, like petition circulators living in the same political district as the candidate. Their holdings excoriate the law, questioning how and why these requirements were invented.

Hopefully, Judge Bernie Coates is above the political fray. Hopefully, he looks to other judges who have recently held that representative democracy is best served by transparency and simple processes. Hopefully, the judge recognizes that Mindlin acted in good faith, in keeping with advice from county election staff, and reasonably. And hopefully the judge will himself act reasonably, and toss out this silly waste of time, and let Mindlin run for office.

Bill Tully for Judge sporting clay shoot

Bill Tully is a candidate running for Dauphin County Judge. He is the older and much, much more experienced of two candidates vying for the same seat. Bill is holding a sporting clays shoot at Hummelstown Field & Stream Association on May 4th, starting with the 8:30 breakfast.
It is $75 per participant and is open to kids 12 and up.
Questions should be directed to www.billtullyjudge.com