Trump tweet reveals Corman, other Pa. lawmakers asked Congress to delay electoral vote certification
While state Sen. Jake Corman previously said the Pennsylvania legislature “does not and will not” play a role in choosing the state’s electors, the Centre County Republican put his name to a letter this week asking Congress to delay the Electoral College count.
In a tweet posted Tuesday night, President Donald Trump shared a copy of a letter — dated Monday and addressed to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Signed by Corman, Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, Sen. Judy Ward and Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, the letter repeats accusations that Gov. Tom Wolf, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court altered election code in an attempt to circumvent the democratic process.
“Due to these inconsistent and questionable activities, we believe that the Pennsylvania election results should not have been certified by our secretary of state,” Pennsylvania lawmakers wrote. “We ask that you delay certification of the Electoral College to allow due process as we pursue election integrity in our commonwealth.”
Last month, state lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff and Rep. Rich Irvin, urged federal legislators to reject Pennsylvania’s electoral delegates. Corman, who was sworn in Tuesday as Senate president pro tempore, did not sign that letter but said he signed the most recent document after being asked by Sen. Kim Ward.
He wasn’t sure how Trump obtained the letter, but said Wednesday that the “unique set of circumstances” in the 2020 election should be reviewed.
“All we asked for in the letter of the Congressional Delegation — which is in their authority to do — is to give us a pause, to allow us to review what impact these actions by the secretary of state and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had on the outcome of this election,” Corman said.
In an October op-ed, Corman and House Majority Leader Kerry Bennighoff stated: “The Pennsylvania General Assembly does not have and will not have a hand in choosing the state’s presidential electors or in deciding the outcome of the presidential election. To insinuate otherwise is to inappropriately set fear into the Pennsylvania electorate with an imaginary scenario not provided for anywhere in law — or in fact.”
Centre County Commissioner Michael Pipe said he gave Corman “a lot of kudos” for saying the state legislature would not take action to challenge appointed electors and for maintaining that stance after Nov. 3. But this week’s letter shows that the senator has gone back on his word by pressuring Congress to do what Pennsylvania lawmakers cannot, Pipe said.
“It’s becoming clear that Sen. Corman is willing to basically squelch and quiet the voice of the voters,” he said — adding that GOP members still sent the letter after a leaked call revealed Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to alter election results. “When you have the leader of the party — the president of the United States — doing something, it allows people in the local level to do the same thing.”
Corman disagreed, saying the letter was the “proper channel” to say he stands by his position that the legislature does not have the authority to change the electors.
“We asked for a pause. We didn’t vote to stop it or anything like that,” Corman said. “We’re just trying to get to the bottom and find out exactly what impact their actions had so that we can allow Congress to make the final decision.”
From a community building and political standpoint, Pipe said lawmakers who are repeating unsubstantiated and “nonexistent” claims of voter fraud are wasting their time. Instead, he thinks they should be focusing on upcoming races and recruiting candidates in 2021.
“The more people spend time in the past, the 2020 general election, they are not going to be able to move forward,” he added.
States have already counted their electoral votes, showing a 306 to 232 victory for President-elect Joe Biden. Congress was set to meet for a joint session Wednesday afternoon to count the electoral votes. Though more than 100 House Republicans and more than a dozen Republican senators said they will object to the results of the election, it is unlikely their attempts to undo Biden’s victory will be successful.
“If Vice President Mike Pence, at the end of the day, says Biden is president-elect, I would hope that all Republicans up and down, local, state, federal, would say, ‘OK. We took it to the finish line. We took it as far as it can go. We’re going to respect the decision of the voters,’” Pipe said. “That would be transformative. It would help us move forward and put this behind us.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 2:59 PM.
