Letters: Past time for leaders to lead through pandemic; Make your voice heard in PA redistricting
Past time for leaders to lead through pandemic
Bob Potter’s letter of Aug. 1 called needed attention to the looming next phase of our pandemic crisis, and how it is enabled by Republican politicians. Their reckless Trump-inspired war on American public health has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and they are not letting up.
Bob rightly emphasized that the absence of vaccine mandates in Pennsylvania public universities is likely caused by implicit funding threats by Republicans in the state legislature. However, it should also be said that local leaders — university administrators, municipal governments, and others — bear responsibilities beyond kowtowing for state funding.
It’s past time for leaders to lead. We know and we should remember who made the pandemic into an American disaster; those politicians continue to court chaos and death. But failing to take vaccination seriously is irresponsible — for anyone.
Make your voice heard in Pennsylvania redistricting
Gerrymandering (the process of drawing voting districts to favor one political party over another) has been proven in Pennsylvania. In 2018, the state Supreme Court found that Republicans then in charge had drawn congressional districts in 2010 to disadvantage Democrats, who won only five of 18 seats despite winning slightly more than half the statewide vote. That definitely isn’t fair districting!
If you would like your voice heard during the 2020 redistricting process that is currently underway in Harrisburg, you as a resident can ask for fair redistricting (rather than having it controlled by either the Democratic or Republican state committees). Despite a mostly closed door process, you can submit written, video or in person testimony.
If you, like me and 71% of Pennsylvanians, believe gerrymandering eats at the soul of our representative democracy, please take a moment to ask the legislators in their chambers who’s drawing theses maps, what criteria are they using, when can the public see and comment on them, and why are they cutting cities and counties into pieces? State College is sliced and diced into four different state representative districts and two federal! Who really represents us?
You may submit comments on state legislative districts at redistricting.state.pa.us And your federal districts at RedistrictingPA.com
Which side is Corman on?
Finally! An honest Republican who has the spine to call out his own party’s lunacy.
In an op-ed in the Erie Tribune, Republican State Senator Dan Laughlin blasted fellow Republican Senator Doug Mastriano’s call for an audit of last fall’s election results, saying the election was “absent credible evidence of fraud.”
Laughlin added that “Donald Trump lost because Donald Trump received fewer votes.”
“Consider the state some of my Republican colleagues want to follow,” wrote Laughlin. “In Arizona, an outside vendor with a preconceived position was asked to “audit” the ballots and equipment. The only result has been an undermined trust in democracy and a cost of millions of dollars to taxpayers who must now replace voting machines that were decertified because a third party had tinkered with them. “
Laughlin is the kind of politician we need today, whether Republican or Democrat. He has the courage to stand up for the obvious truth even if it goes against his own party.
However, it’s a different story with Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman of Centre County. PennLive reports that Corman would not be interested in commenting on the proposed audit and that Corman has not said publicly whether he supports Mastriano’s call for an audit.
In his position, Corman could put an end to the bogus election audit, and any further Republican lies that we need to “restore election integrity.”
The old song asks “Which side are you on?” It’s time for Corman to man up and tell us.