Letters: Petition sends message to Corman, GOP lawmakers; Wellness plan, vaccine mandate not similar

Petition sends message to Corman, GOP lawmakers

A petition was started and sent to Senator Majority Leader Jake Corman and the Pennsylvania State Senate Republican Caucus and so far 431 Pennsylvania voters and counting have joined us in this effort.

The link is as follows: https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/stop-the-burning-our-money-for-a-lie

We are saddened and angry that Jake Corman and Pennsylvania Senate Republicans are spending our tax dollars on an explorative false inquiry into election integrity. Furthermore, they want to take partial social security numbers and voter information and give it to a private unvetted agency for examination. They are paid by taxpayers and took an oath to uphold the constitution of Pennsylvania. This inquiry actively seeks to undermine that constitution, with our money, as taxpayers and legitimate, non-fraudulent voters. In short, they want to use voters’ money to potentially take a voters’ right to vote away from us.

There is no factual or meritorious theoretical basis for the senators who want to use taxpayer funds to try to gin up anger among voters about the legitimacy of elections, especially when data in the 2020 census helps to explain shifts in voting behaviors.

Pennsylvania has real problems. Election integrity is not one of them.

In any event, the petition demands the immediate cessation of this fraudulent elections inquiry that is costing Pennsylvania voters money and, ultimately, threatening our democracy and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania having no basis in any real verifiable data.

Wellness plan, vaccine mandate not similar

We write in response to comments made by Provost Nicholas Jones at the faculty forum held on Sept. 21. Provost Jones cited faculty resistance to the proposed 2013 wellness plan as a justification for not requiring COVID-19 vaccinations. We call on Provost Jones to correct the record. Such a false equivalency between the ill-fated 2013 “Take Care of Your Health” initiative on the one hand and a possible COVID-19 vaccine requirement on the other misrepresents the core issues.

We want to clearly delineate three important differences here:

1. In 2013, the administration sought to require the collection of invasive personal information and biometric data from faculty and staff without consulting them. In the current situation, the administration is refusing to implement health measures that both the Faculty Senate and the student representative bodies have expressly requested.

2. While there was scant data to support the supposed benefits of the proposed 2013 wellness plan, there is an abundance of reliable data to verify the safety and efficacy of the currently FDA-approved vaccine.

3. The 2013 wellness plan was a cost-saving scheme devised by Highmark, a for-profit insurance company, and targeted at university employees via its compliant HR department. In contrast, requiring vaccination of both employees and students is a life-saving measure recommended by health professionals and already implemented by many peer institutions.

By suggesting an analogy between these two radically different scenarios, the Provost muddies the waters precisely when transparent shared governance is urgent.

Voice concerns about personal information release

In light of the affront by Jake Corman’s office I would suggest a letter/email writing campaign such as this: “I expressly forbid the release of my personal information, as maintained by Centre County Elelctions Office, i.e. — do not release or provide SSN or any part of same, driver’s license information, birth date or address to any organization or individual, including vote counting/research entities, private or public.

cc: Centre County Elections Board

Pennsylvania Department of State — Bureau of Commissions

Jake Corman

Republican Party HQ

Centre Daily Times