In his Sunday column (“Government decisions make it easier for development at wildlife’s expense”), Mark Nale indicated that state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, is leaning toward supporting the so-called Endangered Species Coordination Act.
This bill, alleged by some to have been written by lobbyists for Texas oil tycoons, would allow a panel of political appointees to override conservation regulations proposed by state fish and game scientists.
The bill has been described by hunting, fishing and outdoor organizations as a threat to our stressed wildlife and wild trout streams, in order to more easily extract profit from Marcellus Shale gas.
Corman has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the gas and oil industry.
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Even more important than a possible war on nature, however, is Corman’s stance on protecting our right to vote. He used his own Senate vote to help enact the photo ID law, designed to make voting difficult for some likely Democratic voters. A Commonwealth Court judge ruled the law is an unconstitutional restraint on a person’s right to vote.
Corman is still silent on the scheme in Pennsylvania and other Republican state legislatures to rig the 2016 presidential election. Instead of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes going to the winner of the popular statewide vote, they would be won separately in the congressional districts, which the GOP legislature has gerrymandered to be mostly guaranteed Republican — the popular statewide vote be damned.
Corman’s father, J. Doyle Corman, whose Senate seat Jake inherited, deserved our respect. I would like to see Jake earn it, too.
John N. Rippey, Zion
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