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(*This story was updated at 9:37 a.m. on 12/6/20. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Judge Kevin Brobson was a Pennsylvania State Police trooper. His father served as a Pennsylvania State Police trooper)

Pennsylvanias Commonwealth Court has been a big player in the ongoing attempts by the Trump campaign and other Republicans to overturn the states election results or invalidate ballots.

But thus far, the Republican-dominated court has had all of its 2020 election-related decisions overturned or vacated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, despite conservatives like 17th Congressional District candidate Sean Parnell portraying the court decisions as victories.

Take, for instance, Judge Patricia McCulloughs Nov. 25 order for Pennsylvania officials to halt the certification process for election results. It came one day after Gov. Tom Wolf certified the states results and its coveted 20 Electoral College votes for former Vice President Joe Biden. U.S. Rep.Mike Kelly, R-16th District, argued the legislatures decision to allow no-excuse, mail-in voting violated the states constitution.

Wolf and Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar appealed McCulloughs ruling to the state Supreme Court, which dismissed the case with prejudice. The court said the petitioners, who include Kelly and Parnell, wholost this year to U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-17th District, didnt bring their case in a timely manner and failing to certify the results would result in the disenfranchisement of millions of Pennsylvania voters.

The want of due diligence demonstrated in this matter is unmistakable, the court wrote in its majority opinion.

Thats a fairly stern ruling from the states high court. In addition to McCullough, another Commonwealth Court judge, Kevin Brobson, recently ruled in favor of a Republican state Senate candidate, who was seeking that disputed mail-in ballots not be counted. That ruling, like McCollughs, was also overturned by the state Supreme Court. The states highest court currently has five justices elected as Democrats and two justices elected as Republicans.

But the lack of staying power in the Commonwealth Courts decisions hasnt stopped pro-Trump conservatives from heralding this and other Commonwealth Court decisions to create the impression that their side is winning. And the Republican judges on the Commonwealth Court that have issued the highest-profile rulings in the post-election legal battles have seen other big decisions swiftly overturned by a higher court. So what else do we know about McCullough and Brobson and Pennsylvanias Commonwealth Court?

Judges on Commonwealth Court serve 10-year terms, and the nine-judge body hears appeals of decisions from state agencies and some Courts of Common Pleas decisions. There are two appellate courts in Pennsylvania, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court, and decisions those courts make can often be appealed to the highest court in the state, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Seven of the nine current judges on Commonwealth Court were elected as Republicans, as was Senior Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter.

With one election barely over, state lawmakers look to make fixes ahead of the next one

McCullough, elected to the Commonwealth Court as a Republican in 2009, was also the dissenting voice on the Commonwealth Court in another Trump-election-related lawsuit prior to the election. Before being elected to Commonwealth Court, McCullough served as an attorney for 28 years, representing clients like the University of Pittsburgh. She also served as the executive director of Catholic Charities for years beforeresigning in 2007.

In October, the Trump campaign argued that poll watchers in Philadelphia should be allowed to observe at satellite locations.

Judge Gary Glazer of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas ruled that the satellite offices didnt qualify as polling places and that the state Election Code contains no provision that expressly grants the Campaign and its representatives a right to serve as watchers at satellite offices of the Board of Elections. Satellite election offices were established in Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania counties prior to Election Day to allow people alternative locations to register to vote and apply for and return mail-in ballots.

Commonwealth Court judges Ellen Ceisler (a Democrat) and Leadbetter affirmed Glazers ruling in the courts October 23rd decision. But McCullough wrote that she emphatically dissented with the majority opinion.

Pa. House Republicans strike out on last-minute push to pressure Wolf to rescind election results, report

McCullough wrote in her dissent that Glazer and the Commonwealth Court judges effectively deprive both presidential candidates, and by extension, every party and candidate, of their statutory right to have poll watchers present at places where electors cast and submit votes in person and in numbers unparalleled in our times.

Philadelphia election commissioners argued that the Trump campaign was trying tointimidate the citys overwhelmingly Democratic voters. In the end, Philadelphia ended up increasing its margin of Trump votes compared to 2016, even though the poll watchers werent allowed at satellite voting locations.

But McCullough isnt the only Commonwealth Court Judge providing favorable rulings to Republicans, just to have them overturned shortly thereafter.

Judge Brobson also has been in the spotlight with the Trump campaign election challenges. *Before serving as a judge, Brobson worked as a Harrisburg-based attorney. While campaigning in 2009 in Stroudsburg, he boasted about only representing private entities as an attorney, and said the government has plenty of counsel.

Brobson wrote the majority opinion in the courts Nov. 18 ruling that some 2,300 mail-in-ballots in the45th Senatorial Districtshould not be counted because they lacked handwritten dates.

The letter of the law, Brobson wrote, required the votes to be thrown out, and by not doing so it would be absolving [voters] of their responsibility to execute their ballots in accordance with law, even as he acknowledged we realize that our decision in this case means that some votes will not be counted.

But once again, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the Commonwealth Court decision. Justice Christine Donohue wrote in the majority opinion that failures to include a handwritten name, address, or date in the voter declaration on the back of the outer envelope, while constituting technical violations of the Election Code, do not warrant the wholesale disenfranchisement of thousands of Pennsylvania voters.

Even federal Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan, a Trump-appointee,rejected Republican candidate Nicole Ziccarellis requestfor a restraining order, saying it would disenfranchise potentially thousands of voters, and that the ballots had arrived on time and were otherwise without errors.

Brobsons ruling gathered less attention from national outlets since it only pertained to a state Senate race, but if his decision were not overruled and the mail-in ballots were not counted, Ziccarelli would almost certainly be in the lead. Instead with the votes counted, state Sen. Jim Brewster (D-McKeesport) holds a narrow lead.

Prior to that ruling, Brobson was best known for his 2017 ruling on Pennsylvanias heavily gerrymandered Congressional district maps. He ruled that while those districts favored Republicans, the Democrats who sued had not demonstrated a legal standard for creating nonpartisan maps. A few weeks later, his decision wasstruck down by the state Supreme Court, who found that the Congressional map represented an illegal partisan gerrymandering that favored Republicans.

In 2019, some of Brobsons campaign top donors included then state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Warren) and Build PA PAC, who each gave $2,500 directly to his campaign, according to watchdog groupTransparencyUSA. This cycle, Build PA PAC spent $125,000 on Ziccarellis campaign, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars on other Republican state senate candidates in Pennsylvania, and $425,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

Kim Lyons is a reporter for Pittsburgh City Paper, where this story first appeared.

Link:
Meet the Pa. Commonwealth Court judges who've recently sided with Republicans on election rulings, only to be overturned by higher courts -...

President Eisenhower said, if a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power. The Covid-19 pandemic has tested the country, and Republicans have failed Eisenhowers challenge.

Trump, who takes credit for everything, and responsibility for nothing, shrewdly knew that the virus would be a problem for him. His first response was to ignore it, then he minimized it, declaring it a hoax perpetrated by fake news and the whole world, just to make him look bad.

Travelers brought the first confirmed cases to the US in late January. By late February, community spread was confirmed, growing from 30 cases by the first of March to almost 200,000 cases by the first of April. With no federal leadership, the states were forced to deal with this on their own, leading to a variety of responses, from total lock down to business as usual. The economic dislocation was widespread, the stock market dropped 37 percent, and a $2 trillion CARES economic relief act was passed in late March.

By May first the case load was 1,091,038 (worldometer.com), with an average daily increase of 29,459, and 68,326 dead Americans. At that point Trump realized that the economic collapse threatened his re-election, and began insisting that businesses and schools open up, getting back to normal, contrary to advice from medical experts. Trumps denial of reality is understandable, given his brittle fragile ego, and his nieces report he has always lied for sport.

But Republican leaders supported his lies. Perhaps they naively believed their religion would protect them from infection. Perhaps they cynically believed the virus was only an urban blue state problem. Perhaps they feared the vengeful wrath of an emotionally unstable president. The result was an abdication of responsibility in a craven pursuit of power, fulfilling Eisenhowers description of a conspiracy.

With Republicans urging people to ignore the virus and get back to business, America experienced case load surges after the holidays in July and September. The center of infection shifted from the northeast to the south, and then diffused across the entire country, hitting the upper mid-west hard. Not wearing a mask, and denying the validity of the virus, became tests of Republican loyalty. As the election neared, Trump predicted that after election day nobody would talk about Covid again, and Texas Senator Cruz claimed that all the Democratic states that were restricting business would immediately open up again in November, implying Covid was just a political ploy. Rank and file Republicans still believe their leaders, even screaming Covid is a hoax as they gasp for breath, while being intubated to save their life.

But Covid is real and didnt go away like magic. Colder weather is forcing people inside and for the third time, cases are surging exponentially, straining health care capacity, so even red state governors are now ordering restrictions. On Nov. 28, US cases hit 13,525,501, with a one day increase of 241,718, and 271,628 Americans dead. It took 10 weeks for the first million cases, and 6 days for the most recent million cases. The holiday season will only accelerate this pace.

To add to this insanity, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court overturned New York States limit on the size of religious gatherings during the pandemic. The founding fathers were ignorant of the germ theory of disease, let alone RNA viruses, but these Constitutional originalists, four Catholics and an Episcopalian, put religious practice above public health. Given that the core of Christs teachings, the Golden Rule, directs the individual to act with regard for our fellow man, this ruling is disingenuous. This is the result of Republicans choosing to pack the court rather than pass further pandemic economic relief.

Society is a balance between individual rights and collective responsibility. Trump is a poster boy for the disaster of an unfettered ego. Democracy is an attempt to moderate those excesses, and public health is an extreme need for social restraint on individual action. Republicans demonstrate by their words and actions that they are just a conspiracy for power, uninterested in the welfare of even their own supporters.

Crispin B. Hollinshead lives in Ukiah. This and previous articles can be found at cbhollinshead.blogspot.com.

Original post:
Another Voice: Republicans lied and Americans died! - Ukiah Daily Journal

I have some political thoughts that I want to share with the readers. Politics is an ongoing process for those of us actively involved. While things like elections are very important, it is only a part of the process.

Next month, in January 2021, Rhode Island requires city, ward, and town committees to organize and elect officers. On the Republican side, they elect delegates and alternate delegates to the Rhode Island Republican State Central Committee. The local party chair is automatically a state Central Committee member. That is how I qualify to be on the state Central Committee. By law, failure to do so gives the state chair of a political party the authority to appoint the committee members. It will be interesting how this organization proceeds with Zoom meetings and the restrictions of COVID-19. On the GOP side, South County Republicans have been meeting in Wakefield on every third Saturday for breakfast to discuss politics. In March, as I recall, we will be electing state Central Committee officers.

Sue Cienki, our Republican state chair, should be contacted at chair@rigop.com if you are interested in running in 2022. You may want to volunteer also. In Rhode Island, we will still have five Republican state senators but gained two new Republican state representatives, Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, who toppled House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello from his local representative district, and former state Rep. Patricia Morgan, who is returning after a two-year absence. Rep. Jack Lyle, elected as a Republican state representative two years ago,chose to run as an independent and lost.

The Republican leaders in Providence are state Sen. Dennis Algiere of Westerly Rep. Blake Filippi of Block Island, who represents locally both Charlestown and Westerly. My own state Sen. Elaine J. Morgan of Hopkinton is also a Republican.

The Fenton-Fung win is historic, no sitting Rhode Island House Speaker has been defeated for reelection to their representative seat in modern times.

Hopkiton Republicans have done well this year. On the national level, I was elected a Trump alternate delegate statewide to the national convention. I did not attend, but it is important I note that. On the town level, we doubled our Hopkinton Republican Town Committee. Republicans were present on the ballot for all state legislative districts: Elaine J. Morgan, state Senate, and Donald Kohlman and Justin Price, state representative. Kohlman, a first-time candidate while losing, showed initiative. Rep. Price, who lives in Richmond, was also elected a Trump alternate delegate from the Second Congressional District.

The town level sees two of the five Hopkinton Town Council members elected as Republicans, Mike Geary and myself. Justin Wilmar ran and lost, but I hope he considers applying for a board or commission. Elected unopposed for town office were Edwin Ed James for town moderator, and Larry Phelps for town sergeant.

In closing, if you have any questions about Republican politics or town government in Hopkinton, please contact me at scottbillhirst@gmail.com or 401-529-3240.

Scott Bill Hirst

Ashaway

The writer is a member of the Hopkinton Town Council.

More:
Letter: Republicans are ready to serve you in 2021 - The Westerly Sun

For Trump, the party is a bankable asset under any scenario. Foreign governments considering his companys projects might be more receptive knowing a once-and-perhaps-future president is on the other side of the deal. Audiences may be more apt to tune in if Trump starts a conservative news venture. Candidates looking for fundraising help will be courting Trump, enabling him to stockpile chits. So will members of Congress hoping to make inroads with his base.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump confidant, told me hes spoken with Trump about another run and wants to see him mount a comeback. Grover Cleveland did it, Graham said, referencing the Democratic president who was defeated in 1888 and won again four years later. Graham predicted that Trump will indeed run againand that doing so is the best thing for the party, frankly.

Right now, assuming for the moment that Biden wins, its Trumps nomination if he wants it, Graham told me. (Like many other Republicans, Graham has not yet acknowledged that Biden has won the election.) He has a lot of sway over the Republican Party. If he objects to anything Biden [does], it would be hard to get Republicans on board. If he blessed some kind of deal, it would be easier to get something done. In many ways, hell be a shadow president.

Read: The 3 norms Trump could still break

An early test of Trumps enduring influence comes next month in Amelia Island, Florida, where Republican National Committee officials will hold their winter meeting and vote on the partys leadership. No other candidate seems strong enough to dethrone Trumps handpicked chair, Ronna McDaniel, who would serve another two-year term.

I get my most loyal acolytes and keep them in power, and guess what? former RNC Chair Michael Steele, channeling the outgoing president, said to me. Ive got power. Ive got influence.

But relying on Trump to run again could leave the party exposed. If he teases another campaign and backs out, the GOP will have sacrificed itself for him and blocked the rise of up-and-coming candidates for no reason at all. Simply announcing that hell run is enough to potentially clear the Republican field, or at least monopolize the attention that would normally be paid to candidates positioning themselves for the nomination. How are you going to say youre running for president in 2024 when Trump is telling everybody he is? Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of the few Republican members of Congress whos been willing to publicly criticize Trump, asked me.

Even before the election, heretics inside the Trump-branded GOP were quietly discussing ways to wean the party from a polarizing leader who stood a good chance of losing. There are conversations among elected officials who recognize theres no future with Trumpism. Its a dead end, Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator from Arizona, told me.

Go here to see the original:
The Republican Plan for the Next Four Years Isnt Normal - The Atlantic

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Letter to the editor: Republicans need to learn to fight - TribLIVE