News & Brews November 5, 2021
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Gov. Wolf voted illegally
You can’t make this stuff up. Our governor, who probably should know how to vote legally, instead voted illegally this past election. Gov. Wolf admitted to doing so (presumably without realizing it) on KDKA radio, noting that his wife had dropped off his mail-in ballot for him, which is a violation of state election law. Spotlight PA notes, “State law currently prohibits, in most cases, anyone other than the voter from returning a mail ballot, an act punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.” Wolf’s spokesperson called it “an honest mistake.” In other words, it seems our governor thinks he can vote illegally and it’s no big deal. Of course, he could have easily solved the problem by getting the Democrat majority on the state Supreme Court to rewrite election law like he did last year. I mean, one illegal turn deserves another, right? (Umm.) Or, even better, he could have signed Rep. Seth Grove’s Voting Rights Protection Act, under which Wolf’s act would have been legal. Instead, he vetoed the bill without reading it … and then went and broke the law.
Op-Ed: Josh’s wonderland
Wolf’s vaccine ‘incentive’ sets off new battle
Now that Gov. Wolf has announced his $100M plan to give some state workers five days of paid leave (or a lump sum payout) for getting the COVID shot, it seems many of the state workers not included in his plan are a bit miffed. PennLive reports, “That dichotomy has created fresh divides between contract workers and regular staff; employees who have public-facing jobs and those who worked from home through most of the pandemic; and, of course, those who see the incentive as a lavish gift on the taxpayers’ tab and those, like Wolf and state union leaders, who see it as an appropriate investment in the workforce.”
House committee set to advance Senate RGGI disapproval resolution
On Monday, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee plans to advance the Senate concurrent resolution disapproving of Gov. Wolf’s order that Pennsylvania join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). In a statement, committee chair Daryl Metcalfe noted that if Gov. Wolf vetoes the resolution after it’s passed both chambers, Metcalfe will call on Attorney General Josh Shapiro to “use his authority as the Commonwealth’s chief law enforcement officer to halt further advancement of the governor’s illegitimate RGGI scheme.” Of course, Shapiro has suggested his support for RGGI, but then recently changed his tune once unions said they wouldn’t back a gubernatorial candidate who backs RGGI. (Check out Jeremy’s op-ed above for more on this.) The committee hearing is this Monday, Nov. 8, at the call of the chair and will be live-streamed here.