Posted on 05/13/2020 8:58:18 PM PDT by lightman
t appears Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has limited, but not completely extinguished, a revolt from county commissioners in central and eastern Pennsylvania who were poised to challenge the state’s authority to lead a phased, coronavirus pandemic reopening plan at the start of this week.
What’s a little less clear is how the governor feels about the results of his damage control effort.
After a busy Monday, commissioners in just one county - Lebanon - were planning to go forward with formal action to unilaterally declare their counties ready to start reopening under the state’s pandemic recovery plan, with a final vote scheduled for Friday. Republican commissioners in Lancaster and Beaver counties had also said they supported such a move, but it was still unclear whether they were going to take a formal action or, without that, what effect their statements would have.
Lancaster officials have scheduled a press conference for 1 p.m. Thursday to further discuss their intentions.
But in many more counties – York, Berks, Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Adams, Perry and Schuylkill, to name a few – Wolf’s threats of a loss of federal pandemic relief funding and aggressive business licensure actions and other factors caused commissioners to step back from a direct confrontation, even as they vowed to continue advocating for modifications to the administration’s plan.
“He showed he had the big stick, and he showed he’s willing to use it,” Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste said Wednesday, after his board opted to swap a proposed reopening resolution for the creation of a task force aimed at helping all businesses maximize their opportunities within the framework of the governor’s plan.
The last pockets of resistance Wednesday were in Lebanon and Lancaster, two south central counties that have new case rates still well in excess of the administration’s threshold for starting to reopen, and Beaver County on the Ohio line, which is the only county in western Pennsylvania that is not scheduled to move to yellow by Friday under the governor’s plan.
The two Lebanon County commissioners supporting a Friday reopening said only businesses that wanted to take part would need to do so, knowing that they could face some consequences from the state, including losing liquor licenses or other state-required certifications. But they said they wanted to give their constituents that right.
Chairman Bob Phillips noted Wolf’s statewide stay-at-home order has been going on for seven weeks, which is too long for people to be out of work.
“Many people are saying they can’t go on living off their credit line, skipping meals and waiting in lines for food,” Phillips said.
If big-box stores can be open safely, Phillips said, then “mom and pop shops” should be given the same opportunity. Action to allow additional business to reopen would serve as a “lifeline” and a “chance to survive,” he said.
In justifying his county’s decision before a state Senate committee Wednesday, Beaver County Commission Chairman Daniel Camp III said the governor’s restrictions don’t stop Beaver County residents from traveling to neighboring counties or states to shop and spend money.
He also contended that the widespread outbreak in one nursing home there has inflated the county’s infection rate, and should not hold back the entire county from reopening. Camp was referring to the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, where dozens of residents have died and the Health Department has installed a temporary manager.
Wolf did not have a press call Wednesday, so it was not clear how much damage he felt had been done to his plan, which until now has received total, if sometimes grudging, cooperation from county and municipal officials.
In Wolf’s absence, the governor’s press secretary, Lyndsay Kensinger, put a brave face on the defections, saying via email: “Most counties, businesses and individuals are doing the right thing and following the orders put in place to protect the public. The administration is hopeful that everyone continues to act in the best interest of public health.”
Amplifying that statement, another source familiar with discussions within the administration said that while Wolf’s advisors wanted 100 percent adherence to the statewide plan, there was general relief that they have, for the moment, avoided a much larger breakout, and can continue to work on the remaining counties going forward.
“They’ll take one or two counties going rogue as a victory,” said this source who, without authorization to speak on behalf of the governor. spoke on condition of anonymity.
Wolf officials may also be buoyed by public opinion polling showing that he is still getting broad-based support for his efforts to combat the virus. A Washington Post poll published Tuesday showed 72 percent of respondents interviewed between April 27 and May 4 approved of Wolf’s performance the performance in dealing with the virus, including 91 percent of self-identified Democrats, and 51 percent of self-identified Republicans.
At issue is the tension between controlling the spread of coronavirus, which through Tuesday had sickened 58,698 Pennsylvanians and resulted in 3,943 deaths according to state Department of Health numbers, and limiting the damage to an economy that has already seen thousands of businesses closed and nearly 1.8 million Pennsylvanians applying for unemployment checks.
As of Friday, the Wolf Administration will have lifted general business closure orders in 37 counties, mostly in northern and western Pennsylvania. (In the state’s yellow phase, most entertainment venues, eat-in restaurants and bars, and personal service businesses like fitness centers, barber shops and nail salons will remain closed).
Wolf has proclaimed his plan a success, citing to the 37 counties are now starting or scheduled to start to reopen, and that the state’s hospital systems were never overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases. But leaders in the 30 other counties, many of which have had significantly higher rates of infection, are hearing from businessmen and women who say the pace of Wolf’s plan is doing nothing for them.
“We know we need to have strict distancing and sanitizing guidelines... but we need to figure out a way to get our stores and restaurants open before they close permanently,” said West Reading Main Street Manager Mark Ratcliffe during a pro-business conference call held by the Berks County commissioners.
“Is an essential store that sells non-essential items any safer than buying those items at a speciality business that is following proper health and safety guidelines? Probably not," argued Berks Commissioner Michael Rivera. "Would you rather send your mother or father to a big-box store to buy something when they can get the same thing at a smaller, local store... where there are less people? I would.
"Essential versus non-essential should not define who should open, but rather who can open in a way that maintains their employees and clients ... safe and heathy."
The Berks commissioners, however, spent their time advocating for Wolf to change his policies from within the system, and said they aren’t planning to bolt at this time.
Many county commissioners said they had been told by their solicitors that they could find no legal basis to support the proposed unilateral declarations, which in turn fueled more worries about Wolf’s threats to withhold federal pandemic relief funds from counties that, in his words, “deserted” the cause.
Haste said he figures Dauphin could stand to lose nearly $50 million, and that’s simply too big a price to pay.
“The governor’s words and actions have made it quite difficult on this board,” Haste said. “He has silenced our vote on moving forward (to yellow). It’s also clear he has not silenced our voice.”
Instead, they voted to create a “Reopening and Restoring Dauphin County Task Force” to guide the county as it does reopen in compliance with the state’s plan. That would include, the commissioners noted, a full look at whether any businesses currently closed could reopen safely within the state’s rules and federal Centers for Disease Control guidelines even as the county, for the time being, remains in the red, or lockdown, phase.
State lawmakers are throwing one last Hail Mary for the counties cause in the form of bill that would specifically grant commissioners the ability to make reopening decisions in this pandemic.
“Brookville isn’t Manhattan, Coudersport isn’t Philadelphia,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, comparing those parts of the state with few COVID-19 cases - many of which are already approved for yellow in Wolf’s plan - to cities with much higher outbreaks.
“These are very, very different places and very different circumstances and I would urge all members to vote to give our counties the ability to make a decision on whether they open up or they stay closed.”
The bill passed the Senate Wednesday 28-20, but Wolf is not expected to sign it if it reaches his desk.
Some boards, like those in York, Adams, Cumberland and Perry were quietly confident that their counties will be added to the reopening plan soon, given current case count trend lines, making this a poor time to pick a fight, Still others said they were willing to give the governor more time after hearing pledges directly from Wolf on Tuesday that his staff will work more closely with county-level officials.
“I’m looking forward to taking the governor at his word that he now wants to collaborate and cooperate with the counties," said Schuylkill County Chairman George Halcovage.
The murkiest situation remained in Lancaster County, one of the state’s biggest, where the two majority Republican commissioners have stated they support Lancaster moving to yellow as of Friday, but they have not taken any formal action to back that up. As a result, it remained unclear what effect their statements would have, especially given statements from the Lancaster City’s Mayor Danene Sorace that her administration will comply with the state’s protocols.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Wolf’s gonna end up with a boot in his ***
Amish bump !!!
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
Okay. That should settle it then.
The same way a Washington Post polls in October 2016 said Hilary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump by TWELVE POINTS.
And that was just 12 days before the elections.
This is yet another fake push poll to back Wolf when he is under a massive attack from all sides.
Liberals Lie. It’s what they do! They ain’t got squat and they know it!!
Yep. I suspect he knows he pushed things too far but is now trying to save face. Him not appearing today makes me think that is he is trying to hide after calling his constituents “cowards.”
Trump is coming to PA today. Don’t be surprised if he announces he’ll aid counties directly.
Orwell Bump!
Meanwhile, no signs of a rebellion in NYS. Even the barber who reopened in Ithaca gave up after a knock on his door.
I’ve about had it with small biz owners in NYS who won’t fight for their right to exist.
Ping
*** “He showed he had the big stick, and he showed he’s willing to use it,” Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste said Wednesday, after his board opted to swap a proposed reopening resolution for the creation of a task force aimed at helping all businesses maximize their opportunities within the framework of the governor’s plan. ***
No he didn’t. Wolf successfully bluffed the County DA’s. That didn’t ‘show’ a willingness to use the state licensing power against local business. Wolf is all talk — and that is heavily scripted. Man can’t think on his feet.
Talk about collusion...
BTTT.
There are years of lawsuits awaiting Tommy The Commie and his mentally ill Secretary of Health.
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