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Posted on 07/17/2020 9:47:39 AM PDT by lightman
Gov. Tom Wolf’s refusal to release federal CARES Act aid to Lebanon County over a decision by its commissioners to defy his COVID-19 restrictions is an “incredible insult” to its residents, the county’s Republican state legislators contended Friday.
Sen. Dave Arnold and Reps. Sue Helm, Russ Diamond and Frank Ryan characterized Wolf as a “petty tyrant” a day after the governor admitted to withholding the CARES funds over the county commissioners’ rebellion. State Rep. Stan Saylor, R-York, joined their ranks in an independent statement.
Lebanon is the only one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties that has not received its CARES allotment, which is designed to help individuals and businesses cope with the economic turmoil created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Karen Groh, CEO of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce, has claimed the county is losing out on $13 million.
The CARES money is being channeled to counties through the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
Wolf said during a press conference Thursday that the lack of CARES cash for Lebanon County is a direct result of the commissioners’ decision in May to reopen ahead of his schedule. “Lebanon County made the threat, I mean there were other counties that made the threat, but they actually didn’t go through with it,” he said. “There are consequences, and these are the consequences.”
Those consequences are way out of bounds, the Lebanon Republicans and Saylor contend. The county contingent called Wolf’s act “the epitome of political retribution.”
It is based on a fallacy, they said, because the commissioners never told county businesses to reopen in violation of the governor’s “draconian” stay-at-home edict. Their order applied only to county-run agencies, the GOP contingent said.
“According to the Governor’s logic, 66 counties - including those experiencing massive protests over the last month in which Wolf personally participated - are entitled to Federal CARES relief, but one county where businesses weren’t told to open by county commissioners is being punished,” the contingent wrote.
“The governor is wrong, his motive is improper, and he may be in violation of provisions of the CARES Act and other federal or state laws,” the lawmakers insisted. “This is an incredible insult to the 140,000 people who have chosen to live in Lebanon County, and we are considering every available avenue of recourse to protect our constituents from his petty tyranny.”
Saylor, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the governor lacks legal authority to withhold the CARES aid since its distribution was authorized by the Legislature. He called the act “shameful.”
“All citizens of this commonwealth deserve to be treated equally and should not be subject to petty and punitive outbursts by their governor,” Saylor said.
Although the stay-at-home order was lifted, the governor has resumed tightening COVID-19 restrictions as the pandemic shows no signs of abating. As of Thursday, more than 99,000 Pennsylvanians had tested positive for the virus, which has been blamed for 6,692 deaths in the state.
Acting more and more like King George III every day!
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
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The good news is that the PA House has passed a constitutional amendment to limit emergency powers to 21 days.
It will need to be passed in another session and then goes to the people for a vote.
It will take time, but it will stop future Wolf’s from tyranny.
‘Acting more and more like King George III every day!’
yeah, and he’s got Ben Franklin as his health secretary...
That’s an insult to Ben...he was straight as an arrow and hornier than a hound dog.
A lot of you Federalism purists on FR keep chirping on me when I plead with Trump to do something about our maniac governor.
Please note here that he is using FEDERAL dollars to blackmail counties into obeying his edicts.
Federalism ain’t been that for quite a long time.
Yes the amendment is a very good and necessary thing.
We should start spreading the word because they tend to
game stuff like this by putting it on primary ballots in
off-year elections where turnout is low and activists
can gin up enough votes to kill it.
A couple of centuries as the Commonwealth and nobody ever dreamed an amendment like this would be necessary (which is why Wolf gets away with this stuff now).
Not a petty tyrant. A real tyrant.
Filthy piece of excrement, Matt Miller, author of this article and employee of the yellow rag, The Patriot News, is a leftist buttboy of Wolf and Dickless Levin. "Rebellion?" What the F is that? The commissioners were just trying to save people's livelihoods. This has been a political hoax from the very beginning. The Patriot News wouldn't know a patriot if one smacked them in the head.
‘A lot of you Federalism purists on FR keep chirping on me when I plead with Trump to do something about our maniac governor.’
plead away; you won’t hear any chirping from me (might hear some wheezing, though)...
BTW, Trump will do precisely nothing about it...
‘This has been a political hoax from the very beginning.’
well, yes it has; and they’ve done great job at turning the people against each other, haven’t they...just try and go into a grocery store without a mask, and see how the sheeple react to you...more like tigers than sheep...
hmmm- perhaps Trump shoudl withhold cares money from the guv- see how he likes it
Lebanon County should have applied for their own direct aid from the Federal government. “Federalism” has nothing to do with this issue. The DCED — a state agency — was the applicant for the funding. The President has no power to tell them how to spend the money.
‘Lebanon County should have applied for their own direct aid from the Federal government’
why should they have done that when none of the other 66 counties did not...?
Wolf has to know that. So he isn't losing many votes. Just the people who actually live in the city of Lebanon (mostly Hispanic).
I want just one reporter to ask Tommy if this means he now supports President Trump for withholding federal funds from sanctuary cities!
LOL...now just add a Burger King crown....
I believe 4-5 counties applied directly for the aid outside the DCED process. That often happens with these Federal grant programs. Most counties don’t have the staff resources to get through a complicated application process for Federal money, so they just go through the state. The bigger counties often file their own applications.
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