State Rep. Craig Staats Is the Problem?
Pennsylvania elections don’t lack integrity, the elected officials still pushing the Big Lie do.
PA Congressional District 145’s Craig Staats handily won the 2020 election, receiving almost 20% more votes than his opponent. No one is questioning the integrity of his win.
Well, nobody except for Craig Staats.
Mr. Staats knows the Bucks County Board of Elections and the Secretary of State for Pennsylvania completed an audit of every vote. He knows they verified that all the ballots were legitimate and were counted correctly and he knows the results are accurate. Mr. Staats voted for the bill to expand mail-in ballots. He is so confident in the process, members of his family used mail-in ballots. He knows mail-in ballots are secure and the process to count those ballots in 2020 were completed accurately and fairly because he was one of the state legislators that approved and voted for that process.
Mr. Staats probably knows that almost every legal challenge to the election, to the use and counting of Mail in Ballots, and questions about the validity of the results was proven false by the courts and the facts.
Despite his own role in making mail-in ballots available to all Pennsylvanians and ensuring the process to count those votes was secure, he continues to spread Donald Trump’s Big Lie.
Our election process is at the very heart of our democracy, and despite swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution, Craig Staats, like his friend Doug Mastriano, holds party above their oath, and continues to question the integrity of the election. An election that he won!
Mr. Staats signed his name and promoted HB 1300. That bill would have established a Bureau of Election Audits and granted the state legislature the authority to influence the election process. This bill would have also required voters to present an ID when voting and it would have given the state legislature the ability to subpoena personal information and voting records, including ballots of any citizen. Mr. Staats promoted this piece of legislation claiming it would, “restore public confidence in the election process.”
He knew the election was secure and accurate and still Mr. Staats proudly participated in 10 hearings as part of the State Government committee to review the integrity of the 2020 election. These hearings wasted taxpayer time and money debating an election that, not only was already decided, challenged and upheld, but Mr. Staats won! Knowing the election was secure and the results were vetted and accurate, Staats signed his name to a letter objecting to the results of 2020 election and urged the State Legislature to not certify the results of the election which would have delayed sending results to Washington in effort to delay or prevent certifying that Joe Biden legitimately won the election for President.
Only Mr. Staats knows why he chooses to challenge the results of the election that he won, or why he continues to say and do things that perpetuate the Big Lie and promote division among his constituents when he knows the truth.
It’s not Pennsylvania’s elections that lack integrity.
Brian Reimers, Quakertown
The IRAs Protecting Our Future
Whether intentional or not, the initials for the Individual Retirement Account and the Inflation Reduction Act are the same, and both laws have a common purpose concerning the future. One is meant to help secure a financial future for millions of Americans. The other is to help secure the climate future for the planet and for billions of current and future human beings. Both represent investments, and both should be embraced by all parties. The former has universal support. The latter did not earn even a single Republican vote in the US Senate, despite wide bipartisan support from American citizens. Shame on Republicans for their attempts to hold the planet hostage. By all rights voters should hold them all accountable and make them pay the price. The only question is whether voters will remember Republican malfeasance when they have the opportunity to make their election choices this November.
Joe Sundeen, Lower Makefield
Who Are the Elite?
Skepticism of elitism is an important aspect of democracy. It ‘s also essentially American. It’s no surprise, then, that GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano’s anti-elitist rhetoric and “everyman” attitude and mannerisms sound reassuring.
However, attacks on the “elite” are often attacks on experts – those who have authoritative knowledge or skills in a given field.Democracy doesn’t require that we diminish expertise. To the contrary, it’s wise for us to take counsel in the knowledge and experience of professionals—and to recognize when anti-expertise and anti-intellectualism are being sold under the guise of anti-elitism.
True elitism is disproportionate power given to a small group of individuals with undue influence or unearned authority. The wealthiest 5% of Americans control 65% of our nation’s wealth; the wealthiest 1% of Americans control 31% of the wealth. Wealth equals power—power to finance think-tanks and foundations that influence our elected leaders, power to create “model legislation” written by moneyed special interests and handed off to legislators, power to promote policies that impact the health, safety and well-being of ordinary people.
While Doug Mastriano undermines scientists, educators, and medical professionals, he promotes policies that benefit the true elite. He promotes corporate tax cuts that shift the burden to workers. He supports the reduction or elimination of corporate accountability to workers, consumers, and the public at large. He opposes raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to a modest $9.50—and openly proposes legislation that would weaken organized labor in Pennsylvania.
Doug Mastriano is the elite’s candidate for Pennsylvania governor.
Patty Satalia, State College
