It’s October, the time of year for autumn colors, football, Halloween, and November elections. This year, we vote for local and county level officials and judges. We also will choose whether to retain justices/judges at the county level and above for another 10-year term. These “off-year” elections are typically sleepy affairs; however, this year is different.
Many voters received post cards or have seen ads from PACs like Commonwealth Partners, backed by Pennsylvania’s richest man, billionaire Jeff Yass. Jeff Yass is trying to trick voters with a barrage of misleading and false information about the retention of our Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices. He says we should “term limit” the Supreme Court. We already do this. In Pennsylvania, we elect Supreme Court Justices and other judges to 10-year terms. After each term is complete, we vote “yes” to retain the judge for another decade on the bench or “no” to end their term.
Watchdog reporter, Katie Bernard, describes these mailers in her Sept. 28 Philadelphia Inquirer article “A ‘brazen’ Jeffrey Yass-backed mailer suggests the Pa. Supreme Court created the congressional map it actually threw out.” One of Yass’s mailers claims the Court gerrymandered the congressional districts to help Democrats win and includes an image of a “map with wildly shaped districts circled in red.” Despite what Jeff Yass says, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices prevented partisan gerrymandering of Pennsylvania’s congressional map. The truth is, our Supreme Court threw out as unconstitutional the gerrymandered map put forth by Republican legislators and replaced it with a map of representative districts.
LISTEN: The Critical Importance of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Election, With Garen Meguerian
Do not let these ultraconservative billionaires use their riches to trick YOU. Our elected justices voted to protect everyone’s rights, adopting districts where the voters choose their representatives, rather than letting representatives choose their voters.
The non-partisan PA Bar Association Recommends or Highly Recommends electing or retaining ALL of the following the judges:
Vote to retain the three PA Supreme Court justices: Hon. Christine Donohue, Hon. Kevin Dougherty, and Hon. David Wecht.
For the Pennsylvania Superior Court, vote to retain Hon. Alice Dubow and elect Hon. Brandon P. Neuman.
For the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, vote to retain Hon. Michael Wojcik and elect Hon. Stella Tsai.
For the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, vote to retain Hon. Michael Wojcik and elect Hon. Stella Tsai.
To preserve our freedoms and to protect the government services that we pay for, we need to elect Democrats to the judiciary and county and local offices. By electing Democrats, we can ensure that all votes are counted. We want government to work for us, not billionaires.
INTERVIEW: Democrat Joe Khan Hopes to Bring Change to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
In addition to the judicial races, the race for Bucks County Sheriff is particularly important. The duties of the Sheriff’s office are typically routine and noncontroversial such as providing courthouse security, enforcing court orders, transporting prisoners, and executing warrants. Our current Sheriff, Republican Fred Harran, suggests that the sheriff is the “chief law enforcement officer of the county” pushing well outside the scope of his responsibilities. Without authorization, Sheriff Harran entered into a Section 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), using our county tax dollars to advance the MAGA anti-immigration agenda. These actions undermine due process rights and break the trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, making law enforcement more difficult. His actions also come with significant cost. Harran and the county are being sued for his actions, and Bucks County taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.
Fred Harran is also pushing a county-wide Rapid DNA Project, allowing all 39 police departments in our county to obtain and record DNA samples, even from people accused of routine traffic violations. Unfortunately, since Fred Harran and the County Sheriff’s office have not focused on their primary responsibilities, under Sheriff Harran, as many as 7,200 warrants remain unserved, according to the Sheriff’s official website.
Danny Ceisler for Bucks County Sheriff – Danny has dedicated his life to public service and is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. His service as a military intelligence officer earned him a Bronze Star for “beyond exceptional” performance supporting over ninety special operations missions. His service at the Pentagon and in Harrisburg both involved making government agencies better serve the public. As an attorney, he represented victims of sexual assault and police officers and veterans in civil litigation resulting from harm from faulty equipment. As Sheriff, Danny will promote public safety by keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and the mentally ill, which will protect our law enforcement officers and the public. By training 100% of the Sheriff’s Deputies to manage veterans in crisis, both our Deputies and the public will be safer. Unlike our current Sheriff, Danny will focus on making the office more efficient and thus better prepared to serve Bucks County.
Please vote in the upcoming election, your vote is your voice.
