State Dems call out GOP

Party leaders slam opposition for promoting Trump’s election claims

In conjunction with the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Democratic leaders in the General Assembly called out Republican colleagues for promoting the ex-president's claims of a stolen election, while asking for an investigation into their potential involvement with the Capitol insurrection Jan. 6, in a virtual news conference Wednesday hosted by their chambers' campaign committees.

"Republicans have spread falsehoods about our elections, protected conspiracy theorists in their ranks and stoked fears about a stolen election which ultimately led to violence," stated a news conference advisory that cited a letter signed by 63 Republican lawmakers, asking the state's congressional delegation to object to Pennsylvania's electoral votes for now-President Joe Biden. "It's on the Republican Party to root out members of their caucus who contributed to the lies that caused January 6th," the advisory stated.

The Democrats need to move on and focus on matters important to Pennsylvanians, according to state Reps. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona, and Jim Gregory, R-Hollidaysburg, who signed that letter, along with state Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair.

The Democrats shouldn't imagine they can abridge lawmakers' First Amendment rights, Ward said.

The Democrats are reviving the Jan. 6 "news cycle" to distract constituents from the failures of the Wolf administration connected with the coronavirus vaccine rollout and other matters, Gregory said.

Gregory added that his caucus is focused on getting people inoculated, kids back to school, people back to work and businesses fully open -- and that Democrats should join in.

He's looking forward, while "they're trying to drag me back," Gregory said.

Trump is an obsession for Democrats, according to Schmitt.

"He's in their heads," Schmitt said. "He owns them."

For their sake and the sake of their constituents, Democrats need to ditch the Trump fixation and quit wasting time trying someone who's no longer president and who's bound to be acquitted -- and quit trying to splinter the Republican Party, Schmitt said.

It's her prerogative to speak her mind, Ward said. "They are trying to handcuff me with my constituents," she added.

The object of Wednesday's consternation is hardly trivial, according to Democrats.

The Republican attack on the validity of an election that 60 court cases ultimately validated has undermined the basis of U.S. government -- the assumption that "we all shake hands on election night -- let the better man or woman take the title," said state Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery.

That attack was a "weaponized, concerted effort to spread lies and to sow division," Bradford said.

It was anything but the norm, he said.

He was astounded when Trump won the presidency in 2016, but it never crossed his mind to "undermine" the results, he said.

There was discussion during the news conference of the State Government Committee's ongoing hearings on the recent election, hearings that make sense, because mail ballots were new last year, and there were lots of complications and inconsistencies with guidance and with the application of election law, according to Gregory.

A postmortem evaluation is legitimate, Bradford said.

"But it presupposes an honest debate," he said.

The Republican attack on the recent election results have allowed for no such honest debate, he said.

"There have to be consequences," Bradford said. "At least a recognition that they lied."

Under normal circumstances, party debates are based on legitimate differences in perspective, said state Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia.

"This ain't that," Harris said. "This is a whole 'nother level; you're chipping away at the foundation of our democracy."

As for those who "actually believe this stuff, that's a whole other conversation," Harris said.

The Republicans have been pouring "poison into our body politic," Bradford said.

"If we are to move on from this shameful episode, we need to hold Republicans accountable," said state Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-Delaware.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.