Hits and misses
MISS: It seems preposterous that one of the top Republicans in the Pennsylvania State Senate is trying to delay counties from purchasing new electronic voting machines. For years, there have been concerns over the lack of a paper trail that can be checked and rechecked during recounts in close elections. But here is state Sen. John Gordner, the Republican whip, pushing back against Gov. Tom Wolf’s requirement that all 67 counties purchase new voting machines before 2020. The current machines are outdated – all of them are more than a decade old – and reaching the end of their expected lifespans. The biggest problem facing the process is that the state has been dragging its feet in certifying new machines that include paper trails. It’s time that the state gets its act together and begins making numerous types of machines available for the counties to purchase. The stakes are too high to let old machines with no paper backup determine the fate of our democracy.
HIT: Not all that long ago, the prospect of a Gov. Kathleen Kane or a Sen. Kathleen Kane seemed plausible. But now Kane, Pennsylvania’s former attorney general, is an inmate at Montgomery County Correctional Facility. She finally started serving a prison sentence this week, two years after she was convicted for perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice for leaking grand jury information and lying about it. Kane was incarcerated after finally exhausting all of her appeals, and is set to serve 10 to 23 months behind bars. If she had started serving her sentence shortly after her conviction in 2016, she would now be free. Kevin R. Steele, Montgomery County’s district attorney, said of Kane: “As the jail door shuts her in, a strong message is being sent that no one is above the law. No one. Not even the chief law enforcement officer of the commonwealth.”
MISS: In August, more than 270 priests were named in a shocking grand jury report that detailed the sexual abuse of children across the commonwealth over several decades. Eleven former and current priests had their names redacted, however, saying they did not have enough time to defend themselves. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with them this week, voting 6-1 that, if their names were made public, they would be denied their right to protect their reputation. But the decision by the court denies the public and parishioners valuable knowledge about whether potential predators are in their churches and communities. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro made a valuable point when he said after the ruling, “No one victim’s truth is any less important than another and no criminal’s conduct any less loathsome.”
MISS: Shaid Shafi is the kind of person Republicans should welcome to America and their party. A Pakistani trauma surgeon, he became a naturalized citizen in 2009, and is the vice chairman of the Republican Party of Tarrant County, Texas, which contains Fort Worth. However, some of Shafi’s fellow Republicans want him removed from the post because he is a Muslim. The leader of this effort has claimed that Shafi is attempting to infiltrate the party at the behest of the Muslim Brotherhood, is in cahoots with terrorists and wants to bring sharia law to the Lone Star State. All without a shred of proof. Thankfully, many of Shafi’s fellow Republicans have stood up for him and expressed embarrassment at these shenanigans. It’s disheartening that this kind of religious bigotry can still be expressed in 2018.