LETTER: Selective outrage?
In her April 15 essay, “Wolf, Shapiro Fail on Amendments,” state Senator Camera Bartolotta expresses outrage that the Pennsylvania Department of State under Gov. Tom Wolf has approved the placement of Republican-generated proposed amendments to the state Constitution on the ballot in a manner that is skewed to encourage voters to reject the proposals. An objective reading of the amendments would cause one to conclude that her point is valid.
I wonder, though, where the senator’s outrage was and why there was no essay written when her state Senate and House colleagues sought to overturn the result of the Nov. 3 election, which has been characterized by officials on both sides of the aisle as the most safe and secure in our history.
Sen. Bartolotta was on the infamous call during a meeting in York that included Rudolph Giuliani with Donald Trump calling in. The purpose of the meeting was to try to find a way to overturn the decisive Pennsylvania vote for Joe Biden just as Trump sought to do in Georgia, where he pressured the secretary of state there to “find” him the votes he needed to win.
It is disgraceful that a state senator who has a wide level of respect as a rational and reasonable leader would have any type of association with such dirty dealings, serving to dignify the event. The senator knew perfectly well at that time who the bona fide winner of the presidential election was.
Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who represents several counties in central Pennsylvania, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor next year. He was the undisputed ringleader in the dastardly effort to throw out the votes of all Pennsylvanians. He attended the Jan. 6 pre-insurrection rally in which Trump sicced a murderous mob on the Capitol. You can bet that if, God forbid, Sen. Mastriano were the Republican nominee and faced the Honorable Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Sen. Bartolotta would offer her unqualified support to the anti-democratic reactionary.
Finally, Bartolotta derisively refers to “the governor’s (coronavirus) lockdown.” Lockdown? I must have missed it. No one has ever told me that I did not have the right to go outside, to walk wherever I wish, to travel in my vehicle to wherever I wanted, and supermarkets, pharmacies, and hospitals have remained open throughout the pandemic. Restaurants have been open, albeit at times being able to offer only take-out and delivery services.
We know what Sen. Bartolotta would be saying if Democrats had sought to reverse the results in state races which the Republicans legitimately won. She would garner more respect if her outrage was not selective and hyper-partisan.
Oren Spiegler
Peters Township