POLS ON THE STREET: Cortés Says Some Recounts Are Ruled out

by Joe Shaheeli

FRESH FROM the North Pole (via Bridge & Pratt), Santa Claus & Mrs. Claus emerge from 15th Street Market-Frankford Station to kick off the Christmas season by greeting Mayor Jim Kenney and three enthusiastic Claus fans, L-R, Jashiya Gary, Niyae Cannady and Tyrei Rogers. Photo by Wendell Douglas

We always thought Green Party candidates had a mission of sorts, but also wondered if they’d do better completing it if they supported major-party candidates.

But with Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s efforts to rewrite election history by the presidential results in three states, we know now she has no sense of what makes the political process tick, or of how elections are conducted.

Otherwise, she would not have included Pennsylvania in that trio.

Here is why: The results of the presidential election did not trigger Pennsylvania’s automatic recount statute because the margin of victory was so high.

With 100% of the precincts reporting, Trump defeated Secretary Clinton by 1.17% (a margin of victory of 70,638 votes) – more than double the threshold for an automatic recount. Dr. Stein was defeated by 47.98% by President-Elect Trump, and as such it is clear that she did not have a good-faith basis to challenge the results.

It is interesting to note Pennsylvania Republicans realized a net gain of 318,585 new registrations between since Election Day 2015.

In total, 110,264 Democrats switched to the Republican Party since Jan. 1 of this year, compared to fewer than 46,000 Republican-to-Democrat switchers.

Four counties that voted for Obama in 2012 switched and voted for Trump in 2016, following the statewide pattern of voters moving to the Republican Party. For example, the Luzerne County GOP gained more than 11 times as many new voter registrations as its Democratic counterpart from Election Day 2015 to Election Day 2016 (11,759 GOP registrations to 1,051 Democrat registrations).

Stein is not at this point asking for a recount, however. In essence, she is asking the entire election be voided on grounds of systematic flaws which she must prove in court rather than to the Pennsylvania Dept. of State, which is under the tutelage of veteran administrator Pedro Cortés.

For its part, DOS issued a statement that it “is working to gather information from the 67 counties regarding their progress in certifying election returns. We’ve learned that many counties have completed their certification, thereby closing the five-day window to petition at the county level for a recount. DOS is also providing guidance to the counties on the process for handling recount petitions. We are aware of petitions filed in Berks, Bucks, Centre, Montgomery, and Philadelphia. However, we are not aware of how many have been filed in each county. We have been working to gather that information from the counties. Because the Department is not the filing agency, we are relying on reports from the counties.”

THE MEN of City Council, including Bobby Henon, put on a fashion show in the Vault at Del Frisco’s to benefit the nonprofit organization MenzFit, which provides presentable business wear for returning citizens and other men to wear for job interviews. The judges? The women of City Council, including Cindy Bass, Maria Quiñones Sánchez and Blondell Reynolds Brown.

Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt noted his office received a number of calls questioning the reliability of the city’s voting machines. He stated, “The voting machines used in Philadelphia are stand-alone devices and aren’t vulnerable to hacking. They aren’t connected to the internet, or anything else, for that matter, other than an electrical outlet in the wall. The number of votes cast for each candidate is captured on each individual voting machine, and the vote totals are extracted by removing a cartridge containing the same results that is read into our central reporting system. In addition, we conduct an audit of the results in every election prior to certification, as required by the Pennsylvania Election Code, to confirm that the number of votes cast (and captured) on each of these individual voting machines matches the electronic results tabulated by our central reporting system.”

What is important to remember, as mentioned in an earlier column, is noncitizens did vote in this election and there is nothing in place to stop that from happening.

A Pew study from 2012 found 24 million voter-registration records in the United States, or about 1 in 8, were “significantly inaccurate or no longer valid.”

The Pew study further found “1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters,” that “12 million records contain an incorrect address,” and that “2.75 million people have registrations in more than one state.”

However, there is no evidence that these discrepancies result in systematic vote fraud in our times. Voter-registration data are inherently messy, because people are messy – both the people who register to vote and the people who maintain these records.

Untermeyer Will Challenge DA
Michael Untermeyer, who ran against Seth Williams for District Attorney as a Republican standard-bearer in 2007, intends to do so again, but this time as a Democrat. He’s learned the pragmatic fact Democratic candidates for the past 60 years normally outscore their Republican challengers in citywide elections. So he will become the third candidate to challenge District Attorney in the May 16 Democratic primary.
Joe Khan is running and Rich Negrin is expected to announce.

State SC Veon Decision a Major Slap at Ethics Law

Former Democratic State Rep. Mike Veon, who has continued to defend himself against political-corruption charges, has won a favorable ruling from the State Supreme Court.

It threw out his 2012 sentence for using a nonprofit to channel state grants into building his political brand in Beaver County. It also removed his $135,000 in restitution and fines.

Veon’s victory was based on his contention here was no “private pecuniary benefit” as established in Pennsylvania’s ethics law.

The ruling leaves other convictions against Veon in the Bonusgate case stand as well.

House Democratic Caucus spokesman Bill Patton said, “It appears to restore a common-sense standard that normal politics shouldn’t be criminalized. Advocacy for one’s district and constituents is a regular part of legislative work.”

That was a bipartisan sentiment, with a senior GOP staffer calling the decision a “full rebuke to the ethics overreach that was occurring in the Attorney General’s office.”

Veon did enjoy obvious political gains from the Beaver Initiative for Growth. Could that open the door to an appeal from former House leader State Rep. John Perzel of Philadelphia?

Pa. GOP Seeks Judicial Statewide Candidates
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania has announced it is encouraging all candidates for the State Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts to contact the party immediately for information on upcoming events. Starting in December, state party members have a series of meetings around the state that will allow candidates to meet grassroots activists and present their qualifications. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania’s Winter Meeting is scheduled for Feb. 3-4 at the Hershey Lodge.

Interested candidates should send a résumé or CV to Political Dir. Cody Harbaugh at charbaugh@pagop.org or call for more information (717) 234-4901.

Will There Be Ward Fights in Both Parties?
With the races for District Attorney and City Controller heading the primary ticket May 16 for both major parties, and since contention will surface only in the DA’s race, what may take center stage are the reorganization slates in every ward.

That’s when we’ll see if surfaced rumors will bear fruit with ward-leader challenges to at least the leadership in approximately a dozen Democratic wards, and possibly the same in Republican wards.

It’s that time when defeated primary legislative candidates begin to understand the important role of a ward leader in contributing to their defeat and decide to run slates of their own.

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