Welcome to Common Sense Weekly! This is the Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Almost Saw a Stolen Election
In the Pennsylvania Senate race, Democrats claimed they wanted to “count every vote.” What they really wanted was to count illegal votes in Democratic counties. With a 15,115-vote margin, Republican Dave McCormick defeated an organized effort by national Democrats to reverse his win over Sen. Bob Casey. If Mr. McCormick’s lead had been smaller, Democrats would still be trying to cook up ways to flip this election.
Under the Pennsylvania election code, ballots that lack a secrecy envelope, are unsigned, or are cast by an unregistered person are not to be counted. Any attempt to make them count is an attempt to break the law. The Democrats’ Pennsylvania playbook should be a warning to everyone who cares about accurate, lawful elections.
In Bucks County, the Democrat-run Board of Elections voted 2-1 along party lines to count mail-in ballots that weren’t dated or were incorrectly dated. Mr. McCormick sued and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Bucks County board’s decision on the merits. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro didn’t object as the board nullified state law, speaking out weakly only after the high court ruled.
McCormick Likely to Spur Economic Development in the Delaware Valley
Will Sen.-elect Dave McCormick be good for the Delaware Valley? The consensus is yes.
McCormick is part of a GOP surge across Pennsylvania last month, with voters electing former President Donald Trump, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, Auditor General Tim DeFoor, and electing York County District Attorney Dave Sunday the next attorney general.
During the campaign, McCormick visited various businesses in the Delaware Valley, promising to help them and pushing back against his opponent Sen. Bob Casey Jr.’s claims that greedy businesses, rather than excessive government spending, caused inflation.
Pennsylvania Progressing Along the Road to 'Getting Stuff Done'
There’s a lot of talk in Harrisburg about permitting reform and economic growth.
It’s bipartisan. It’s bicameral. And it's appealing to businesses of all shapes and sizes.
So, if Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro know all this to be true, why does the state still rank among the worst for bureaucratic red tape?
It seems that nothing is moving fast enough to attract companies to the commonwealth, even with well-intentioned reforms from the governor's office down through the Legislature. Instead of prioritizing regulatory rollbacks, officials have bet big on tax credits that don’t seem to be paying off.
How Government Unions Won in Wisconsin by Stacking Judicial Deck
Remember when impassioned protesters stormed a Capitol building and disrupted the democratic process?
No, not the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. I’m talking about the pro-union one that stormed the Wisconsin state Capitol on Feb. 21, 2011. More than a decade ago, hundreds of protesters charged into and occupied the state Capitol in Madison, fighting against the enactment of Act 10, Wisconsin’s sweeping and transformative labor reforms.
Nearly 14 years later, government unions and their activist network finally won a legal battle against Act 10. On Monday, a county judge ruled Act 10 unconstitutional, effectively reinstituting the law as it existed before 2011. To do so, the judge had to stiff-arm at least three prior court rulings on the same law involving the same legal principles from the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
It’s almost like the unions hand-selected the judge who decided this case. That’s not far off.
Governor Shapiro's bailout of SEPTA is fiscally irresponsible and demonstrates a lack of leadership. Read here to learn more.
