Pa. Republicans started their 'forensic investigation' of the 2020 election. It's still unclear what
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
After months of demands from former President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers on Thursday jump-started what theyre calling a forensic investigation of the 2020 election but they didnt detail how the review will actually work. State Sen. Cris Dush (R., Jefferson), chairman of the committee leading the review, said its aimed at determining whether Pennsylvania election law can be improved. This investigation is not about overturning the results of any election, as some would suggest, he said in remarks that opened an almost two-hour hearing. That horse is out of the barn, as far as this investigation is concerned.
But Dushs stated objective closely resembles the rationale GOP lawmakers gave for previous probes, including one led by a special panel formed by the top Senate Republican specifically to review the election and recommend changes to state law. For months, State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin) a pro-Trump firebrand and likely candidate for governor led the push for an investigation. But until late August, it was unclear whether GOP leaders would take up Trumps cause. Thats when Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) came out in favor of a review and ousted Mastriano from overseeing the probe.
Corman faced public pressure from Trump and Republicans in his district to conduct an investigation modeled off the monthslong partisan review in Arizona. Elections experts, including current and former GOP officials, have said the Arizona review failed to follow best practices, chased conspiracy theories, and made inaccurate findings that were quickly debunked. Republicans have said, including at Thursdays hearing, that their constituents are concerned about election integrity generally and the 2020 election in particular. But those concerns have been largely driven by Trumps lies about voter fraud and election rigging, which Republicans across Pennsylvania have echoed.
There is no evidence to support Trumps baseless claims of widespread fraud. Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes, multiple lawsuits challenging the election made no specific claims of fraud and were thrown out or otherwise failed, and county and state audits of the results found no issue with them. Dush did not refer to the inquiry as an audit Thursday, but Corman has told pro-Trump interviewers that he is committed to completing a full forensic audit. The scope of the inquiry remained unclear Thursday. Corman has said he wants to obtain voting records, machines, and other materials, in part to determine whether any ballots were cast in the name of dead people.
Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-republicans-2020-election-audit-20210909.html
Full headline: Pa. Republicans started their forensic investigation of the 2020 election. Its still unclear what that means.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
olegramps
(8,200 posts)I my most sincere wish is for the complete destruction of the Republican Party that has been transformed in to the Fascist Republican Party. It just that damn simple. Not complex or mystifying just a basic appeal to people with deep racist prejudices and the creation of a scapegoat. Its just Nazi Germany being replayed only with a different set of actors and scapegoats to blame for their delusions. They reek with hatred and ban together like vicious jackals to affix blame for their own inability to prepare themselves to be part of a of changing society that no longer has need for limited educated people to man the assembly lines.
They have relegated themselves to the scape heap as they grasp desperately to escape their eventual demise. Like a pack of zombies they are easy prey for exploitation and can be easily convinced, such as in the present situation of the this international epidemic, to refuse to be vaccinated with a life saving drug and choose to not only put themselves in jeopardy but their entire family including their own children.
It is fully justified that those who have listened to basic facts and have been vaccinated should be actually angry with these people for their stupidity and take the necessary and justifiable action to protect themselves and their children for these misguided victims of their own ignorance. It is past time for the majority of citizens to stop any accommodation with a minority of people who continue to use their claim to rights to not comply to actually put others in danger.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)help but immediately draw parallel between Dush and the common
dirty word
gab13by13
(20,864 posts)promising to only serve 2 terms, that was many years ago, so it appears that he is perfectly suited to run a sham audit, he is a liar. He even lied about saying he said he would only serve 2 terms.
My local paper reported they are requesting voters to call in and report fraud and irregularities that they witnessed the last election.
He isn't my Rep. but he is next door.
I posted at least a dozen times here about why our DOJ didn't intervene in Arizona when a sham Cyber Ninja "company with no office or answering machine" was allowed to break federal election laws? I predicted that "these people" would move on to other states since no one was held accountable in Arizona. The excuse was that DOJ didn't have anyone leading the civil rights division, well we have Kristen Clarke in charge now and I would like to see her name in the news a bit more often.
lordsummerisle
(4,649 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,310 posts)By BOB CHRISTIE September 1, 2021
PHOENIX (AP) Lawyers representing the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate in a review of 2020 election results in the states most populous county released a slew of communications between GOP lawmakers, their audit liasions and others under a court order obtained by a watchdog group that is fighting for transparency in the election recount. Among the communications were text messages from a top campaign official of former President Donald Trump to Senate liaison Randy Pullen asking where to send $175,000 to help pay for the partisan recount. Former Trump campaign chief operating officer and ex-Arizona state Treasurer Jeff DeWit also asked Pullen if another group raising funds for the audit was legitimate, saying Trump asking.
The Senate records were not complete. Senate attorney Kory Langhofer told a judge Wednesday that it withheld nearly 3,000 records because they contained legislative or attorney-client communications he says are privileged. Other records sought by American Oversight remain the subject of a court battle. A judge had also ordered the Senates contractor, including the Florida company that is overseeing the audit, to produce its records. The Arizona Court of Appeals quickly upheld that order, ruling that Cyber Ninjas and other contractors were performing a core government function and were subject to public records law. But last week, the Arizona Supreme Court put Judge Michael Kemps order on hold at least until Sept. 14 while it reviews the case.
American Oversights attorney, Roopali Desai, told the judge Wednesday that she would be pushing to have the court reject Langholfers legislative privilege argument, saying the judge had already rejected that in earlier rulings. The more than 20,000 records released late Tuesday night included communications of Republican Senate President Karen Fann, Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Warren Peterson, Pullen, the Senates other liaison to the contractors, Ken Bennett, as well as GOP activists and legislators, lobbyists and the press. They include text messages, emails and even a video of former President Ronald Reagan saying the people oversee the government. DeWit declined to comment to The Associated Press Wednesday on his offer of cash to fund the review.
Late Tuesday, the told the Arizona Capitol Times that he wasnt referring to Trump personally but to the broader Trump orbit. DeWit worked closely with Trump on both his campaigns, rising from state chairman to oversight of all his campaign operations. Other exchanges included one between Fann and Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward where the Senate president questioned why she was using the Senate audit to raise money for the party when it wasnt involved in funding it. The Senate agreed to pay $150,000 plus the cost of facility rental for the audit, but it ended up costing far more. Partisan fundraisers have contributed nearly $5.7 million to help pay to recount all 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots and examine voting machines, computers and other equipment used in the election. The unprecedented partisan exercise was prompted by former President Donald Trumps loss in the state and his contention without evidence that he lost in Arizona and other battleground states because of fraud.
https://apnews.com/article/elections-senate-elections-election-recounts-87a4805f495f9d4cfddf5827429ab105
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,788 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,367 posts)Make sure you send the 'evidence' to some mystery lab in Montana.
BlueIdaho
(13,582 posts)And remember TFG gets his cut first.
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)to use said doubt to pass laws whos real goal is to restrict the ability for Democrats to gain as many seats in elections as possible.
Skittles
(152,964 posts)it's bullshit to feed to the cult to make them keep thinking there are "election irregularities"
Midnight Writer
(21,547 posts)I have an instinct for when something is phony.
For the right price, I would handle the ballots for them and tell them if they are legit or not.
I'm pretty expensive, of course. They may have to tap the pillow guy for funds.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,539 posts)I'm sure TFG has figured out a way to line his pockets with hundreds of thousands of his supporters' hard-earned dollars as he sends out fundraising letters telling them their donations are needed to "Stop the Steal."
gab13by13
(20,864 posts)that our DOJ didn't stop the Cyber Ninjas in Arizona who broke federal election laws. I said this would happen again in other states and it did. Pa. is full of Magats so those people will be bolstered in their beliefs that the election was stolen. Pa. can do some more partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression now that there is the appearance that the Pa. election was also stolen from MF45.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)I have sent Emails to my representatives. I demand they stop wasting my tax money.
bucolic_frolic
(42,675 posts)The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)The bridge on Allentown road and Butter creek road was rebuilt as a one lane bridge a few years back. Why this state bridge on a major north south road was rebuilt as a one lane bridge is a large question in the community. However now the bridge is closed again for engineering review?
State republicans can't keep the roads open but are able to waste my tax dollars on another useless investigation of the last presidential election?
How about you do your job and fix our roads properly.
Pa. has a republican controlled legislature and a Democratic in the governor's house.
BumRushDaShow
(127,310 posts)I am in Philly and I expect you've seen what the storm did here to the Schuylkill (let alone the area creeks) and I think the heaviest rain was actually up your way.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)We have no information as to what is wrong with the bridge or even if Ida was the cause of the closure. My rain gauge overflowed after 6 inches. Man that is a lot of water. The bridge is a stone arched bridge. I do not have any civil engineering education but I looked at the bridge and I do not see any damage. My guess is that after a storm like Ida the state goes out and checks the bridges and found something.
There are beaver in the creek and I think the storm even washed out their engineering.
This creek flows into the Schuylkill. Do you think anyone else in the country can pronounce Schuylkill? That there is a mouthful. You would think the name is Native American but it is Dutch.
BumRushDaShow
(127,310 posts)and I was at the southern fringe of the heaviest rain. South of me had less but many of those impacted to the south were flooded out by the Schuylkill... and as I have posted before (probably too many times) what the Schuylkill flooding did to I-676 (Vine Street Expressway) downtown, going from this -
to this -
They said that the water had risen to upwards of 15 ft in the roadway.
And what is worse about "Schuylkill" is not so much pronouncing it but spelling it.
One of the concerns about some of these bridges, particularly after flooding, is the integrity of the banks where those portions of the roadway sit.
If this is the bridge you are talking about -
I can see where it would probably need some kind of maintenance and a check of the banks. It's hard to deal with these old field-stone style bridges.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)The bridge was completely rebuilt a few years back.It was taken down all the way to the arch and the arch was supported underneath with cement and steel. You can see the steel. Then rebar was installed on the deck and cement was placed. You can see the parting line in the stone work. That is how far it was taken apart. The water flows out the side of the bridge that is pictured. The beaver live on the other side.
This is a major two lane north south road. The state probably spent millions and rebuilt a one lane bridge. In the afternoon and morning the traffic is bad. One car at a time. The traffic volume will over take this bridge and more money will need to be spent.
Fact is that if the old bridge would have been pointed and sealed it would not have started falling down. In Europe they have stone bridges that are hundreds of years old. But they must be maintained.
Yea 676 is nothing but a concrete canal. You drive down into it and drive up out of it. It is going to fill up. I wonder if they have pumps in there.
BumRushDaShow
(127,310 posts)and with the more traffic they are getting and extreme weather that can impact them (freeze/thaw), it's critical that they are watched carefully.
And yup, they have pumps on I-676 and apparently one of them (on the westbound side) not only completely failed with the deluge, but the backup power for it also failed.
This is the company that recently installed the ones there and on I-95 (in 2018) - https://www.pennoni.com/insights/new-pump-stations-process-65000-gpm/
They were able to deal with the rain from the remnants of Hurricane Isaias last year but Ida did the I-676 one in (am guessing the entire room with all the electrical and other mechanical equipment, was completely filled with water once the power got cut off along with backup power).
The pump stations look like this -