Buckle up Pennsylvania taxpayers! You've been nominated to foot bill for yet another sham GOP audit
Kerry Eleveld
Arizona's sham audit has gone so stunningly well that Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers plan to launch one themselves. Apparently trashing election equipment and wasting millions in taxpayer dollars on an effort marred by incompetence and GOP infighting is looking pretty enticing. The fact that the people leading the bogus Arizona audit are now COVID-positive and can't even deliver the final report on time is just icing on the cake.
Sign us up! Republican State Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, citing no actual evidence, said GOP lawmakers are pushing for a "full forensic investigation," clearly avoiding the term "audit" since Arizona's has turned into such a debacle.
Corman simply doesn't trust the outcome of the 2020 election. Call it a sixth sense, a fever dream, a craven attempt to score political points, Corman told a right-wing media type, “I don’t necessarily have faith in the results ... I think that there were many problems in our election that we need to get to the bottom of."
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Of course, when Donald Trump's “elite strike force” tried to legally challenge Pennsylvania’s 2020 results last year, they got laughed out of court.
“One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption,” U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote in a blistering ruling on Trump’s attempt to invalidate nearly 7 million votes. “That has not happened.”
But not to be dissuaded by the facts, Pennsylvania Republicans plan to launch hearings into the matter as early as this week, according to The Washington Post.
The Keystone State effort follows Wisconsin Republicans’ attempt to keep Trump's Big Lie alive with their own bogus probe. Republican State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he recently apprised Trump of their efforts to "restore full integrity and trust in elections." Now Reince Priebus, Trump's former chief of staff, has announced Wisconsin lawmakers will shell out "about $680,000, at least to start," in taxpayer dollars to fund the probe. “At least to start” being the operative phrase. Remember, Arizona's so-called auditors trashed all the equipment they examined and now Maricopa County is suing the GOP-led Senate for $2.8 million.
Trump's legal challenge to the 2020 results was also thoroughly rejected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
But Pennsylvania taxpayers better buckle up. GOP lawmakers are planning an extensive conspiracy-driven adventure into the heart of Trump's never never land.
By his own account, Corman has set "no ceiling" for what is sure to become a costly misadventure.
“This audit is intended to go much further than previous reviews mandated by state law, which have focused on whether the reported counts are ‘accurate,’” Corman wrote in a statement Monday. “The goal of the Senate’s investigation will not be to conduct a recount, but to find any flaws in the system that could be exploited by bad actors and take action to correct those flaws through legislative changes to our Election Code.”
Nothing screams fiscal responsibility quite like launching an entirely baseless probe into a matter that has already been scrutinized by election officials, disproven by recounts, and summarily tossed out of court.
Kerry Eleveld
Arizona's sham audit has gone so stunningly well that Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers plan to launch one themselves. Apparently trashing election equipment and wasting millions in taxpayer dollars on an effort marred by incompetence and GOP infighting is looking pretty enticing. The fact that the people leading the bogus Arizona audit are now COVID-positive and can't even deliver the final report on time is just icing on the cake.
Sign us up! Republican State Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, citing no actual evidence, said GOP lawmakers are pushing for a "full forensic investigation," clearly avoiding the term "audit" since Arizona's has turned into such a debacle.
Corman simply doesn't trust the outcome of the 2020 election. Call it a sixth sense, a fever dream, a craven attempt to score political points, Corman told a right-wing media type, “I don’t necessarily have faith in the results ... I think that there were many problems in our election that we need to get to the bottom of."
........
Of course, when Donald Trump's “elite strike force” tried to legally challenge Pennsylvania’s 2020 results last year, they got laughed out of court.
“One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption,” U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote in a blistering ruling on Trump’s attempt to invalidate nearly 7 million votes. “That has not happened.”
But not to be dissuaded by the facts, Pennsylvania Republicans plan to launch hearings into the matter as early as this week, according to The Washington Post.
The Keystone State effort follows Wisconsin Republicans’ attempt to keep Trump's Big Lie alive with their own bogus probe. Republican State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he recently apprised Trump of their efforts to "restore full integrity and trust in elections." Now Reince Priebus, Trump's former chief of staff, has announced Wisconsin lawmakers will shell out "about $680,000, at least to start," in taxpayer dollars to fund the probe. “At least to start” being the operative phrase. Remember, Arizona's so-called auditors trashed all the equipment they examined and now Maricopa County is suing the GOP-led Senate for $2.8 million.
Trump's legal challenge to the 2020 results was also thoroughly rejected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
But Pennsylvania taxpayers better buckle up. GOP lawmakers are planning an extensive conspiracy-driven adventure into the heart of Trump's never never land.
By his own account, Corman has set "no ceiling" for what is sure to become a costly misadventure.
“This audit is intended to go much further than previous reviews mandated by state law, which have focused on whether the reported counts are ‘accurate,’” Corman wrote in a statement Monday. “The goal of the Senate’s investigation will not be to conduct a recount, but to find any flaws in the system that could be exploited by bad actors and take action to correct those flaws through legislative changes to our Election Code.”
Nothing screams fiscal responsibility quite like launching an entirely baseless probe into a matter that has already been scrutinized by election officials, disproven by recounts, and summarily tossed out of court.
