Author: LPChesco

The West Chester Borough Council continues to enact mandates that not only epitomize government overreach, but now they are denying hard-working Borough staff the opportunity for gainful employment.  On October 20, 2021, Council voted unanimously to mandate the Covid-19 vaccine as a condition of employment for all Borough employees. Most municipalities have not taken this draconian step, including our own county. The Borough employs a total of 126 staff, including 43 police officers who are members of the Brotherhood of West Chester Police union and 40 staff from Public Works, Dispatch, and Parking who are members of the AFSCME union.

When Council voted to approve the vaccine requirement, they were aware of objections from both staff and the unions.  The contract between the Brotherhood of West Chester Police and the Borough requires arbitration for this type of change in employment conditions, and Council knew that they would need to complete that process before full implementation of the mandate. Therefore, on December 31, any non-police union staff who had not provided documentation of vaccination was placed on unpaid administrative leave for 30 days.  There are currently 5 Borough staff on unpaid leave, and they will be terminated on January 31 if they fail to present proof of vaccination.  It is unknown how many police officers will fall into the same category after the completion of the arbitration process.

At the October Council meeting, I stated my objections to the mandate and voiced concerns about the expense of defending this requirement.  One council person responded that the mandate would actually save money because employees would not get as sick, and the medical insurance costs would drop. When I requested for the legal expenses related to the vaccine mandate, I was instructed to submit a Right to Know request.   Through that request, it was shared that the Borough had spent $14,500 in legal fees from September through November 11, and the arbitration process had not even begun yet. With over $14,000 spent in two months, it seems reasonable to estimate that legal fees could easily reach $50,000 or more especially during the arbitration process.

For a Borough that had to cut costs, programs, and capital projects to balance the budget, it is simply irresponsible to waste tax-payers dollars to require a vaccine.  This mandate is reminiscent of a similar one passed in the Fall of 2020, when residents were told that they could not have more than 10 people in their homes at one time and they were required to wear cloth masks while outside. Both offenses carried up to a $300 fine.  While that mandate represented government overreach, those bothered by it simply ignored it because no one was actually enforcing it, and it expired after 90 days. It amounted to nothing more than political theater.

That political stunt in 2020 paved the way for a new move to take away individual rights and freedoms. With this vaccine mandate, hard-working employees are going to be denied the right to support their families and put food on their tables.  And the taxpayers of West Chester are going to foot the bill for Council’s “reign of error.”

Earlier this month, three new Council members were sworn into office.  It is my sincere hope that the newly elected Council members will recognize the error of this decision and work to reverse it.  The new Council can vote to end the mandate, allow everyone to get back to work, and save thousands of dollars in the process. It is imperative that we end this level of government overreach. How many freedoms will be taken away from our Borough residents before it goes too far?  In my opinion, Council crossed that line in Fall 2020, and it is only getting worse. When will the reign of error end?

If you have voted in Pennsylvania, anyone can view your personal information including your name, gender, date of birth, and date you registered to vote. It tells if you are an active or inactive voter, and when you last changed voter status or party affiliation. Also, your residential and mailing addresses, and your polling place is included. It details the last date you voted, your school, state legislature, and congressional district. It contains your voter history, and the date that record was last changed. Anyone can read this – It just costs $20 on the Pa. Department of State web site.

Recently the Pa. senate’s Intergovernmental Operations Committee’s presented arguments for their subpoena to the Commonwealth Court for election processes as well as additional personal information about you. The committee seeks details including guidance issued by the Dept of State to county election officials, including training materials and directives. That sounds reasonable. But in addition, it demands the release to the Committee of voter data including some things that are already publicly available and some that are not. They want your driver’s license and the last 4 digits of your social security number. This is supposedly in the cause of election integrity. But not to worry. The politicians assure us that this additional personal data will be kept “secret” by them.

How many times will we need to receive apologies from companies and institutions because they suffered a data break-in containing our personal information? In 2021 alone, millions of “secure” data files were stolen and sold on the ‘dark web’. It is becoming clear that the only sure way of protecting personal data is to not provide it.

Given the challenges of data security faced by even the most sophisticated data protection firms, why would we create the tempting target for identity thieves of a single store of personal data? This database would contain your name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number and partial social security numbers – all in one convenient-to-download file. Driver’s license numbers and partial social security numbers, we would argue, are unnecessary for the Committee’s stated purpose of auditing the election.  There is already significant individual voter data available publicly.

This committee demand is an unreasonable waste of resources and a dangerous exposure of voter’s personal information. Hopefully, the court will see the problems inherent in this plan and act to protect the public from yet another exposure of personal information.

Thanks to Libertarian Congressional candidate Liz Terwilliger for this blog post!

Few elements of democracy are as important as free elections. The belief that the election process can be trusted to be expertly managed, and fair is at the heart of our governing process. Trusting the voting process ensures belief that our political leadership was indeed chosen by the participating voters.

Lately, it seems that every major election has been challenged, with calls for recounts or audits to prove the integrity of the vote. The best-known call for audits came from Republicans after the last presidential vote. Democrat Stacey Abrams has not conceded her loss in the Georgia governor race since 2018. Today we are hearing calls for an election audit here in Chester County.

One reason why voters are critical of the modern election system is that it is more complex than in the past. People trust what they can observe. Going into a well-managed polling station and casting their vote, then seeing a single posted result, often within hours of the polls closing. Absentee voting was rare and had little impact on major elections. As mail-in and drop box voting became a larger part of the results, officials must pay attention to dates votes are received, drop boxes need to be watched and carefully emptied. This is only the 2^nd time this type of mail-in ballot was used. Unlike in-person votes, this examination takes place without the voter being present.

To make matters worse, Chester County experienced problems with damaged ballots, and a bag full of ballots was discovered uncounted, requiring an update. This year, the Libertarian Party of Chester County had both poll watchers and an official Ballot Observer designated by the county. Based on our observations, we have concluded that the process is overdue for improvement of integrity.

We do not see evidence of malfeasance in the reporting process. We do, however, believe that the county has not kept pace with the rapidly changing voting methods. At our recent business meeting, several of our members pointed out that every public company is required to have a forensic audit conducted by an independent accounting firm on a regular basis. The reason for this audit is to provide assurance to the shareholders that the numbers being reported to them are accurate. In Chester County, the voters are the shareholders in a very real sense. Our tax dollars fund the election process, and we deserve to know that the numbers being reported can be trusted.

We are pleased that we have won elected offices in Chester County this November, and we are proud of the respectable showing of candidates who did not win. Any audit or recount will not change our results, Chester County Libertarians will not win any election because of a review of the ballot process. Our interest in an audit is to ensure that every Chester County voter can trust the reported numbers. The county also needs to update their process to be able to accurately manage the changing voting methods. Communication to voters needs improvement. Lack of transparency causes speculation in place of facts.

One of the county supervisors recently stated that they had no idea what a forensic audit was. Perhaps the official was being flippant, or maybe they really do not understand the basics of ensuring numeric accuracy. Either way, this is a sad admission for someone charged with administering good government. The LPCC calls for a tri-partisan “post-mortem analysis” to include recommendations on improving the process. The voters need to have confidence in every election, this year, and future elections.

There will be a cost to doing this, but the cost of voter trust in the ballot process is one of the few government expenditures that we fully support. Conduct an audit, not only of the current election but of our ballot handling and county process. Not doing the right thing now will only ensure lack of trust in our elections, and constant challenges to a process that should be the gold standard of democracy.

I was a registered Democrat for 35 years, most of my voting life. Like many Democrats, I was drawn to a party that promised to help my community in areas of critical need, including education, health care, food insecurity, and voting access. I found a community of Democrats that felt the same. Yet after years of involvement, I saw little progress in these important areas. Instead, our party’s focus was increasingly aimed at maintaining bureaucratic power, and I found myself at odds with this direction.

The party started to shift control to the professional politicians and away from the people. National focus took precedence, and these top-down priorities were often in conflict with the concerns of our local community. My apprehension grew when I realized that my own expertise in areas like education and community policing carried little weight once the party decided that bureaucrats knew more than constituents.

At first, it was just party leadership, but then I witnessed the rise of adversarial politics at the individual level. I watched members of my party shun those who disagreed with party politics, labeling them simply as bad people with bad opinions. In our local community, residents with “Hate Has No Home Here” signs in their yards took to social media in a manner that directly contradicted that motto.

It boiled down to something very simple. Principles.

The principles that first drew me to the Democratic party became less represented in the party’s objectives. Rather than serving as the party’s compass, these principles became flexible and subject to bureaucratic power.

In the local Libertarian Party, I discovered something I had been looking for during all my years as a Democrat: a group of principled individuals who lead the party from the bottom up, with unwavering focus on non-aggression towards others and respect for the individual and their rights. I found meetings that were open to all, where visitors from other parties are welcomed and discussion is encouraged. I found support for transparency and voter choice in politics. I found an attitude of volunteerism and of working for positive change in the community, without waiting for someone else to do it. I found a place where my own principles fit, those very principles that first drew me to the Democratic party. So I joined this growing body of people who keep their sights on positive change and who respect the views of others. I am still the same person I was when I joined the Democratic party. My guiding principles remain my compass: standing up for people who need help, improving community relations, listening to others, and respecting others’ rights and property. But now I’ve found my place in a party that has remained loyal to these same principles, the principles that make our community and our country the wonderful places that they are.

Beth Ann Rosica is the Libertarian candidate for mayor of West Chester Borough. Beth is a community activist and a long-time resident of West Chester, as well as an alumnus of WCU. Liberty Over Bureaucracy emphasizes the importance of responsible individuals working to improve our community. Learn more at rosicaformayor.com

Date:   August 13^th, 2021

Chester County, Pennsylvania

Contact: info@lpchesco.com

A November slate of candidates for office around Chester County has been announced by the Libertarian Party of Chester County. This is the largest group of candidates fielded by the LPCC. This reflects the rapid membership growth experienced by the Libertarian Party in the county recently.

 Jason Crane, Constable candidate for West Chester’s 3^rd Ward noted, “The borough has one of the largest concentrations of Libertarians in the county, so I expect my election chances to be very good.” The Phoenixville and Kennett areas also have large concentrations of registered Libertarians.

Local activist Beth Ann Rosica is running for Mayor of West Chester Borough. Her campaign theme is Liberty Over Bureaucracy. “The voters in West Chester have been plagued with a bureaucratic leadership focused on political gains instead of building the local community. Mayoral candidates like to tout their ‘business as usual’ backgrounds. It is time to focus on the voters, and how their personal liberty has taken a back seat to politics in our wonderful town.”

Jeanne Rhea-McManus is running for auditor in Kennett Township. Sadsbury Township will see Luke Misciagna on the ball0t for auditor, and John Haibach hopes to be auditor in North Coventry Township.

Besides Jason Crane, Robert Gallek is running for West Grove Borough constable. “Positions like constable and auditor, while important, are generally quiet in the community,” notes Crane. “But the Libertarians running hope to spotlight important issues in Chester County, like prison reform and fiscal responsibility”.

Chester County Libertarian candidates will be present at events throughout the area, and hosting forums to discuss issues that the voters have expressed concern about. Rosica is eager to focus on the real problems affecting her town. “A non-elected mayor has spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on pet projects that will go nowhere,” said Beth, “it is time to face reality, be fiscally responsible, and address the real loss of liberty here, in the seat of Chester County.”

The Libertarian Party of Chester County promotes individual liberty for all residents of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The members are involved in volunteer activities throughout the community, and they work with local governments to ensure that laws and regulations conform to the state constitution. Their monthly meetings are open to the public, and are held at Timothy’s Restaurant in West Chester Pa.

On July 13 2021 State Sen. Carolyn Comitta participated via a virtual connection in a meeting of the State Environmental Quality Board of which she is one of four legislators appointed to the board.(1) The remaining members are all non-elected bureaucrats or five members of the citizen advisory council.(1) This was a final rule making meeting with no provisions for the public to attend either in person or virtually apparently in violation of the Sunshine law.(2)

The purpose of the meeting was to include Pennsylvania in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.(1) Current member states are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.(3) The scope of RGGI is to regulate CO2 emissions by electricity producers, by the sale of CO2 credits by each member state.(3) The proceeds of the sales are kept by each state to fund energy abatement and bill assistance.(4) With 6% going to administrative costs and almost 2% to fund RGGI.

You might ask how this could be a bad thing?

For one the obvious cost increases will be passed on to the consumers. It will also put control of this issue out of the hands of our elected officials into the hands of more faceless bureaucrats. As the cost of the credits go up and the number of credits is reduced, the operators of electric production will go up. Increasing costs and non-compliance can result in the amount of electricity produced being cut back. Those cutbacks could result in brownouts or worse.

Now back to our Senator Comitta. This vote was passed by a vote of 15-4. Senator Comitta voted yes along with all the bureaucrats appointed by Governor Wolf.(1) Who were the 4 no votes? Those were cast by Senator Gene Yaw, Representative Daryl Metcalfe and two of the citizen advisory members. (1)

We believe that this dark meeting was circumvented public scrutiny and awards control over Pennsylvania citizens to unelected bureaucrats. The vote should be rescinded in favor of public discourse and decisions should be made primarily by elected leadership. If you agree, please voice your opinion with Senator Comitta voting our local control of such an important issue. Please call her office at 610-692-2112 or write her office at 17 East Gay Street Ste 301, West Chester, PA 19380

• http://links.pahousenews.com/q/pHarnKXaCzKPA3wCJuEOoYNAghr4E67f25cIZVWnHKVNhv0Qcn3-tdSwH
• https://www.dep.pa.gov/PublicParticipation/EnvironmentalQuality/Pages/2021-Meetings.aspx
• https://www.rggi.org/program-overview-and-design/elements
• https://www.rggi.org/investments/proceeds-investments use links to reports
• None.

Chester County high school students Natalie Gildea, Christopher Goodrich, and Shivam Shetye were selected as winners of the Future of Freedom Essay Contest sponsored by the Libertarian Party of Chester County. Winners were awarded certificates and cash awards after their announcement at the June meeting of the LPCC.

The theme of this year’s contest was ‘Unlawful Laws.’ LPCC Vice-Chair Jacquelyn Crane explained, “One of our members, Kevin Anderson, asked the group why people seemed so eager to believe we can legislate our way out of problems, while no one seems to consider the large number of pointless, biased, and outdated laws that should no longer be on our books. We loved the idea. Even here Chester County, for example, we continue to prosecute for minor drug offenses while our taxes fund expensive government programs and seizure of private property through eminent domain.”

The Future of Freedom Essay Contest was open to all Chester County high school students including public, private, charter and home. “The response blew past our expectations for our opening year,” said Crane, “We received dozens of submissions, which were anonymized and judged against standard criteria including Adherence to Theme, Strength of Supporting Ideas, and Style and Mechanics. It was important to us to remain open to ideas and topics that were not traditionally Libertarian, and we were thrilled to receive so many high-quality entries. These selection committee was truly challenged to choose the best ones.”

The collection of essays covered a wide range of topics, including wages and taxes, electronic communications, policing and warrants, mental health, drugs, and even War Powers. First place winner Natalie Gildea wrote about the notorious Stop and Frisk laws that are “an ineffectual and invasive practice in policing.” Second place winner Christopher Goodrich’s essay focused on the 100-year-old Jones Act, which he described as creating an “economic hardship for American island territories …. which ultimately harms the very same hard-working Americans the Jones Act was intended to help.” The third-place essay by Shivam Shetye described threat to safety and security inherent in no-knock warrants. Crane noted that “while we had no requirement that essays align to our Libertarian philosophy, we were encouraged that so many submissions presented thoughtful views on restricting the power of government and putting responsibility back into the hands of the public. It is evident that we have a wonderful base of liberty-minded youth right here in Chester County.”

Imagine a knock on your door, and somebody announces that they intend to purchase your home, and that you will need to vacate it shortly. Imagine, also, that you are told that the value of your home will be established by the purchaser, and that you must accept the offer without objection. Sounds like a nightmare scenario.

This nightmare has played out time again here in Chester County. It occurs when a local government decides that they want to take someone’s property for public use that is deemed more important than the rights of the property owner. It does not matter how long the property may have been owned, or how the owner feels about being forced to give up their land. If the locality wants it, they can take it at a price that they feel they should pay. The process is called Eminent Domain, a somewhat gray area of law that has been in constant dispute for decades.

In the recent past there have been examples of localities using Eminent Domain to seize private property for values that owners have felt unjust, and for reasons the community has sometimes found inappropriate. In the view of the Libertarian Party of Chester County the use of Eminent Domain is nothing more than theft by forcing a sale to a government that cannot purchase property by accepted legal means. By taking property with a forced sale, the property is being stolen, and this is wrong.

The latest threat of Eminent Domain use is happening in East Goshen Township. The victim in this case is Goshen View Farm, owned by the Hicks family. The ancestors of this family settled in Chester County back in 1769. According to a family member, this farm was purchased by William Huey Hicks in 1909. William was interested in the land because of the new system of electrification along Paoli Pike. Hicks bought the farm from the Sharpless family the old-fashioned way, by offering the owner a fair price and having the seller agree to the transaction in a free and agreeable sale.

Libertarians believe that most Chester County residents would agree that a forced sale of private property is wrong. None of us is allowed to knock on a door and force a sale of private property, and no politician should be allowed to do this either.

You may ask what the critical need there is for taking a strip of land from a farm along Paoli Pike may be? Is there a hospital being built? Perhaps some emergency access is needed for a fire department? In fact, this property is being seized for a possible walking trail no more than two miles long, according to some local residents.

Sometimes referred to as “The Trail to Nowhere”, this strip of property is supposed to meet up with other township trails that may or may not ever exist, or even meet with this section of the trail. Perhaps the prospect of millions in government grant money is affecting the decision to invoke Eminent Domain. By some estimates, the township is spending about $5 million dollars per mile to build the trail, $10 million in total.

The family that owns the property is not only unhappy with the threat of Eminent Domain but is also concerned about how visitors may impact their valuable horse stabling business, and about liabilities that may ensue when bikers and hikers cross the vehicle traffic on the farm lane exiting to Paoli Pike.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania’s strong Sunshine Laws appear to require the local council to present the plan of Eminent Domain to the voters and allow them ample time to consider both this drastic action and accompanying expense before seizing property from the owners. The LPCC has no doubt that upon learning of this shameful plan they will insist that their politicians act in the same fair and proper way that the voters are expected to behave. Stealing is theft, no matter what law it cowers behind. It is time to debate the use of the unfair laws of Eminent Domain.

The Libertarian Party of Chester County promotes individual liberty for all residents of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The members are involved in volunteer activities throughout the community, and they work with local governments to ensure that laws and regulations conform to the state constitution. Their monthly meetings are open to the public, and are held at Timothy’s Restaurant in West Chester Pa.