All Blog Posts (65)

Dear President Trump:

          Thank you for everything you are doing for our country.  We Pennsylvanian Republicans are all proud of you and indebted to your service.

I was the Chair of the Blair County Republican Committee in central Pennsylvania when you were running for election in 2016.  It was a whirlwind campaign.  We never saw anything like it in any other presidential election year.

          I want to tell you what it was like in Blair County,…

I am writing to you in great sadness for our country that Ted Cruz has dropped out of the presidential race.  I was originally a Rand Paul supporter, but gladly switched to Cruz when Rand dropped out of the race early on.  Ted Cruz is a great defender of our liberties and would have made an excellent president.  But it was not mean to be this year.

          Ironically, I had gotten off a conference call earlier tonight with…

     The fact that the Pennsylvania Republican Party rules do NOT bind delegates elected in the congressional districts has caused some ill will within our party this election cycle, with calls for individual delegates to unilaterally pledge to “vote with their districts” on the first ballot.

    …

   The fact that no presidential candidate will likely go to the Republican National Convention in July with the requisite 1,237 delegates to secure the nomination puts individual delegates in play for the final nomination.  This fact has Primary voters asking for the first time, "Who are these delegates?  How will they vote?  What is the party establishment going to 'push through'?"…

Bret Stephens wrote an interesting op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, where he criticizes "extremist" Republicans who won't settle for anything less than the perfect candidate, so why not just Elect Hillary Now?

I think he is a little off the mark, and I wrote this response to Mr. Stephens today:

I read with interest your piece in today’s Journal.  I wanted to give you my perspective from the trenches of the Republican Party, where I play a part.

I am…

   If you're an establishment Republican who votes the way the leadership wants you to so that you can get favors brought back to your district and you can climb through the GOP ranks, how do you defend your voting record if there are fellow Republicans who won't play the Washington Game?

   Well, you have to discredit their behavior…

Pennsylvanians elect their judges.  Let’s keep it that way.

          Every 2 years we have the predicted hand-wringing from certain quarters regarding the fact that voters are electing judges whom they don’t know.

          Voters elect people they don’t know all the time.  Why do you think judges would be any…

          Congressman Bill Shuster’s “Bill PAC” donated $5,000 to Democrat Mike Fleck of the 81^st state house district on Nov. 5, 2014, the day before the General Election.

          Why?  Because he was a “friend of Bill’s?

          The…

I have emailed, called to blast my 12th District Congressman Keith Rothfus. He also voted for the Omnibus funding bill in December. We did not send these Congressmen to rubberstamp a bill they did not read. Inside the Funding bill was Abortion Funding. I will hold every Republican that voted yes on that bill responsible for every abortion held in 2015. I also will fight to remove them and replace…

The following resolution has been signed by 52 members of the Blair County Republican Committee, and 14 members of the Indiana County Republican Committee:

We Republican Committee members in Blair County, do hereby express our disappointment in Congressman Shuster for his vote on December 11, 2014, in favor of  H.R. 83, the so-called “Cromnibus” $1.1 trillion, 1,600 page spending bill.…

          Governor Corbett and the Pa GOP state committee have the notorious distinction of having lost the first incumbent governor re-election since the 1968 change in the state Constitution, which allowed for a second gubernatorial term.  What an embarrassment for Rob Gleason and the state GOP.…

         About this time every even-numbered election year, we hear the expected whining of third parties, their candidates, and “Independents” about how “unfair” the Pennsylvania ballot access system is.  Access to the ballot is a lot less “fair” than in fact it is claimed to be, especially when you analyze how hard it is for challengers to the two major parties to get “access” to the General…

     What is meant when you hear “We have to have a united party!” Usually, it means when their candidate obliterates yours in the Primary because they smear your candidate mercilessly and spend ten times the amount of money, they want you to support their candidate in the General.

    But it’s not meant to be applied in the reverse…

In the May 12 Wall Street Journal, there was an op-ed entitled, “Inspired Amateurs Should Avoid Politics,” written by Philip Terzian, editor of the Weekly Standard. 

Mr. Terzian wrote the piece as a reaction to a book he received written by Dr. Ben Carson, which appears to be part of an effort to find out if there is enough support among conservatives to run Dr. Carson for presidential in 2016.

Mr. Terzian goes on to argue that history and experience are stacked against someone…

Musings from a York County GOP committee person (column)By Marie Hess



My

tenure as York County State Republican committeewoman is coming to an

end. Due to the demands of a new baby as well as other personal

pursuits, I won't be running again. But I would be remiss not to pass on

some pearls of wisdom based on my experience.



As a state committee person, it is our job to be active through the

year by providing information about candidates,…

Sorry ,…

        Last fall, about 200 voters heard 9^th District Pennsylvania Congressman Bill Shuster that he “looked forward” to the opportunity for a debate with his opponents in the Republican Primary.  We heard it with our own ears.  Now, of course, his campaign team is trying its best to keep him from doing just that.

         …

  On May 20th, this is what thousands of Pennsylvanians will see on their Primary Election ballot under "county committee person:"

__________________________________________

The spots will be blank.

Why?

Because no one cares about the maintenance of their local political party?

People don't care about the future of the political process and how candidates are recruited and elected?

People think the status quo is hunky-dory?

I don't…

I hear conservatives complain about the GOP all the time.

"The party left me, I didn't leave the party."

"The Republican Party doesn't fight for conservative values."

"The Republicans don't want to run on conservative ideas."

How many of these frustrated conservatives know about the local county Republican Committee?

How many have actually run for a committee seat in their precinct?

These same people tell you it's time for a third…