Editorial Roundup: Pennsylvania
LNP/LancasterOnline. December 20, 2023.
Editorial: Using some of US Rep. Lloyd Smucker’s own words, let’s play ‘Spot the Hypocrisy’
While Hunter Biden was recently indicted on nine tax charges by a federal grand jury, some Republicans in Congress view the impeachment inquiry into President Biden with skepticism.
The U.S. House has been investigating Joe Biden for nearly a year without finding anything that comes close to meeting the high-crimes-and-misdemeanors standard for presidential impeachment.
“I don’t see the evidence there,” U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a member of GOP leadership, told the news website Axios.
Even some of the Republicans who voted last week for the impeachment inquiry acknowledged that there’s no evidence the president committed any impeachable offense.
According to The Associated Press, Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota said he doesn’t “like the stonewalling the administration has done, but listen, if we don’t have the receipts, that should constrain what the House does long-term.”
Nevertheless, Johnson voted for the inquiry. Evidence, schmevidence.
If Congressman Smucker has any reservations, he hasn’t expressed them publicly. While he was indignant about the two impeachments of then-President Donald Trump, Smucker now wants us to trust the impeachment inquiry process as an investigative tool.
Why? Because impeaching Biden is what Trump wants, as payback for Biden defeating him legitimately in the 2020 election. Also, as the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee, Trump wants anti-Biden campaign fodder. And Smucker almost always dances to Trump’s tune.
The congressman’s most recent newsletter addressed his vote on the Biden impeachment inquiry, as well as a recent controversy involving the University of Pennsylvania. It inspired us to offer readers a brief quiz we’re calling “Spot the Hypocrisy.”
Smucker, on voting for the Biden impeachment inquiry:
“For a Member of Congress, there are few votes as consequential as considering whether to move forward with opening an impeachment inquiry. ... With the White House refusing to cooperate, the House had no choice but to advance an impeachment inquiry resolution to provide the committees with all the tools necessary to conduct the investigation. I am certain that the investigators will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Smucker, on voting against the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump in 2019:
“This is a sham process — it has been from the beginning. It is a witch hunt. The Democrats have been looking for a reason to impeach this president since he’s been elected. And it’s a slap in the face to the voters in my district who voted for this president ... So it will be a resounding no from me.”
Smucker, on voting against the first Trump impeachment in 2019:
“I rise today to ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, how much is the trust of the American people worth? When the American people are dissatisfied with their government, the primary tool that the Constitution gives them to make a change is their vote. ... It is clear that facts have never mattered to the House Democrats. They never planned to work with the president. Instead they intended only to fulfill their divisive partisan agenda. Again, I ask, how much is the trust of the American people worth? Because after the vote today, for what you think is a short-term partisan gain, you can be sure that the American people will have lost their trust in our institution. They will have lost their trust in Congress and most importantly lost trust their vote counts.” (Italics are ours, because Smucker, of course, urged Congress to reject Pennsylvania’s electoral votes mere hours after the violent Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol — which, incidentally, led to Trump’s second impeachment.)
Letter co-signed by Smucker, calling for the resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, after Magill failed to clearly answer, at a Dec. 5 congressional hearing, whether a call for the genocide of Jews would violate Penn’s code of conduct ( she resigned Dec. 9 ):
“(Magill) confirmed that hateful, dangerous rhetoric is welcomed on the grounds of one of the oldest higher education institutions in the United States. ... Quite frankly, it was an utter disgrace to our commonwealth and the entire nation.”
Former President Donald Trump, at a campaign rally Saturday in New Hampshire, talking about immigrants:
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done. ... they’re coming into our country — from Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They’re pouring into our country.”
Smucker, responding to the language Trump used Saturday about immigrants — language that echoed Adolf Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf,” which laid the groundwork for the Holocaust:
... (crickets).
No prizes will be awarded for spotting the hypocrisy here — it’s pretty obvious, after all. But you’re a winner if you have more of a spine than Smucker, so congratulations! Smucker apparently lost his after becoming a congressman in 2017. For the sake of his constituents and democracy, we hope he finds it again someday.
___
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 23, 2023.
Editorial: Even basic cybersecurity measures go a long way
“YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED. DOWN WITH ISRAEL.”
Those were the words displayed at the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, along with a motif of a drowning Star of David. The frightening message had been sent to companies across the U.S. after Iranian hackers infiltrated an Israeli-manufactured computer system.
This was a broad warning shot which happened to hit Western Pennsylvania, but it brings home a larger truth: It’s beyond time to enhance cybersecurity, for private businesses and especially for public authorities that are responsible for public health and safety. In this new era, cyberattacks are unpredictable, unhampered by geography and on a steep rise.
That’s all the more reason this incident must be a wake-up call. The computers used in Aliquippa and at Full Pint still used the default manufacturer passwords, making infiltration exceedingly easy. It’s the simple underpinning of all online safety we should expect public institutions to know: use strong passwords, implement two-step verification, and never reuse them.
The two affected facilities locally — Aliquippa’s regional water authority as well as local brewery Full Pint — were lucky. The attacks hit Programmable Logic Controllers, small computers that mostly run on autopilot to control variables like pressure, temperature and fluid flow in industrial settings. Employees were able to override the systems easily and continue their operations normally. Water service was never interrupted or contaminated, and the beer never got warm.
Other attacks could have been much more devastating, holding important data for ransom; covertly collecting information over the long-term; or crippling a facility’s ability to maintain operation altogether.
CPLs are common systems in infrastructure settings, including electric companies and oil and gas producers. The power grid, already under the strain of increasingly unpredictable weather, cannot allow itself to be vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Full Pint owner Dan Franklin called the hackers a bunch of “jagoffs.” Be that as it may, the company was lucky, and so was the water authority in Aliquippa and the people it serves. This hacking attempt seems to have been more about raising the group’s profile, rather than an actual attack.
Mr. Franklin said Full Pint is “just a small business,” with “nothing to attack.” Unfortunately, that’s no longer enough to ensure safety. Private citizens, schools, utilities, social media companies — everyone is vulnerable.
Cyberspace works without borders, and our security measures need to acknowledge this. In this case, the war between Israel and Palestine managed to affect a small business 6,000 miles away, as well as a municipal water authority. As more and more systems become automated and given over to computers of all kinds, it’s high time to take basic steps to ensure security.
___
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. December 23, 2023.
Editorial: Is massive Westmoreland tax increase an overcorrection?
The most dangerous part of an imminent crash can be the attempt to avoid it.
This being Pennsylvania, most of us are familiar with the hazards of driving on an icy road. When the wheels slip, you can make cautious adjustments that help you regain control — or you can jerk the wheel the other way and overcorrect yourself into a spin that makes everything worse.
It’s just as bad for institutions as it is for a motor vehicle. That’s why the Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates in increments instead of by massive leaps up or down.
In November, Westmoreland County Commissioners gave their preliminary approval to a 2024 budget that had shortfalls in revenue. Instead, it relied on things like American Rescue Plan money and $10 million in precious surplus funds. We questioned whether it was responsible to leave the county with just a $2.4 million cushion for emergencies.
A preliminary budget allows for the freedom to make changes before final approval.
On Thursday, Westmoreland’s commissioners did their final run at the $456.7 million spending plan. They did not make a small course correction to avoid a skid. They yanked the wheel in the other direction hard, passing a 32.5% property tax increase.
This makes the 2.4% increase in 2019 feel like a few coins dropped in a fountain.
“Taxes should have been raised years ago, and we’re obviously coming to the point where we are left with no other alternative to do this,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.
There is no denying the county, like most government entities, has had financial challenges in recent years. There has been inflation, the need to pay to attract more employees, pandemic fallout.
But not adjusting the amount of money coming in to cover that outlay is irresponsible. It’s like paying your mortgage and your electric bill and buying groceries despite knowing the checks will all bounce.
“Obviously, it’s not a vote we wanted to do, but we had to do to provide the services needed for Westmoreland County,” Kertes said.
Small, regular, barely felt tax increases would have been preferable and could have raised more money with less impact, but that ship has sailed. Does that mean that an almost one-third increase in taxes was the only way to go?
No. The increase has two parts. There is 3.51 mills for general operating. Another 3.48 will go for debt payments.
Why couldn’t the commissioners have picked between skidding off the road or overcompensating with a hard spin in the other direction? For example, implement the 3.51 mills as a tax increase and use less of the budget surplus to cover debt payments and commit to incremental increases going forward.
This isn’t just a Westmoreland issue. It happens with school districts and municipalities. The commissioners, like many government officials, want to be liked. Keeping their jobs depends upon it. Raise taxes, and it makes people cranky.
But giving people what they want can mean setting them up for a bigger, harder blow in the future. That blow will come with 2024’s tax bills.
___
Scranton Times-Tribune. December 24, 2023.
Editorial: Pennsylvania has long neglected public defenders and their clients
It went largely unnoticed in the Dec. 13 deal that finally sewed up Pennsylvania’s 2023-24 budget, but the spending plan includes, for the first time, state funding for county public defenders offices.
Public defenders, who represent criminal defendants unable to pay for private counsel, have long been underfunded compared to the police and prosecution teams dedicated to securing convictions. And until now, Pennsylvania was one of only two states that did not support public defenders financially. South Dakota now stands alone with that dubious distinction.
The amount the state allocated to indigent defense, $7.5 million, is a pittance compared to the need. More than 120,000 defendants are represented by public defenders in Pennsylvania each year. In most counties, one-third to one-half of all criminal defendants qualify for a government-provided lawyer. In Philadelphia, public defenders represent more than 80% of defendants.
In Northeast Pennsylvania, Lackawanna and Carbon counties spend more than $1 million each year on public defenders, and Schuylkill County spends nearly as much. In Luzerne County, the annual cost is nearly $3 million.
But that spending hardly meets the needs of defendants and the often overworked public defenders charged with protecting their constitutional rights. In 2012, then-chief public defender Al Flora Jr. joined the American Civil Liberties Union in suing Luzerne County on behalf of hundreds of indigent defendants, arguing they received “sub-constitutional representation” from the “grossly underfunded and thus overwhelmed” office of public defender.
The suit was withdrawn in 2019 after the county added more attorneys and support staff and increased the public defenders annual budget by 44%. But the budget has grown by less than 8% since then, and last year, Flora’s successor, Steven Greenwald, announced the office could no longer afford to represent nonincarcerated defendants charged with misdemeanors. The county eventually approved the hiring of contracted attorneys to help with the crushing caseload.
Obviously, the state’s $7.5 million won’t go very far in solving the staffing shortages and lack of support hindering many public defenders offices. Twenty years ago, the General Assembly’s Joint State Government Commission concluded Pennsylvania’s “obsolete, purely localized system impedes efforts to represent clients effectively” and fails to meet the state’s constitutional obligations.
But the new funding is a good first step toward the recognition that defending the rights of those facing prosecution is as important to our social fabric as fighting crime and that access to competent legal representation should not depend on one’s financial lot in life.
END