Bucks County GOP Counterfeit Bylaws Mystery — The Bucks County GOP stands accused of having organized using a counterfeit set of bylaws.
Republicans opposed to Chairwoman Patricia Poprik filed a complaint with the party’s Ethics Committee, Jan. 10, accusing the leadership of misdeeds including subversion of bylaws, wrongful appointments of committeepeople, proxy irregularities at the June 25 reorganization meeting in which Ms. Poprik nearly lost her job, and the falsification of government documents.
The latter concerned the bylaws on file with the county.
The county demands of organizations that use the county voting machines a set of their bylaws.
The rebel faction found that the ones held by the Board of Elections were produced with a word processor despite having a June 26, 1972 filing date. Further, they weren’t hand-signed albeit the signature of then chairman C.V. Afferback was stylishly set in an italic font.
So the party bosses get the complaint. The rebels go back for another look at the bylaws on file and lo and behold, they had been replaced with the original typewritten ones with C.V.’s very own penmanship.
The only significant difference that we could find was the removal of a paragraph in Rule VI, Article 4 relating to the party headquarter building.
So why was the document switched out in the first place? Why did they keep the original ready to be switched back? It seems more Burn-After-Reading stupid than nefarious but who knows.
And its stupidity that loses elections.
And this document shuffling still violates, well, the bylaws.
If it gets rid of Pat it works for us.
The mysterious missing paragraph
Here are the typewritten and word processor versions of the bylaws.
Great Salt Lake Going Dry Due To Population Growth
By Joe Guzzardi
Utah’s Great Salt Lake may disappear within the next five years, experts predict. A Brigham Young University report found that as of January 2023, the lake is 19 feet below its average level. Since 1850, the Great Salt Lake has lost 73 percent of its water and more than half of its surface area.
BYU ecologist Benjamin Abbott, noting “unprecedented danger,” called for emergency measures to save the Great Salt Lake from further collapse. Abbott wrote that despite encouraging growth in legislative action and public awareness, “most Utahns do not realize the urgency of this crisis.”
At this point, and since 2020, the lake has lost more than 1 million acre-feet of water annually. Each acre foot represents about 360 gallons of water, nearly the size of a one-foot-deep football field. Today, only about 0.1 million acre-feet of water is returned to the lake each year.
Abbott pointed to worldwide examples which show that saline lake loss triggers a long-term cycle of environmental, health and economic suffering. He urges a coordinated rescue to stave off widespread air and water pollution, further losses from animals listed as part of the Endangered Species Act, and greater declines in agriculture, industry and overall quality of life.
If Utah Governor Spencer Cox hopes to deliver on his promise that the Great Salt Lake will not go dry on his watch, he’ll have to adopt some if not all of Abbott’s suggested measures, many of which will be unpopular among constituents. Specifically, the BYU scholars called on Coxto implement a watershed-wide emergency rescue plan that will set arequirement of at least 2.5 million acre-feet per year until the lake reaches its minimum healthy elevation of 4,198 feet. In conclusion, and in light of what the authors called an “all-hands-on-deck emergency,” the BYU analysis asked farmers, counties, cities, businesses, churches, universities and other organizations to “do everything in their power to reduce outdoor water use.” Utahns must, BYU counseled, adopt a “Lake First” approach to water preservation.
The Great Salt Lake’s rapidly dwindling water level is attributable to two factors: the ongoing drought that’s affected large swathes of the nation and an unprecedented population boom. Despite above average snowfall in 2022, most of Utah remains in severe to extreme drought mode.
The bigger culprit in the Great Salt Lake’s demise, however, is population growth. Between July 2021 and July 2022, Utah’s estimated population grew by more than 61,000, which marked the state’s largest spike in absolute growth since 2006, putting its total population at slightly more than 3.4 million residents. Of Utah’s 29 counties, 28 added population, except for Daggett, which declined by six people. Utah’s population growth is calculated by the standard formula: net migration accounted for an estimated 38,141 more residents, while natural increase — births minus deaths — accounted for another 23,101 residents. From 2010 to 2020, Utah was the nation’s fastest growing state. Utah’s growth will continue unabated. By 2060, Utah’s population will hit 5.5 million with intervals of 4 million between 2032 and 2033 and 5 million between 2050 and 2051.
Put another way, in the next 40 years, Utah’s population will increase 66 percent.
By the time the 2030 Census rolls around, Utah will have more Venezuelan migrants admitted under President Biden’s immigration policies. Already in Utah in significant numbers, Venezuelans are part of Biden’s program to grant immigration parole every month to 30,000 total Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. For Venezuelans who have family ties and prospective sponsors in Utah, the state becomes a magnet. And once settled, the migrant Venezuelans will start families or expand their existing families, thereby putting more pressure on Utah’s natural resources.
The Great Salt Lake is one of many disappearing U.S. lakes and rivers, victimized by overpopulation and mismanagement. Others in grave danger of drying up include the Colorado and California’s Lake Mead and Lake Tahoe. BYU’s environmentalists have rolled out a sound plan to save the Great Salt Lake. For its part, the federal government is irresponsibly adding population to states like Utah that are struggling to provide precious water and other resources for existing residents.
Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts.
Great Salt Lake Going Dry Due To Population Growth
Alternate domination of one faction William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 1-20-23
Wv Rivcizg 21ab wn 2017, bpm lig inbmz Q bism bpm wibp wn wnnqkm, Iumzqkiva eqtt nqvittg eism cx qv i kwcvbzg epmzm bpm tiea wn bpm Cvqbml Abibma izm mvnwzkml. Em izm owqvo bw jm kwvaqlmzibm ivl kwuxiaaqwvibm bw mdmzgwvm. Jcb ug ozmibmab kwuxiaaqwv eqtt jm nwz wcz wev abzcootqvo kqbqhmva.
Lwvitl Bzcux
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.
George Washington
Delco Council Accused Of Ignoring Prison Crisis — Frank Kwaning, president of the Delaware County (Pa) Prison Employees Independent Union, told County Council, last night, Jan. 18, that things are bad at the prison and that the county has been ducking requests for meetings with the union to resolve matters.
Others have also reported on the dangerous conditions at George W. Hill Correctional Facility.
The county took over the prison on April 6. It had been privately run since 1998.
Councilman Richard R. Womack, Jr. said he was unaware there had been an attempt to schedule a meeting and pledged to connect.
The drug crisis was also discussed along with a discussion on how to spend the $63 million settlement the county received as its share of a billion dollar settlement with pharmaceutical firms Cardinal Health, McKesson, and the Conshohocken-based Amerisource Bergen regarding their involvement in the wrongful distribution of opioids. The payout will be $3.5 million per year for 18 years.
It was noted that there were 1,584 overdose calls in Delco in 2022 which is believed to underrepresent the number of actual overdoses as people reported unconscious would not have been recorded as an overdose.
Councilwoman Christine A. Reuther came close to blaming racism for the crisis. Here’s a thought, stop mentioning skin color. Allocate resources according to the rate of occurrences. Nobody will object, and you end a point of division while advancing unity.
Christopher Welsh, who heads the public defenders offices, announced that all public defenders were now full time employees of the county and members of the United Auto Workers. And listing one’s pronounson an official government document is rather unserious.
There was a first reading of an ordinance updating the county code regarding parks. It was noted that existing code was decades old and failed to account for things like drones. The new ordinance would require a permit for filming. Wonder if they are accounting for things like cell phones.
Also, 24 agenda items were approved by consent; Councilwoman Reuther was appointed to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for one-year term; David L. Walker, Claudia Cueto, William T. Smith, John Gillespie and Brian Razzi were appointed to the Delaware County Planning Commission for a term ending January 2027; and 16 property tax refunds were approved.
For a story about the changes made to the county election code follow this link.
Delco Council Changes Election Code For Worse — Delaware County Council (Pa), tonight, Jan. 18, as expected, changed its code making elections less transparent and giving veto power to the ruling Democrats as to who the state-mandated minority party member of the three-member Board of Elections would be.
The new law allows the board to reject all members on a list of three names submitted by the Republicans for the seat and restart the process. Previously, they had to accept one of the names.
Councilwoman Christine A. Reuther justified it by saying the Republicans did it once when they were in control.
Council also ended the requirement of a public report from the Election Return a bi-partisan organization created to double-check election results. The reasoning seemed to be that they weren’t following the law anyway.
That, however, wasn’t the fault of the Return Board.
Those speaking out against the change included Chris Fabre of Upper Darby, Joy Schwartz of Upper Darby and Carris Kocher of Concord.
Gregory Stenstrom of Glen Mills noted that he and Leah Hoopes have three court cases still alive regarding election issues involving the county, and that the names of the County Council members along with the Board of Elections and the County Solicitor William Martin have been added to CV-2022-008091 which is before Delaware County Common Pleas Court.
He also noted that the Board of Elections has been fighting, rather strangely, multiple right-to-know requests for public records and that it has ignored orders to produce the information in at least one case.
Ms. Schwartz expressed concern over a plan to consolidate voting precincts hence weakening local control. She also asked about a report that the county sought to abolish precinct voting.
While Ms. Reuther admitted that Council thought some of county’s 428 precincts were too small and should be consolidated, others were thought too big and should be broken up.
She said only the state legislature could end precinct voting.
Fabre warned Council its actions will raise suspicions among the public as it is removing transparency.
Mrs. Kocher noted that the new ordinance appears to be at odds with state code especially regarding the elimination of the need for the return board to advertise its report.
Martin revealed that a voluntary hand recount was held in the 3rd Precinct of Haverford’s 2nd Ward to ease concerns of another group regarding November’s election.
James Allen, the county director of election operations, said it was watched by those making the request who were allowed within two feet of the ballots. The hand count was found to be 100 percent in compliance with the official results.
For other things that happened at the meeting — including the revelation that council is ignoring a crisis at the prison — see next story.
Thirty years of equal division William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 1-19-23
Aol hsalyuhal kvtpuhapvu vm vul mhjapvu vcly huvaoly, zohywlulk if aol zwpypa vm ylclunl uhabyhs av whyaf kpzzluzpvu, dopjo pu kpmmlylua hnlz huk jvbuayplz ohz wlywlayhalk aol tvza ovyypk luvytpaplz, pz pazlsm h mypnoambs klzwvapzt. Iba aopz slhkz ha slunao av h tvyl mvyths huk wlythulua klzwvapzt.
Nlvynl Dhzopunavu
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Delco Council Weakening Minority Input For Election Board — Delaware County Council (Pa) is expected to vote tomorrow, Jan. 18 on significant changes regarding the how elections are run.
The out-of-touch Democrats who run things reportedly plan to eliminate the requirement of a report from the County Return Board, a bi-partisan organization created to double-check election results and whose findings have been problematic to the official narrative.
The Democrats will also change the law to allow Council to reject the minority party’s nominee list for the Election Board in toto forcing them to submit a new list.
A minority party member is mandated by the state for the three-person board.
A discussion can be found on DelCo Deepdivers Telegram channel.
Here’s the real question, though: Where is the Delaware County Republican Party’s opposition to the ordinance?
What they want to do
Delco Council Weakening Minority Input For Election Board
In a case of seeming bipartisanship, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has chosen Republican Al Schmidt, a member of both the Philadelphia Election Board,and the Philadelphia Parking Authority to be Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State.
The Department of State runs elections.
Al Schmidt and former President Trump remain on opposite sides about the fairness of the 2020 election. Al Schmidt has received many threats to himself and his family, which should never happen.
Mr. Schmidt has held the minority party seat on the three-person Philadelphia Election Commission since 2011.
After the 2020 election, Trump pressured Schmidt to stop counting the absentee ballots, which Schmidt refused to do.
Most recently, Al Schmidt was the CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a long-standing Philadelphia fair election group.
Originally from Pittsburgh, he has a BS from Allegheny College and a PhD from Brandeis University.
He moved to Philly in 2005, when his wife was hired by a Philly law firm. He also worked as a policy analyst for the Presidential Commission on Holocaust Assets under the Clinton administration. He was once executive director of the Philadelphia Republican City Committee.
“He led an informal insurgent faction some called the ‘Loyal Opposition’, which pushed back against what he believed was ineffective Republican Party leadership at the city level.”
He recently received a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Biden relating to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
A friend of minew ho’s a Delco conservative shared his perspective “Schmidt should have endeavored to redress grievances by investigating the evidence of election fraud, not dismissing or ignoring it.” My thought is that suspicions about election irregularities are not addressed by ignoring them.
Hate is too great a burden William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 1-17-23
Gtwwtbnsl itjx bjqq tsqd tshj.
Otms Vznll
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate is too great a burden William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 1-17-23
