State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) formally introduced five articles of impeachment against Gov. Tom Wolf over his handling of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. 24 House GOP colleagues joined Metcalfe on Tuesday in co-sponsoring House Resolution 915.
“While these are certainly unprecedented and chaotic times, Gov. Tom Wolf must be held accountable for his actions that have harmed so many of our citizens and violated so many of our rights,” Metcalfe said in a statement. “Wolf’s unconstitutional dictates and Orwellian overreach into our lives and the marketplace has caused immeasurable harm and hardship for far more Pennsylvanians than the virus!”
Here’s the list of the 24 additional Pa. representatives that signed on to the articles of impeachment for Gov. Tom Wolf, per Rep. Metcalfe’s staff. Only one Lancaster rep, Rep. David Zimmerman (R., East Earl), signed on as a co-sponsor. https://t.co/a3ayMcMoCY pic.twitter.com/b8FCRudKZ9
— Gillian McGoldrick (@gill_mcgoldrick) June 16, 2020
Metcalfe goes on in the statement to blame Wolf and Health Sec. Rachel Levine for the 3,000 plus deaths in nursing homes in the state due to COVID-19 and adds that there has been a negative economic impact that resulted from the shutdown orders as well.
He ends the statement by referring to Wolf as a “petulant socialist dictator,” who is “cowardly occupying the governor’s office.”
In responding to the impeachment resolution, Wolf’s office described the effort as one to “divide the commonwealth and score cheap political points.”
“In the last weeks, House Republicans have continued their efforts to divide the commonwealth and score cheap political points instead of taking the challenge before them seriously,” said Lyndsay Kensinger, Wolf’s Press Secretary in an emailed statement. “This is just the latest example of the House Republicans wasting time instead of helping to protect Pennsylvanians during this public health crisis.”
“Over the past three months, Governor Wolf has made very difficult decisions to combat this pandemic and to protect the life and health of all Pennsylvanians,” Kensinger continues. “To reopen our commonwealth, the governor, based on the advice of expert epidemiologists and public health officials, has instituted a measured, phased-in approach so as not to undo our hard work and as outlined in the governor’s announcement last Friday, this reopening plan is succeeding.”
Kensinger also pointed to reports from John Hopkins University, the Associated Press, and a Tableau Public analysis as proof that Wolf’s approach to combating the pandemic has been effective.
For Metcalfe’s effort to be successful, he’d need a majority of the House to impeach, then two-thirds of the Senate vote to remove the governor.
Metcalfe and the additional 24 GOP cosponsors mainly represent conservative districts in the commonwealth. Of those seeking reelection in 2020, only two of them, state Reps. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Clinton) and Bud Cook (R-Washington), won by single digits in their most recent bids in 2018, while the rest either ran unopposed or notched double digit victories.
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star notes that this isn’t Metcalfe’s first effort into impeaching an elected official in the state. In 2014, he “led a push” to impeach former Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) for not enforcing the state’s same-sex marriage laws, although Kane later resigned in after a scandal. In 2019, Metcalfe called for Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto (D) to be impeached over gun control laws passed in the city.
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26 Responses
Maybe Metcalfe and his gang can get John Bolton to write the truth about the Governor too. But my guess is that these crazies think it is all fake news. Lets just hope Trump does a rally in Metcalfe’s district so we can determine who was right in all of this.
Metcalfe is the most idiotic state legislator in the PA house. Thank the Lord this Danny Devito (a Metcalfe wannabe) will get trounced in November by Anita Kulick. One of these Mercalfes is one too many goofs to deal with. PA doesn’t need 2 of them.
They are living on the fringes
And dying by inches
But they all have 2
And that’ll do….
For impotent white guys.
Corrected headline:
Metcalfe and 24 GOP Reps engaged in a 25-person circle-jerk.
Sounds like the kind of thing you’d like to get in the middle of, Dave.
Diano would be the pivot man, no doubt.
Lew Stoulles and Jake Longfellow-
You two seem to be resident experts on subject.
Jake, what is a pivot man? (you seem to know, no doubt)
Since you seem to be fans, maybe Metcalfe will let you attend.
Like you don’t know. It’s what your boyfriend does,
Jake-
It’s the GOP that is ignoring rules for large gatherings and social distancing.
It’s the Floyd Rules now, baby.
Another day, another Republican political stunt. Pennsylvanians suffer, the Wolf administration is doing the best they can, and yet these Republicans act like the biggest babies ever.
“Doing the best they can” involves Wolf directing his Quasimodo in pearls to shut down the Pennsylvania economy (except, of course, for a few politically connected concerns).
You’re insecurities are showing, “Lew”.
Lol. Nice try.
Those 24 that signed on to Metcalfe’s impeachment are the biggest idiots in Harrisburg. Most of them are spawns of the Tea Party era – remember that gathering of assholes that was the brainchild of the Koch Brothers organization. Fact is, the tide is turning and hopefully we are done electing “small government” conservatives. No more small business “job creators” who only like government money when it comes in the form of grants to help them AKA corporate welfare. Sad thing is Dush is going to cruise to election to the PA Senate and the Borowicz beast is awful.
Agreed. Misery loves company. And Borowicz is truly bat-shit.
I would vote no on impeachment on Governor Tom Wolf.
Metcalfe is a total asswipe who uses language like he is from North Korea.
Wolf should be praised for his handling of COVID-19 pandemic. GOP dickfaces have no idea what they are talking about.
Do you think the Wolf administration deserves praise for exposing the elderly to the Chop Fluey by cramming the infected into nursing homes with the most vulnerable demographic? Those poor old people choked to death on their own sputum while Wolf’s monstrosity in pearls secretly removed his own mother from the coming exposure. It’s difficult to imagine what you would consider a bad response to the virus at this point.
Metcalf is a well known bigot and homophobe. He does not legislate. He hurts Pennsylvania families.
Holy crap. Turzai is barely gone for two days and the crazier asylum residents are trying to take over the asylum from the run of the mill crazies.
He looks like Jim Norton, but more of a soulless degenerate.
To say Metcalfe is creating false dichotomies here is to be gentle. For everyone in Pa the virus was a challenge and finding the balance between health interests and business interests is a fine art. Metcalfe is playing to the crowd here, his conservative crowd, and this tactic of his sadly contributes to the sorrowful state of affairs in Pa politics where partisanship never ends and bipartisanship is like a chance meeting with Mother Theresa.
Wolf did not “find a balance,” he decimated small businesses while secretly granting waivers from his Executive Orders to politically connected firms, while his hump back in a dress pulled its own mother out of her nursing home knowing that the elderly would be exposed to the virus.
Go back to your cave.
That’s no way to speak of your mother, Johnny.