WEEKLYPRESS.COM · UCREVIEW.COM · OCTOBER 05 · 2011 Point of View:


GOP Party Boss Tries to Ensure Democratic Victories for Judge


By J. Matthew Wolfe M


ike Meehan, Gen- eral Counsel of the Philly GOP, sent


an email recently suggest- ing that vacancies on the Republican ballot for judge be filled with Democrats who are already nominees of the Democratic Party. He asked the chosen recipients to respond “via email com- munications in a very fast process” as to whether they agreed with his suggestions. His scheme was wrong many different ways. Nominating Democrats for these positions, especially Democrats who are already Democratic nominees, is no way to build the Republican Party. First and most obvi- ously, the Republican Party should be promoting Re- publican candidates. Next, by selecting Democrats who are already the Democratic nominees we effectively make those positions uncon- tested, limiting all voter’s choices. At the very least, a minority party should provide a choice. Finally, we hurt the Republican can- didates for judge already on our ballot. Admittedly they face challenges, but filling vacancies on the Republican ballot with candidates al- ready running as Democrats decreases their chances even more.


Meehan’s favored pro- cedure was email polling. Problem. State law requires that these vacancies be filled pursuant to the party bylaws. The bylaws do not say that a group of Repub- licans email the General Counsel and give him their opinion. The bylaws say that the elected Republican Ward Leaders are to have a meeting with written notice and vote on the nominees. There are good reasons for such a rule. It makes clear who is voting. It is transparent. It enables the parties to interact, negotiate and arrive at a consensus or at least understand who voted how and why. How do we know what indi- viduals say in emails sent to Meehan? Only he knows. Meehan has a history of ignoring the bylaws. The election for Republican City


Committee Chairman was so replete with violations of the bylaws and irregularities that it was overturned by the Republican State Com- mittee. The post remains vacant. “Rules are for fools” seems to be his mantra. The email was addressed “Dear Ward Leaders,” but the recipient list is prob- lematic. The list should be the ward leaders who have a vote on Republican City Committee. Not Meehan’s list, however. Glaringly missing were several ward leaders who are opposed to Meehan’s leadership. On the list, however, were individuals who claimed election as ward leader but whose elections were con- tested. These contests have not been heard and pursu- ant to the bylaws they can- not vote. Others on the list included several who claim to have been appointed to fill vacancies by the chair- man. Again, since the chair- man’s position is vacant, no appointments can be made. Those pesky bylaws again. Finally, there were people on the list who are not ward leaders and have positions with the courts preventing them by law from partici- pating in politics or holding party office. To have submitted these Democrats to the Depart- ment of State to fill vacan- cies using Meehan’s proce- dure and tallying the votes on Meehan’s list would have been a clear violation of the state election law and might have been a criminal violation. Two years ago, Meehan and his allies are alleged to have pressured Republican nominees to withdraw and replaced them with the Democratic nominees, so there were NO contests for any local judi- cial position that year. The procedure followed? Three Republican ward leaders lied under oath and submit- ted a notarized affidavit to the Department of State falsely stating that a meet- ing took place where the ward leaders voted on the replacements. A complete fabrication. The nominees were just selected without a vote. This is now rumored to be part of a Grand Jury


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“I don’t care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating.” “Boss” Tweed


investigation by the Dis- trict Attorney, the scope of which may include inquiries into forgeries in nomina- tion petitions, forgeries on documents attached to lawsuits in Common Pleas Court, fraud by notaries and Republican activity at the Parking Authority. Meehan did not fill the positions, representing that he did not get enough re- sponses from the people he


emailed. He complained “I get grief if I do it and I get grief if I don’t do it.” Sorry Mike. You get grief when you try and do things that are not in the best interests of the Republican Party and the City of Philadelphia and when you try and do things that are illegal. J. Matthew Wolfe is a Republi- can Ward Leader in West Phil- adelphia. He can be reached at Matthew@Wolfe.org


Letter to the Editor Dear Editor: E


very month thousands of women in Pennsylvania are shocked to learn that they do not have maternity cov- erage as part of their insurance. Since 1921, Pennsyl-


vania has not required individual or small employer group health plans to provide maternity benefits. This regulatory and legislative oversight has resulted in regional birthing crises, soaring healthcare costs associated with emergency maternity care, and record rates of uninsured and underin- sured Pennsylvania mothers. Since Pennsylvania neglects to provide for maternity coverage in state insurance products, insurance companies can cherry pick the services it offers women in their plans. Insurance can even deny maternity coverage for pregnant women by excluding pregnancy as a precondition. In the midst of a Great Recession and high unemploy- ment rates, the reality of current insurance law is even more devastating when pregnant mothers fall into these loopholes.


Most people would give up their seat to a pregnant woman on a crowded bus. However in Pennsylvania “in- suring motherhood” seems to take a backseat to ensuring that Pennsylvania health insurance companies have high profit margins.


Rosemarie Halt RPh Maternity Care Coalition Policy Intern


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