Gov. Tom Wolf (PA) yanks virus funding from rebellious county

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Gov. Tom Wolf followed through on his threat to yank COVID-19 funding from a county that defied his shutdown orders, while his administration targeted bars, restaurants and large gatherings statewide Thursday in an effort to prevent a wider resurgence of the virus that officials say could jeopardize students' return to school.

Wolf withheld nearly $13 million in funding from Lebanon County, where local Republican leaders voted in mid-May to lift pandemic restrictions in defiance of the Democratic governor.

Pennsylvania distributed $625 million of its federal coronavirus relief allotment to counties that did not get direct aid from the federal government. Wolf's decision left Lebanon as the only one of Pennsylvania's 67 counties to have not gotten any of the federal money.


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[ProfessorGAC]

1. Bravo, Mr. Wolf!

Money is all they understand. Now, he got their attention.

[Dem2theMax]

14. Isn't that the truth? Money is all they understand.

[Faux pas]

2. Good

[PCIntern]

3. He's a good guy

Long time readers here may recall my involvement in his earliest campaign development. The day after the election he and his wife sent me an enormous flower arrangement for my input. I was very proud at that moment.

[Butterflylady]

19. Yes he is. The Republican leaders were

Russ Diamond, Republican representative, state Sen. Arnold and Bill Aimes Republican County Commissioner.

Not only did they defy the Governor they held a rally at a Palmyra restaurant, A Taste of Itally that remained open during the shutdown.

Big mouth Diamond told people to join them, no mask needed and he offered hugs to anyone who wanted one.

That's why Lebanon county was the last one to open up.

We have one Democratic commissioner. She was not included in any of it.

As you can see my county is loaded with ignorant people.

[PCIntern]

20. Hey...

It’s PA. Whaddya expect???

[Butterflylady]

25. Yes and where I'm at it's the Alabama of PA.

One of our problems is we have an abundance of Pennsylvania Dutch and they are very very conservative and it's been that way since forever. We also have not only one church on every corner, but in some places 2 churches.

[Oppaloopa]

30. Quakertown Pa ?

My home town we had to get our skirts measured to make sure they were not over the knee.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Woah!

I think that one of the most important things to know about him is that he was in the Peace Corps.

[Squinch]

5. Good!

[Cha]

6. Mahalo, Gov Wolf! Fight Fire with Not funding those

stupid Treasonous Assholes!

[SallyHemmings]

7. Good for him!

[SunSeeker]

8. Good. There must be enforcement.

Otherwise, people would ignore lockdown orders.

[iluvtennis]

9. Ditto. nt

[Mr.Bill]

10. Is it legal for him to do that?

Especially with Federal money? I guess we will find out.

I must say I'm not in agreement with punishing the people because of the idiocy of their local leadership.

But, if they change their minds and get in line to get the money, then I guess it worked.

[durablend]

11. Problem is--many of them agree with the idiocy of the local leadership

[Mr.Bill]

13. But what about those who don't?

Plenty of members here live in heavily red states and for that reason I never wish anything bad to happen to an entire red state.

[paleotn]

16. Tough call, but I get your point....

I once lived in a county where 75% of voters voted for Mark Meadows every 2 years. But then again, 25% of us didn't.

[not_the_one]

24. There are always good people caught in areas that are under the thumb of rabid repubs.

Sadly, it is collateral damage.

There will ALWAYS be collateral damage. It doesn't mean that everything must be allowed because someone good will always be negatively affected. That is how they win. THIS time it is part of a big picture of trying to save the country. Sometimes you have got to take one for the team.

These politicians get elected. The people who elect them need to learn that there are consequences.

[Mr.Bill]

26. If that's what you want to think, okay.

Count me in the group that doesn't refer to fellow Democrats as collateral damage.

That sounds like what Trump probably calls the 137,000 who have died from the virus.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

34. Your concern is duly noted.

[TygrBright]

12. Next come the roadblocks. n/t

[lindysalsagal]

15. Ouchies. Not sure that's a good idea....

How will the hospitals cope????

[OnDoutside]

18. I tend to agree. Not least because of the Law of unintended consequences.

[Xolodno]

31. I agree...collective punishment is never the answer...

...with that said, the county is essentially holding hospitals, etc. as hostage. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Bringing the county officials to their knees may be the best solution and message for everyone else. Unfortunately, many will have to suffer for their stupidity.

[liberalmuse]

17. All the anti-maskers should have to put their names on a list

Saying they forgo taking up an ICU bed or respirator in the event they get Covid-19. A lot of Americans are going to be losing their loved ones simply because the ICU's and respirators are being taken up by idiots who refused to quarantine or wear a fucking mask. I'm talking about relatives with cancer or who might get in an accident dying because these assholes are going to cause a bottleneck in our healthcare system.

[warmfeet]

21. That is something alright.

I think that we all have a failure of imagination, right now.

Oh well, get out the vote. Don't be too surprised if things don't change very much. tRump may very well win, du 2 cheating.

[Alliepoo]

22. Maybe he can call Mike Dewine

And tell him how it’s done!!

[MyOwnPeace]

23. It is a MARVELOUS smack-in-the-face

to the RepubliCon controlled House and Senate of PA. They have been working much like Moscow Mitch in making sure that their Democratic governor would have NO legislative success no matter how hard he tried to "reach across the aisle."
Their only goal is/was/will be to reward those that want to keep the RepubliCon pockets filled - supporting the gas/coal buddies as well as the 1%'s interest across the board.
Now that Turd'sEye has jumped ship (er, "moved on to spend time with family&quot - ("family" being People's Gas Company - yeah, they don't want any of those pesky "tax things" holding them back) - there's not any significant voice to kick back at the moment - but you know you'll hear cries of "outrage" soon - that's what they do.........

[47of74]

27. It's time to fuck reaching across the aisle

Hit these fuckers so hard they scream for peace. I’m done with this bipartisan bullshit. It’s just a sign of fucking weakness. It is not being a better person or party. Republicans crawled out of the fucking sewer so it’s fucking time to be in the goddamn gutter.

[DeminPennswoods]

28. Wolf believes actions have consequences

He told the counties what would happen. Lebanon county now knows its actions have consequences.

Second, Russ Diamond is an idiot. He got his start as a reformer by organizing candidates to run against incumbent legislators who'd voted themselves a "midnight" pay raise. Pennsylvanians were very, very angry about that raise and they did vote out a significant number of the pay raisers. Then Diamond tried to take over the organization for himself and it's been all about him since then.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

29. Lebanon County does not need the money. They will make it magically disappear without it like tRump.

[FakeNoose]

32. Weasels gonna weasel

Thank goodness our Governor is standing up to these Repuke counties who are going against the will of their own people.

[Tommymac]

33. I really like MY Governor. Go Tom Go.

Sock it to 'em baby. They deserve everything they have coming - may all the Covid enablers rot.

[Freedomofspeech]

35. So blessed that he is our Governor.

He is a strong man and holds his ground against our horrible republican legislature Our representative in SW is an idiot....every picture you see of him he is posing with a gun.

[BumRushDaShow]

36. The irony here is that this county is not far from Harrisburg

(the state Capitol), which is in the adjoining Dauphin County and Dauphin County had been "acting up" too, spiking to a 9+% positivity rate 2 weeks ago.

Lebanon Co seriously needs to look at what is happening in SW PA in Allegheny County (and those counties surrounding that county) to see what might happen. Both the Lebanon Co and the SW counties have a higher positivity than anywhere in the SE.

Here in Philly, we never went "full green" and instead went to a "modified green", with a hope of going full green by August 1st. But even that might not happen as young people keep running to the beaches of Jersey and Delaware and living it up at out-of-state bars and parties. Nearly 40% of the most recent positives here were in people under 40.