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Hear Metcalfe’s critics


May 25, 2018 Letters to the Editor

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Patricia Carone-Krebs’ opinion piece (“Metcalfe’s conduct is unacceptable,” May 20, Page 4) about Daryl Metcalfe’s obstruction of the congressional redistricting reform bill HB722, is a far more intelligent take on the issue than anything Metcalfe has said.

After having the bill waste away in his committee for over a year, the only argument he can come up with is that it is “hyper-partisan liberal.” Apparently Metcalfe thinks that if he just calls something “liberal” it makes it so. He has no logical reason for opposing the bill, so he resorts to words he knows will trigger his most ardent supporters.

The fact is, redistricting reform benefits all voters. Gerrymandering is a tactic that both political parties have used to maintain their power, at the expense of voters by minimizing the number of competitive races. It’s about protecting incumbents. Metcalfe is actually hurting Republican voters by making it more likely that some day in the future, Democrats will attempt to gerrymander Republican voters into as few districts as possible. HB 722 was designed to give the people a non-partisan method of ensuring fair and sensible districts that guarantee everyone’s vote truly counts, by taking this power away from hyper partisan liberal and conservative politicians like Metcalfe.

Metcalfe likes to claim he protects the taxpayer and the common man from the tyranny of corrupt Harrisburg politicians and that he stands for liberty and the Constitution. The truth is that Metcalfe is no better than the corrupt politicians he likes to rail against. His only interest is to protect his personal power and the power of the state GOP.

The needs of voters, both Democrats and Republicans, don’t matter to him at all. All he cares about is power. One man stands in the way of Pennsylvania joining many other states in ensuring that the voice of the voter is heard through fair districts.

It’s time for the voters of the 12th District to tell Metcalfe that they are tired of his obstruction of progress. As Patricia Carone-Krebs stated, “Millions of us are depending on you”

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