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Pennsylvania

Numbers don’t lie. Democrats cannot claim to control the state legislatures.

There are many things worth discussing in the Pennsylvania Legislature.

Which political party is currently in charge of the state legislature is not one of them.

The numbers remain the same. Republicans have more representatives. It will give them power, and when the next legislative session begins in January, Rep. Brian Cutler of Lancaster County will become the House Majority Leader.

Democrats are acting childish. They claim they are the bosses. The party won 102 of the 203 seats in last month’s midterm elections.But they don’t have 102 members in January.

One of the re-elected Democrats has died. Longtime Allegheny County Rep. Anthony DeLuca died before Election Day. Too late to remove his name from the ballot, voters elected him.

Two other Allegheny County Democrats are also not serving their terms. Austin Davis and Summer Lee were re-elected, but resigned as Davis was elected lieutenant governor and Lee was elected to the House of Representatives.

The remaining 99 Democrats and 101 Republicans.

Yet somehow Philadelphia Democratic leader Joanna McClinton claims she’s still leader of the House majority. I must have failed in math class.

McClinton, who began his term in poor fashion at an early secret swearing-in ceremony, argues that Democrats hold the majority because voters elected more Democrats.

What matters is the number of bats on the seat. And Democrats don’t have enough butts.

The Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau has reviewed the situation at Cutler’s request He concluded that the Democrats were not in the majority. The nonpartisan agency said neither party had her 102 seats, so neither had a majority.

However, Republicans have two more votes.

The Democrats can only blame themselves for missing their first chance to take control of the House in a decade, but they are likely to do so soon.

If Davis and Lee hadn’t been greedy and ran simultaneously in two offices last month, Democrats would now have 101 members in the House.

It’s ridiculous that people can seek elections for two offices at the same time. Candidates must choose one of hers and roll the die. Fallbacks should not be allowed. However, Pennsylvania law also allows incumbent officials to run for re-election and seek another office.

In this case, it set the Democrats on fire. Had Davis run only for lieutenant governor and Lee only for Congress, other Democrats would have replaced them in the state legislative ballot.

And given that these constituencies are friendly to Democrats, these candidates likely won.

There are good reasons for Democrats to want to take the lead from day one of the next legislative session.

With Republicans in control, even temporarily, they can vote on laws that propose amendments to the state constitution, at least one of which is harmful.

Republicans want people to vote on amendments to clarify state constitutions We do not guarantee abortion rights.

The Amendment does not ban abortion or change existing laws. It will make it clear that Congress has the power to regulate controversial issues.

It’s dangerous. Political whims should not dictate women’s health care decisions.

Legislators in several other states took the opposite approach in the midterm elections, calling on voters to enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions.

Republican lawmakers have taken the first step to put that amendment to the ballot, with a law passed this year. The second necessary step is to pass the same law next year.

If Democrats run the House, there will be no second vote and the plan will fall apart.

It will only be a matter of time before Democrats run the House. We need to win a landslide special election for the seats of DeLuca, Davis and Lee.

McClinton can then wear the crown.

But until then, the numbers will stay the same. Democrats have no business claiming to be the majority party. And their political greed is the reason.

Wake Up Call columnist Paul Mastic can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com.

https://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-opi-pa-state-house-majority-republicans-democrats-muschick-20221215-ni2d35jirrdlzksmdesp5vpimy-story.html#ed=rss_www.mcall.com/arcio/rss/category/news/pennsylvania/ Numbers don’t lie. Democrats cannot claim to control the state legislatures.

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