Once again, Democrats sweep county races; elect 5 Common Pleas judges
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
Once again, Democrats swept all possible countywide races, Tuesday, winning all of the Row Office races, maintaining control of the County Commissioners and electing five new Democratic judges to the Court of Common Pleas.
“Chester County voters chose to re-elect Democrats to lead the county government,” Chester County Democratic Chairwoman...
Off year election? Hardly. Tuesday’s election really does matter
By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times
The best way to ensure our democracy survives these troubled times is not to support any candidate running as under the Republican label, given how that party has endorsed MAGA and has as its agenda the dismantling of democracy.
HERE IN MY little corner of the world we are just three days out from the Nov. 7 elections and the end of that day can’t come...
Election of Johnson as Speaker shows exactly who the GOP is and why you can’t vote for them
By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times
OCT. 25, 2023. A date that will live in infamy. Seriously.
Why? It was the date on which Rep. Michael Johnson, a Louisiana far-right little-known congressman, was elected unanimously by his U.S. House Republican colleagues to be Speaker of the House.
I am going to put it right up there will with the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, the adoption...
Republicans are a cancer on the body politic and we need chemotherapy, stat
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
It hit me like a ton of bricks, Tuesday: Donald Trump, the leader of the Republican Party announced he would block immigration or entry of anyone who “don’t like our religion.”
“Our religion.”
What the everlasting Hell?
This is America, we don’t have a “Our religion.” We have dozens of religions and many people who aren’t religious....
The May primary election matters, but not everyone gets to vote — which needs to change
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
In a few weeks, Pennsylvanians will go to the polls in what can be the most overlooked election we have: the off-year municipal primary, May 16. You may have your mail in ballot — as I do — don’t lose it or disregard it.
Even with much easier mail-in voting, too many people will pass on their chance to vote. Additionally, as these are primary...
County officials: election process running smoothly
Chester County’s Department of Voter Services reports that the vote computation process from Tuesday’s primary election continues to run smoothly with all precincts accounted for and only provisional and military/overseas civilians’ ballots still to be counted.
“We prepared for this election for many months to ensure every citizen in our county not only knew their vote would be properly...
Move to remove WCASD board members is an attack on democracy
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
Court of Common Pleas Judge William P. Mahon vacated his order Friday removing five members of the West Chester Area School District Board of Education — but the case and the possibility that duly-elected public officials could be removed from office remains a possibility.
So for now, Sue Tiernan, Joyce Chester, Kate Shaw, Karen Herrmann and Daryl...
Op/Ed: Gerrymandering cheats voters
By Mike Hays, Special to The Times
Mike Hays
One of the most abhorrent and undemocratic things about gerrymandering is how it stifles competition. As a new teacher in Pennsylvania, I have been thinking about how I might explain gerrymandering to my 8th grade class.
Full disclosure: I am not an innocent bystander, having run for the PA House 26th District in 2012 as an underfunded, yet determined,...
Extreme Pa. GOP mapping its own demise
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
You’ve probably heard about the old story about the dog who finally caught the car — and didn’t know what to do with it.
In Pennsylvania, of late, assume legislative Republicans are the dog grabbing the rear bumper, but one who doesn’t see the reverse lights suddenly turn on.
They’ve already moved to take emergency declaration power away...
Editorial: An electoral shock to the system needed to save GOP
As has been the case since the earliest days of The Times, we had planned to make endorsements in all of the 2018 elections.
We expected, again, to endorse a combination of Democratic and Republican candidates — based entirely on who we saw as likely serving as the best possible public servants. While we often did not agree with a candidate’s ideology, we were able to credit work ethic, honesty...
