Running for statewide elected office in Pennsylvania is as expensive as it is exhausting. Would-be candidates commonly seek money pledges from major backers before jumping into a race.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano is doing that for the 2022 Republican primary for governor. He’s waiting on a financial sign. From God.
The Franklin County senator and his wife, Rebecca “Rebbie” Mastriano, spoke last week atTime Ministries Church in Bedford County.
Mastriano and his wife said they are praying about a campaign, according to a recording of the event obtained by Clout. She told the crowd the couple have “a monetary fleece out there,” meaning a prayer “that only God” can answer.
The couple have done this before. They issued a fleece before he entered politics in 2019. God kept them waiting until the day before their deadline, she said.
“Sometimes He does wait until the last minute,” she said.
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While they wait, Mastriano showed no hesitation in attacking the primary competition. He mocked former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta of Hazleton, who released a poll this monthshowing him as the early favorite for the Republican nomination.
“That was a rigged poll,” said Mastriano, offering as proof his own poll showing himself as “the top guy in Pennsylvania.”
Mastriano’s most frequent target was Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, a Centre County Republican who might make a play for governor. Corman in August pulled Mastriano from his most public platform, a push for a partisan review of the 2020 election results.
“Maybe you should draw a line in the sand with Democrats, not someone in your own party,” Mastriano said of Corman. “You do reap what you sow. I don’t know that he’s going to last very long.”
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Corman and Barletta declined to comment. Mastriano did not respond to Clout’s hails.
Union leader John Dougherty arrives at federal courthouse with members of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council during his trial on corruption charges.Thomas Hengge / Staff Photographer
Pa.’s richest man knocks Johnny Doc
Pennsylvania’s richest man, billionaire Jeff Yass, is back at it with trickle-down economics in campaign contributions.
This time he’s funding a mailer linking state Superior Court Judge Maria McLaughlin, a Democrat seeking a state Supreme Court seat, with John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, the electricians union leader on federal trial, accused of bribing Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon.
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The mailer, including a picture of McLaughlin and Dougherty, says she is “bankrolled by a powerful Philadelphia political insider” without naming him. It also touts the Republican nominee in the race, state Commonwealth President Judge Kevin Brobson.
Yass’ money traveled the same circuitous route that he used last year to assist Republicans running for state attorney general and auditor general. He gave the pro-charter school Students First PAC $10.5 million in the last year. That political action committee then gave Commonwealth Choice Fund $2 million this year. And then that PAC sent $1.3 million to Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which paid for the mailer. Yass is a leading donor to all the PACs.
Matt Brouillette, who runs the PAC that sent the mailer, did not respond to requests for comment. The PAC also gave Brobson’s campaign $205,000 in direct donations and $393,765 in in-kind contributions.
“It’s politics, like everything else,” a spokesperson for Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said Thursday. The local gave McLaughlin $50,000 in February.
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McLaughlin’s camp noted the money came from the union’s members, not Dougherty.
Could make for some awkward courthouse moments should Brobson win. Dougherty’s brother, Kevin Dougherty, has been a Supreme Court justice since 2016.
Here’s the Fifth Street entrance to the Philadelphia Parking Authority underground parking lot beneath the Independence Visitor Center.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Parking Authority punts on political policy
The Philadelphia Parking Authority, that last bastion of Republican power in the city, punted Tuesday on a chance to scale back politics in the patronage-laden agency.
City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican, presented his five fellow board members with a proposal to prohibit future employees from holding political office like ward leader or ward committee posts, running campaigns, or hosting fund-raisers.
The other board members stalled after removing Schmidt as chair of the agency’s human resources committee.
Beth Grossman, a Republican who joined the board in August and was elected chair last month, called for the delay because the PPA is negotiating union contracts for some employees.
Schmidt countered that it “doesn’t make any sense to wait” since his proposal would launch after the contracts were completed. Schmidt initially considered a ban on political office for all employees but amended that to apply only to new employees.
About 100 of the agency’s 1,000 employees hold political office. Of that smaller group, a little more than half are Republicans and the rest Democrats. Committee posts are up for election in 2022. An employee in office now and reelected next year could continue working for the PPA under Schmidt’s proposal.
Schmidt said he was trying to “insulate” the PPA so it can evaluate employees “strictly based on how much of an asset they are to the authority as opposed to ever considering how much of an asset they are to the party.”
The board is expected to revisit the issue next month.
“I certainly intend to bring it up at the next public meeting and the one after that and the one after that until we confront this issue,” Schmidt said. “Because it is an issue that hurts the operation of the authority and it hurts the reputation of the authority.”
A 2020 city controller’s audit faulted the PPA for patronage, suggesting jobs are handed out based on “who you know” rather than what is best for the agency and the city.
A community of online sleuths placed Pennsylvania GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano near the Capitol steps well after clashes with police began.
A Republican state senator who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 appears in videos and images that contradict his claims that he never breached police lines and left the area before violence broke out.
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, whose campaign spent thousands on buses to ferry supporters to D.C. for the rally that led to the attack, said after the riot that he did not enter the Capitol, walk on its steps or go beyond police lines; and that he left the area with his wife “when it was apparent that this was no longer a peaceful protest.” He released a statement at the time condemning the violence and calling for those who broke the law to be prosecuted.
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But in videos analyzed by members of the online “Sedition Hunters” community and posted on social media over the weekend, Mastriano and his wife appeared to be in a crowd as it breached a police line. Mastriano was wearing one of his campaign hats and a dark-green scarf on the day.
The video shows people moving forward as a man picks up and throws away the police barricades. Another image shows the couple on the northwest lawn.
According to a New York Times timeline, the mob reached the doors on the west side of the building at 2:10 p.m., though violent clashes with police had been taking place for more than an hour at that time. At 2:11, the mob broke into the building.
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In an emailed statement that was also published to his website, Mastriano did not deny it was him in the footage, but insisted that he followed the directions of Capitol Police and respected police lines as he came upon them.
“Even disingenuous internet sleuths know that police lines did shift throughout the course of the day. I followed those lines as they existed,” Mastriano said.
Police lines typically moved, as seen in the video in question, when the crowd pushed them back, tore them down or simply walked straight past them.
Mastriano said the citizen investigators who targeted him were “angry partisans who are so blinded by hatred for all things Donald Trump that they are distorting facts to manipulate public opinion.”
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Identifications made by these online communities have led to a number of FBI investigations and arrests.
Earlier this month, investigative journalists at PA Spotlight published audio from a Jan. 13 interview with Mastriano on a right-wing radio show. While downplaying his involvement, Mastriano gave a play-by-play of his movements around the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 and openly admitted to seeing multiple efforts by agitators to rattle police. He said he saw “agitators run over to the steps and start pushing police up the steps” before leaving.
He was later pictured in a Facebook image posted by former Pennsylvania state Rep. Rick Saccone, who wrote in another post that was later deleted: “We are storming the capitol. Our vanguard has broken thru the barricades. We will save this nation. Are u with me?”
Mastriano distanced himself from Saccone in the interview, claiming he saw him on his way out. “I don’t know him real well,” he said.
This month, Mastriano posed for a photo with another extremist, as first reported by HuffPost. He was pictured at a political event with Samuel Lazar, a militant Trump supporter whose photo is included on the FBI’s Capitol riot wanted list. He did not respond to a request for comment at the time of HuffPost’s first report.
Asked Tuesday why he’d associated with Lazar, who was filmed spraying mace toward police at the Capitol andlater bragging about it, Mastriano told HuffPost he couldn’t vet every person he takes a photo with at an event.
“Why would you assume that every politician who takes a picture with someone at an event automatically knows who they are or agrees with what they believe?” he asked.
Though Lazar seems to have assumed a different name on Facebook, a mutual friend appears to have tagged him with Mastriano in a different image in November.
The senator condemned his follower’s actions when asked if he would. “Anyone who committed violence against law enforcement that day should be charged and held accountable,” he said.
Samuel Lazar, left, whose photo is included on the FBI’s Capitol riot wanted list, poses with Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) at a May 15 event.
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In the months leading up to the attack, Mastriano repeatedly stoked the false stolen-election narrative and spread disinformation about the 2020 election. He boasted of numerous conversations with Trump about efforts to overturn the results, and visited the White House for one such discussion in November ― though he tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to leave.
In the immediate future, we will be introducing the following resolution:
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A RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution empowers state legislatures, including the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to prescribe the “Times, Places, and Manner” of conducting elections; and
WHEREAS, Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution empowers state legislatures, including the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to direct the manner of appointing electors for President and Vice President of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has exercised its authority to establish election administration procedures for the Commonwealth, known as the Pennsylvania Election Code; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires all mail-in ballots to be received by eight o’clock P.M. on the day of the election; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires election officials at polling places to authenticate the signatures of in-person voters; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires mail-in ballots to be received in the office of the county board of elections and makes no mention of “satellite locations” to be solely used for the collection of “mail-in” ballots; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires that county boards of elections shall not meet to conduct a pre-canvass of all absentee and mail-in ballots until seven o’clock A.M. on Election Day, during which time defects on mail-in ballots would be identified; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code prohibits the counting of defective absentee or mail-in ballots; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code authorizes “watchers,” selected by candidates and political parties, to observe the process of canvassing absentee and mail-in ballots; and
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth conducted an election on November 3, 2020 for federal offices, including selecting electors for President and Vice President of the United States; and
WHEREAS, officials in the Executive and Judicial Branches of the Commonwealth infringed upon the General Assembly’s authority under the United States Constitution by unlawfully changing the rules governing the November 3, 2020 election in the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, on September 17, 2020, less than seven weeks before the November 3, 2020 election, the partisan majority on the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania unlawfully and unilaterally extended the deadline for mail-in ballots to be received, mandated that ballots mailed without a postmark would be presumed to be received timely, and could be accepted without a verified voter signature; and
WHEREAS, on October 23, 2020, less than two weeks before the November 3, 2020 election and upon a petition from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ruled that mail-in ballots need not authenticate signatures for mail-in ballots, thereby treating in-person and mail-in voters dissimilarly and eliminating a critical safeguard against potential election crime; and
WHEREAS, on November 2, 2020, the night before the November 3, 2020 election and prior to the prescribed time for pre-canvassing mail-in ballots, the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth encouraged certain counties to notify party and candidate representatives of mail-in voters whose ballots contained defects; and
WHEREAS, heavily Democrat counties permitted mail-in voters to cure ballot defects while heavily Republican counties followed the law and invalidated defective ballots; and
WHEREAS, in certain counties in the Commonwealth, watchers were not allowed to meaningfully observe the pre-canvassing and canvassing activities relating to absentee and mail-in ballots; and
WHEREAS, in other parts of the Commonwealth, watchers observed irregularities concerning the pre-canvassing and canvassing of absentee and mail-in ballots; and
WHEREAS, postal employees in Pennsylvania have reported anomalies relating to mail-in ballots, including multiple ballots delivered to a single address with unfamiliar addressees, ballots mailed to vacant homes, empty lots, and addresses that did not exist; and
WHEREAS, witnesses testifying before the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee on November 25, 2020 have provided additional compelling information regarding the questionable nature of the administration of the 2020 General Election; and
WHEREAS, these and other actions of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and other election officials and actions taken at their direction or under their purview resulted in great confusion, the inconsistent application of rules and practices across the Commonwealth, insecurity and uncertainty regarding the collection, handling, storage, pre-canvassing, canvassing, counting, tabulation and reporting of votes and has undermined the legitimacy and accuracy of the vote count arising from mail-in ballots in certain counties in the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, the actions of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and others have been contrary to the direction of the Pennsylvania General Assembly regarding the conduct of the November 3, 2020 election for presidential electors in the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, there remains ongoing litigation concerning the administration of the November 3, 2020 election in the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, in 2016, Pennsylvania’s general election results were certified on December 12, 2016, and on November 24, 2020, the Secretary of the Commonwealth unilaterally and prematurely certified results of the November 3, 2020 election regarding presidential electors despite ongoing litigation; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Senate has the duty to ensure that no citizen of this Commonwealth is disenfranchised, to insist that all elections are conducted according to the law, and to satisfy the general public that every legal vote is counted accurately;
THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Pennsylvania Senate —
1. Recognizes substantial irregularities and improprieties associated with mail-in balloting, pre-canvassing, and canvassing during the November 3, 2020 election; and
2. Finds, based on the facts and evidence presented and our own Board of Elections data, that the Presidential election held on November 3, 2020, in Pennsylvania is irredeemably corrupted; and
3. Disapproves of the infringement on the General Assembly’s sole authority pursuant to the United States Constitution to regulate the selection of Electoral College delegates; and
4. Disapproves of and doug-mastriano the Secretary of the Commonwealth’ doug-mastriano of the November 3, 2020 election regarding presidential electors; and
5. Declares that the selection of presidential electors and other statewide electoral contest results in this Commonwealth is in dispute; and
6. Directs that, pursuant to our authority granted in Article II of the United States Constitution and the numerous illegal acts committed, encouraged and ignored by the Governor, Secretary of State, and certain election officials, we hereby take back and reserve to the Pennsylvania General Assembly the power to designate Presidential electors for the State of Pennsylvania for the December, 2020 meeting of the Electoral College and withdraw any prior statement or direction to the contrary given by us or any other official or body; and
7. Directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Governor to withdraw and vacate the certification of presidential electors and to delay certification of results in other statewide electoral contests voted on at the 2020 General Election; and
8. Commands all Presidential electors and other officials to act in conformity with this resolution and not interfere with the authority of the Pennsylvania General Assembly under Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 and under Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution; and
9. Urges the United States Congress to recognize and count as the State of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for President and Vice-President only such electoral votes as are certified directly by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania Senate by subsequent resolution.
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Please join us in cosponsoring this critical resolution.
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