http://www.repmetcalfe.com/News/1790...e-Impeachment-

Metcalfe Calls on Wolf to Resign or
Face Impeachment

HARRISBURG – Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) sent the following open letter today offering Gov. Tom Wolf the opportunity to resign or face impeachment and potential removal from office:

“With each passing day the General Assembly and those we represent are gaining further momentum in pursuing your impeachment through House Resolution 915. Following the shame and struggles you have placed upon the state, we ask that you save us further strife by resigning on your own accord. Your further authoritarian dictates, as of yesterday, have only strengthened our resolve.

“On behalf of our shared constituents, shuttered businesses, and the families who have lost loved ones due to your unconscionable dictates, it is time that you vacate the position of governor and allow for a leader more in line with our citizens’ values to guide the Commonwealth. Do not allow this to devolve into a situation like we experienced in 2016 with your lawless and duly convicted Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

“Through your executive actions you have endangered the lives and livelihoods of Pennsylvanians from all walks of life. Had you followed the rule of law, conferred with the co-equal branches of government, respected the Constitution, and acknowledged the need for the consent of the governed, the confusing Orwellian predicament we currently face could have been avoided.

“Before your impeachment is further pursued by the General Assembly, I ask that you make the honorable choice to step down and save the Commonwealth from further hardship and embarrassment. You and your staff have received ample opportunity to communicate and cooperate with the General Assembly, and those opportunities have been ignored, rejected or vetoed with each attempt.

“By playing with the state, our economy and our people as if they were a yoyo you have made it clear that you are in far over your head. The inhabitants of this Commonwealth are not your personal serfs.

“Individual examples of your inaccessibility and the nebulous nature of your dictates are vast and unprecedented. Your personal understanding of what livelihoods and activities constitute ‘life-sustaining’ has repeatedly changed definition since the start of this fiasco.

“Not once has it been publicly considered by you or your staff that all jobs are life-sustaining to those who work them. Saying otherwise is insulting to every occupation, and without taking that perspective into consideration you have left hard-working citizens in indefinite limbo as to when they can return to work and once again support their families.

“Citizens and business owners are living in a constant state of unease as to what ‘Red,’ ‘Yellow,’ and ‘Green’ mean as the definitions and clarifications change with each passing week. Small business owners fear an edict lost in translation or an incorrect waiver form resulting in the revocation of their business license.

“You have not shown willingness to communicate with county leaders when they respectfully ask to be considered in your gradual reopening schemes. Instead, you have chosen to intimidate them via name-calling and the threat of withholding CARES Act funding.

“A true leader strives to better their community through cooperation and shared understanding, not coercion and intimidation.

“The combination of lost family-supporting jobs and industry seen in the last four months is unprecedented, yet it was entirely predictable considering your actions. When this economic turmoil could be seen on the horizon you failed to direct the Department of Labor and Industry to adequately increase staffing or prepare for coming waves of unemployment filings. This extreme negligence exacerbated the struggles you personally placed on our constituents and communities.

“Your administration’s frequent announcements of ever-rising ‘positive tests’ while withholding where the deaths and infections arose from has stricken legitimate concern into the hearts of law-abiding and well-informed citizens. Your secretary of Health has led citizens astray by announcing COVID-19-related deaths, and then removing over 200 of those apparent deaths from the official list shortly thereafter.

“Even when honest information requests were made by the press, General Assembly, and the public regarding waiver requests and viral hotspots your office decided that the common man has no right to know and subpoenas can be ignored without consequence. Once the data was released, it was found that greater than 70% of all deaths attributed to COVID-19 came as a direct result of your nursing and long-term care facility order.

“You played the role of your own worst enemy as you hypocritically walked side-by-side with a large mass of protesters outside and around the Capitol grounds on June 3. Through your attempts to appear righteous you looked foolish and naïve to the reality and optics of your actions. I assure you that Pennsylvanians across the State saw your act as the antithesis of your last three months of stay-at-home and business shutdown orders.

“The tragedy of lives and livelihoods lost has rocked the Commonwealth, and further reverberations will be felt for generations. COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, the accompanying deaths of the primarily elderly and infirm citizens that we are tasked to protect, and the closures and struggles faced by nearly every small business in the state will forever be your legacy.

“In closing, it is my position, and the position of many of my colleagues and constituents, that your actions caused tremendously more harm than the threat COVID-19 ever posed.

“I look forward to your departure, either by your own volition or through your coming impeachment, so that the branches of Pennsylvania’s government can once again work together to preserve the health, wealth and safety of our communities while we cooperatively address the mess you have left us with.”